Karl Slover | Played Munchkin, 93

Karl Slover, 93, one of the last surviving actors who played Munchkins in the 1939 classic film

The Wizard of Oz

, has died.

The 4-foot-5 Mr. Slover died of cardiopulmonary arrest Tuesday at a central Georgia hospital, said Laurens County Deputy Coroner Nathan Stanley. According to friends, as recently as last weekend, Mr. Slover appeared at events in the Chicago area.

Mr. Slover was best known for playing the lead trumpeter in the Munchkins' band but also had roles as a townsman and soldier in the film, said John Fricke, author of 100 Years of Oz and five other books on the movie and star Judy Garland.

Long after Mr. Slover retired, he continued to appear around the country at festivals and events related to the movie. He was one of seven Munchkins at the 2007 unveiling of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame dedicated to the little people in the movie. Only three remain of the 124 diminutive actors who played the Munchkins.

Mr. Slover was born Karl Kosiczky in what is now the Czech Republic. He was the only child in his family to be dwarf-sized.

"In those uninformed days, his father tried witch-doctor treatments to make him grow," Fricke said. "Knowing Karl and his triumph over his early life, you can't help but celebrate the man at a time like this."

Eventually he was sold by his father at age 9 to a traveling show in Europe, Fricke said.

Mr. Slover continued to perform into his late 20s, when he moved to the United States, changed his name, and appeared in circuses as part of a vaudeville group known as the Singer Midgets. The group's 30 performers became the nucleus of the Munchkins.

The surviving Munchkin actors found new generations of fans in the late 1980s when they began making appearances around the country. - AP