ST. LOUIS — Mickey Carroll, one of the last surviving Munchkins from the 1939 beloved film “The Wizard of Oz,” died Thursday. He was 89.
His caretaker, Linda Dodge, said Carroll died in his sleep at her home. He had heart problems and received a pacemaker in February.
Carroll was one of more than 100 adults and children who were recruited to play the movie natives of what author L. Frank Baum called Munchkin Country in his 1900 book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” Carroll told The Associated Press in a 2007 interview that the Munchkins made $125 a week while filming the movie.
When “The Wizard of Oz” appeared on television in the 1960s, Carroll found a new career at charitable events, retail events and Oz-related events.
“It’s not me; it’s the movie,” Carroll said. “When they see me, they think of their childhood, and it makes them smile.”
Carroll played the part of the Munchkinland “Town Crier,” marched as a “Munchkin Soldier” and was the candy- striped “Fiddler” who escorted Dorothy Gale, played by Judy Garland, down the yellow brick road toward Emerald City.
Carroll was born Michael Finocchiaro on July 8, 1919, in St. Louis.
