Goodbye Little Jimmy, Gone at 68
Our longtime friend James Mastrangelo has passed at the age of 68. Little Jimmy played Oompa Loompa in the 1971 movie “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” We would often see the Bay Ridge native dressed like Uncle Sam at Coney Island during the annual July 4th festivities.
According to the Daily News:
“Friend and fellow performer Dick Zigun, 62, first met Mastrangelo three decades ago when the pair were working the island’s sideshow circuit.
“When I started doing events in Coney Island is when I met Jimmy,” Zigun said.
“I’m used to talking to him every month. I was going to give him a call in the next week. Hard to believe that he’s gone.”
Funeral arrangements have not yet been released.”
Goodbye Jimmy. You will be missed.
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I didn’t know him, but all performers are colleagues nevertheless and in spite of our different categories…I have a family circus background so I certainly would have admired his talent especially having the opportunity to have mingled with many like Little Jimmy behind the circus tent…