‘Wizard of Oz’ star Jerry Maren dies

Jerry Maren, the last surviving munchkin from the classic 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and the one who famously welcomed Dorothy to Munchkin Land, has died at age 99.

Maren died on May 24 at a San Diego nursing home, his niece, Stacy Michelle Barrington, confirmed.

In an entertainment career that spanned more than 70 years, he portrayed The Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese in McDonald’s commercials, appeared in scores of films and TV shows and made personal appearances as Little Oscar for Oscar Mayer hot dogs.

But it was his role as one of the Lollipop Kids in The Wizard of Oz that always held a special place in his heart. He would show up regularly at film conventions, munchkin gatherings and other events honouring the cast over the years.

“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 said during a 2011 interview for the publication North Hollywood Patch.

“But then I realised,” he added, “Geez, it must have been a hell of a picture, because everyone remembers it everywhere I go.”

Maren, who stood just 4-feet-3, was one of more than 100 little people recruited to play munchkins in the movie.

He stood out from almost all the others, however, as the Lollipop Kid who sang and danced his way to front and centre before the film’s star, Judy Garland as Dorothy, and then, with a flourish, handed her an oversized lollipop.

Maren said he ad-libbed that lollipop handoff in an early take and the director liked it so much he told him to keep doing it.

More than half a century later he’d ad lib the song’s lyrics, concluding, “We wish to welcome you to Smithsonian Institute,” as he helped lead the unveiling of a 2006 exhibition of the movie’s memorabilia at Washington’s Smithsonian Institution.

Born Gerald Marenghi in Boston on Jan. 24, 1919, Maren was singing and dancing at a show at a Connecticut hotel in 1938 when MGM talent scouts saw the diminutive teenager actor and invited him to Hollywood to join the munchkin cast. Having dreamed since childhood of a being a Hollywood film actor, he jumped at the chance. He would later recall being paid $50 a week for the role, twice what his father was making.

He’d go on to appear in dozens of other films, TV show and commercials.

Other films included Under the Rainbow, the 1981 send-up of the making of The Wizard of Oz, and Hello, Dolly!

Maren was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Maren. The couple had no children.