Billy Curtis
ActingBilly 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.
Known For
The Wizard of Oz
Munchkin (uncredited)
Planet of the Apes
Child Ape (uncredited)
High Plains Drifter
Mordecai
Limelight
Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
Hello, Dolly!
Little Person (uncredited)
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Midget
Saboteur
Midget - Circus Troupe
Friendly Persuasion
Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
Eating Raoul
Little Person
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Newsboy
Filmography — Acting
The Wizard of Oz
Munchkin (uncredited)
Planet of the Apes
Child Ape (uncredited)
High Plains Drifter
Mordecai
Limelight
Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
Hello, Dolly!
Little Person (uncredited)
The Incredible Shrinking Man
Midget
Saboteur
Midget - Circus Troupe
Friendly Persuasion
Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
Eating Raoul
Little Person
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Newsboy
The Hard Way
Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
Man of a Thousand Faces
Harry Earles (uncredited)
Head Office
Reverend Lynch
The Comic
Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
Superman and the Mole Men
Mole-Man (uncredited)
Hellzapoppin'
Bodyguard (uncredited)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
Clown (uncredited)
Out of Sight
The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
Loose Shoes
Menchkin
Buck Privates Come Home
Norwood
Edmund B. Ratner
Evil Roy Slade
Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
Two on a Guillotine
Big Mike (uncredited)
The Wild McCullochs
Charlie P.
Ice-Capades
George
Maisie Was a Lady
Midget (Uncredited)
Lucky Legs
Newsboy
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Barnaby
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Elf #2
Three Texas Steers
Hercules - the Midget
April Showers
Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
The Terror of Tiny Town
The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Princess of the Nile
Tut (uncredited)
Bob Hope Christmas Show
Self
Jungle Moon Men
Damu
Little Cigars
Slick Bender
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!
Midget
White House Madness
Secret Service Man
Backstage Party
Self
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret
Man on the Street Interviewee
Emergency Landing
Judge
Homicide for Three
Circus Performer
Don't Lie
Melinda, the chimp
Pygmy Island
Makuba
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
Monsignor Duffy