Margaret Pellegrini | Munchkin actress, 89

Margaret Pellegrini, 89, one of the last of the 124 little people who played Munchkins in the 1939 film

The Wizard of Oz

, died Wednesday at her Glendale, Ariz., home.

Mrs. Pellegrini, who was 4 feet tall and was a frequent guest of honor at Oz festivals around the nation, had been in declining health since a stroke in March, said Colleen Zimmer, an organizer of the annual Oz-Stravaganza festival in Chittenango, N.Y., birthplace of Oz author L. Frank Baum.

Illness kept Mrs. Pellegrini from serving as grand marshal at this year's event.

Only two other actors who portrayed Munchkins survive, Zimmer said.

Mrs. Pellegrini grew up in the small town of Tuscumbia, Ala. At 13, she met members of Henry Kramer's Midgets at the Tennessee State Fair, where she was handing out potato chip samples.

The entertainers asked if she was interested in show business and took her name and address. Two years later, an agent contacted her about an MGM film. Within weeks, the 15-year-old was on a train, alone, bound for Hollywood.

She cherished her two months on the Oz set, she told the Los Angeles Times in 2001.

She married prizefighter Willie Pellegrini in 1943, and had two children. She is survived by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. - L.A. Times