Jerry Maren
American actor (1920-2018)
Jerry Maren (born Gerard Marenghi; January 24, 1920 – May 24, 2018) was an American actor who played a Munchkin member of the Lollipop Guild in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz. He became the last surviving adult Munchkin following the death of Ruth Duccini in 2014, and was also the last surviving cast member with a specifically identifiable speaking or singing role.
Early life
Gerard Marenghi, eventually known as Jerry Maren, was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, to Italian immigrant parents Emilio and Rafaella Marenghi. He was the youngest of eleven or twelve children. His father worked at a shoe factory. His four brothers were six feet (182.88 cm) or taller by 1939.
At the age of 12, Maren started taking dancing lessons with his sister. He toured around New England with his dance instructor with an act called Three Steps and a Hop and was noticed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer scouts who were looking for three little people who could sing and dance.
Career
Maren received a telegram, just after graduating from high school, asking him to come to California to work on a film. He was offered nearly $100 per week plus expenses.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jerry Maren” as american actor (1920-2018). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american actor (1920-2018). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3177488. VIAF identifies the subject as 28997159. The Library of Congress control number is n2008002054. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 2018, 1939 and 2014.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jerry Maren” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.