Perhaps the most recognized midget actor of the last 50 years, Barty began his long career at age three in comedies and children's shows. He played Mickey Rooney's younger brother in the Mickey McGuire shorts before making his feature debut in 1933, and is probably best remembered for his impish performances as mischievous, all-too-knowing children in the Busby Berkeley films, "Footlight Parade" and "Golddiggers of 1933" (both 1933), and as the irascible dwarf in the cockfight episode of "The Day of the Locust" (1975). An activist for the rights of Little People, he started the Billy Barty Foundation in 1975.