Original Wizard of Oz Munchkin Margaret Pellegrini dies

Margaret Pellegrini

Margaret Pellegrini, who played a Munchkin named Sleepy Head in the original 'The Wizard of Oz' movie, has died. She was 89.

Ted Bulthaup, who owns a Chicago theatre where Pellegrini and other Munchkins have made special appearances, revealed that Pellegrini suffered a stroke on Monday at her Glendale home and died on Wednesday at a Phoenix-area hospital, the BBC reported.

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

Bulthaup said that the surviving Munchkins are Jerry Maren, 93, who lives in Los Angeles, and Ruth Duccini, 95, who lives in Phoenix.

Meanwhile, the Arizona Republic reported that Pellegrini, who was also a guest speaker at grade schools across the Phoenix metropolitan area for many years, usually appeared in costume and told stories about her time as a Munchkin.