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The Wizard of Oz, which debuted in theaters 85 years ago, revolutionized the art form. The popular movie, which is based on.
Frank Baum’s book, follows Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) and her group of friends as they go to the fantastical Land of Oz.
They include a cowardly lion (Bert Lahr), a heart-seeking Tin Man (Jack Haley), and a brain-seeking scarecrow (Ray Bolger).
Naturally, the group makes it to the Wizard (Frank Morgan) before Dorothy returns to Kansas with the help of Glinda the Good Witch (Billie Burke), despite being almost stopped by the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton).
It’s a well-known story, but the evil movie, which opens in theaters on November 22, turns it on its head by demonstrating how Glinda the nice remained, you know, nice while the Wicked Witch became so, well, evil.
Even though The Wizard of Oz solidified its cast’s place in entertainment history, not all of them went on to become wealthy and famous.
Actually, the 1938 movie that shaped the careers of many of the performers is what people remember them for the most.
Here’s a look back at the original cast of The Wizard of Oz and their fates after Dorothy returned to Kansas, ahead of Wicked’s debut.
Judy Garland plays Dorothy Gale, a beautiful Kansas girl who only wants to return home with her dog Toto and her brand-new ruby red shoes.
Before signing with MGM at the age of 13, Garland, who was born in 1922, began acting with her sisters in a vaudeville company.
She starred in almost 30 studio productions, including as Easter Parade (1948), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and The Wizard of Oz (1939).
She hosted The Judy Garland Show (1963–1964), which earned two Emmy nominations, and was nominated for Academy Awards for her performances in A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).
Her songs “Over the Rainbow” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” which are from two of her most well-known movies, became hits for the star.
She was also a popular recording artist. Her performance LP Judy at Carnegie Hall earned her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1962, making her the first female recipient of the honor.
Garland’s career took off thanks to The Wizard of Oz, but her time on site wasn’t very magical. She was given amphetamines, or “pep pills,” to keep her energized and trim while filming Oz.
Barbiturates were administered to her at night to aid with her sleep. Garland suffered from addiction as a result, and she died of an unintentional overdose in 1969 at the age of 47.
In his posthumous biography, Garland’s ex-husband Sid Luft also claimed that several of the actors who portrayed the Munchkins had harassed her on multiple occasions.
“They would put their hands beneath Judy’s dress on set, making her life unpleasant. He stated, “The men were at least forty years old.”
David Rose (1941–1944); Vincente Minnelli (1945–1951), with whom she had a daughter named Liza Minnelli; Luft (1952–1965), with whom she had a son named Joey Luft and a daughter named Lorna Luft; Mark Herron (1965–1969); and Mickey Deans.
Whom she wed in March 1969, three months prior to her passing. They were Garland’s four previous marriages.
Frank Morgan played Professor Marvel, the carriage driver, and the gatekeeper for the “wonderful” Wizard of Oz, who brings Dorothy home in a high air balloon.
Before passing away in 1949 at the age of 59, Morgan made his screen debut in 1916’s The Suspect and continued to make appearances in radio, television, and movies.
Morgan played notable parts in The Shop Around the Corner (1940) and as King Louis XIII in The Three Musketeers (1948), yet The Wizard of Oz is perhaps his best-known work.
In 1914, he wed Alma Muller, and the two had a son named George. According to Aljean Harmetz’s book.
The Making of the Wizard of Oz, Morgan battled alcoholism and carried a little black briefcase filled with booze to work every day.
The Scarecrow, who Dorothy says “I think I’ll miss you most of all” when she leaves Oz, was played by Ray Bolger, who was already a well-known performer on theater and cinema.
He is most known for his role as the cunning Barnaby in the original Babes in Toyland (1961) movie, in addition to The Wizard of Oz.
In 1929, he wed Gwendolyn Rickard, and the two stayed together until Bolger passed away from bladder cancer in 1987 at the age of 83. They didn’t have any kids.
For an unexpected reason, Bolger allegedly found the Scarecrow’s outfit difficult to wear. According to Harmetz’s 1977 book, Bolger found.
it very hard to use the lavatory on set since all of the prop straw would spread as he undressed. Garland’s burial was attended by Bolger and Harold Arlen, the composer of “Over the Rainbow.” He was the movie’s final surviving star.
The actor never downplayed his role in The Wizard of Oz, stating in an interview from 1976 that he was fortunate to be a part of a film that had such a cultural impact.
“It’s a great American classic,” he said, adding that both it and I will be remembered when I’m gone. Furthermore, very few people can claim that their lives have left any lasting impression.
Bert Lahr’s most well-known part is from The Wizard of Oz, just as that of most of the actors. His Cowardly Lion transforms into anything but as the movie goes on, vehemently standing up for his friends and coming to terms with his own value.
Lahr was one of the first to play Estragon in the beloved drama Waiting for Godot, in addition to roles in Anything Goes (1954) and The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968).
Prior to a successful Broadway run, he performed the play in Europe and its U.S. premiere in Miami, Florida.
Lahr often struggled with his lion costume, the heavy rubber mask limiting his range of motion and making it difficult to open his jaws.
During filming, Lahr was forced to eat using straws and liquids, according to Harmetz’s account in The Making of the Wizard of Oz.
Charlie Schram, Lahr’s makeup artist, informed Harmetz that “the only thing that was his was a bit of cheek and his eyes.”
He had that huge fur wig on top of his head, and a fur beard covered his chin. In addition to being made of genuine lion skin, his costume was cushioned, and he wore mittens.
It was like to lugging around a mattress. Every shot required him to remove his lion costume entirely, and he would always be drenched. The poor guy endured torture.
Lahr had two wives: Mildred Schroeder, with whom he had a son and a daughter, and Mercedes Delpino, with whom he had a son.
While filming The Night They Raided Minsky’s in 1967, he passed away from illness.
The second companion to accompany Dorothy on her journey down the famous yellow brick road was the technically callous but emotionally sympathetic Tin Man, portrayed by Jack Haley.
Buddy Ebsen, who was first cast as the Tin Man but had to withdraw after becoming ill due to aluminum dust in the face paint, was replaced by Haley.
Haley, who struggled in his makeup like many of Oz’s ensemble members, had it no easier. In Harmetz’s book, Haley quotes herself as saying.
“I couldn’t lie down in that costume.” I was unable to sit in it at all. The only thing I could lean on was a reclining hoard.
He costarred in musicals with Frank Sinatra (Higher and Higher) and Shirley Temple (Poor Little Rich Girl).
Following Oz, Haley starred in Norwood (1970), People Are Funny (1946), and One Body Too Many (1944).
His last movie performance was an uncredited role in New York, New York (1977), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Liza Minnelli, Garland’s daughter.
From 1921 until his death in 1979 from a heart attack at age 81, Haley was wed to Florence McFadden. Jack Jr. and Gloria were their two children. In 2000, Heart of the Tin Man, a compilation of his works, was released posthumously.
Glinda the Good Witch of the North, played by Billie Burke, helps Dorothy and her motley crew on their trek to the Emerald City.
Burke had just been nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Merrily We Live (1938) when Oz was released.
In addition, she starred in the Topper films, the first of which included Constance Bennett and Cary Grant as spirits that stalk Burke’s husband.
She starred in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1940) and worked with George Cukor on Dinner at Eight (1933).
In The Making of the Wizard of Oz, Margaret Hamilton, who portrayed the evil counterpart of Glinda, said that her costar was among the most well-known actors on the set.
As a result, Burke favored a more cozy dressing room with blue and pink accents. When the Good Witch had days off, Hamilton would even slip inside Burke’s quarters to give her a break from the hectic set.
In 1914, Burke wed Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., a Broadway producer. They were married till Ziegfeld’s death in 1932 and had a daughter in 1916.
Burke was interred in New York with her late husband after passing away in 1970 at the age of 85.
The terrifying Wicked Witch of the West, portrayed by Margaret Hamilton, also harbors a grudge against Dorothy and her little dog.
Hamilton, a former schoolteacher who began acting in the early 1930s, made his acting debut in Another Language (1933) with Helen Hayes and Robert Montgomery.
She played a villainous witch who fights with the comedians in Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s Comin’ Round the Mountain (1951), W.C. Fields’ My Little Chickadee (1940), and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938).
The Making of The Wizard of Oz claims that Hamilton’s injuries received after filming the Wicked Witch disappearing in a cloud of smoke caused him to abandon the production for six weeks.
She was meant to be lowered by a concealed elevator before the fire and smoke effects began, but they detonated when she was still above ground, resulting in second and third-degree burns.
Hamilton’s burns needed to be cleaned with acetone since the witch’s green body paint was made of copper, which is poisonous if it gets into the blood.
From 1931 to 1938, Hamilton was married to Paul Boynton Meserve; she then raised their son alone. She passed away from a heart attack in 1985 at the age of 82.