Elaine Merk Binder, Wizard of Oz Munchkin, Dies at 94
Former child star who danced and sang in the 1939 classic remembered by family and fans
Elaine Merk Binder, one of the last surviving actors who played a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz, has died at age 94, her daughter Annette Phillips confirmed. No cause of death was disclosed. Merk Binder was eight when she filmed the beloved 1939 movie, and she was part of the group of eight children who danced and sang as part of the Munchkin ensemble.
She can be seen during the performances of Come Out, Come Out and Off to See the Wizard as one of the eight dancers in a pavilion. In recounting her 1938 audition for MGM, Merk Binder described the moment as scary but exciting, saying, 'For me it was scary. It was my first big call for girls from a major studio.' She recalled that Bud told the dance director, 'She; s OK,' and said she was selected 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 Little People were not athletic,' Merk Binder later recalled. As a teenager, she declined a contract from Paramount Studios but went on to study at college, earning degrees in music and education. She further pursued studies in computer science and theology, eventually working as a computer consultant for the University of Southern California and for First Interstate Bank.
Fan tributes poured in on social media after the news broke, with readers recalling the film s enduring appeal and the charm of the era s child performers. One post read, 'A piece of Hollywood history fades away; Elaine Merk Binder reminded us how timeless “The Wizard of Oz” truly is. Rest in peace.'
The Wizard of Oz, based on L. Frank Baum s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, opened in 1939 and has since become one of the most enduring and beloved motion pictures in cinema history. The Munchkin cast, which required as many as 350 performers, remains a vivid chapter in the film s production history. Merk Binder was among the eight children who formed the core of the Munchkin ensemble, dancing and singing in several musical numbers.
Betty Ann Bruno, another performer who appeared in the Munchkin segment, died in 2023 at age 91, underscoring how a once-plentiful community of performers from the film has gradually dwindled as decades pass. The pages of Baum s lore describe the Munchkins as being shorter than the average person and clad in blue, a design choice MGM used to help visually define the group on screen. The studio reportedly cast hundreds of performers to fill those roles, underscoring the scale and ambition of the Oz production.
Merk Binder s daughter Annette Phillips confirmed the death and said there was no disclosed cause. Friends and fans alike reflected on Merk Binder s place in film history and on how The Wizard of Oz has persisted in popular culture across generations. Through the years, Merk Binder pursued education and professional work beyond Hollywood, building a life that blended the arts with scholarly interests in music, education, computer science and theology. Her passing marks another moment to reflect on the throughline from the 1939 film s production to the modern era, as audiences continue to discover and revisit the movie for the first time.
In recounting the legacy of the Oz troupe, industry observers note that the Munchkin performers faced challenging lives off screen, a reminder that the film s enduring charm sits alongside a complex history of its real-life participants. Elaine Merk Binder s memory, preserved in interviews and archival coverage, offers a lens into a moment when a small troupe of young performers rose to global recognition through a single, lasting cinematic milestone.