LOS ANGELES - Billy Barty, a three-foot-10 character actor whose career spanned seven decades, died Saturday of heart failure. He was 76. Barty had been hospitalized in Glendale for heart problems and a lung infection, said his publicist, Bill York. Barty appeared in his first Hollywood feature in 1927 at the age of three and has performed for radio, television and on Broadway.

He played a number of outrageous characters, including a wizard in the movie Willow (1988), a tongue-in-cheek role as a German spy in Under the Rainbow (1981) with Chevy Chase, and a suspected stalker in Foul Play (1978).

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he played Mickey Rooney's kid brother in the Mickey McGuire series of comedy shorts. He had several TV appearances, most recently in an episode of Frasier.

In 1957, Barty founded Little People of America, an advocacy group for others with dwarfism. He later started a non-profit foundation that bears his name.

Barty was injured in May when he fell of a motorized scooter onto concrete stairs, bruising his face and fracturing an eye socket. He had been using the scooter since undergoing hip surgery earlier in the year. Despite the injury, he said he was feeling alright.

I feel good. I just look horrible, he said at the time.

Barty was born in Millsboro, Pa., in 1924. A graduate of California State University, Los Angeles, received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater in 1995. He also had been appointed to the City Commission on Disabilities and the County Commission on Disabilities.

Survivors include his wife, Shirley; a son; a daughter; and a granddaughter.