Billy Barty

 ( 1924 Births ) 

In the 1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933, a nine-year-old Barty appeared as a baby who escapes from his stroller. He also appeared as The Child in the 1933 film Footlight Parade. He is seen briefly in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein in an uncredited role as a baby in one of Dr. Pretorius' experiments, although his close-ups were cut from the film's final edit.

Much of Barty's film work consisted of and gag roles. He appeared in Fireman Save My Child (with Spike Jones), and also appeared in two Elvis Presley films, Roustabout (in one scene) and Harum Scarum, as a co-star without dialogue. In 1957 he appeared in the movie “The Undead” as The Imp.

Some of his more substantial film roles were as the elf Screwball in Legend; High Aldwin, the village elder, in Willow alongside Warwick Davis; Gwildor, creator of the cosmic key, in the 1987 cult classic film Masters of the Universe; and as cameraman Noodles MacIntosh in "Weird Al" Yankovic's UHF. He also did a delightful turn as J. J. MacKuen , the brash bible salesman who is attacked by Goldie Hawn in 1978’s Foul Play.

Barty also starred in a local Southern California children's show, Billy Barty's Bigtop, in the mid-1960s, which regularly showed The Three Stooges shorts. In one program, the Stooge Moe Howard visited the set as a surprise guest. The program gave many Los Angeles area children their first opportunity to become familiar with little people, till then little seen on the screen except as curiosities. He also appeared as a guest host on KTTV's Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade whenever "Sheriff John" Rovick was on vacation. Barty made regular appearances on The Red Skelton Hour during the mid-1960s.

Barty starred in full-body costumes in two children's television shows produced by Sid and Marty Krofft: as "Sparky the Firefly" in The Bugaloos from 1970 to 1972, and as "Sigmund" in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters from 1974 to 1976. Out of costume, he played the evil sidekick on the Kroffts' Dr. Shrinker from 1976 to 1977. He portrayed Toulouse Lautrec in the 1972 The Brady Bunch Saturday morning cartoons preview special The Brady Bunch Meet ABC's Saturday Superstars.

He was a regular cast member of the comedian Redd Foxx's variety show The Redd Foxx Show. Barty appeared in an episode of Barney Miller in 1977 and one of The Love Boat in 1978. He guest-starred in CHiPs, the final episode of Man from Atlantis ("Deadly Carnival"), and two episodes of Little House on the Prairie, playing first a circus member ("Annabelle"), then a single father trying to raise a baby daughter ("Little Lou"). Barty was regularly seen on Bizarre, a weekly Canadian TV sketch comedy series, airing from 1980 to 1985. In 1981, he appeared in a documentary called Being Different and in late 1985, he appeared as Rose Nylund's father in a dream sequence on an episode of The Golden Girls titled "A Little Romance". In 1972, Barty appeared in the second show of The Waltons,” The Carnival” as a carnival entertainer named Tommy Trimble. This would be the Waltons’ first contact with the outside world. On October 29, 1976, he appeared in the Paul Lynde Halloween Special as Gallows the Butler/and Pinky's boss, along with Margaret Hamilton reprising her role and dressed exactly as she looked in the musical fantasy film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) as “The Wicked Witch of the West.”

In 1982, Barty appeared in an episode of Hart to Hart called "A Christmas Hart" (Season 4, Episode 10).

In 1983, Barty supplied the voice for "Figment" in Epcot's Journey Into Imagination dark ride. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information. He briefly reprised the role in the ride's second version.

Barty was an annual guest-star on Canada's Telemiracle telethon, one of the most successful (per capita) telethons in the world.

Barty appeared on a 1976 episode of Celebrity Bowling paired with Dick Martin, defeating John Schuck and Michael Ansara, 120–118. He also appeared as himself in the 1981 documentary film Being Different.Jay Scott, "Rasky's 'freaks' turn out to be extraordinary ordinary people". The Globe and Mail, June 13, 1981.

In the 1980s, Barty owned a popular roller rink in Fullerton, California, that also booked bands on weekends.

In 1990, Barty was sued in small claims court by two of the writers of his cancelled comedy television series Short Ribbs, which aired for 13 weeks in the autumn of 1989 as a local program on KDOC-TV. Producer and writer William Winckler and writer Warren Taylor filed separate lawsuits against Barty for money owed, and Barty lost both cases. Barty claimed the lawsuit news was the most publicity he ever got, and compared it to similar press that celebrity Zsa Zsa Gabor received for slapping a Beverly Hills police officer.

A tribute book on Barty's life was published in December 2002. Within Reach: An Inspirational Journey into the Life, Legacy and Influence of Billy Barty was produced by Barty's nephew, Michael Copeland, and Copeland's wife, Debra.

Barty and his family were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Barty died of heart failure in 2000 at age 76. He is entombed in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

• Michael and Debra Copeland (2025). 9781591603917, Xulon Press. ISBN 9781591603917

• (2025). 9781591603917, Xulon Press. . ISBN 9781591603917