One-time actor Meinhardt Raabe died 9 April 2010 of an apparent heart attack. Born 2 September 1915 in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, his only film role was in 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. Uncredited, he played the Munchkin coroner, and pronounced the Wicked Witch of the East dead. At the time of the filming, he was about four feet tall (one of the tallest Munchkins), and he continued to grow into his thirties, attaining a height of 4’7″.
Prior to his film role, Raabe had worked as a barker in the Midget Village at the Chicago World’s Fair. He earned a BA in accounting from the University of Wisconsin in 1937, and then got a sales job with Oscar Mayer. He stayed with the company for three decades, touring the country as “the World’s Smallest Chef” in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. He took a leave of absence from his job in 1938 when he heard Hollywood was hiring midgets for a film.
Raabe was also a pilot, and served in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II, apparently the smallest pilot in uniform. He earned an MBA from Drexel University in 1970.
His wife of 50 years, Marie Hartline, died in 1997. He is survived by his sister, Marion Ziegelmann.