Jerry Maren, the last surviving munchkin from The Wizard of Oz – he represented the Lollipop Guild, memorably presenting Judy Garland’s Dorothy with a large, red and white swirled lollipop just before she and Toto headed off to see the Wizard – has died. Maren was 98, according to reports.
In an article published on Wednesday, June 6, 2018, TMZ reported that actor Jerry Maren had passed away a week earlier. According to the gossip rag, Maren, who’d reportedly suffered from dementia, died at a nursing home in San Diego, Calif.
Maren, who was known for his role as a member of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz, was 98 years old. His cause of death has not yet been released.
Maren was one of more than 100 little people cast to populate the 1939 MGM film’s Munchkinland, and distinguished himself as one of the three grimacing, shuffling, tough-boy Lollipop Guild Munchkins. In one of the film’s most charming moments, he shyly handed Dorothy the giant candy to thank her for dropping a house on a witch.
Maren’s funeral was held in Hollywood’s Forest Lawn over the weekend of June 2.
In addition to his work on the classic Judy Garland-led film, Maren also had roles in movies like the Marx brothers’ At the Circus and Planet of the Apes, as well as TV shows like The Twilight Zone, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bewitched, and No Soap, Radio. Most recently, he starred in 2010’s Dahmer vs. Gacy.
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“I’ve done so many things in show business,” Maren told Patch in a 2011 interview, “but people say, ‘You were in The Wizard of Oz?’ It takes people’s breath away. But then I realized, geez, it must have been a hell of a picture, because everyone remembers it everywhere I go.”
Maren, whose Elizabeth died in 2011, reportedly suffered from dementia in recent years, and poked fun at his own longevity with Instagram posts noting, “I”m still not dead kiddos.”
Here are a few of his social media posts:
(Excerpts) Read More at: NickiSwift.com and Deadline.com
