Jerry Maren

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Jerry Maren (2010)

Jerry Maren (born January 24, 1920 in Boston , Massachusetts as Gerard Marenghi , † May 24, 2018 in San Diego , California ) was an American actor .

In a period of over 70 years, the short actor had more than 60 film and television appearances. Since the death of Ruth Duccini in January 2014, Maren has been the last living Munchkin actor from the classic film The Wizard of Oz (1939).

life and career

Career

From a young age, Maren pursued the goal of becoming an actor and took dance lessons for it. In November 1938, Maren, who was around one meter tall at the time, joined a group of dwarfs in New York that traveled by bus to California to pursue a career in Hollywood. Maren soon got his first roles, for example in The Wizard of Oz (1939): Here his character belonged to the Munchkins and gives Judy Garlands a lollipop to Dorothy as a member of the three-headed Lollipop Guild dressed in green . He also played supporting roles in the films of the Little Rascals and the Marx Brothers .

Maren appeared in numerous films and television shows over the next few decades. He often played dwarves , gremlins or animals, for example he embodied an ape in Planet of the Apes and its sequel The Battle of the Planet of the Apes . Together with Billy Curtis , he played in Little Cigars in 1973 about a criminal gang of midgets. In 2010 he had smaller appearances in Frankenstein Rising and Dahmer Vs. Gacy .

Maren also appeared as an "advertising face", for example he traveled through the United States in the 1950s as the advertising character Little Oscar in the Wienermobile for the Oscar Mayer company . For McDonald’s , he embodied the advertising characters Mayor McCheese and The Hamburglar in various commercials. He also worked as a film double for child actors such as Jodie Foster and Ron Howard .

Other appearances

Maren's public appearances were mainly related to the film The Wizard of Oz . He appeared at numerous film and fan festivals because of the film. In 2007 the Munchkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , and Maren and six other Munchkin performers also attended the ceremony. When Margaret Thatcher died in April 2013, some of her opponents brought the song Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead from the film hit the UK charts. Maren then criticized the song's abuse to celebrate someone's death. Since the death of Ruth Duccini in January 2014, Maren has been considered the last survivor of the more than 100 short Munchkin actors.

Jerry Maren (left) with (to right) Karl Slover , Clarence Swenson and Margaret Pellegrini at a Wizard of Oz event (1998)

With his friend and fellow actor Billy Barty , he founded the Little People of America , a non-profit organization that advocates for the rights of short people in Hollywood. In 2018 the organization had around 6,000 members.

Maren published his biography, Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin, with Stephen Cox in 2008 . He left his imprints at the TCL Chinese Theater in September 2013 .

Private life

Maren was married to actress Elizabeth Barrington from 1975 until her death in January 2011 at the age of 69. The couple lived in Southern California. Jerry Maren, who had dementia in the last few years of his life, died of heart failure in a San Diego nursing home in May 2018 at the age of 98. He was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Stephen Cox and Jerry Maren: Short and Sweet: The Life and Times of the Lollipop Munchkin ; 2008
  • Stephen Cox: The Munchkins of Oz ; 1989

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Philip Potempa philip.potempa@nwi.com, (219) 852-4327: Final female 'Oz' Munchkin Ruth Duccini dead at 95 . In: nwitimes.com . ( nwitimes.com [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  2. ↑ excerpt from You Tube ; Maren is the green-clad Munchkin in the middle
  3. ↑ Jerry Maren, Who Sang and Danced as a Munchkin in Oz, Dies at 98 . In: The New York Times . June 6, 2018, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Wizard of Oz munchkins slam protesters for using film song Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead to mock Thatcher's death . In: Mail Online . ( dailymail.co.uk [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  5. ↑ JOHN M. GLIONNA: Group Honors Little Big Man as Role Model: Heroes: Actor Jerry Maren paved the way for midgets and dwarfs in Hollywood. He helped found an organization for improving their status. In: Los Angeles Times . August 2, 1993, ISSN  0458-3035 ( latimes.com [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  6. ↑ Jerry Maren, Who Sang and Danced as a Munchkin in Oz, Dies at 98 . In: The New York Times . June 6, 2018, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Excerpt from the ceremony on YouTube
  8. ↑ Philip Potempa philip.potempa@nwi.com, 219.852.4327: OFFBEAT: 'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin's wife, Elizabeth Maren, dead at 69 . In: nwitimes.com . ( nwitimes.com [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  9. ↑ Jerry Maren, Who Sang and Danced as a Munchkin in Oz, Dies at 98 . In: The New York Times . June 6, 2018, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed June 6, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Emmeline Saunders: Wizard Of Oz star Jerry Maren dies aged 98 . In: mirror . June 6, 2018 ( mirror.co.uk [accessed June 6, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Maren, Jerry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marenghi, Gerard (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 24, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Boston , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 2018
Place of death San Diego , California