'Wizard of Oz' Munchkin Karl Slover dies at 93

DUBLIN, Ga. | Karl Slover, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic film "The Wizard of Oz," has died. Slover, who appeared at a "Wizard of Oz" festival in Chesterton in September, was 93.

Laurens County Deputy Coroner Nathan Stanley says the 4-foot-5 Slover died of cardiopulmonary arrest and was pronounced dead Tuesday afternoon in a suburban Atlanta hospital. Only three of the 124 diminutive actors who played Munchkins in the movie remain, he said.

Author John Fricke said Slover was best known for playing the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins' band but also had roles as a Munchkin townsman and soldier in the film. Slover was one of the tiniest male Munchkins in the movie, he said.

Slover was a native of what is now the Czech Republic. He was 2 feet tall at the age of 8 and his father sent him to work in a traveling show.

He changed his last name from Kosiczky to Slover, the name of the family that owned the carnival where he worked, and became an American citizen in 1943.

Slover, who was 21 when he appeared in the classic film, had roles in several other movies, but once said his "Oz" role was his most memorable.

He recalled that he never had much contact with Judy Garland or the other stars but remembers Billie Burke, who played Glinda the good witch, as "kind of nice."

Funeral arrangements are pending.