Billy Curtis
Billy Curtis
Born to normal-sized parents, American midget actor Billy Curtis avoided the usual onus of freak-show employment as a youth, opting for a mainstream job as a shoe clerk. Encouraged by stock company actress Shirley Booth (later the star of the TV sitcom Hazel) to take a little person role in a stage production, Curtis soon became a professional actor, with numerous Broadway musical productions to his credit. Curtis' big movie season was 1938-39: he was cast as the Mayor of the Munchkin City in The Wizard of Oz (albeit with voice dubbed by Pinto Colvig) and as the cowboy hero of the all-midget western Terror of Tiny Town (1938). This last epic was one of the few instances that Curtis was cast as a good guy; many of his screen characters were ill-tempered and pugnacious, willing to bite a kneecap if unable to punch out an opponent. Seldom accepting a role which demeaned or patronized little people, Curtis played an obnoxious vaudeville performer compelled to sit on Gary Cooper's lap in Meet John Doe (1941), a suspicious circus star willing to turn Robert Cummings over to the cops in Saboteur (1942), and one of the many fair-weather friends of "The Incredible Shrinking Man" in the 1957 film of the same name. Billy Curtis' career thrived into the 1970s, notably with solid parts in the Clint Eastwood western High Plains Drifter (1973) and the crime-caper meller Little Cigars (1973), in which he had second billing as a diminutive criminal mastermind. Billy Curtis retired in the 1980s, except for the occasional interview or Wizard of Oz cast reunion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Filmography of Billy Curtis:
- Saboteur with Priscilla Lane , Robert Cummings , Norman Lloyd , Otto Kruger , Hans Conried , James Flavin , Margaret Hayes , Frank Marlowe , Belle Mitchell , Cyril Ring , William H. Ruhl , Charles Sherlock , Torin Thatcher , Archie Twitchell , Dale vanSickel , Claire Whitney , Ian Wolfe , Will Wright , Duke York
- Meet John Doe with Gary Cooper , Barbara Stanwyck , Edward Arnold , Walter Brennan , Spring Byington , James Gleason , Gene Lockhart , Rod LaRocque , Regis Toomey , John Farrell MacDonald , Stanley Andrews , Sterling Holloway , Mike J. Frankovich , Gary Cooper , Harry Davenport , Vernon Dent , Ann Doran , Edward Earle , Bess Flowers , William Forrest , John Hamilton , John Ince , Frank Jaquet , Alphonse Martell , Edward McWade , Gene Morgan , Forbes Murray , Paul Panzer , Edward Sr. Peil , Bob Perry , Susan Peters , Hal Price , Jack Richardson , Henry Roquemore , Cliff Saum , Walter Soderling , Wyndham Standing , Edwin Stanley , Fredrik Vogeding , Stanley Price
- Eating Raoul with Paul Bartel , Mary Woronov , Ed Jr. Begley , Hamilton Camp , Buck Henry , Edie McClurg
Billy Curtis Trivia
