Betty Ann Bruno, a veteran TV producer and reporter who performed a munchkin on The Wizard of Oz, has died. She was 91.
The passing was confirmed by KTVU, the information community the place Bruno served as a reporter for over 20 years. In response to her relations, she died on Sunday, July 30, in Sonoma, California.
“I’m so sorry to should inform you Betty Ann’s coronary heart left us right this moment,” her husband Craig Scheiner posted on Fb. “We have been on the kanikapila in Sonoma and she or he had simply completed dancing Pua Mana. She developed a sudden, splitting head ache and I drove her to Emergency. She made it to the from desk and collapsed on the ground with a large coronary heart assault. We have been collectively 46 years. I’m devastated.”
Bruno was born on October 1, 1931, in Wahiawa, Hawaii, however grew up in Hollywood, California. She began her profession as a toddler actress, showing in an uncredited position in John Ford’s 1937 movie The Hurricane earlier than enjoying one of many munchkins within the iconic 1937 film The Wizard of Oz alongside Judy Garland.
Everett Assortment
As an grownup, Bruno started a profession in journalism, beginning out as a political speak present producer and host earlier than changing into an investigative reporter. She spent over 20 years at KTVU, overlaying numerous tales about political corruption or company wrongdoing, along with the 1991 Oakland Hills hearth that destroyed over 3000 properties, together with her personal.
The Stanford graduate additionally gained three Emmy Awards throughout her tenure at KTVU for breaking information, news-feature collection, and investigative collection.
In 2020, Bruno launched her memoir, The Munchkin Diary: My Private Yellow Brick Highway, detailing her time engaged on The Wizard of Oz and her extensive and diversified profession that adopted, together with a stint as a secretary for the CIA.
“Different reporters would attempt to get [interviews, and] those self same individuals they might say ‘no, no, no manner.’ Betty Ann was at all times in a position to get the interview,” stated retired reporter Rob Roth in an interview with KTVU. “She actually did care in regards to the neighborhood, cared about reporting. She was only a actual treasure, a pleasure to know.”
Bruno is survived by her husband and three sons.
