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Billy Curtis

1909 - 1988 (age 79) • Acting

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.

Known For

Dirty Harry

75%

Stunts

1971

Star Trek

80%

Small, copper skinned ambassador (uncredited)

1966

Bewitched

78%

Jack O'Lantern

1964

Batman

73%

Midget

1966

The Twilight Zone

77%

Creature (segment "Personal Demons")

1985

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

70%

General Yoomak

1979

Gunsmoke

67%

Arizona

1955

Laverne & Shirley

71%

Unknown

1976

Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour

Monsignor Duffy

1986

The Twilight Zone

77%

Creature (segment "Personal Demons")

1985

Head Office

54%

Reverend Lynch

1985

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

59%

Elf #2

1984

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

64%

Barnaby

1984

Faerie Tale Theatre

81%

Barnaby

1982

Eating Raoul

65%

Little Person

1982

Knots Landing

70%

Billy Curtis

1979

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

70%

General Yoomak

1979

Loose Shoes

39%

Menchkin

1978

Monster Squad

60%

The Ringmaster

1976

Laverne & Shirley

71%

Unknown

1976

The Wild McCullochs

45%

Charlie P.

1975

White House Madness

70%

Secret Service Man

1975

Little Cigars

53%

Slick Bender

1973

High Plains Drifter

73%

Mordecai

1973

Evil Roy Slade

63%

Toy Cowboy (uncredited)

1972

Dirty Harry

75%

Stunts

1971

Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret

45%

Man on the Street Interviewee

1971

Norwood

61%

Edmund B. Ratner

1970

Hello, Dolly!

70%

Little Person (uncredited)

1969

The Comic

61%

Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)

1969

Here's Lucy

67%

Herman

1968

The Legend of Lylah Clare

60%

Clown (uncredited)

1968

Planet of the Apes

77%

Child Ape (uncredited)

1968

The Monkees

65%

Midget

1966

Star Trek

80%

Small, copper skinned ambassador (uncredited)

1966

Out of Sight

53%

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

1966

Filters

Department

Genres