Meinhardt Raabe

Meinhardt Frank Raabe (; September 2, 1915 – April 9, 2010) was an American actor. He was one of the last surviving Munchkin-actors in The Wizard of Oz, and was also the last surviving cast member with any dialogue in the film. He portrayed the coroner who certified the death of the Wicked Witch of the East. 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–Madison in 1937, with a bachelor's degree in accounting. He later went on to get his 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 a Wizard of Oz role. Roles At about , or three feet, six inches, tall, he played the role of the coroner in The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Raabe, however, was uncredited in the role. In the film, the coroner confirms the death of the Wicked Witch of the East, with Raabe's lines being: As coroner, I must aver I thoroughly examined her And she's not only merely dead She's really, most sincerely dead!