Betty Ann Bruno, Bay Area local news reporter and a Munchkin in the classic film “The Wizard of Oz,” has died at the age of 91, according to San Francisco Fox affiliate Ktvu.
Bruno was born on in Hawaii but grew up in Hollywood, where she got bit roles in films like John Ford’s “The Hurricane” as a young child. At the age of 7, she was one of the children cast alongside the 124 little people picked to play the Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz,” and was one of the last surviving members of the production.
After graduating from Stanford, Bruno got her start in broadcast journalism as a political talk show producer before stepping in front of the camera as a general assignment reporter for Ktvu in the 1970s.
She would become a mainstay of the local network news team over the next two decades and win three Emmys for her work,...
Bruno was born on in Hawaii but grew up in Hollywood, where she got bit roles in films like John Ford’s “The Hurricane” as a young child. At the age of 7, she was one of the children cast alongside the 124 little people picked to play the Munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz,” and was one of the last surviving members of the production.
After graduating from Stanford, Bruno got her start in broadcast journalism as a political talk show producer before stepping in front of the camera as a general assignment reporter for Ktvu in the 1970s.
She would become a mainstay of the local network news team over the next two decades and win three Emmys for her work,...
- 7/31/2023
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
The Action Scene is a column that explores the construction of action set pieces in order to deepen appreciation for and spark discussion about action cinema.“It was clear that Pm weren’t attempting art.” This remark prefaces interviews conducted by the sadly defunct publication Hopes & Fears with various directors and stars who worked with Pm Entertainment, an independent film company that churned out a steady stream of largely direct-to-video movies and television episodes—most famously within the action genre—between the late 1980s and early 2000s. Watching the operatic tour-de-force opening of the Pm film Intent to Kill (1992), however, one might doubt the statement’s accuracy. The extraordinary set piece features squealing tires, spraying glass, and slow-motion gunplay, all against a jet-black sky dotted by the vaporous glow of street lamps. Blue-hued, low-key lighting cuts through night air thick with fog and gun smoke, sustaining a noirish, dreamlike mood...
- 5/12/2023
- MUBI
Jerry Maren, the last surviving munchkin from The Wizard of Oz – he represented the Lollipop Guild, memorably presenting Judy Garland’s Dorothy with a large, red and white swirled lollipop just before she and Toto headed off to see the Wizard – has died. Maren was 98, according to reports.
Maren passed away last week at a San Diego nursing care facility, according to TMZ, which broke the story. The actor was buried last weekend at Forest Lawn in Hollywood.
Maren was one of more than 100 little people cast to populate the 1939 MGM film’s Munchkinland, and distinguished himself as one of the three grimacing, shuffling, tough-boy Lollipop Guild Munchkins. In one of the film’s most charming moments, he shyly handed Dorothy the giant candy to thank her for dropping a house on a witch.
Though the actor also appeared on The Twilight Zone, Bewitched and Seinfeld, among others, his Munchkin...
Maren passed away last week at a San Diego nursing care facility, according to TMZ, which broke the story. The actor was buried last weekend at Forest Lawn in Hollywood.
Maren was one of more than 100 little people cast to populate the 1939 MGM film’s Munchkinland, and distinguished himself as one of the three grimacing, shuffling, tough-boy Lollipop Guild Munchkins. In one of the film’s most charming moments, he shyly handed Dorothy the giant candy to thank her for dropping a house on a witch.
Though the actor also appeared on The Twilight Zone, Bewitched and Seinfeld, among others, his Munchkin...
- 6/6/2018
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
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