Karl Slover, One of the Last Munchkins

Karl Slover, one of the last surviving munchkins from the film The Wizard of Oz, is now a friend of Dorothy’s undertaker.

Slover reportedly succumbed to a heart attack after he tripped on a bottle cap and fell into a cat bowl. The medical examiner listed the elderly Slover “dead at 93 -centimeters.”

When very young, he was diagnosed with pituitary dwarfism, meaning people were always going to ask him to explain Mickey Rooney.

In 1939, Slover was paid about $50 a week to act in The Wizard of Oz, or about “one quarter scale.”

Looking back, Slover always said it was important to live life to its half-fullest.

Never one to look down on an acting role, Slover once said, “There are no small parts, except on my body.”

Slover leaves behind a cigar box containing his bed.

 

From The Archives: Daniel Ruge, President Reagan’s White House Physician

Mourning Remembrance Portraits by Nathan Smith copyright 2011

Daniel Ruge, the man chosen to be Ronald Reagan’s White House physician during his first term as president, has died from a ruptured gipper.

Early in his career, Ruge practiced medicine with First Lady Nancy Reagan’s stepfather, who taught him the family secrets of pre-death facial embalming.

After the 1981 assassination attempt on Reagan, Ruge remained at Reagan’s side and nursed him back to health with the president’s favorite vegetable dish: Baked Catsup.

Ruge never stayed for the 2nd term. He was asked to leave in 1984 after he gave the president a battery of diagnostic tests which declared him brain dead.

Dr. Ruge requested his body be dug up every year, examined by doctors, and declared fit enough to serve public office.