Carroll, who stopped growing at a young age, was an entertainer early in life and befriended actress Judy Garland, leading to a role alongside her in classic The Wizard Of Oz, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
He was a violin-playing Munchkin Town Crier in the movie, dressed in purple with a yellow flower in his vest. There were dozens of Munchkins in all.
In 2007, Carroll and a few other surviving Munchkins attended a ceremony to dedicate a Munchkin star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Born to Italian immigrants in 1919, Carroll’s given name was Michael Finocchiaro, the Post-Dispatch reported. He died at a caretaker’s home in Crestwood, Missouri and he lived in the state nearly his entire life, the newspaper said.

No Kung-Fu in Malaysian film at Cannes
A Malaysian filmmaker whose first feature-length movie has been selected for the Cannes Film Festival aims to prove that Asian cinema can appeal to international audiences without resorting to stereotypes.
Chris Chong’s Karaoke, which centres on village life, will be the second Malaysian film to screen at the festival, after 1995’s Kaki Bakar (The Arsonist).

“I think gradually people will get to know that Malaysian film is very different from Kung-Fu, martial arts films with beautiful Asian girls and erotic filmmaking,” Chong, who was born in Sabah on Borneo Island, told Reuters. His film’s focus is villagers’ way of life and the Malaysian palm oil industry. Bustling scenes of harvesting and processing during the day are contrasted against the flickering lights of the karaoke club where the workers spend their nights.
Betik, the film’s central character, is a young Malaysian man who returns to his village from the city. With dreams of taking over the family karaoke business, he settles back into village life with his new love interest, Anisah.
But Betik soon finds that life isn’t as simple as the scenes in karaoke videos and that home is not what it used to be. The karaoke videos were custom-made for the film and written by Malaysian singer-songwriter Shanon Shah in order to keep them true to Malaysian karaoke culture, Chong said.

“I like using everyday elements in creating a more in-depth understanding of greater issues surrounding us. So why not use karaoke?” he said. Chong. who has directed short films, found the inspiration for his first feature after a three-year break from filmmaking, while watching a karaoke video. The lack of Malaysian representation on the international film scene is something Chong attributes to the fickle nature of festivals that follow global trends. The gloomy world economic outlook might, however, provide support for homegrown independent titles. “You can see in Bollywood and in Hollywood (that) because of the downturn in the economy the film industry has turned to its own filmmakers and has been met with great acclaim. I think in Malaysia we have to do the same thing,” Chong said.