Actor who played Munchkin coroner in 'Wizard of Oz' dead at 94

HOLLYWOOD — Meinhardt Raabe, who portrayed the coroner of the Munchkin Country in "The Wizard of Oz,'' has died, it was announced tonight.

Flowers will be placed on the Munchkins star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Saturday in Raabe's memory, said Ana Martinez, vice president of media relations of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, which oversees to Walk of Fame.

Raabe gained movie immortality for singing "As coroner, I must aver; I thoroughly examined her. And she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead,'' in confirming the death of The Wicked Witch of the East, when she was crushed by a house blown in by a tornado from Kansas in the classic 1939 movie musical.

Raabe died Friday in Orange Park, Fla. at the age of 94, The New York Times reported. Raabe had lived in a nearby retirement community since 1986, according to The Times.

Raabe was also the first Little Oscar, the mascot of the Oscar Mayer meat company, touring the nation for nearly 30 years, the newspaper reported.

Raabe was among the seven Munchkins who attended the unveiling of the Munchkins star on the Walk of Fame in 2007.