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Quick Facts
- NAME: Billy Barty
- OCCUPATION: Actor, Comedian
- BIRTH DATE: October 25, 1924
- DEATH DATE: December 23, 2000
- EDUCATION: L.A. City College
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Millsboro, Pennsylvania
- PLACE OF DEATH: Glendale, California
- Originally: William John Bertanzetti
Best Known For
Billy Barty is best known for his long acting career, even as he fought for the rights of little people.
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Play NowBilly Barty. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 04:22, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534.
Billy Barty. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534 [Accessed 20 May 2013].
"Billy Barty." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 04:22 http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534.
"Billy Barty," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534 [accessed May 20, 2013].
"Billy Barty," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534 (accessed May 20, 2013).
Billy Barty [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534.
Billy Barty, http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534 (last visited May 20, 2013).
Billy Barty. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/billy-barty-9542534. Accessed May 20, 2013.
Synopsis
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Profile
Actor, comedian. Born William John Bertanzetti on October 25, 1924 in Millsboro, Pennsylvania. Born into a performing family, Billy charmed his way into silent pictures at the age of three. As a child actor, he appeared in such films as Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer's Night's Dream and The Mickey McGuire Comedies. Though he would never grow taller than 3-feet 9-inches, Billy acted steadily and performed on the vaudeville circuit until he went to college.
Throughout the 1950s, Barty appeared on numerous variety programs, soon becoming America's most popular little person. Adult film roles included Willow, Foul Play, Rumpelstiltskin and Day of the Locust. Though he continued to get minor film and TV roles throughout his life, Billy knew that parts for little people in Hollywood were limited in both number and variety.
In the 1950s, little was understood about Barty's condition - dwarfism. In 1957, he founded the Little People of America Association and hosted the first convention for little people in Reno, Nevada. Through the association and later through his own Billy Barty Foundation, he worked to raise awareness and money for medical research and issues concerning little people, using the motto "Think big."
In December 2000, Barty died of lung and heart failure. He was survived by his wife, Shirley, and their two children, Lori and Braden.
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