Franz Balluck

Who was Franz Balluck?

Franz "Mike" Balluck was an Austrian actor with dwarfism, best known for his role as one of the Munchkins in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

His dwarf sister, Josefine Balluck, also appeared as a Munchkin in that same film. Coincidentally, their Oz co-star Jakob "Jackie" Gerlich was also originally from Vienna as well.

While Balluck's role in Oz was uncredited, subsequent books list him as a Munchkin actor. Leopold von Singer signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to provide 124 proportionately-sized little people to play Munchkins in Oz. Gerlich was recruited because of his dwarfism and was paid $125 a week for his work.

Balluck died on January 24, 1987 at age seventy-three in Vienna. His interment was at Zentralfriedhof near his sister, Josefine.

In 2007, all 124 Munchkin actors in Oz were honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For Balluck this was a posthumous honor. Seven surviving Munchkin actors attended the ceremony, including Mickey Carroll, Ruth Duccini, Jerry Maren, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Slover and Clarence Swensen.