Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 -
June 22, 1969) was a American film actress who is considered
one of the greatest singing stars of Hollywood's Golden Era of musical film.
Child star
Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids,
Minnesota, she was born into a family of vaudeville players. One year, her
parents and her two older sisters were performing in a Christmas show. Young Frances got on the stage and stole the show with a
rendition of Jingle Bells; she was two and a half years old. The
family soon moved to Lancaster, California and the Gumm
Sisters began work on stage and in movies. Frances was soon known as Baby Gumm.
In 1934, the Gumm Sisters were performing in Chicago with George Jessel.
Jessel encouraged the group to choose a less humorous name. They settled on the Three Garlands, and young Frances chose the name
Judy.
Garland was signed at the age of 13 by Louis B. Mayer to a contract
with MGM without a screen test. At the age of 16, she got the
role of Dorothy in the film of The
Wizard of Oz (1939), and was forever afterwards associated with the
song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". After
Oz, Garland became one of MGM's most important stars, proving particularly popular when teamed with Mickey Rooney in a string of "let's put on a show!" musicals.
Movie star
Throughout the 1940s her films increased in popularity, the most critically and financially successful being Meet Me in St. Louis, in which she introduced three classics
standards: "The Trolley Song," "The Boy Next Door," and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas." Her other famous films include The Harvey Girls (1946) (in which she introduced "On the Atchison
Topeka and the Santa Fe"), Easter Parade (1948), A Star Is Born (1954), and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). She received an honorary Academy Award for her performance in The Wizard of Oz, and was nominated for Best Actress in A Star is Born, and
Best Supporting
Actress for Judgment at Nuremberg.
Renewed stardom in television
When her MGM contract was terminated in 1950 (depending upon the source she either asked to be released from the contract, or
she was fired due her unreliability on the set of the musical Royal Wedding), Garland turned to television and live concert appearances. Throughout the 1950s and most notably in the early 1960s she made enormously successful appearances in both media. Her appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many the "greatest single night in show business,"
and the live recording made of the event was a best seller and won Grammy
Awards as the Album of the
Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year. She had a critically praised if short-lived
television series in 1963-64.
Untimely death
The shortcomings of her childhood years became more apparent as Garland struggled to overcome various personal problems,
including weight gain, heavy drinking, and drug addiction. Her children
were Liza Minnelli, Lorna
Luft, and Joey Luft. Of Garland's five marriages, the first four marriages
all ended in divorce. She died in 1969 at the age of 47 in London from an accidental overdose of barbiturates. Garland was interred in the Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New
York.
Legacy in gay rights
A gay icon, Garland always had a large fan base in the gay community. Her funeral in Manhattan resulted in an outpouring of New York City fans, with more than 20,000 coming to view her body - including
hundreds of gay men. Five days after her death, mourning gay fans fought back
against police during a routine police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a
gay bar in Greenwich
Village, which set off several days of "gay liberation" riots. Garland's death is often noted as a cause of one of the key
events of the modern gay rights movement.
According to a book of David Shipman, Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend she was bisexual herself, and
was in intimate relationship with her (female) secretary; however, Shipman's tale has not been corroborated, and much of his
scholarship has been questioned.
Marriages
- David Rose (1910-1990; married 1941-1945)
- Vincente Minnelli (1903-1986, married 1945-1951)
- Sidney Luft (1951-1964)
- Mark Herron (1928-1996, married 1964-1967) (might not have been a legal marriage, as it is unsure whether the
divorce from Luft was yet effective and the marriage was under dubious circumstances)
- Mickey Deans (né Michael DeVinko, 1934-2003) (married 1967-1969)
Filmography
- Down with Love Fox, 2003 (via carefully integrated stock footage)
- Valley of the Dolls Red Lion/Fox, 1967 (replaced
by Susan Hayward)
- I Could Go On
Singing UA/Barbican, 1963
- A Child Is
Waiting UA, 1963
- Gay Purr-ee Warner
Bros/UPA, 1963
- Judgment at Nuremberg UA, 1961
- Pepe Columbia, 1960 (voice only)
- A Star Is Born Warner Bros, 1954
- Royal Wedding MGM,
1951 (replaced by Jane Powell)
- Summer Stock MGM,
1950
- Annie Get Your Gun MGM, 1950 (replaced by Betty Hutton)
- In
the Good Old Summertime MGM, 1949
- The
Barkleys of Broadway MGM, 1949 (replaced by Ginger Rogers)
- Words and Music
MGM, 1948
- Easter Parade MGM, 1948
- The Pirate MGM, 1948
- Till the
Clouds Roll By MGM, 1946
- Ziegfeld Follies of 1946 MGM, 1946
- The Harvey Girls MGM, 1946
- The Clock MGM, 1945
- Meet Me in St. Louis MGM, 1944
- Thousands Cheer
MGM, 1943
- Girl Crazy MGM, 1943
- Presenting Lily
Mars MGM, 1943
- For Me and My
Gal MGM, 1942
- We Must Have
Music MGM short subject, 1941
- Babes on
Broadway MGM, 1941
- Life Begins for Andy Hardy MGM, 1941
- Ziegfeld Girl MGM,
1941
- Little Nellie
Kelly MGM, 1940
- Strike Up the
Band MGM, 1940
- Andy Hardy Meets Debutante MGM, 1940
- If I Forget You
MGM short subject, 1940
- Babes in Arms MGM, 1939
- The Wizard of Oz MGM,
1939
- Listen, Darling
MGM, 1938
- Love Finds Andy Hardy MGM, 1938
- Everybody Sing MGM,
1938
- Silent Night MGM Christmas Trailer, 1937
- Thoroughbreds Don't Cry MGM, 1937
- Broadway Melody of 1938 MGM, 1937
- Pigskin Parade Fox, 1936
- Every Sunday MGM short
subject, 1936
- La
Fiesta de Santa Barbara MGM short subject, 1935
- By the
Beautiful Sea Paramount short subject, 1931
- Bubbles
Vitaphone short subject, 1929
- The Wedding of Jack and Jill Vitaphone short subject, 1929
- A Holiday
in Storyland Vitaphone short subject, 1929
- The Big Revue Meglin short subject, 1929
Proposed films
Biographies of: Gertrude Lawrence, Fannie Brice, Edith Piaf, Aimee Semple McPherson
A Richard Rogers musical with a story by Abby Mann
Born in Wedlock
Albums
Although she had recorded singles of her hit songs for Decca Records,
Garland began recording albums for Capitol Records in the 1950's.
- 1955 Miss Show
Business
- 1956 Judy
- 1957 Alone
- 1958 Judy in Love
- 1959 The Letter
- 1960 Judy: That's Entertainment!
- 1961 Judy at
Carnegie Hall
- 1962 The Garland
Touch
- 1964 Judy and Liza Live at the London Palladium
- 1967 Judy: At Home at the Palace
External links
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