Meinhardt Raabe, 'Wizard Of Oz' Munchkin Coroner

Obituaries for folks in the entertainment world that have come to the end of the road.

Meinhardt Raabe, 'Wizard Of Oz' Munchkin Coroner

Postby Steve Sanderson » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:17 am

From my friends at Hollywoodmemoir.com

Meinhardt Raabe (September 2, 1915 – April 9, 2010) was an American actor. One of the last surviving
Munchkin-actors in The Wizard of Oz, he was also the last surviving cast member with any dialogue in the film.
He died on April 9, 2010 from a heart attack at age 94.

He was the coroner in The Wizard of Oz in 1939, with his only lines being:

As coroner, I must aver
I thoroughly examined her
And she's not only merely dead
She's really, most sincerely dead!
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Re: Meinhardt Raabe, 'Wizard Of Oz' Munchkin Coroner

Postby jon » Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:42 am

Looks like the last laugh is on the Munchkins.

From the documentaries I've seen on Wizard of Oz, they were pretty much shunned by the "full sized" actors they worked with. Judy Garland went as far, in a popular TV interview in the early '60s, as saying they were all a bunch of drunks.
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Re: Meinhardt Raabe, 'Wizard Of Oz' Munchkin Coroner

Postby drmusic » Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:37 pm

I also find it a bit ironic that Buddy Ebsen, who nearly died playing the Tin Man and was replaced by Jack Haley, outlived Haley and the other cast members by many years.

By the way, it turns out Raabe's lines were redubbed, though even he didn't know that until later in life.
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