Jerry Maren

At 98 years old, Jerry Maren has this physical status:

Gerard Marenghi (January 24, 1920 – May 24, 2018), also known as Jerry Maren, was an American actor who appeared in The Wizard of Oz, a 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film.

Following Ruth Duccini's death on January 16, 2014, he became the last surviving Munchkin with a specific role, whether speaking or singing.

Early life

Gerard Marenghi, later known as Jerry Marenghi, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, and was one of 11 or twelve children. Emil Marenghi, his father, worked at a shoe factory. By 1939, his four brothers were six foot (c. 182 cm) or taller.

Maren began taking dancing lessons with his sister at the age of 12. He toured around New England with his dance instructor in an act called Three Steps and a Hop, and was noticed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts searching for three young boys who could sing and dance.

Personal life

Maren was married to Elizabeth Barrington from 1975 to her death on January 27, 2011. He grew up in southern California.

Maren had died of pancreatic cancer on February 29, 2016, but these reports were inaccurate. He posted a video on Instagram announcing that he was alive and well, but that he didn't have cancer, according to friend Steve Cox.

Maren's caregivers told the reporter that he was too ill to make further appearances or conduct interviews when attempting to contact Maren for a story about little people in Hollywood in August 2016.

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Career

Maren received a letter advising him to California to work on a film right after he had left high school. He was charged more than $100 per week per week.

He appeared in The Wizard of Oz as the green-garbed member of the Lollipop Guild (between Jakob "Jackie" Gerlich and Harry Earles), giving Dorothy Gale a lollipop. In the later part of 1938 and early 1939, Maren was 18 or 19 years old when he shot his scenes for The Wizard of Oz. He was only 3 ft 6 in (107 cm) at that time. (Mormone treatments enabled Maren to reach a height of 4 ft 6 in (137 cm) later in life.)

Maren started to develop his leadership skills by creating a persona as a thirteen-year-old during school holidays. He began singing and dancing lessons in his early teens and loved them so much that he decided to join up with his mentor in an act dubbed "Three Steps and a Hop." The concept was a hit on stage, and the group toured the New England circuit for a lengthy time. Maren appeared in an Our Gang short story "Light-Fingered Lester" in the same year as The Wizard of Oz, and was an extra in the Western film The Terror of Tiny Town.

Maren appeared in several films and television shows, including a circus performer in the Marx Brothers film At The Circus (1939) and as an ape in Battle for the Apes (1973). In American International Pictures' release "British Cigars (1973), a group of "midgets" on a murder spree, he appears alongside fellow Munchkin Billy Curtis.

In the 1950s, Maren appeared in television and radio commercials as Little Oscar for the Oscar Mayer Company and as Buster Brown in television and radio advertisements. Billy Barty joined him in establishing Little People of America. In commercials for McDonald's, he also portrayed Mayor McCheese and The TurkeyBoy. Maren was a stuntman on The Apple Dumpling Gang in 1975, and he said he "nearly died" filming a scene where a buckboard went out of control.

Maren appeared on The Andy Williams Show on a regular basis from 1969 to 1971 as the Little General. On The Gong Show, Maren was the most dapper little man in top hat and tuxedo, heralding each show's grand finale with an onslaught of confetti as Milton DeLugg's band performed "Hoop Dee Doo." He made a camedic appearance in The Odd Couple's episode "Felix the Horseplayer" as Harry Tallman, a racehorse exerciser who gives Oscar tips on winning horses. Morris the bellboy, a regular character on ABC's No Soap, Radio, appeared in 1982.

Maren appeared in a Seinfeld episode ("The Yada Yada") and played a mime in the 2010 comedy horror film Dahmer vs. Gacy. Frankenstein Rising (2009), he appeared in Eric Swelstad's directed horror film Frankenstein Rising. Maren appeared in Project Lodestar Sagas as Thaddeus, opposite former MGM child actress Margaret O'Brien in the lead role.

On the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Maren appeared with six other Munchkin actors at the unveiling of a Hollywood Star for the Wizard of Oz Munchkins. Mickey Carroll, Ruth Duccini, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Slover, and Clarence Swensen were among the other participants.

Maren appeared at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York, on June 3, 2010 to introduce a new Wizard of Oz slot machine.

Maren didn't go to any of the Oz Festivals held around the country in 2011, but he did attend a handprint and footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on September 18, 2013.

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