"Oz Munchkin" Mickey Carroll Dies, Leaving Six Actors Left from "The Wizard of Oz"

Seven of the nine surviving Munchins from The Wizard of Oz were presented with the 2,352nd Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in November 2007. Present were Mickey Carroll, Ruth Duccini, Jerry Maren (holding lollipop in photo, as he was one of the "Lollipop Guild" in the movie), Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Slover and Clarence Swensen. Since then, Clarence Swensen has passed (on February 25, 2009) and now Mickey Carroll (1919-2009); as well as non-attendee Lewis Croft (who died on April 29, 2008). I went to the joyous unveiling of the star and covered it in my blog entry of November 20, 2007.

This leaves just six remaining "Munchkins" alive from the film: Ruth Duccini (b. 1918), Jerry Maren (b. 1920), Olga C. Nardone (b. 1919?), Margaret Pellegrini (b. 1923), Meinhardt Raabe (b. 1915), and Karl Slover (b. 1918). The sole reason why we know the complete list of "Munchkin" actors is due to the enormous efforts of author/researcher Stephen Cox, whose book The Munchkins of Oz (now in its third edition but originally published in 1989), set the record straight on the credits for the little people who were merely credited as "The Munchkins" in the movie. Had Cox not done the research in 1988-89, sifting through the call sheets and false claims, such an effort would have been impossible today.