Billy Curtis (born Luigi Curto; June 27, 1909 – November 9, 1988) was an American film and television actor with dwarfism, who had a 50-year career in the entertainment industry.
Early years
Curtis was born Luigi Curto in Springfield, Massachusetts,[2] on June 27, 1909.[1] He had three older brothers and a younger sister. After his graduation from high school at age 16, he worked in a store before joining a local stock theater company.[3]
Career
Before Curtis performed in films, he was an acrobat in vaudeville and a professional wrestler. His work in films included being a double for child stars.[4]
The bulk of his work was in the western and science fiction genres, portraying a little person. One of his early roles was uncredited as a Munchkin city father in The Wizard of Oz (1939). He featured as part of the circus troupe in Alfred Hitchcock's Saboteur (1942). He also appeared in Superman and the Mole Men (1951), a B-Picture intended as the pilot for the Adventures of Superman TV series. Curtis followed up this role by playing yet another alien visitor in an episode of the last season of The Adventures of Superman television series, titled "Mister Zero". As the title character, he portrayed a stranded refugee from Mars who visits the Metropolis Daily Planet newspaper office, asking to be taken to Earth's leader.
Curtis's work in westerns included the Clint Eastwood feature High Plains Drifter (1973) in which he was featured as Mordecai, a friendly dwarf sympathetic to Eastwood's character. He also appeared in the Musical/Western The Terror of Tiny Town (1938). As far as is known, the film is the world's only Western with an all-midget cast. Many of the actors in Tiny Town were part of a performing troupe called Singer's Midgets, who also played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz.[5] In 1973 he appeared as Arizona in an episode of Gunsmoke titled "Arizona Midnight". He had a starring role in American International Pictures' Little Cigars (1973), about a gang of small people on a crime spree.
Curtis was also Mayor McCheese.[2] After Curtis' death, McDonald's retired the character.[1]
On Broadway, Curtis portrayed a little boy in Anything Goes (1934) and Every Man for Himself (1940).[6]
Death
Curtis died November 9, 1988, aged 79 in Dayton, Nevada of a heart attack. His body was cremated, and the urn went to his wife.[1]
^O'Connor, John E and Peter C Rollins. "Hollywood's West:
The American Frontier In Film, Television, And History." 2006. American Historical Review. Ed. Professional Development Review. web. October 2, 2015.
^"Billy Curtis". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on May 24, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
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