Billy Curtis

Billy Curtis

Billy Curtis (June 27, 1909 - November 9, 1988) was an American film and television actor. He was a dwarf who had a 50-year career in a variety of roles. He was born on 27 June 1909 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and died November 9, 1988 in Dayton, Nevada, of a heart attack. According to the IMDb site, his birth name was Luigi Curto, and his height was 4 feet 2 inches (1.27 m). The bulk of his work was in the western and science fiction genres. One of his early jobs was as one of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. He also appeared in Adventures of Superman in the 1950s. Most notably, Curtis worked in westerns, including the Clint Eastwood feature, High Plains Drifter in which he featured as Mordecai, a friendly dwarf sympathetic to Eastwood, he also appeared in the 1938 Musical/Western The Terror of Tiny Town. This film is, as far as is known, the world's only Western with an all-dwarf cast. Many of the actors in Tinytown were part of a performing troupe called Singer's Midgets, who also played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939. He also had a starring role in American International Pictures' 1973 release, Little Cigars, about a gang of "midgets" on a crime spree.

Acting

1985

The Twilight Zone
Tv

Creature (segment "Personal Demons")

1985

Head Office
Movie

Reverend Lynch

1982

Eating Raoul
Movie

Little Person

1979

Knots Landing
Tv

Billy Curtis

1978

1976

Monster Squad
Tv

The Ringmaster

1973

Little Cigars
Movie

Slick Bender

1972

Evil Roy Slade
Movie

Toy Cowboy (uncredited)

1971

Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret
Movie

Man on the Street Interviewee

1970

Norwood
Movie

Edmund B. Ratner

1969

Hello, Dolly!
Movie

Little Person (uncredited)

1969

The Comic
Movie

Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)

1968

1968

Planet of the Apes
Movie

Child Ape (uncredited)

1966

1966

Star Trek
Tv

Small, copper skinned ambassador (uncredited)

1966

Out of Sight
Movie

The Man From F.L.U.S.H.

1965

Two on a Guillotine
Movie

Big Mike (uncredited)

1964

Bewitched
Tv

Jack O'Lantern

1964

Robin and the 7 Hoods
Movie

Newsboy (uncredited)

1961

1959

1959

1957

Man of a Thousand Faces
Movie

Harry Earles (uncredited)

1956

Friendly Persuasion
Movie

Midget at County Fair (uncredited)

1955

Gunsmoke
Tv

Arizona

1954

1952

Limelight
Movie

Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)

1952

Adventures of Superman
Tv

Mole-Man #1 (uncredited)

1951

Superman and the Mole Men
Movie

Mole-Man (uncredited)

1950

The Cisco Kid
Tv

The Laughing Badman

1948

April Showers
Movie

Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo

1943

The Hard Way
Movie

Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)

1942

1942

Saboteur
Movie

Midget - Circus Troupe

1942

Don't Lie
Movie

Melinda, the chimp

1941

Hellzapoppin'
Movie

Bodyguard (uncredited)

1939

The Wizard of Oz
Movie

Munchkin (uncredited)

1939

Three Texas Steers
Movie

Hercules - the Midget

1938

The Terror of Tiny Town
Movie

The Hero (Buck Lawson)

Crew

Infos

Full Name
Billy Curtis
Gender
Male
Date of Birth
6/27/1909
Date of Death
11/9/1988
Also Known As

Luigi Curto