Jerry Maren - # 184

Jerry Maren, last surviving munchkin from 'The Wizard of Oz,' dies at 98

He was number 184 on the list.

Actor Jerry Maren, the green-clad tough guy of the Lollipop Guild who famously handed Dorothy (Judy Garland) a giant lollipop in the 1939 film classic “The Wizard of Oz,” has died at 98.

Standing at 4 feet 3, Maren was the longest-living member of the munchkins and the last surviving little person to appear in the iconic film.

He died on May 24 in a San Diego nursing home, his niece Stacy Michelle Barrington confirmed to the Los Angeles Times. News of his death only began circulating on Wednesday. His nephew Lloyd Decker told the New York Times that the cause of death was congestive heart failure.

Maren suffered from dementia for the past several years. He was diagnosed shortly after his wife, Elizabeth, died in 2011.

The diminutive actor paved the way for many like him who followed him to Tinseltown and helped found Little People of America, an organization devoted to improving the status of little people.

“Hey, I’m a normal human being. All of us little people are,” Maren told The Times in 1993. “Some are wise guys. Some are a pain in the ass, just like the bigger folks. All the world is represented in little people.”

Maren moved beyond society's stereotypes of shortness to make a successful living as an actor and spokesman. He racked up nearly 100 film and TV credits and starred in several commercials. He also played McDonald's Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese, as well as Buster Brown and Little Oscar in Oscar Mayer's 1950s ad campaigns.

Actor Kevin Thompson, a longtime friend of Maren’s and also a member of Little People of America, met Maren while they played on the Hollywood Shorties baseball team for little people when Thompson was 11 years old. Thompson, who appeared alongside Maren in several pilots, noted that Maren “worked eight days a week as an actor, extra, stand-in or stunt double.”

“Everybody knew Jerry Maren on every set I ever went to,” Thompson said. “If he wasn't working, he was down at the Santa Anita racetrack. He liked those ponies … he was a downright nice guy, always had a cigar in his mouth like George Burns.”

Stephen Cox — who co-authored Maren’s 2008 autobiography, “Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin,” and “The Munchkins of Oz” — tracked down all the munchkins years after “The Wizard of Oz” debuted.

“He was one of the few pituitary dwarves, meaning they are proportionally correct, only miniature,” Cox told The Times on Wednesday. “And that’s the type of little people that MGM sought when they were making ‘The Wizard of Oz.’”

Of the 124 munchkins who appeared in the film, Cox said about 96% were pituitary dwarves.

“Jerry was sometimes a quirky little guy,” Cox said. “He was extremely generous, especially with other little people. He wanted to see them succeed and stay afloat and he didn’t want to hear about his friends being in crisis.”

Maren, who felt a responsibility with his fame, would often offer other little people money when he saw them at “Oz” reunions.

Cox said Maren certainly made a lot of money in film and television but also reaped the benefits of successful real estate investments in Southern California as well as lucrative ad campaigns.

Hey, I’m a normal human being. All of us little people are.

Jerry Maren

Born Gerard Marenghi in Boston on Jan. 24, 1920, Maren was the last of 10 children born into an Italian American family of average-sized people.

He worked in vaudeville with friends and family while growing up, learning to sing and tap dance onstage in Boston. When MGM put out a search for little people for “The Wizard of Oz,” Maren packed up and moved to Hollywood at 18 to make his film debut.

“He got the job because he was one of the few who knew how to tap dance,” Thompson said.

The diminutive star appeared in the 1939 Marx Brothers film “At the Circus” (1939) and as an ape in 1973’s “Battle for the Planet of the Apes” and then in “Little Cigars” the same year. The latter film follows a gang of little people on a crime spree.

He was a regular on “The Andy Williams Show” in the 1960s and showered bad performers with paper as “The Gong Show's” Confetti Man in the 1970s. He also had a walk-on role in “Seinfeld’s” “The Yada Yada” episode.

During World War II, he took time off to perform for wounded soldiers at hospitals on USO tours, Thompson recalled.

“He would say, ‘I served. I may not have fought … , but I served. I played at every single hospital no matter where it was,’” Thompson said. “He was proud of that.”

Services for Maren were held at Forest Lawn in Hollywood over the weekend, according to TMZ, which was first to report his death on Wednesday.

Maren is survived by nieces, nephews and cousins.

Filmography

Film

Year     Title            Role            Notes

1938    The Terror of Tiny Town            Townsperson            Uncredited

1939    Tiny Troubles            Light Fingered Lester            Short

The Wizard of Oz        Green Member of the Lollipop Guild            Uncredited

At the Circus            Little Professor Atom            As Jerry Marenghi

1940    The Golden Fleecing            Midget in Phone Booth            Uncredited

1941    Maisie Was a Lady            Midget            Uncredited

1942    True to the Army            Col. Delaroy            Uncredited

Fingers at the Window            Small Boy            Uncredited

Beyond the Blue Horizon            Native            Uncredited

Here We Go Again   Body Double for Charlie McCarthy in Motion Also stand-in for Charlie McCarthy

1943    Flesh and Fantasy            Midget            Uncredited

1944    Silent Partner            Messenger            Uncredited

Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore            Gremlin           

1945    Bring on the Girls            Midget in Fireman Skit            Uncredited

The Great John L.         Midget

That's the Spirit            Midget            Uncredited

Duffy's Tavern            Midget            Uncredited

An Angel Comes to Brooklyn            Midget Baby            Uncredited

1946    Three Wise Fools            Sir Boulder            Uncredited

1948    Are You with It?            Midget            Uncredited

When My Baby Smiles at Me       Midget            Uncredited

1949    Samson and Delilah            Jester            Uncredited

1951            Superman and the Mole Men            Mole-Man            Uncredited

1968    Planet of the Apes            Child Ape            Uncredited

1969    Hello, Dolly!   Midget            Uncredited

1970    Bigfoot            Baby Creature          

1971    Outlaw Riders            Bartender        

Dirty Harry            Stunts            Uncredited

1973    Little Cigars            Cadillac         

1978    The Amazing Captain Nemo              TV movie

The Bad News Bears Go to Japan   Page Boy     

The Lord of the Rings            Character Actor            Voice

1979            Americathon    Act      

Prophecy            Stunts  

The Making of The Wizard of Oz        Himself

1980    Where the Buffalo Roam   Bell Man    

1981    Side Show   Tom Tiny      TV movie

Under the Rainbow            Hotel Rainbow Guest

1982    Tron                 Uncredited

1983            Something Wicked This Way Comes Demon Midget            Uncredited

High School U.S.A. Robot            TV movie

The Being            Monster           As Jerry Marin

1984    Hot Moves  Arcade Vendor

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear    Elf #3            TV movie

1985            Petronella         George            TV movie

House  Little Critter 

Graffiti  Citizen            Short

1987            Spaceballs                   Uncredited

1988    The Great Outdoors            The Old Man Stranger            Uncredited

1990    The Dreamer of Oz            Mr. Munchkin            TV movie

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: 50 Years of Magic   Himself

1993    We're Off to See the Munchkins                   

1994    The Bible According to Hollywood            Himself

In Search of Oz            Himself

I Married a Munchkin            Himself

1998            Glorious Technicolor            Himself

1999    A Tribute to The Wizard of Oz            Himself

2000    Bit Players Oompa Loompa            Short

2001            Memories of Oz            Himself

2004    Todd Browning's 'Freaks': The Sideshow Cinema Himself            Also "Special Thanks" credit

2005    Best Ever Family Films    Himself

The 100 Greatest Family Films    Himself

2009    The Yellow Brick Road and Beyond            Actor / Munchkin            Also "Special Thanks" credit, credited as Jerry Marin

Hollywood Celebrates Its Biggest Little Stars!   Himself

The 78th Annual Hollywood Christmas Parade Himself

To Oz! The Making of a Classic Himself            (Archive footage)

2010            Frankenstein Rising            Manlon

Dahmer vs. Gacy    Mime  

Heroic Ambition            Himself

2011    Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time     Himself

2016    The Hollywood Shorties            Himself            (Archive footage)

Television

Title      Year            Role            Notes

1953            Adventures of Superman            Mole-Man #3            2 episodes, archive footage

1954    Smilin' Ed's Gang                     1 episode

1955    Andy's Gang    Buster Brown  Voice

1956            Producers' Showcase              1 episode

1960    This Is Your Life            Himself            1 episode

1965    Bob Hope Christmas Show   Sketch Performer            Uncredited

1966    The Beverly Hillbillies            Spaceman #2 1 episode

1967            Bewitched       Gremlin            1 episode

The Wild Wild West    Coco            1 episode

1968    The Bob Hope Special Santa's Elf        1 episode

1969-1971            The Andy Williams Show   The Little General   

1970    Julia            Little Green Man            1 episode

Get Smart            Lower Gemini  1 episode

1971    Here's Lucy     Milton            1 episode

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In         Himself            1 episode

1971-1972            Lidsville            Boris/Rah-Rah 17 episodes

1975    The Odd Couple            Harry Tallman            1 episode

When Things Were Rotten            Archer            1 episode

1976    The Gong Show            Confetti Thrower          

Van Dyke and Company            Midget Basketball Player   1 episode

1977    Switch            Shoe Shiner   1 episode

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman            Dash            5 episodes

Charlie's Angels  Circus Worker            1 episode

1978            Hollywood Greats            Himself            1 episode

1982    Lou Grant    Man on Street   1 episode

No Soap, Radio   Morris            5 episodes

1983            Wizards and Warriors            Floyd the Feather            1 episode

1986    The Twilight Zone            Creature          1 episode, segment: "Personal Demons"

1989    Short Ribbs               1 episode

1992    MGM: When the Lion Roars   Himself            1 episode

1997    Seinfeld            Dad            1 episode

Biography            Himself            1 episode

1998    E! Mysteries & Scandals            Himself            1 episode

1999-2000            The Daily Show            Himself            2 episodes