One actor appeared in both the 1950s TV Superman show and the 1966 Batman Television show. That was a dwarf actor named Billy Curtis. If you've watched the shows you may recognize him from either or both, or the Wizard of Oz film!
Source: Dennis Hays, SUPERMAN: A Who's Who of the Man of Steel facebook group. June 27, 2024
Curtis was an American film and television actor with dwarfism who had a 50-year career in the entertainment industry.
The bulk of his work was in the western and science fiction genres. One of his early roles was uncredited as a Munchkin city father in The Wizard of Oz (1939). He had a featured role 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.
(Image: Billy Curtis appeared in Superman and the Mole Men (1951) as one of the mole men)
Curtis' work in westerns included the Clint Eastwood feature, High Plains Drifter (1973) in which he featured as Mordecai, a friendly dwarf sympathetic to Eastwood, he also appeared in the Musical/Western The Terror of Tiny Town (1938). This film is, as far as is known, 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. Curtis had a starring role in American International Pictures' Little Cigars (1973), about a gang of small people on a crime spree.
(Photo: Billy Curtis as "Mr. Zero" with Clark Kent (George Reeves) on the Adventures of Superman TV show in 1957)
Curtis appeared in three Superman-related TV projects in the 1950s. He played the lead Mole Man in Superman and the Mole Men (1951), in heavy make-up and costume. In 1957, he was the featured guest actor in the fifth season Adventures of Superman episode "Mr. Zero." Curtis played the title character, a friendly Martian, with his own face fully recognizable beneath a green wig.
(Photo: Billy Curtis as Superpup, for the TV show of the same name)
In 1958, Curtis played the leading role in the authorized children's show pilot The Adventures of Superpup. In a dog suit, and with all dialogue provided by another actor, Instead of dubbing in the voices, the actors who provided voices for the characters were seated off-camera, reciting the dialogue as it was filmed. Curtis played the dual role of Superpup and his civilian alter-ego, Bark Bent. (NOTE: The show never aired)
(Photo: Billy Curtis in the Batman 66 episode as a Henchman for the villain False Face)
In the episodes of the TV series Batman "True Or False Face" and "Holy Rat Race" Curtis is listed in the credits as "Midget". He is one of the henchmen working for False Face.
On June 27, 1909 Billy Curtis (born Luigi Curto) was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and would have been 115 years old this year.
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