06
Jun
The term “under five” originates during the old days of Hollywood when MGM was casting “The Wizard of Oz”. They were looking for hundreds of little people for the movie but the term little people didn’t exist back then and the actors were objecting to the words midget and dwarf. So MGM came up with the term “under five” to describe all the characters who were under five feet tall. I have no idea how the term grew to mean actors with less than five lines.
Secret Agent Man
Back Stage Columnist
