'Oz' Munchkin Karl Slover dies

Karl Slover, who played one of the Munchkins in 1939 classic film "The Wizard of Oz," died Tuesday in Dublin, Ga. He was 93.The 4-foot-5 Slover played the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins' band.He appeared at a "Wizard of Oz" festival in Chesterton, Ind., in September and signed autographs.A native of what is now the Czech Republic, Slover was 2 feet tall at age 8, and his father sent him to work in a traveling show. He changed his last name from Kosiczky to Slover, the name of the family that owned the carnival where he worked, and became an American citizen in 1943.Slover, who was 21 when he appeared in "The Wizard of Oz," also had roles in "They Gave Him a Gun" (1937), classic screwball comedy "Bringing Up Baby" (1938), "Block-Heads" (1938) and all-midget Western "The Terror of Tiny Town" (1938); he played a baby a few years later in Billy Wilder's classic alcoholic-bender film "The Lost Weekend" (1945).Much more recently, Slover made appearances in a number of "Oz"-related documentaries, including "We're Off to See the Munchkins" (1993), "I Married a Munchkin" (1994) and "Memories of Oz" (2001). He also appeared on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" and "Entertainment Tonight."(Associated Press contributed to this report.) Contact Variety Staff at news@variety.com