Elaine Merk Binder, one of the last surviving actors who played a Munchkin in the 1939 classic “ The Wizard of Oz ,” has died, according to her daughter Annette Phillips. She was 94.

Binder auditioned for “The Wizard of Oz” in 1938 and was selected as one of the eight children who would dance and sing as part of the Munchkin ensemble.

“I tried out for the ‘Wizard of Oz’ Munchkins. For me it was scary. It was my first big call for girls from a major studio,” Binder recalled of the experience. “I was relieved when Bud told the dance director, ‘She’s O.K.’ I did not have to perform like the others did. And they selected me as one of the eight who would both dance and sing. We learned later that they had added girls to the Little People because they had the mistaken impression that the Lit

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