Meinhardt Raabe
American writer-actor (1915-2010)
Meinhardt Frank Raabe (; September 2, 1915 – April 9, 2010) was an American actor. In The Wizard of Oz, he portrayed the coroner who certified the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. He was one of the last surviving Munchkin actors in the film, and was also the last surviving cast member with any dialogue.
Early life
Raabe was born in Watertown, Wisconsin, as a son of Henry H. Raabe and Eleonora Mina (née Rummler) Raabe. He attended and graduated from Johnson Creek High School in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin before graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1937, with a bachelor's degree in accounting. He later received an MBA at Drexel University.
Raabe did not hear the words "midget" or "dwarf" until young adulthood, and for a long time believed no one else might also be like him. After visiting the Midget Village at Chicago's Century of Progress in 1933, he realized he was not alone and took a summer job with the fair the next year. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, he was turned down for employment by one company after another until Oscar Mayer hired him as a salesman. Raabe took a leave of absence from his sales job to audition for the Wizard of Oz role.
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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 Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q958000. VIAF identifies the subject as 57714557. The Library of Congress control number is n2005001569. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915, 2010, 1937 and 1933.
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This entry incorporates text from “Meinhardt Raabe” 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.