Person
Billy Curtis
Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
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 19…
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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.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1986
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
Movie Monsignor Duffy
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1985
The Twilight Zone
TV show Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
-
1985
Head Office
Movie Reverend Lynch
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1984
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
Movie Elf #2
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1984
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Movie Barnaby
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1982
Faerie Tale Theatre
TV show Barnaby
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1982
Eating Raoul
Movie Little Person
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1979
Knots Landing
TV show Billy Curtis
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1979
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
TV show General Yoomak
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1978
Loose Shoes
Movie Menchkin
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1976
Monster Squad
TV show The Ringmaster
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1976
Laverne & Shirley
TV show
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1975
The Wild McCullochs
Movie Charlie P.
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1975
White House Madness
Movie Secret Service Man
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1973
Little Cigars
Movie Slick Bender
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1973
High Plains Drifter
Movie Mordecai
More credits
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1972
Evil Roy Slade
Movie Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
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1971
Dirty Harry
Movie Stunts
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1971
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret
Movie Man on the Street Interviewee
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1970
Norwood
Movie Edmund B. Ratner
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1969
Hello, Dolly!
Movie Little Person (uncredited)
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1969
The Comic
Movie Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
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1968
Here's Lucy
TV show Herman
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1968
The Legend of Lylah Clare
Movie Clown (uncredited)
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1968
Planet of the Apes
Movie Child Ape (uncredited)
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1966
The Monkees
TV show Midget
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1966
Star Trek
TV show Small, copper skinned ambassador (uncredited)
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1966
Out of Sight
Movie The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
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1966
Batman
TV show Midget
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1965
Bob Hope Christmas Show
Movie Self
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1965
Get Smart
TV show El Lobo-Ito
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1965
Two on a Guillotine
Movie Big Mike (uncredited)
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1964
Bewitched
TV show Jack O'Lantern
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1964
Robin and the 7 Hoods
Movie Newsboy (uncredited)
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1963
The Greatest Show on Earth
TV show
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1962
The Beverly Hillbillies
TV show
-
1961
Backstage Party
Movie Self
-
1961
87th Precinct
TV show
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1959
Adventures in Paradise
TV show Captain Borcher
-
1959
Tightrope
TV show
