Meinhardt Raabe One of Last Surviving Munchkin Dies

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Meinhardt Raabe One of Last Surviving Munchkin Dies


Meinhardt Raabe, one of the last surviving Munchkins from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ died on the morning of April 9, the New York Times is reporting. The 94-year-old actor is presumed to have died from a heart attack.

Cindy Bosnyak, Raabe’s caregiver, said he was taken to a hospital after he collapsed and went into cardiac arrest at the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida. He had lived at the community home since 1986, and had complained of a sore throat prior to collapsing.

Raabe graduated from the University of Wisconsin and was a World War II veteran. He also played Little Oscar, the mascot of Oscar Mayer meats, for almost 30 years. But the actor, who was 4 feet 7 inches, is best remembered for his only on-screen appearance, his un-credited role in ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ He appeared in the classic movie for just 13 seconds, saying “As coroner, I must aver, I thoroughly examined her. And she’s not only merely dead, she’s really most sincerely dead.”

Written by: Karen Benardello