1939’s The Wizard of Oz has gone down in history as a film with a disastrous production. There
were numerous times during the filming of the picture where performers were seriously injured,
and there were also times where many of them could
have died! Although the film stands as an audience favorite today, audiences might
not enjoy the picture so much if they knew about the dark side of its production. From Margaret
Hamilton getting covered in severe burns to Judy Garland getting hooked on amphetamines,
join Facts Verse as we take a look at every actor who almost died while making The Wizard of Oz.
Despite the fact that The Wizard of Oz stands as a favorite amongst family audiences today, the film
wasn’t all that positively received upon its 1939 debut. It wasn’t until the film’s later
broadcast on television during the 1950s that it would begin to catch its audience,
leading to it eventually being recognized as one of the greatest films of all time.
The cast and crew behind The Wizard of Oz likely breathed a collective sigh of relief
when the film finally caught on, as many of them had sacrificed a great deal during its making.
Although The Wizard of Oz may seem innocent on its surface, there is a massive dark side
to the film’s production that may change the mind of audience members who view the film
in a positive light. The film stands as a groundbreaking technical accomplishment,
but its technical accomplishments broke more than just ground! The film utilized cutting-edge
special effects that weren’t entirely safe, and it was filmed at a time when studios didn’t have
to be very considerate about how they treated their stars. Because of this, the set of the film
became the perfect environment for disaster, and it’s lucky that no one ended up dying!
Although no one ended up dying during the filming of The Wizard of Oz, they easily could have!
Multiple cast members nearly died during the film’s production, with one of the
stars that had the worst luck on the set of the feature being actress Margaret
Hamilton. Margaret Hamilton may have played the Wicked Witch of the East,
but she was a good person in real life. Because of this, the actress likely didn’t
deserve to be severely injured multiple times on the set of her most iconic film. Not only
was Margaret Hamilton covered in severe burns during a special effects sequence,
but she also found out after The Wizard of Oz’s production that the makeup that she
had been wearing throughout filming had affected her health and could’ve killed her.
The severe burns that Margaret Hamilton suffered on set came when she was filming the scene where
the Wicked Witch of the East makes her escape from Munchkinland. The witch disappears in a puff
of smoke, which required real pyrotechnics. The first take of the scene went off fine,
and it was apparently the take that ended up being used in the film. However, the
director called for another take, and this take ended up covering Margaret
in severe burns when the pyrotechnics were set off just a moment too early.
Margaret Hamilton’s son later recalled the moment where he came to the set of The Wizard of Oz and
saw that his mother was covered from head to toe in bandages. According to him, she looked like a
mummy! He was told that his mother was simply wearing a costume. After Margaret healed and
returned to filming, she understandably balked at the prospect of filming any more scenes that
involved fire. This included the scene where the Wicked Witch of the East is writing a message to
Dorothy with smoke in the sky. The scene had to be performed by Margaret’s stunt double instead, who
ended up receiving lifelong scars when the smoke machine exploded underneath her during filming.
Besides the severe burns that Margaret Hamilton received on the set of The Wizard of Oz, she went
on to find out that the heavy green makeup that she had worn throughout the duration
of the picture’s filming was incredibly toxic and could’ve easily killed her. Margaret wasn’t the
only star from the film that had issues with toxic makeup. In fact, the original actor that was hired
to play the character of the Tin Man also nearly died as a result of his toxic makeup. Buddy Ebsen
was the name of the actor who was originally cast in the role of the Tin Man, but he ended up being
unfairly fired after severe lung problems caused by the toxic makeup he was forced to wear during
rehearsals made him unable to perform for a period of time. If you’re enjoying this video so far,
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Despite the fact that it was studio MGM who was responsible for performer Buddy
Ebsen’s hospitalization, the star still ended up being fired from The Wizard of
Oz due to the fact that he could no longer perform in the role of the Tin Man on time
to meet the film’s production schedule. Jack Haley replaced Buddy in the role,
and the studio found a safer makeup alternative that wouldn’t see Jack hospitalized. It reportedly
took several weeks for Buddy’s lungs to recover, most of which were spent inside of an oxygen tent.
Bert Lahr, who played the character of the Cowardly Lion, never had to be hospitalized
as a result of filming The Wizard of Oz, but the production certainly took a toll
on the performer’s health. Bert already had health issues before taking on the role,
and it’s physically demanding nature proved nearly too much for the veteran
vaudevillian actor. The costume for the Cowardly Lion was made from real lion fur,
and this meant that it was incredibly expensive to produce. Because of this,
Bert was forced to wear the same suit throughout the majority of The Wizard of Oz’s production,
with MGM allowing no amount of money in the film’s budget for extras. The suit was hot and heavy,
causing Bert to sweat profusely during physically demanding sequences. Over the course of filming,
the suit apparently got incredibly disgusting, exacerbating Bert’s poor health.
Although star Judy Garland didn’t receive any serious injuries on the set of The Wizard of Oz,
filming of the picture certainly affected Judy’s life for the worst. MGM had originally wanted
Shirley Temple to play the role of Dorothy but ended up settling on Judy Garland once it became
clear that studio 20th Century Fox wasn’t willing to loan the prior star out. Shirley
was younger than Judy, and MGM was never quite happy with Judy’s age or appearance during the
filming of the picture. In order to keep Judy looking as youthful as possible, she was forced
to take amphetamines to suppress her appetite. In addition to being forced to take amphetamines, she
was also forced to wear a corset so tight that it barely allowed the young actress to breathe.
The production of The Wizard of Oz had a lasting effect on Judy Garland. Judy remained addicted to
substances throughout the majority of her life as a result of being hooked on amphetamines
during the filming of the seminal 1939 fantasy picture. In addition to her continued drug use,
Judy also continued to suffer from self-esteem issues as a result of the emotional abuse that she
had been put through by her handlers during The Wizard of Oz’s production.
Judy never felt she was good enough, and ended up passing away tragically at the age of 47
after a lifetime of drug addiction. Because of this, it can be said that filming The
Wizard of Oz did kill Judy Garland- it just took several decades to occur.
Besides the major players of the film, other performers who were injured during
the filming of The Wizard of Oz include various actors tasked with playing the Winged Monkeys.
The performers playing the Winged Monkeys were held aloft by piano wires, and it took a while
for the crew to figure out how many piano wires they needed to use in order to keep the performers
from falling. Sadly, the crew didn’t perform trial and error before putting actual performers into
the sky. Because of this, numerous performers playing the Winged Monkeys ended up falling
during filming, leading to some fairly severe injuries. There’s also the matter that a form
of crystallized asbestos was used as fake snow during the film’s production, though it remains
uncertain if the usage of the snow ended up causing injuries later on down the line.
Besides all of the verifiable horrors that occurred on the set of The Wizard of Oz, there
have also been disproven rumors about other horrors that were said to have occurred during the
film’s production. There is an infamous rumor that the corpse of a little person
actor who committed suicide by hanging can be seen in the background of one scene,
and it’s also been rumored that the little person actors liked to get drunk and act rowdy
on the set of the film. Both of these rumors have been disproven, though the little person actors
didn’t like it when the child actors laughed at them. The Wizard of Oz wasn’t initially a success,
but it has since come to be considered one of the best films of all time.
Since The Wizard of Oz utilized numerous cutting-edge effects and was made at a time
when studios didn’t have to be very considerate about the safety of their performers, the set of
the film proved the perfect environment for the cast to receive some pretty serious injuries. Now
it’s time to hear from you: did you know that numerous actors almost died during the
production of The Wizard of Oz as a result of toxic makeup, and that child actress Judy Garland
was hooked on amphetamines by studio MGM during the filming of the picture in order to keep her
weight down? As always, like this video to show your support, subscribe, and hit the notification
bell if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their
way!