Bert Lahr’s Daughter On His Experience Filming ‘Wizard Of Oz’

Nearly nine decades after Wizard of Oz was released, one of the cast members’ daughter is recounting her father’s experience on set and how much pain he went through to deliver on his part. Bert Lahr played the Cowardly Lion alongside Judy Garland, who took the lead as Dorothy.

While Judy simply needed to appear in an adorable dress with pigtails and a pair of red shoes, getting into character was much harder for Bert Lahr. His daughter, Jane Lahr, gave details about the costume he had to use, which cost him comfort and much-needed air.

Bert Lahr wore real lion fur for his Cowardly Lion costume

According to Jane, Bert had to wear real lion fur, which, coupled with other parts of the costume, was 100 pounds of material weighing him down. He also felt trapped in the outfit and could only eat by drinking his lunch through a straw in between filming. Even worse was the heat Bert experienced underneath the heavy outfit.

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Aside from how hot the lion disguise was, Bert had to deal with the high-intensity studio lights but remained in high spirits regardless. On top of the real lion fur, Bert also wore a wig made from Italian human hair and had his tail attached to a block.

Discomfort for art

Thankfully, Bert was a good sport on set and made light of his condition underneath the hideous outfit. According to Jane, his carrying on did not make his experience any less tortuous. Even Jack Haley, who played Tin Man, had to bear a heavy costume, lay down on boards, and was excluded from the dining room.

Sadly, just like his co-star Frank Morgan warned, Bert got dropped by MGM Studios right after his contract, which hurt him very much. Frank previously warned that his many good reviews would do his Hollywood career no good because there were no more lion parts to play after The Wizard of Oz. After the classic, Bert starred in other productions like Meet The People, Androcles and the Lion, and The School for Wives.