Monday, April 9, 2012

H is for Margaret Hamilton

It's Easter Monday, and since I grew up in Ohio where "the country" consists mostly of cornfields, that can only mean one thing: it's tornado season. And tornadoes have been synonymous with The Wizard of Oz ever since the spectacular film was released in 1939.

Of all the characters in the film, my favorites are the Scarecrow and the Tin Man. But of the performers in the film, my favorite has to be Margaret Hamilton, who was cast as the Wicked Witch of the West. Here's the story behind that genius piece of casting. Make sure you watch to the end - she gets in some real zingers:



After that interview, I checked out some of her other work, and it turns out she was quite the comedienne. Here she is in an episode of "Car 54, Where Are You?" along with a couple of familiar faces from another great show, "The Munsters." See if you can spot them:


Super stuff.

Who was your favorite actor in The Wizard of Oz?

For more #AtoZChallenge posts, go here.

6 comments:

  1. Frank Morgan plays several characters including the wizard, and I think he plays them all quite well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've never seen the movie but I've read the book and really like the Cowardly Lion. But that could be just because he's a lion!
    Rhia from Five Minute Piece for Inspiration (around #800 on A to Z Challenge).

    ReplyDelete
  3. She used to scare me so much when I was about 5 that I couldn't finish the movie. I do love that movie and it's filled with great characters.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm so embarrassed to say this, but my kids have never seen the movie (but my daughter has read the book, which I have not). I love the cowardly lion because he needs something everyone expects him to have, and I feel just like that sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. A cowardly lion fan- he's so much fun to do impressions of! I had forgotten how much I loved the Munsters too! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. MH was AWESOME as the Wicked Witch - my favorite by far.

    ReplyDelete