Last surviving 'Wizard of Oz,' munchkin Jerry Maren dies скачать в хорошем качестве

Last surviving 'Wizard of Oz,' munchkin Jerry Maren dies

(7 Jun 2018) LAST SURVIVING 'WIZARD OF OZ' MUNCHKIN, 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 the age of 99. Maren died on 24 May at a San Diego nursing home, his niece, Stacy Michelle Barrington, told The Associated Press on Wednesday (6 JUNE 2018.) 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. Maren, who stood just four-feet-3 (1.3 meters), 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. Born Gerald Marenghi in Boston on January 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 US dollars 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. Among them was another film classic in its own right, "The Terror of Tiny Town," a traditional Western but with a little people cast. Other films included "Under the Rainbow," the 1981 sendup of the making of "The Wizard of Oz," and "Hello, Dolly!" He appeared on TV in episodes of "Seinfeld," ''The Twilight Zone," ''The Beverly Hillbillies," ''Bewitched," ''The Wild Wild West," ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," ''Lou Grant" and "Julia," among others. But Maren's connection to "The Wizard of Oz" never faded. He attended munchkin reunion gatherings frequently, and with the 2014 death of fellow munchkin Ruth Robinson Duccini he became the group's final survivor. In 2007, he and other munchkins attended the unveiling of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame honouring them. In 2013 he placed his handprints in cement outside Hollywood's Chinese Theatre to promote the release of a 3-D version of "The Wizard of Oz." Maren was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth Maren. The couple had no children. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...