Biography

Tall, hulking character actor Dick Curtis spent years at Columbia Pictures menacing everyone from cowboy star Charles Starrett to the slapstick team of The Three Stooges. Curtis, unlike many movie villains, showed a genuine flair for comedy--especially physical comedy--in his many appearances in the studio's two-reelers and could do a double-take, a pratfall, take a pie in the face, a finger-poke to the eyes or a crowbar on the top of the head with the best of them. Although much of his career was spent at Columbia, where he specialized in western villains, he can also be seen as one of the crewmen who set out to rescue Fay Wray from the clutches of the giant ape in the original King Kong (1933).

He died in Hollywood of pneumonia in 1952.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

He was seriously injured while filming King Kong (1933)--in which he played one of Carl Denham's crewmen--and didn't work for two years.

Along with fellow cowboy actor Russell Hayden, he helped develop Pioneertown, a western movie set location in Southern California that was used for many film and TV westerns.

Was suffering from lung cancer at the time of his death.

He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California. Its funeral home supplied his casket.