By Dustin Durrett
One of my favorite movies as a child was “The Wizard of Oz”. I always liked the Munchkins and the flying monkeys. I found out earlier this year a Polish-American actor who played both a Munchkin and one of the winged flying Monkeys in “The Wizard of Oz” is buried in Shearith Israel Memorial Park off of Dolphin Road in Dallas. His common name was Harry Monty.
Hymie Lichtenstein, who is also known as Harry Monty was born in Dallas, April 1, 1904. His parents are Frank and Lydia Lichtenstein, who had immigrated from Poland in the 1890s. Harry started his career in vaudeville and was in numerous films from the 1930s to the 1970s and he was mostly uncredited. Some of his films and television series he appeared in are “Hellzapoppin’,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Hello Dolly!,” “Lost in Space,” and “Bonanza.”
He also worked as a stunt double for many child actors, and did all of Margaret O’Brien’s stunt work. In addition, Monty served as a stunt person in the films “Tarzan Finds a Son!,” “Bad Bascomb,” “River of No Return,” and “Earthquake.”
He was even a character actor for the 1978 animated film “Lord of the Rings.” Later on in his life he always considered the role as a Munchkin to be the most important of all his roles from his 50 years on stage and film.
Harry Monty passed away on December 28, 1999, at the age of 95 in Beverly Hills, California.
