1. Jerry Maren became the last surviving adult Munchkin following the death of Ruth Duccini in 2014, and was the last surviving cast member with a specifically identifiable speaking or singing role.
21 Facts About Jerry Maren
1. 2.
Gerard Marenghi, eventually known as Jerry Maren, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the youngest of eleven or twelve children.
3.
At the age of 12, Maren started taking dancing lessons with his sister.
4.
Jerry Maren received a telegram, just after graduating from high school, asking him to come to California to work on a film.
5.
Jerry Maren was offered nearly $100 per week plus expenses.
6.
Jerry Maren was 18 or 19 years old when he shot his scenes for The Wizard of Oz in the latter part of 1938 and early 1939.
7.
Jerry Maren began to cultivate his performance talents by creating a persona as a thirteen-year-old during school vacations.
8.
Jerry Maren is featured, along with fellow Munchkin Billy Curtis, in American International Pictures' release Little Cigars, about a gang of "midgets" on a crime spree.
9.
Jerry Maren later joined his friend Billy Barty in organizing Little People of America.
10.
Jerry Maren was a stuntman on the 1975 film The Apple Dumpling Gang and said he "nearly got killed" filming a scene where a buckboard went out of control.
11.
From 1969 until 1971, Jerry Maren appeared on The Andy Williams Show on a regular basis as the Little General.
12.
Jerry Maren made a notable appearance in the episode "Felix the Horseplayer" of The Odd Couple as Harry Tallman, a racehorse exerciser who gives Oscar tips on winning horses.
13.
Jerry Maren had a walk-on role in an episode of Seinfeld and played a mime in the 2010-released comedy horror movie Dahmer vs Gacy.
14.
Jerry Maren starred in the Eric Swelstad-directed horror movie Frankenstein Rising.
15.
In February 2009, Jerry Maren performed in Project Lodestar Sagas as Thaddeus, opposite former MGM child actress Margaret O'Brien in the lead role of Livia Wells.
16.
On November 21,2007, Jerry Maren appeared with six other Munchkin actors at the unveiling of a Hollywood Star for the Wizard of Oz Munchkins on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
17.
Jerry Maren was married to Elizabeth Barrington from 1975 until her death at age 69 on January 27,2011.
18.
On February 29,2016, it was reported that Jerry Maren had died of pancreatic cancer, but these reports were false.
19.
Jerry Maren posted a video on Instagram to say that he was alive and well, and according to friend Steve Cox, he didn't have cancer.
20.
Jerry Maren died at a nursing facility center in La Jolla, California on May 24,2018, at the age of 98, from a combination of old age-related diseases including cachexia, heart failure and senile dementia.
21.
Jerry Maren outlived all the major cast members as well as the original Tin Man Buddy Ebsen.