Dona Massin (February 18, 1917 - May 26, 2001), born Luciana Thomassin, was a choreographer and movie extra in Hollywood during the 1930s and 1940s who appeared in and/or worked for the production of about 100 films. For The Wizard of Oz (1939), she was the original demo singer for Over the Rainbow as she pushed for it be in the film and came up with the idea for the skipping across the Yellow Brick Road to be a quicker version of a ballet step called "pas de basque".
She was hired to be an assistant choreographer under Bobby Connolly as her primary job was to teach the little people who played the Munchkins a set of simple dance steps and routines. She also played as one of the manicurists in the wash and brush up shop in the Emerald City who had the Cowardly Lion as a client in a role that Mervyn LeRoy believed gave the film "good luck".
Born in Winnipeg, she moved to Los Angeles with her family at the age of 8. Her family was French-speaking, though she learned English quickly. She first worked at MGM as a 14-year-old dancer. Massin was 21 years old when she worked on the MGM Oz film.
She married and left movies after 1943 to be a parent and homemaker. Later in life, she became active in Oz fandom as she gave interviews and appeared in a few documentaries about the making of the MGM film which include Memories of Oz in 2001 along with three about Judy Garland.
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