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Flowerpot munchkin: 'Oz' actress Margaret Pellegrini has passed away

Flowerpot munchkin of Oz, Margaret Pellegrini, has passed away. Besides playing the flowerpot munchkin in the 'Wizard of Oz,' she also played Sleepy Head munchkin. 

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AP Photo/Tribune Newspapers, N. Scott Trimble
Flowerpot munchkin: Oz actress Margaret Pellegrini, who played a Munchkin named Sleepy Head in the original "The Wizard of Oz" movie, poses in Scottsdale, Ariz., in 1998.
  • By Staff Associated Press

| Phoenix

Flowerpot munchkin Margaret Pellegrini, who also played Sleepy Head munchkin in the 1939 classic movie "The Wizard of Oz," has died. She was 89.

Pellegrini died Wednesday at a Phoenix-area hospital.

Her death was confirmed by Ted Bulthaup, who owns a Chicago theater where Pellegrini and other Munchkins have made special appearances. He says he learned of it from Pellegrini's relatives.

With her death, only two of the original 124 Munchkins in the movie are still alive.

She was scheduled to be the Oz-Stravaganza festival parade's grand marshal at the annual event held in Chittenango, N.Y., but was unable to attend the May 31 event due to health issues, according to the event's website.    

Pellegrini was a guest speaker at grade schools across the Phoenix metropolitan area for many years. The Arizona Republic reports she usually appeared in costume and told stories about her time as a Munchkin. She also talked about the movie's moral lessons.

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