Meinhardt Raabe
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Meinhardt Raabe (born September 2, 1915, in Jefferson County, Wisconsin) is one of the oldest surviving Munchkin-actors from The Wizard of Oz, and is now the only surviving cast member with any significant dialogue in the film. He appeared in an October 2005 episode of Entertainment Tonight with eight more surviving Munchkins, and made a guest appearance on The Jimmy Kimmel Show on April 11, 2005. In addition to his role in the film, wherein he played the coroner who pronounced the death of the Wicked Witch of the East, Raabe worked for many decades as a spokesman for Oscar Mayer.
Raabe graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1937, and appeared in The Wizard of Oz in 1939. His only lines in the film were:
- 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.
He recently published an autobiography titled Memories of a Munchkin: An Illustrated Walk Down the Yellow Brick Road. (ISBN 0-8230-9193-7).
Despite his age (he turned 91 on Sept. 2, 2006), Raabe still makes occasional appearances at Wizard of Oz conventions and celebrations across the country.
