Ruth Duccini, who was the last female Wizard of Oz Munchkin, died on Thursday at the age of 95.
Her son, Fred Duccini, confirmed the news to the Los Angeles Times. She died at a Las Vegas hospice of natural causes.
Duccini was among the 124 “little people” who were brought in by MGM to play Munchkins in the 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz, based on the L. Frank Baum novel. The Best Picture Oscar nominee starred Judy Garland as Dorothy and is still a perennial favorite on television. The film celebrated its 75th anniversary and was re-released in theaters in 3D and IMAX last fall.
The BBC notes that Duccini was born in Rush City, Minnesota in 1918 and said in interviews that before arriving in Hollywood, she didn’t know there were others like her. She met her husband while at MGM and they had a son and daughter. She also worked at Douglas Aircraft in Santa monica during World War II.
She was one of the Munchkins to go back to Hollywood when the Munchkins received their own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2007.
Jerry Maren, 93, is the last surviving Munchkin. He played Lollypop Guild Munchkin.
Karl Slover died in November 2011 at age 93 and Margaret Pellegrini died in August 2013 at age 89.
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