Jerry Maren, the last living actor who played a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, has died at the age of 98.
Maren died May 24 at a San Diego nursing home according to The Associated Press. He worked for more than 70 years as an actor, including portrayals of The Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese in McDonald’s commercials.
Maren (born Gerard Merenghi) was one of more than 100 actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic and was the last known living Munchkin. As one of the Lollipop Kids, Maren famously hands Dorothy an oversized lollipop during the introductory song as she reaches Munchkin Land, a move that Maren said he ad-libbed during filming.
Just 4-foot-3, Maren was 18 when he got the role in The Wizard of Oz. He was a trained actor, singer, and dancer on the vaudeville circuit and was scouted by MGM producers for the position.
According to the AP, he delighted in the impact the film had on generations of fans:
“I’ve done so many things in show business but people say, ‘You were in The Wizard of Oz?’ It takes people’s breath away,” he told writer Paul Zollo during a 2011 interview for the publication North Hollywood Patch.
“But then I realized,” he added, “Geez, it must have been a hell of a picture, because everyone remembers it everywhere I go.”
Stacy Michelle Barrington, a niece, confirmed on Twitter that Maren had died from heart failure.
https://twitter.com/StacyMichelleB/status/1004465397645668364
Word quickly spread online, with fans of the iconic film expressing their best wishes online, including a Wizard of Oz museum.
We are sad to report that we have just confirmed the passing of Jerry Maren, the Lollipop Guild Munchkin, who delighted audiences and festival goers for years. While Jerry joins his late wife Elizabeth somewhere over the rainbow, we are all happy to have known him. RIP, Jerry. pic.twitter.com/TjUpNSiyFb
— All Things Oz Museum ™ (@ATO_museum) June 6, 2018
The New York Times also has a wonderful obituary of Maren, which noted the respect many other Munchkins had for him while shooting the film. He also worked hard to debunk wild rumors of Munchkins on-set drinking and creating trouble, more interested in partying than filming the movie.
In his book, Mr. Maren blamed a troubled Judy Garland, who played Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” for erroneously painting her dwarf castmates as miscreants. Referring to a 1967 television interview in which she told Jack Paar that the Munchkins “all got smashed every night” and had to be “picked up in butterfly nets,” Mr. Maren wrote: “Judy was telling it according to her pills and booze that day. She left behind a legacy of untruths about us.”
Later, in 1957 he helped found Little People of America, a nonprofit advocacy organization that claims more than 6,000 members.
