Meinhardt Raabe died he was 94

Meinhardt Raabe died he was 94. Raabe 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. Raabe was born in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, resided at Penney Retirement Community, Penney Farms, Florida, where he died on April 9, 2010.^[1]

(September 2, 1915 – April 9, 2010)

Raabe graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1937.
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!

These lines, like most of those delivered by the Munchkins, were dubbed over with the speeded-up voices of other performers. In addition to his role in the film, Raabe worked for many decades as a spokesman for Oscar Mayer, where he was known as "Little Oscar, World's Smallest Chef". He traveled in the first Wienermobile, produced in 1936.



Raabe joined the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. After the war he earned an MBA, and married a cigarette girl who was his height, Margaret Marie Raabe (1915-1997).^[2] They were married for 50 years until her death in a car accident in 1997. Marie Raabe died on October 22, 1997, one day after the car she was riding in (Meinhardt was driving) ran into the back of a van, that had stopped to make a turn, near their retirement community in Penney Farms, Fl. Meinhardt Raabe was critically injured, but later recovered.


Raabe published an autobiography, Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road. (ISBN 0-8230-9193-7). As of 2007, he lived alone at the Penney Retirement Community in Penney Farms, Florida.^{[3] [4]}
Raabe appeared in an October 2005 episode of Entertainment Tonight with eight other surviving Munchkins, and made a guest appearance on The Jimmy Kimmel Show on April 11, 2005. On November 21, 2007, he appeared with six other surviving Munchkin actors, including Jerry Maren at the unveiling of a Hollywood Star for the Wizard of Oz Munchkins on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[5] On September 19, 2009 he appeared on National Public Radio program Weekend Edition Saturday.^[6]
Despite his age, Raabe still made occasional appearances at Wizard of Oz conventions and celebrations across the country.


In 2008 he was honored by the International Wizard of Oz Club with the organization's L. Frank Baum Memorial Award.
He died on April 9, 2010 from a heart attack at age 94.

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