‘Wizard of Oz’ munchkin dead at 91: Betty Ann Bruno was Emmy-winning TV reporter

nypost.com:

passed away at age 98 in 2018 — and the media reported that the the world lost its “last living ‘Wizard of Oz’ munchkin” (he was the last munchkin played by a little person).“I said, ‘Wait a minute, I’m a munchkin and I’m still alive!'” she told The Post after hearing the news.Bruno’s husband Craig Sheiner confirmed the star’s passing this week in a Facebook post, writing: “I am so sorry to have to tell you Betty Ann’s heart left us today.”According to the post, she had just finished dancing the hula at an event in her hometown of Sonoma, California, whereupon she “developed a sudden, splitting headache.” Bruno’s husband subsequently drove her to the hospital, where she made it to the front desk before collapsing on the floor with a “massive heart attack,” per the statement.“We were together 46 years.

I am devastated,” Sheiner lamented in the Facebook post.Born Betty Ann Ka’ihilani on October 1, 1931, in Wahiawa, Hawai’i, the ex-thespian’s grew up in Los Angeles Hollywood across the street from the 20th Century Fox studio lot, Deadline reported.

She made her big screen debut as an uncredited extra in John Ford’s 1937 film “The Hurricane.”Bruno hit the “big time” (figuratively speaking) after she was cast in Victor Fleming’s iconic film “Wizard Of Oz,” in which she portrayed a Munchkin alongside 12 other children of average height as well as 100 adult little people. “When we walked onto the set, I had the same reaction that Dorothy has in the movie,” said Bruno while describing the start her three-week gig.

At the time, “It was the Depression. There was no Disneyland then, so to walk out onto the set and see those bright colors was like being transported to heaven.”Unfortunately, Bruno and the other Munchkins were.