Billy Curtis (born Luigi Curto; June 27, 1909 – November 9, 1988) was an American film and television actor with

dwarfism Dwarfism is a condition wherein an organism is exceptionally small, and mostly occurs in the animal kingdom. In humans, it is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than , regardless of sex; the average adult height among people with dw ...

, who had a 50-year career in the entertainment industry.

Career

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 A Munchkin is a native of the fictional Munchkin Country in the Oz books by Americans, American author L. Frank Baum. They first appear in the classic children's novel ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' (1900) where they welcome Dorothy Gale to thei ...

city father in ''

The Wizard of Oz ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' or ''The Wizard of Oz'' most commonly refers to: *'' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'', a 1900 American novel by L. Frank Baum often reprinted as ''The Wizard of Oz'' ** Wizard of Oz (character), from the Baum novel serie ...

'' (1939). He had a featured role as part of the circus troupe in Alfred Hitchcock's ''

Saboteur Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. One who engages in sabotage is a ''saboteur''. Saboteurs typically try to conceal their identitie ...

'' (1942). He also appeared in ''

Superman and the Mole Men ''Superman and the Mole Men'' is a 1951 American independent black-and-white superhero film released by Lippert Pictures. Produced by Barney A. Sarecky and directed by Lee Sholem, it stars George Reeves as Superman and Phyllis Coates as Lois La ...

'' (1951), a

B-Picture A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

intended as the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

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 in ''The Adventures of Superman'' television series, titled "Mister Zero". As the title character, he portrayed a stranded refugee from Ma