Billy Curtis

Personal Info

Known For

Acting

Known Credits

1.613

Gender

Male

Birthday

27-Jun-1909

Age

(115 years old)

Place of Birth

Springfield, Massachusetts, USA

Also Known As
  • Luigi Curto

Billy Curtis

Biography

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.


Credits

Bob Hope Christmas Show Bob Hope Christmas Show (1965) Character: N/A
This Is Bob (For The First Time In Living Color) Hope' on NBC December 15th, 1965 With Bing Crosby, Jack Benny, Janet Leigh, and Nancy Wilson join Bob for this hour of Christmas entertainment.
Don't Lie Don't Lie (1942) Character: Melinda, the chimp
After Buckwheat tells the gang he's seen a big monkey, Spanky, Froggy and Mickey decide to teach him once and for all not to lie. What the gang doesn't know is that the monkey is real, and hilarity will ensue.
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour (1986) Character: Monsignor Duffy
Sketch comedy.
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret (1971) Character: Man on the Street Interviewee
A documentary examining the use of marijuana by young people in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Included are interviews with people who regularly use marijuana and testify to its beneficial effects as an aphrodisiac and scenes of nude encounter groups, instructions for making marijuana brownies, soldiers in Vietnam smoking marijuana, etc.
Back Stage Party Back Stage Party (1961) Character: Self
Party, enterianment, and Behind the scenes
Emergency Landing Emergency Landing (1941) Character: Judge
A test pilot and his weather observer develop a "robot" control so airplanes can be flown without pilots, but enemy agents get wind of it and try to steal it or destroy it.
Homicide for Three Homicide for Three (1948) Character: Circus Performer
While on shore leave to celebrate his first anniversary, Lt. Peter Duluth (Warren Douglas) takes his wife, Iris (Audrey Long), to a Los Angeles hotel but is turned away. When mysterious Colette (Stephanie Bachelor) offers them her suite, the young couple becomes entangled in a murder plot. Aided by two PIs, Peter and Iris find two corpses and are desperate to locate Colette before she becomes the next victim, but the killers are one step ahead.
Superman and the Mole-Men Superman and the Mole-Men (1951) Character: Mole-Man (uncredited)
Reporters Clark Kent and Lois Lane arrive in the small town of Silsby to witness the drilling of the world's deepest oil well. The drill, however, has penetrated the underground home of a race of small, furry people who then come to the surface at night to look around. The fact that they glow in the dark scares the townfolk, who form a mob, led by the vicious Luke Benson, intent on killing the strange people. Only Superman has a chance to prevent this tragedy.
Ice-Capades Ice-Capades (1941) Character: George
Bob Clemens is a cameraman for newsreels. Assigned to shoot the Swiss ice skater Karen Vadja, he arrives too late, so decides to film a woman skating on a different New York rink and pass her off as Karen. The scheme backfires when promoter Larry Herman takes a look at Bob's film and decides to make the skater a star. Unfortunately, it's actually amateur (and illegal immigrant) Marie Bergin in the newsreel footage, not the great figure skater from Switzerland. Chaos ensues as Bob tries to straighten everybody out.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1984) Character: Barnaby
Snow White must flee from her evil stepmother. She's taken in by the lovable seven dwarves. Will the wicked queen be able to get rid of her rival?
The Hard Way The Hard Way (1943) Character: Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
Helen Chernen pushes her younger sister Katherine into show business in order to escape their small town poverty.
Loose Shoes Loose Shoes (1978) Character: Menchkin
Broad satire and buffoonery presented as a series of movie trailers. Among the titles and subjects are: "The Howard Huge Story", "Skate-boarders from Hell", "The Invasion of the Penis Snatchers", Woody Allen (pre-Mia), movie trailer come-ons, Charlie Chaplin, war movies, Billy Jack. The source of the title is presented about an hour into the film.
The Legend of Lylah Clare The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) Character: Clown (uncredited)
A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.
Jungle Moon Men Jungle Moon Men (1955) Character: Damu
Priestess Oma is forever young in this Jungle Jim knockoff of "She" or the La of Opar stories from "Tarzan". The Jungle Jim-type character is played by Weissmuller using his own name.
Eating Raoul Eating Raoul (1982) Character: Little Person
A relatively boring Los Angeles couple discover a bizarre, if not murderous way to get funding for opening a restaurant.
Man of a Thousand Faces Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) Character: Harry Earles (uncredited)
The turbulent life and professional career of vaudeville actor and silent screen horror star Lon Chaney (1883-1930), the man of a thousand faces; bearer of many personal misfortunes that even his great success could not mitigate.
Saboteur Saboteur (1942) Character: Midget - Circus Troupe
Aircraft factory worker Barry Kane flees across the United States after he is wrongly accused of starting the fire that killed his best friend.
Planet of the Apes Planet of the Apes (1968) Character: Child Ape (uncredited)
Astronaut Taylor crash lands on a distant planet ruled by apes who use a primitive race of humans for experimentation and sport. Soon Taylor finds himself among the hunted, his life in the hands of a benevolent chimpanzee scientist.
High Plains Drifter High Plains Drifter (1973) Character: Mordecai
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tried to kill him, the townsfolk decide to hire the Stranger to hold off three outlaws who are on their way.
Princess of the Nile Princess of the Nile (1954) Character: Tut (uncredited)
Shalimar, an Egyptian princess, striving to rid her country of its Bedouin conquerors, forms an alliance with Prince Haidi, son of the Caliph of Bagdad. She practices her intrigues both at the court and, disguised as a dancing girl, in the market place.
Three Texas Steers Three Texas Steers (1939) Character: Hercules - the Midget
Nancy Evans, lovely circus owner, has a ranch that she's never visited, but for sentimental reasons won't sell to Mike Abbott. Her partners, secretly in league with Abbott, sabotage the circus to force Nancy to sell the ranch; instead, she goes there to live. Will her neighbors, the Three Mesquiteers, be a match for the secret swindlers? And what's so valuable about that run-down ranch anyway?
The Wild McCullochs The Wild McCullochs (1975) Character: Charlie P.
A story about the rich McCulloch Family, their overbearing father and the children's misguided blaming him for everything that doesn't go right.
Lucky Legs Lucky Legs (1942) Character: Newsboy
Chorus girl Gloria Carroll inherits one million dollars from Broadway playboy Herbert Dinwiddle. Producer Ned McLane persuades her to advance him the money on a production called "Lucky Legs" that will star her. Unfortunately, the money has "made the rounds" prior to reaching Gloria and several less-than-scrupulous characters set out to separate Gloria from her inheritance.
Hellzapoppin' Hellzapoppin' (1941) Character: Bodyguard (uncredited)
Olsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
April Showers April Showers (1948) Character: Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
A married couple who have a song-and-dance act in vaudeville are in trouble. Their struggling act is going nowhere, they're almost broke and they have to do something to get them back on top or they'll really be in trouble. They decide to put their young son in the act in hopes of attracting some new attention. The boy turns out to be a major talent, audiences love him and the act is on its way to the top. That's when an organization whose purpose is to stop children from performing on stage shows up, and they're dead set on breaking up the act.
Evil Roy Slade Evil Roy Slade (1972) Character: Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
Orphaned and left in the desert as an infant, Evil Roy Slade (John Astin) grew up alone—save for his teddy bear—and mean. As an adult, he is notorious for being the "meanest villain in the West"—so he's thrown for quite a loop when he falls for sweet schoolteacher Betsy Potter (Pamela Austin). There's also Nelson L. Stool (Mickey Rooney), a railroad tycoon, who, along with his dimwitted nephew Clifford (Henry Gibson), is trying to get revenge on Evil Roy Slade for robbing him.
Maisie Was a Lady Maisie Was a Lady (1941) Character: Midget (Uncredited)
Showgirl Maisie Ravier finds herself once again out of work. She meets a wealthy playboy who hires her to be his family's new maid. Maisie soon finds herself trying to mend the family's many problems.
Robin and the 7 Hoods Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) Character: Newsboy
Set in Prohibition era Chicago, bootlegger Robbo and his cronies refuse to pay the greedy Guy Gisborne a cut of their profits after Guy shoots mob boss Big Jim and takes over. When Big Jim's daughter, Marian, gives Robbo a large sum, believing he has avenged her father's death, the gangster donates to an orphanage, cementing his reputation as a softhearted hood.
Out of Sight Out of Sight (1966) Character: The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
Teenage beach party/spy spoof/musical comedy about a plot to bomb a music fair. As his boss is on vacation, a superspy's butler must come to the rescue, while being pursued by a trio of gorgeous assassins who're agents of F.L.U.S.H. Features George Barris hotrods, along with the musical talents of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, The Astronauts, The Knickerbockers, Freddy and the Dreamers, and the only film appearance of The Turtles.
Limelight Limelight (1952) Character: Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
A fading music hall comedian tries to help a despondent ballet dancer learn to walk and to again feel confident about life.
The Wizard of Oz The Wizard of Oz (1939) Character: Munchkin (uncredited)
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scarecrow and a tin man as they make their way along the yellow brick road to talk with the Wizard and ask for the things they miss most in their lives. The Wicked Witch of the West is the only thing that could stop them.
Buck Privates Come Home Buck Privates Come Home (1947) Character: N/A
Two ex-soldiers return from overseas--one of them having smuggled into the country a French orphan girl he has become attached to. They wind up running into their old sergeant--who hates them--and getting involved with a race-car builder who's trying to find backers for a new midget racer he's building.
Little Cigars Little Cigars (1973) Character: Slick Bender
A gangster's former mistress hooks up with a troupe of circus midgets who, as a sideline, rob banks and casinos.
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp! Tramp, Tramp, Tramp! (1942) Character: Midget
Jackie Gleason and Jack Durant are teamed for the first and only time as Hank and Jed, a pair of dimwitted barbers who are forced into bankruptcy because all their customers have marched off to war. Figuring that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, Hank and Jed try to join the Army themselves, only to be rejected for a variety of reasons (When asked to read the eye-chart, Hank says he can't-not because he can't see, but because he can't read).
Pygmy Island Pygmy Island (1950) Character: Makuba
Jungle Jim searches for a female Army captain who's gone missing.
White House Madness White House Madness (1975) Character: Secret Service Man
The Nixon Administration falls apart in a farcical manner in the time of the Watergate Scandal.
Friendly Persuasion Friendly Persuasion (1956) Character: Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly opposed to violence and war. It's not easy for them to meet the rules of their religion in everyday life but when Southern troops pass the area they are in real trouble. Should they fight, despite their peaceful attitude?
The Incredible Shrinking Man The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957) Character: Midget
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to shrink, slowly but surely, until he is only a few inches tall. His home becomes a wilderness where he must survive everything from spiders living in the cellar to his beloved cat.
Head Office Head Office (1985) Character: Reverend Lynch
In this comic take on big-business wheelings and dealings, an ambitious senator's son moves up the corporate ladder through undeserved promotions. But against his better judgment, he falls for a woman (the chairman's daughter, no less) who's leading a protest against the company's shady business practices.
Norwood Norwood (1970) Character: Edmund B. Ratner
A Vietnam veteran returns to his Texas home but feels restless and decides to become a radio singer.
Hello, Dolly! Hello, Dolly! (1969) Character: Little Person (uncredited)
Dolly Levi is a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to see the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended, and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York City.
The Terror of Tiny Town The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) Character: The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Using a conventional Western story with an all dwarf cast, the filmmakers were able to showcase gags such as cowboys entering the local saloon by walking under the swinging doors, and pint-sized cowboys galloping around on Shetland ponies while roping calves.



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