Random Nonfiction

The Curse of Playing the Wicked Witch of the West

Margaret Hamilton almost did not get cast as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

The former kindergarten teacher had already donned the black hat in a Cleveland stage production of L. Frank Baum's classic children's book, but producer Mervyn LeRoy had initially wanted a more prominent actress to play the witch in what would become one of the most iconic films of all time.

A single mom with a spiked chin and prominent nose, Hamilton was not exactly a casting director's mental image of a movie star. She would often hear that she needed plastic surgery to remove the bump on her nose if she ever wanted to move her career beyond community theater and brief appearances in films.

But Hamilton had gone into acting for the money, so she looked past these indignities and accepted any role that came her way. By the time the auditions for The Wizard of Oz came around, she had already played her share of spinsters and villains, both in theater productions and Hollywood films like Way Down East and TheFarmer Takes a Wife, both released in 1935.

Still, Hamilton had not yet secured the leading lady type of role that would have earned her serious consideration for the part of the Wicked Witch. But after Oscar winner Gale Sondergaard declined the role, concerned that it would make her look too ugly, LeRoy decided to take a chance on Hamilton. She was in her late 30s at the time and, by now, way beyond caring about what people would think of her looks.

Plus, she had the cackle. Thanks to her career as a kindergarten teacher, Hamilton had a keen understanding of child psychology. When the time came for her to audition for The Wizard of Oz, she played up the cackle that sent shivers down the spines of the producers and other cast members, and would later come to terrify generations of kids.

During production, no one suspected how successful the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film would become. The actors focused merely on playing their roles and enduring the arduous days of filming. While Judy Garland was , Hamilton was covering herself in green paint and putting her life at risk for the dangerous stunts expected of the Wicked Witch of the West.

In one scene, Hamilton escapes from Munchkinland in a flaming ball of fire, swearing an oath of vengeance. Paul Miles Schneider, a Wizard of Oz expert who met Hamilton when he was 6 years old in 1969, said that filming this scene required her to slip into a trap door before the fire was set on stage. Hamilton would wave her broom and cackle as the awestruck munchkins looked on.