Billy was born in 1924 in Millsboro Pennsylvania, with the name of William John Bertanzetti.

 

He appeared in his first Hollywood feature in 1927 at the age of three, and his performing career has touched upon eight decades, from vaudeville to Vegas, from radio to television and from television to Broadway. He also has done live stage and feature films.

As a child actor he was a standout in such films as "Alice in Wonderland", "A Midsummer's Night's Dream," "Golddiggers of 1933" and "The Mickey McGuire Comedies."

 

As an adult, Billy appeared in "Willow", "Foul Play", "Under the Rainbow", "Rumplestiltskin", and the "Day of the Locust", which nearly earned him an academy award nomination but he was edged out by Burgess Meredith.

 

He has worked with such Hollywood legends such as Mary Pickford, Busby Berkeley, Dick Powell, Mickey Rooney, Donald O'Connor, Milton Berle, Spike Jones, Elvis Presley, Rod Steiger, Goldie Hawn, Tom Cruise, Mel Brookes and George Lucas, with too many more to list here.

 

But this is not just the story of a great entertainer and his accomplishments, it is also the story of the three foot, nine inch tall giant, whose eternal gratitude goes to his parents who raised him from birth to be part of society, not apart from it.

 

Billy is a man who does not understand the word "limitation." The only thing Billy is sure of is "you've got to think big if you're gonna be big."

The lyric to Billy's theme song and the words he has lived by through years of discrimination, attitudinal barriers and the general massive hurdles that anyone-of any size-pursuing a career in the industry must jump.

 

At the age of three, Billy's parents decided to take the advice of Horace Greely.

They uprooted themselves and their children, Evelyn, Billy and Dolores, and departed from the coal mines of Eastern Pennsylvania, driving across the country to make a new life in California.

 

Billy was an athlete, lettering in college football, baseball, gymnastics and (believe it or not) basketball. But then why wouldn't you believe it? He remarks that there is nothing he has ever wanted to do that he hasn't been able to do (this from the self proclaimed president of the I've Never- Seen The- Top- Of- A Refrigerator Club),... and did I mention that I'm very humble? No? Good."

 

Billy has always believed that he is a work in progress, and he always has big plans for the future.

 

While performing with Spike Jones, Billy was asked by the PR man for a Reno Nevada hotel to host a convention for "midgets."

 

Billy agreed on April 3, 1957, twenty one people of short stature representing nine different states met in "The Biggest Little City in the World." The media loved the event, headlining them as "The Midgets of America," which bothered Billy a bit. 

" It bothered me because, first and foremost, we are people. We aren't sub-human, we didn't leap from the pages of a storybook or from an enchanted forest. We are people with all the hopes, dreams, passions, and faults of everyone else. Eighty percent of us are born into families with no history of dwarfism.

 

We are your brothers, your daughters, your friends. We just happened to have been wrapped in a smaller package. I wanted the name of our group to reflect

this truth."

 

Billy goes on to explain how a friend approached him about using her song "Little People" in his act. He loved it and thus "The Little People of America, Inc." was born, the group which later gave birth to the Billy Barty Foundation.

 

His is the only organization supporting those affected by the more than 200 forms of dwarfism. Besides providing much needed support, his organizations address social, medical and scholarship needs.

 

Billy's is a story rich in love of family and supportive friends, but it is also a story of discrimination, prejudice and the problems which few of us of average size are privy to. The difficulty which he has had breaking through the barriers, which people don't even know they have erected concerning a disability or an affliction, does not affect a person's abilities, only  their appearance.

"Try being my size and going into a public restroom."

 

Politically active for the rights of the disabled and handicapped people, he has made friends in the highest areas of government. He was invited to the George Bush Inagural and is proud to call him a friend.

 

Billy is happily married to the woman he vowed to marry the moment he met her. They have two children, Lori, a little person, and Braden six-foot one inch.

They have a beautiful granddaughter Tina.

 

"So this is my family. We are very close and loving, and have had many blessings from the Man upstairs. Shirley is an angel from heaven and she is the reason life is worth living for me. As far as our physical descriptions go, Braden is average, I'm a cartilage Hair Syndrome Hypoplasia, Shirley is a Multiple Epipesial Dysplasia, Lori is a Turner's Syndrome and our dog is a Maltese."