Judy Garland's performance as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939) won her a special Oscar and gave her a theme song for the rest of her life: "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." As a teenager Garland appeared in a series of cheerfully fluffy movies with fellow teen star Mickey Rooney, including Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) and Babes in Arms (1939). In the 1940s she was a song-and-dance star in movies like Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). She married director Vincente Minnelli; their daughter Liza Minnelli became a star in her own right. (Garland eventually married five times.) In the 1950s Garland began touring as a singer and became famous for her emotional, high-energy live performances. Throughout her last two decades she struggled with addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, while continuing to perform like a determined trouper on Broadway and in cabarets. She finally died of an overdose of prescription sleeping pills at age 47; her last husband, Mickey Deans, found her dead in their bathroom. UPI later reported that the coroner ruled the cause as "incautious self overdosage of the sleeping drug Seconal." She was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Garland's five husbands were: composer David Rose (1941-44), Vincente Minnelli (1945-51), manager Sid Luft (1952-65), actor Mark Herron (1965-67), and restaurant manager Mickey Deans (1968 until her death). She had one child with Minelli (Liza Minelli) and two with Sid Luft: Lorna Luft (b. 1952) and Joseph Luft (b. 1955)... Though not gay herself, Garland somehow became an enduring icon for the gay community, and the term "Friend of Dorothy" became pop culture shorthand for a gay man... See also our profile of Dorothy's dog Toto... "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was a hit for Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwo'ole in the 1990s.
Singer/actress Judy Garland had a varied career that began in vaudeville and extended into movies, records, radio, television, and personal appearances. She is best remembered as the big-voiced star of a series of movie musicals, particularly The Wizard of Oz, in which she sang her signature song, "Over the Rainbow." But unlike most other film stars of her era, she also maintained a career as a recording artist, and after her movie-making days were largely over, she was able to transfer her stardom to performing and recording, culminating in her Grammy-winning number one album Judy at Carnegie Hall.
The third daughter of former vaudevillians running a theater in Grand Rapids, MN, Garland made her stage debut singing "Jingle Bells" during the holiday season when she was two years old. Soon after, she joined the singing group formed by her two sisters. Early on, her surprisingly mature voice caused her to dominate the group. Her family moved to California in the fall of 1926, where the sisters found occasional work on-stage and on radio, even appearing in several film shorts in 1929 and 1930. In the summer of 1934, they toured in the Midwest, where George Jessel suggested they change their name from the Gumm Sisters to the Garland Sisters; eventually, each sister also picked a new first name, with Garland choosing hers for the Hoagy Carmichael/Sammy Lerner song "Judy."
The Garland Sisters broke up in the summer of 1935 upon the marriage of Garland's oldest sister, Mary Jane. Soon after, Garland successfully auditioned for the MGM film studio, and she was signed to a contract that fall. Within weeks, she made her network radio debut on The Shell Chateau Hour. The movie studio did not have immediate plans for her, but her career did advance in another area. She had made test recordings on two occasions in 1935 for Decca Records; finally, in June 1936 the label recorded her singing "Stompin' at the Savoy" and released it the following month as her debut single, although she was not yet signed to a term contract with the label.
Garland made her feature film debut in the musical Pigskin Parade, on loan to the 20th Century Fox studio, in November 1936. She finally made an impression at MGM when she sang a version of "You Made Me Love You" with special material written by Roger Edens that transformed it into a tribute to film star Clark Gable, at Gable's birthday party on February 1, 1937. The performance was re-created in Broadway Melody of 1938, released in August. After attending a preview, Decca president Jack Kapp finally decided to sign Garland to a recording contract, and the label soon released her studio versions of "Everybody Sing" and "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You" from the film.
Garland made four more films (Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, Everybody Sing, Listen, Darling, and Love Finds Andy Hardy) and a couple more singles through 1938, but she didn't achieve major stardom until the release of The Wizard of Oz in August 1939. Glenn Miller had jumped the gun on the film by recording "Over the Rainbow," and the song was already a hit before the movie was released. But Garland's recording for Decca also became popular, and her success was sealed by the release of Babes in Arms shortly after The Wizard of Oz. At the 1939 Academy Awards in February 1940, she was presented with a miniature Oscar for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile. In March, Decca released her first album, Judy Garland Souvenir Album, a three-disc, six-song set combining the "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You" single with her current singles "In Between" (from Love Finds Andy Hardy) and "Figaro" (from Babes in Arms).
Garland appeared in three films in 1940, Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly, and she scored a Top Ten hit with her recording of "I'm Nobody's Baby," featured in the first of them. Her December recording session for songs from Little Nellie Kelly was conducted by David Rose, whom she married on July 28, 1941. She appeared in another three movies that year, Ziegfeld Girl, Life Begins for Andy Hardy, and Babes on Broadway. Her only film released in 1942 was For Me and My Gal, also starring Gene Kelly, who paired with her on a recording of the title song that became a Top Ten hit. In 1943, she starred in Presenting Lily Mars and Girl Crazy, and made a guest appearance in Thousands Cheer. She also made her concert debut during the year, appearing on July 1 with the Philadelphia Orchestra under André Kostelanetz at an open-air performance at the Robin Hood Dell in Philadelphia reported to have attracted 30,000 listeners, and toured service camps in support of the war effort.
Garland's film work became less frequent after 1943, tending to average a single major release each year. Meet Me in St. Louis, her next movie, was released in December 1944, directed by Vincente Minnelli, whom she married on June 15, 1945, just after her divorce from David Rose. Her recording of "The Trolley Song" from the score became a Top Ten hit, as did her album of songs from the film. She followed with another Minnelli-directed film, The Clock, in May 1945, her first non-singing dramatic role. In June, she joined Bing Crosby on a recording of the novelty "Yah-Ta-Ta Yah-Ta-Ta (Talk, Talk, Talk)," her first Top Ten hit with a song not featured in one of her films. Lyricist Johnny Mercer got the jump on all competitors in scoring a hit with his song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" (written with composer Harry Warren) from Garland's upcoming film, The Harvey Girls, taking it to number one in July. But Garland's version, released in September, was also a Top Ten hit. The film appeared in January 1946.
Garland gave birth to a daughter, Liza Minnelli, on March 12, 1946, and cut back on her work schedule, though she made guest appearances in two other 1946 films, Ziegfeld Follies and Till the Clouds Roll By. The latter, a biography of Jerome Kern, marked the birth of MGM Records and with it the soundtrack album, its aural equivalent reaching the Top Ten. Although Garland remained nominally signed to Decca, the rest of her record releases through 1950 were MGM soundtrack recordings.
Garland returned to filmmaking full-time with The Pirate, released in June 1948, followed quickly by Easter Parade, co-starring Fred Astaire, in July, and then by a guest appearance in Words and Music in December. The last, a biography of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, produced a number one soundtrack album. At this point, Garland's relationship with MGM began to unravel. Decades of diet pills to control her weight, amphetamines to give her energy, and barbiturates to help her sleep -- reportedly given to her by her mother early on and later by the studio -- had resulted in addiction and emotional instability inconsistent with the grueling demands of making lavish movie musicals. At the same time, the studio, losing audiences to television and facing a severing of its relationship with the Loews' theater chain, was more dependent on big-budget films and more constrained financially. Cast in a second Fred Astaire film, The Barkleys of Broadway, Garland was fired from the production and suspended by the studio for her erratic behavior. She was then reinstated and made In the Good Old Summertime, released in the summer of 1949. By then, she had been fired from Annie Get Your Gun and suspended a second time. She was again reinstated and made Summer Stock, which was released in the summer of 1950 and produced a Top Ten soundtrack album. But when she was fired from Royal Wedding and suspended a third time, on July 17, 1950, she made a halfhearted suicide attempt that got into the papers and substantially changed her image from the ingenuous child of The Wizard of Oz to a tragic Hollywood casualty. In September, MGM formally canceled her contract. She divorced Minnelli on March 22, 1951.
Garland turned from the movies to the concert stage, accepting an offer from the London Palladium to appear for four weeks starting on April 9, 1951. It was the beginning of a major comeback. Returning to the U.S., she re-opened the Palace Theatre in New York as a live venue for what was scheduled to be a four-week engagement on October 16, 1951; it stretched to 19 weeks, finally ending on February 24, 1952, at a reported gross of $750,000. As a result, she was given a special Tony Award "for an important contribution to the revival of vaudeville." On June 2, 1952, she married her manager, Sid Luft. She gave birth to Lorna Luft on November 21, 1952.
Garland and Luft formed a production company and signed with Warner Bros. Pictures to produce a remake of A Star Is Born. It opened in October 1954, resulting in an Academy Award nomination for Garland. The soundtrack album, released by Columbia Records, was a Top Ten hit. Garland gave birth to a son, Joey Luft, on March 29, 1955. She toured the West Coast in July, and in September starred in a live, 90-minute television special tied in to her debut Capitol Records album, Miss Show Business, which reached the Top Ten. The show brought her an Emmy nomination for Best Female Singer. There was another 30-minute TV special in April 1956, a four-week engagement at a Las Vegas hotel in July and August, and a two-month return to the Palace in September, during which Capitol released the chart LP Judy. She did another three weeks in Las Vegas in May 1957 and that month released her third Capitol LP, Alone, which again was a chart item. She toured the U.S. through October, then spent a month at the Dominion Theatre in London. She continued to perform all over the U.S. in 1958 and 1959, and to record for Capitol (Judy in Love and the concert album Judy Garland at the Grove in 1958, The Letter in 1959). In November 1959, she was hospitalized for hepatitis and advised to give up performing, but she returned to action with a performance at the London Palladium in August 1960, followed by more European dates through December and a new Capitol album, Judy! That's Entertainment!, in October. She had a cameo in the film Pepe, released in December. There were more European shows in January and February 1961. Then, on April 23, 1961, she appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, and the show was recorded for a double-LP set. Judy at Carnegie Hall was number one by September and a gold record within a year; it won Grammy Awards for Album of the Year and Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female.
In December 1961, she returned to films with a dramatic role in Judgment at Nuremberg that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She starred in her first television special in six years in February 1962, earning Emmy nominations for Program of the Year and Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Variety. Her next album, The Garland Touch, released in July, reached the Top 20. In September, she returned to performing in Las Vegas, spending six weeks at the Sahara, with additional dates through February 1963. November saw the release of Gay Purr-ee, an animated musical film for which she provided one of the character voices. In January 1963, she starred in the dramatic film A Child Is Waiting. There was another television special in March that brought an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Program Achievement in the Field of Music. Its success led CBS to offer her her own weekly variety series. In May, she portrayed a troubled singing star in I Could Go on Singing, her final film appearance. The soundtrack album reached the Top 40.
The Judy Garland Show premiered on Sunday, September 29, 1963, programmed directly opposite NBC's Western drama Bonanza, the second-highest rated show on television. As such, it never had a chance to become a success, but it ran for 26 weeks, through March 30, 1964, and earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series. Capitol released Just for Openers, an album of performances drawn from the series, on the day of the final broadcast.
In May 1964, Garland undertook a tour of the Far East marred by illness. In November, she returned to the London Palladium, performing with her 18-year-old daughter, Liza Minnelli. The performance was filmed and recorded. A special was broadcast on British television in December, and a double album, "Live" at the London Palladium, was released on Capitol in August 1965, spending several months in the charts. Garland toured the U.S. during 1965. She married actor Mark Herron on November 14, 1965, just after her divorce from Sid Luft became final. (She divorced Herron on April 11, 1967.) She was less active in 1966, restricting herself to a few live and television appearances. But she worked extensively in 1967, including a month-long return to the Palace that summer which produced a new live album on a new label, Judy Garland at Home at the Palace -- Opening Night, in the charts for ABC Records in September. There were a handful of dates in the U.S. in 1968, the last of them being a performance on July 20 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. On December 30, she opened a five-week engagement at the Talk of the Town nightclub in London. She married her fifth husband, nightclub manager Mickey Deans, on March 15, 1969. In March, she embarked on a trio of Scandinavian dates, the last of which was at the Falkoner Center in Copenhagen on March 25. Three months later, she died of an accidental overdose of barbiturates.
In the decades following her death, Judy Garland's troubled personal life, which contrasted so starkly with the exuberance and innocence of her film roles, has been the grist for numerous books and other accounts, to the point that her career is sometimes viewed more as an object lesson in Hollywood excess than as the remarkable string of multimedia accomplishments it was. But even the salacious and exploitative material is dependent on her star power and vocal pyrotechnics to have any appeal. Garland herself, who was so attracted to the backstage Hollywood story of A Star Is Born, performing it both on radio and later on film, certainly understood the attraction of a tragic image and may have used it deliberately. Nevertheless, the core of her significance as an artist remains her amazing voice and emotional commitment to her songs.
Garland's extensive work as a singer, including her appearances in films and on radio and television, in addition to live performances and studio recordings, makes her discography lengthy and chaotic. In the '90s, her soundtrack recordings saw reissue through Rhino Records, while MCA undertook a box set of her '30s and '40s Decca studio recordings (The Complete Decca Masters [Plus]) and Capitol compiled its own box of her '50s and '60s material, (The One & Only). Beyond these lies a vast and ever-increasing sea of quasi-legal releases that consumers should approach with caution. ~ William Ruhlmann ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: The Wizard of Oz, A Star is Born, The Pirate
First Major Screen Credit: Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
Biography
Entertainer Judy Garland was both one of the greatest and one of the most tragic figures in American show business. The daughter of a pushy stage mother, Garland and her sisters were forced into a vaudeville act called the Gumm Sisters (her real name), which appeared in movie shorts and at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. It was clear from the outset that Judy was the star of the act, and, as such, was signed by MGM as a solo performer in 1936. The studio adored Garland's adult-sounding singing but was concerned about her puffy facial features and her curvature of the spine. MGM decided to test both Garland and another teenage contractee, Deanna Durbin, in a musical "swing vs. the classics" short subject entitled Every Sunday (1936). The studio had planned to keep Durbin and drop Garland, but, through a corporate error, the opposite took place. Nevertheless, MGM decided to allow Garland her feature film debut in another studio's production, just in case the positive audience response to Every Sunday was a fluke.
Loaned to 20th Century Fox, Garland was ninth-billed in Pigskin Parade (1936), but stole the show with her robust renditions of "Balboa" and "Texas Tornado." Garland returned to MGM in triumph and was given better opportunities to show her stuff: the "Dear Mr. Gable" number in Broadway Melody of 1938, "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart" in Listen, Darling (1938), and so on. When MGM planned to star 20th Century Fox's Shirley Temple in The Wizard of Oz, Garland almost didn't get her most celebrated role, but the deal fell through and she was cast as Dorothy. But even after this, the actress nearly lost her definitive screen moment when the studio decided to cut the song "Over the Rainbow," although finally kept the number after it tested well in previews.
The Wizard of Oz made Garland a star, but MGM couldn't see beyond the little-girl image and insisted upon casting her in "Hey, kids, let's put on a show" roles opposite Mickey Rooney (a life-long friend). Garland proved to the world that she was a grown-up by marrying composer David Rose in 1941, after which MGM began giving her adult roles in such films as For Me and My Gal (1942) -- although still her most successful film of the early '40s was in another blushing-teen part in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). Once very popular on the set due to her infectious high spirits, in the mid-'40s Garland became moody and irritable, as well as undependable insofar as showing up on time and being prepared. The problem was an increasing dependency upon barbiturates, an addiction allegedly inaugurated in the 1930s when the studio had Garland "pepped up" with prescription pills so that she could work longer hours. Garland also began drinking heavily, and her marriage was deteriorating. In 1945, she married director Vincente Minnelli, with whom she had a daughter, Liza, in 1946. By 1948, Garland's mood swings and suicidal tendencies were getting the better of her, and, in 1950, she had to quit the musical Annie Get Your Gun. That same year, she barely got through Summer Stock, her health problems painfully evident upon viewing the film. Before 1950 was half over, Garland attempted suicide, and, after recovering, was fired by MGM. Garland and Vincente Minnelli divorced in 1951, whereupon she married producer Sid Luft, who took over management of his wife's career and choreographed Garland's triumphant comeback at the London Palladium, a success surpassed by her 1951 appearance at New York's Palace Theatre. Luft strong-armed Warner Bros. to bankroll A Star Is Born (1954), providing Garland with her first film role in four years. It was Garland's best film to date, earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, and allowed her a wealth of songs to sing and a full range of emotions to play.
Riding high once more, Garland was later reduced to the depths of depression when she lost the Oscar to Grace Kelly. Her subsequent live appearances were wildly inconsistent, and her film performances ranged from excellent (Judgment at Nuremberg [1961]) to appallingly undisciplined (A Child Is Waiting [1963]). Her third marriage on the rocks, Garland nonetheless pulled herself together for an unforgettable 1961 appearance at Carnegie Hall, which led indirectly to her 1963 weekly CBS series, The Judy Garland Show. As with most of the significant moments in Garland's life, much contradictory information has emerged regarding the program and her behavior therein; the end result, however, was its cancellation after one year, due less to the inconsistent quality of the series (it began poorly, but finished big with several "concert" episodes) as to the competition of NBC's Bonanza.
Garland's marriage to Sid Luft, which produced her daughter Lorna, ended in divorce in 1965, and, from there on, Garland's life and career made a rapid downslide. She made a comeback attempt in London in 1968, but audiences ranged from enthusiastic to indifferent -- as did her performances. A 1969 marriage to discotheque manager Mickey Deems did neither party any good, nor did a three-week engagement at a London nightclub, during which Garland was booed off the stage. On June 22, 1969, Judy Garland was found dead in her London apartment, the victim of an ostensibly accidental overdose of barbiturates. Despite (or perhaps because of) the deprivations of her private life, Garland has remained a show business legend. As to her untimely demise, Ray Bolger summed it up best in his oft-quoted epitaph: "Judy didn't die. She just wore out." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Judy Garland (1922-1969) starred in films, musicals, and on the concert stage. A superstar who never lost her waif appeal, she is best remembered for her performance in The Wizard of Oz and for the song "Over the Rainbow."
Judy Garland, born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, began her show business career before she was three years old. By age six she was a veteran performer, appearing with her two older sisters in a vaudeville act. Mistakenly billed as "The Glum Sisters" in 1931, the sisters at the suggestion of a fellow performer changed their stage name to Garland (the name of a then-prominent drama critic). Shortly thereafter, at her own insistence, she changed her first name from Frances to Judy (after a popular song of the day).
In 1935 the head of MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) was induced to hear her sing. Enthused, he signed her to a contract. There was some uncertainty at the studio on how to utilize her talents. A year passed before she made her first MGM film, a two reeler. Her first appearance in a feature did not come until 1937, when she was loaned to Twentieth Century-Fox. That same year at an MGM party for its star Clark Gable she was a hit singing a specialty number, "Dear Mr. Gable" adapted from the well-known standard "You Made Me Love You." As a result she and the song were incorporated into the 1937 feature Broadway Melody of 1938. Again she earned accolades.
MGM quickly put Garland into more films, each spotlighting her in song. In her next film - Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937) - she was cast with Mickey Rooney, with whom she subsequently appeared in eight films. MGM paired them in some of the Andy Hardy films, a series starring Rooney as an "average" American teenager. The duo was also winning in movies of the "c'mon kids, let's put on a show" type, including Babes in Arms (1939), Strike Up The Band (1940), Babes on Broadway (1941), and Girl Crazy (1943). Her most memorable film role (and the one which catapulted her to stardom) came in 1939 with The Wizard of Oz. She won a special Oscar as "best juvenile performer of the year." The film also provided her with the song ("Over the Rainbow") with which she was identified until her death.
During the 1940s she graced a number of outstanding musicals, including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), and Easter Parade (1948). She was superb in a non-singing role in The Clock, a sentimental drama about a young girl and a serviceman on leave.
Garland's personal life, however, was less successful. She married music arranger David Rose in 1941, but that marriage ended long before the 1945 divorce. That same year she married director Vincente Minnelli, who guided Garland in some of her most notable films, including The Pirate (1948). Daughter Liza Minnelli (later a star in her own right) was born in 1946. This second marriage also faltered and was over well before the 1951 divorce. All during the 1940s she was plagued by a lack of self-confidence, strained by incessant work, hampered by weight problems. She became heavily dependent on pills and in the the end broke down, her first known suicide attempt coming in 1950.
Once an admirable trouper, she became during the 1940s a problem artist. The filming of In the Good Old Summertime (1949) was repeatedly delayed, as was Summer Stock (1950). A pattern had been set which would increasingly debilitate her. She was replaced in a number of films and finally was fired by MGM in 1950.
Sidney Luft, a dynamic promoter who later became her third husband (1952), started Garland on a career on concert stages. She was a smashing success at the Palladium in London, at the Palace Theatre in New York City, and elsewhere. The magnificent film A Star Is Born (1954) capped her comeback, and she earned an Oscar nomination. But faltering health, increasing drug dependency, and alcohol abuse led to nervous breakdowns, suicide attempts, and recurrent breakups with Luft, by whom she had two children, Lorna (1952) and Joseph (1955). The Lufts finally divorced (1965) after years of legal wrangling.
Notwithstanding her troubles, Garland undertook a highly successful concert tour in 1961, which was capped by an enthusiastically received concert at Carnegie Hall: the live recording of that event sold over two million copies. That same year she won an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress for her dramatic performance in the film Judgment at Nuremberg. She had another non-singing role in the British film A Child Is Waiting (1963). Her last film role was in another British film, I Could Go On Singing (1963). Garland had made an auspicious television debut in 1955 on the Ford Star Jubilee and had done well in other guest appearances. Unfortunately, her long awaited television weekly series did not fare well, and CBS cancelled the variety show after one season (1963-1964).
Garland's personal and professional life continued to be a series of ups and downs, marked by faltering performances, comebacks, lawsuits, hospitalizations, and suicide attempts. After divorcing Luft she married Mark Herron, a younger, inconsequential actor with whom she had travelled for some time; the marriage lasted only months. Mickey Deans, a discotheque manager 12 years her junior, whom she married earlier that year, found her dead in their London flat on June 21, 1969. Death came from an "accidental" overdose of barbituates. She is buried in Hartsdale, New York.
Judy Garland was a superstar who, as one critic pointed out, "managed the considerable feat of converting herself into an underdog." Despite all the lows in her life she remained immensely popular and had a waif appeal that was never entirely lost.
Further Reading
There are biographies of Judy Garland by Anne Edwards (1975) and Christopher Finch (1975). There is an overview of her films and career by Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein (1970). More personal points of view are to be found in Mickey Dean's memoir (1972) and in Mel Tormé's less than kind recollection of working with Garland on her television show.
(click to enlarge) Judy Garland, 1945. (credit: Brown Brothers)
(born June 10, 1922, Grand Rapids, Minn., U.S. — died June 22, 1969, London, Eng.) U.S. singer and film actress. Born into a family of vaudeville performers, she made her stage debut at age three. She toured with her sisters until making her debut in a short film, Every Sunday (1936). She was a hit in Broadway Melody of 1938 and starred as a wholesome girlfriend in nine films with Mickey Rooney, including Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938). She became an international star as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Among her other musical hits were Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), and Summer Stock (1950). Her sweet but powerful voice and emotional range made her a legendary concert performer. After record-breaking engagements at the London Palladium and New York's Palace Theatre, she returned to the screen in triumph in A Star Is Born (1954), and she was acclaimed for her role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Her life was troubled by broken marriages and a reliance on drugs, which led to her early death. Her daughters, Liza Minnelli (by Vincente Minnelli) and Lorna Luft, followed her to the musical stage.
Garland, Judy, 1922–69, American singer and film actress, b. Grand Rapids, Minn., originally named Frances Gumm. She sang in her father's theater from the age of four as one of The Gumm Sisters; she later toured in vaudeville. Beginning her film career in 1935, she endeared herself to the public in the Andy Hardy film series and in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Her later films include Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948), A Star is Born (1954), and Judgment at Nuremburg (1960). Her first husband was the director Vincente Minnelli. Their daughter Liza Minnelli, 1946–, b. Hollywood, Calif., is also a singer, dancer, and actress. She made her Broadway debut in Flora, the Red Menace (1965; Tony Award). Minelli has appeared in a number of films, including The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), Cabaret (1972; Academy Award), New York, New York (1977), and two Arthur films (1981 and 1988). She has performed in solo nightclub appearances and has also been seen frequently on television, most notably in a televised concert with her mother at the London Palladium (1964) and in Liza with a Z (1978; Golden Globe). Garland's second daughter, Lorna Luft, 1953–, is also an actress and singer who has appeared in films, on stage, and in various performance venues. In addition, she wrote Me and My Shadows, a Family Memoir (1998).
Bibliography
See biographies of Garland by M. Tormé (1970), her husband M. Deans (1972), and G. Clarke (2000).
Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on the concert stage. Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award, won a Golden Globe Award, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for her work in films, as well as Grammy Awards and a Tony Award. She had a contralto singing range.[1]
After appearing in vaudeville with her sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney, and the film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz (1939). After 15 years, Garland was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a critically acclaimed Carnegie Hall concert, a well-regarded but short-lived television series, and a return to film acting beginning with A Star Is Born (1954).
Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and overweight. Plied with drugs to control her weight and increase her productivity, Garland endured a decades-long struggle with addiction. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, and her first four of five marriages ended in divorce. She attempted suicide on a number of occasions. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft.
Born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Garland was the youngest child of vaudevillians Frank Gumm and Ethel Marion Milne. Her ancestry on both sides of the family can be traced back to the early colonial days of the United States. Her father was descended from the Marable family of Virginia and her mother from Patrick Fitzpatrick, who arrived in America from Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland, in the 1770s.[3]
Named after both her parents and baptized at a local Episcopal church, "Baby" (as Frances was affectionately called) shared the family's flair for song and dance. "Baby" Gumm's first appearance came at the age of two-and-a-half, when she joined her two older sisters, Mary Jane ("Suzy") (1915–65) and Dorothy Virginia ("Ginnie") (1917–77) on stage, singing a chorus of "Jingle Bells" in a Christmas show at her father's movie theater.[4]
The Gumm girls performed at their father's theater, accompanied by their mother on piano, for the next few years. In June 1926, following rumors that Frank had made sexual advances toward male ushers at his theater, the family relocated to Lancaster, California.[5] Frank purchased and operated another theater there and Ethel, acting as their manager, began working to get her daughters into pictures.
The Gumm Sisters
In 1928, The Gumm Sisters enrolled in a dance school run by Ethel Meglin, proprietress of the Meglin Kiddies dance troupe. The sisters appeared with the troupe at its annual Christmas show.[6] It was through the Meglin Kiddies that Garland and her sisters made their film debut, in a 1929 short subject called The Big Revue. This was followed by appearances in two Vitaphone shorts the following year, A Holiday in Storyland (featuring Garland's first on-screen solo) and The Wedding of Jack and Jill. They next appeared together in Bubbles. The final on-screen appearance of The Gumm Sisters came in 1935, in another short entitled La Fiesta de Santa Barbara.[7]
In 1934, the sisters, who by then had been touring the vaudeville circuit as "The Gumm Sisters" for many years, performed in Chicago at the Oriental Theater with George Jessel. He encouraged the group to choose a more appealing name after the name "Gumm" was met with laughter from the audience. "The Garland Sisters" was chosen, and Frances changed her name to "Judy" soon after, inspired by a popular Hoagy Carmichael song.[8]
Several stories persist regarding the origin of the name "Garland". One is that it was originated by Jessel after Carole Lombard's character Lily Garland in the film Twentieth Century which was then playing at the Oriental; another is that the trio chose the surname after drama critic Robert Garland.[9] Garland's daughter Lorna Luft stated that her mother selected the name when Jessel announced that the trio of singers "looked prettier than a garland of flowers".[10] Another variation surfaced when Jessel was a guest on Garland's television show in 1963. He claimed that he had sent actress Judith Anderson a telegram containing the word "garland", and it stuck in his mind.[11]
Signed at MGM
In 1935, Garland was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, supposedly without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. The studio did not know what to do with Garland, as at age 13 she was older than the traditional child star but too young for adult roles. Garland's physical appearance created a dilemma for MGM. At only 4 feet 11.5 inches (151 cm), Garland's "cute" or "girl next door" looks did not exemplify the more glamorous persona required of leading ladies of the time. She was self-conscious and anxious about her appearance. "Judy went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, real beauties," said Charles Walters, who directed Garland in a number of films. "Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling ... I think it had a very damaging effect on her emotionally for a long time. I think it lasted forever, really."[12] Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who referred to her as his "little hunchback".[13] During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments or frilly juvenile gowns and costumes to match the "girl-next-door" image that was created for her. She was made to wear portable caps on her teeth and rubberized disks to reshape her nose.[14] She performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday. The film served as an extended screen test for the pair, as studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster.[15] Mayer finally decided to keep both girls, but by that time Durbin's option had lapsed and she was signed by Universal Studios.
On November 16, 1935, in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateau Hour, Garland learned that her father—who had been hospitalized with meningitis—had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Gumm died the following morning, on November 17. Garland's song for the Shell Chateau Hour was her first professional rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a song which would become a standard in many of her concerts.[16]
Garland next came to the attention of studio executives by singing a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the actor; her rendition was so well regarded that Garland performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), in which she sang the song to a photograph of Gable.[17]
MGM hit on a winning formula when it paired Garland with Mickey Rooney in a string of "backyard musicals".[18] The duo first appeared together in the 1937 B movieThoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation, and teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy. Garland would eventually star with Rooney in nine films.
To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before bed.[19] For Garland, this regular dose of drugs led to addiction and a lifelong struggle, and contributed to her eventual demise. She later resented the hectic schedule and felt that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. Despite successful film and recording careers, several awards, critical praise, and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, Garland was plagued throughout her life with self-doubt and required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.[20]Oscar Levant later remarked that "at parties, Judy could sing all night, endlessly... but when it came time to appear on a movie set, she just wouldn't show up."[21]
Garland soon landed the lead role of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939) at the age of 16, in which she introduced the song with which she would forever be identified, "Over the Rainbow". Although producers Arthur Freed and Mervyn LeRoy had wanted Garland from the start, studio chief Mayer tried first to borrow Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox. Temple's services were denied, and Garland was cast.[22] Garland was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her breasts were bound with tape and she was made to wear a special corset to flatten out her curves and make her appear younger; her blue gingham dress (her only costume) was also chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.[23]
Shooting commenced on October 13, 1938,[24] and was completed on March 16, 1939,[25] with a final cost of over $2,000,000.[26] From the conclusion of filming, MGM kept Garland busy with promotional tours and the shooting of Babes in Arms. Garland and Mickey Rooney were sent on a cross-country promotional tour, culminating in the August 17 New York City premiere at the Capitol Theatre, which included a five-show-a-day appearance schedule for the two stars.[27]
The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4,000,000, coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets, meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s.[28] At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms.[29] Following this recognition, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
In 1940, she starred in three films: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly. In the latter film, Garland played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. Little Nellie Kelly was purchased from George M. Cohan as a vehicle for Garland to assess both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss, and the only death scene of her career.[30] The success of these three films, and a further three films in 1941, secured her position at MGM as a major property.
During this time Garland experienced her first serious adult romances. The first was with the band leader Artie Shaw. Garland was deeply devoted to Shaw and was devastated in early 1940 when Shaw eloped with Lana Turner.[31] Garland began a relationship with musician David Rose, and on her 18th birthday, Rose gave her an engagement ring. The studio intervened because Rose was still married at the time to the actress and singer Martha Raye. The couple agreed to wait a year to allow for Rose's divorce from Raye to become final, and were wed on July 27, 1941.[32] She was noticeably thinner in her next film, For Me and My Gal, alongside Gene Kelly in his first screen appearance. Garland was top billed over the credits for the first time, and effectively made the transition from teenage star to adult actress.
At the age of 21, she was given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident in her appearance and never escaped the "girl next door" image that had been created for her.[33] Adding to her insecurity was the dissolution of her marriage to David Rose. Garland, who had aborted her pregnancy by Rose in 1942, agreed to a trial separation in January 1943, and they divorced in 1944.[34]
One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Vincente Minnelli was assigned to direct this movie, and he requested that make-up artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland for the picture. Ponedel refined Garland's appearance in several ways, including extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line, and removing her nose discs. Garland appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.[35] During the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis, after some initial conflict between them, Garland and Minnelli entered a relationship together. They were married June 15, 1945,[36] and on March 12, 1946, daughter Liza Minnelli was born.[37]
The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film, opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. It would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role.
Garland performing "Get Happy" in Summer Stock (1950)
During filming for The Pirate in April 1947, Garland suffered a nervous breakdown and was placed in a private sanitarium.[38] She was able to complete filming, but in July of that year she made her first suicide attempt, making minor cuts to her wrist with a broken glass.[39] Following her work on The Pirate, Garland completed three more films for MGM: Easter Parade, In the Good Old Summertime, and her final film with MGM, Summer Stock.
Garland was unable to complete a series of films. During the filming of The Barkleys of Broadway, Garland was taking prescription sleeping medication along with illicitly obtained pills containing morphine. These, in combination with migraine headaches, led Garland to miss several shooting days in a row. After being advised by Garland's doctor that she would only be able to work in four- to five-day increments with extended rest periods between, MGM executive Arthur Freed made the decision to suspend Garland on July 18, 1948. She was replaced by Ginger Rogers.[40]
Garland was cast in the film adaptation of Annie Get Your Gun in the title role of Annie Oakley. She was nervous at the prospect of taking on a role strongly identified with Ethel Merman, anxious about appearing in an unglamourous part after breaking from juvenile parts for several years, and disturbed by her treatment at the hands of director Busby Berkeley. She began arriving late to the set, and sometimes failed to appear. She was suspended from the picture on May 10, 1949, and was replaced by Betty Hutton.[41] Garland was next cast in the film Royal Wedding when June Allyson became pregnant in 1950. She again failed to report to the set on multiple occasions, and the studio suspended her contract on June 17, 1950, replacing her with Jane Powell.[42] Reputable biographies following Garland's death stated that after this latest dismissal, she slightly grazed her neck with a broken water glass, requiring only a Band-Aid, but at the time, the public was informed that a despondent Garland had slashed her throat.[43] "All I could see ahead was more confusion," Garland later said of this suicide attempt. "I wanted to black out the future as well as the past. I wanted to hurt myself and everyone who had hurt me."[44]
Renewed stardom on the stage
In 1951, Garland divorced Vincente Minnelli.[45] She engaged Sid Luft as her manager the same year.[46] Luft arranged a four-month concert tour of the United Kingdom, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland.[47] The tour included Garland's first appearances at the renowned London Palladium, for a four-week stand in April.[48] Although the British press chided her before her opening for being "too plump", she received rave reviews and the ovation was described by the Palladium manager as the loudest he had ever heard.[49]
In October 1951, Garland opened in a vaudeville-style, two-a-day engagement at Broadway's newly-refurbished Palace Theatre. Her 19-week engagement exceeded all previous records for the theater, and was described as "one of the greatest personal triumphs in show business history".[50] Garland was honored for her contribution to the revival of vaudeville with a special Tony Award.[51]
Garland and Luft were married on June 8, 1952, in Hollister, California,[52] and Garland gave birth to the couple's first child, Lorna, on November 21 that year.[53]
Garland's personal and professional achievements during this time were marred by the actions of her mother, Ethel. In May 1952, at the height of Garland's comeback, Ethel was featured in a Los Angeles Mirror story in which she revealed that while Garland was making a small fortune at the Palace, Ethel was working a desk job at Douglas Aircraft Company for $61 a week.[54] Garland and Ethel had been estranged for years, with Garland characterizing her mother as "no good for anything except to create chaos and fear" and accusing her of mismanaging and misappropriating Garland's salary from the earliest days of her career.[55] Garland's sister Virginia denied this, stating "Mama never took a dime from Judy."[56] On January 5, 1953, Ethel was found dead in the Douglas Aircraft parking lot.[57]
A Star Is Born
In 1954, Garland filmed a musical remake of A Star is Born for Warner Bros. Luft and Garland, through their production company Transcona Enterprises, produced the film while Warner Bros. supplied the funds, production facilities, and crew.[58] Directed by George Cukor and co-starring James Mason, it was a large undertaking to which Garland initially fully dedicated herself. As shooting progressed, however, she began making the same pleas of illness which she had so often made during her final films at MGM. Production delays led to cost overruns and angry confrontations with Warner Bros. head Jack Warner. Principal photography wrapped on March 17, 1954. At Luft's suggestion, the "Born in a Trunk" medley was filmed as a showcase for Garland and inserted over director Cukor's objections, who feared the additional length would lead to cuts in other areas. The "Born in a Trunk" sequence was completed on July 29.[59]
Upon its September 29 world premiere, the film was met with tremendous critical and popular acclaim. Before release it was edited at the instruction of Jack Warner; theater operators, concerned that they were losing money because they were only able to run the film for three or four shows per day instead of five or six, pressured the studio to make additional reductions. About 30 minutes of footage was cut, sparking outrage among critics and filmgoers. A Star is Born ended up losing money, and the secure financial position Garland had expected from the profits did not materialize.[60] Transcona made no more films with Warner.[61]
Garland was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and, in the run-up to the 27th Academy Awards, was expected to be the likely winner by both the public and critics. She could not attend the ceremony because she had just given birth to her son, Joseph Luft, so a television crew was in Garland's hospital room with cameras and wires to televise Garland's anticipated acceptance speech. The Oscar was won, however, by Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954). The camera crew was packing up before Kelly could even reach the stage. Groucho Marx sent Garland a telegram after the awards ceremony, declaring her loss "the biggest robbery since Brinks". To this day, it is still considered to be one of the biggest upsets in the history of the Academy Awards.[62] Garland won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.[63]
Garland's films after A Star Is Born included Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) (for which she was Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated for Best Supporting Actress), the animated feature Gay Purr-ee (1962), and A Child is Waiting (1963) with Burt Lancaster. Her final film, I Could Go On Singing (1963), co-starring Dirk Bogarde, mirrored her own life with its story of a world famous singing star. Garland’s last screen performance of a song was the prophetic I Could Go on Singing at the end of the film.
Television, concerts, and Carnegie Hall
Beginning in 1955, Garland appeared in a number of television specials. The first, the 1955 debut episode of Ford Star Jubilee, was the first full-scale color broadcast ever on CBS and was a ratings triumph, scoring a 34.8 Nielsen rating. Garland signed a three-year, $300,000 contract with the network. Only one additional special, a live concert edition of General Electric Theater, was broadcast in 1956 before the relationship between the Lufts and CBS broke down in a dispute over the planned format of upcoming specials.[64] In 1956, Garland performed four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of $55,000 per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas.[65] Despite a brief bout of laryngitis, her performances there were so successful that her run was extended an extra week.[66] Later that year she returned to the Palace Theatre, site of her two-a-day triumph. She opened in September, once again to rave reviews and popular acclaim.[67]
In November 1959 Garland was hospitalized, diagnosed with acute hepatitis.[68] Over the next few weeks several quarts of fluid were drained from her body until, still weak, she was released from the hospital in January 1960. She was told by doctors that she likely had five years or less to live, and that even if she did survive she would be a semi-invalid and would never sing again.[69] She initially felt "greatly relieved" at the diagnosis. "The pressure was off me for the first time in my life."[43] However, Garland successfully recovered over the next several months and, in August of that year, returned to the stage of the Palladium. She felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.[70]
In 1961, Garland and CBS settled their contract disputes with the help of her new agent, Freddie Fields, and negotiated a new round of specials. The first, entitled The Judy Garland Show, aired in 1962 and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.[73] Following this success, CBS made a $24 million offer to Garland for a weekly television series of her own, also to be called The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history". Although Garland had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series,[74] in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. Garland was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the financial failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment.[75] A successful run on television was intended to secure Garland's financial future.
Following a third special, Judy Garland and Her Guests Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet, Garland's weekly series debuted September 29, 1963.[76]The Judy Garland Show was critically praised,[77][78] but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in the time slot opposite Bonanza on NBC) the show lasted only one season and was cancelled in 1964 after 26 episodes. Despite its short run, the series was nominated for four Emmy Awards.[79] The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland, who never fully recovered from its failure.[citation needed]
Final years
With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for British television network ITV, was one of Garland's final appearances at the venue. She made guest appearances on the The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Merv Griffin Show, guest-hosting an episode of the last one.[80]
Garland sued Sid Luft for divorce in 1963, claiming "cruelty" as the grounds. She also asserted that Luft had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force.[81] She had filed for divorce more than once previously, including as early as 1956.[82]
A 1964 tour of Australia was largely disastrous. Garland's first concert in Sydney, held in Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the crowds who wanted to see her, went well and received positive reviews. Her second performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late. The crowd of 70,000, angered by her tardiness—and believing her to be drunk—booed and heckled Garland. The performer fled the stage after just 45 minutes.[83] She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as "brutish".[55] A second concert in Sydney was uneventful but the Melbourne appearance garnered her significant bad press.[84] Some of that bad press was deflected by the announcement of a near fatal episode of pleurisy, followed by Garland's fourth marriage to tour promoter Mark Herron. They announced that their marriage had taken place aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong; however, Garland was not legally divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed.[85] Her divorce from Luft became final on May 19, 1965,[81] but Herron and Garland did not legally marry until November 14.[86]
In February 1967, Garland was cast as "Helen Lawson" in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox. The character of "Neely O'Hara" in the book by Jacqueline Susann was rumored to have been based on Garland. The role of O'Hara in the film was played by Patty Duke. During the filming, Garland missed rehearsals and was fired in April. She was replaced by Susan Hayward.[87] Garland's prerecording of the song I'll Plant My Own Tree survives today, along with her wardrobe tests.
Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a 16-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. Garland wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.[88]
Judy Garland's crypt at The Ferncliff Mausoleum
By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. She performed in London at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run[89] and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969.[90] She married her final husband, Mickey Deans, in London on March 17, 1969,[91] her divorce from Herron having been finalized on February 11 of that year.[92]
On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented Chelsea, London house. The coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules.[93] Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Garland's autopsy showed that there was no inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue in her stomach, which indicated that the drug had been ingested over a long period of time, rather than in one dose. Her death certificate stated that her death had been "accidental."[94] Even so, a British specialist who had attended Garland said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver.[95] Garland had turned 47 just 12 days prior to her death. Her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented at Garland's funeral, "She just plain wore out." An estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to view her body.[96] Garland was interred in Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York.
Legacy
Judy Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named Garland eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.[97] She has been the subject of some two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft. Luft's memoir was later adapted into the multiple award-winning television miniseries, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for two actresses portraying Garland (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis). Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.[98] Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[99] These include "Over the Rainbow," which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11).[100] Garland has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy)[101] and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).[102]
Of particular note is Garland's status as a gay icon.[103] She always had a large base of fans in the gay community. Reasons often given for her standing, especially amongst gay men, are admiration of her ability as a performer, the way her personal struggles supposedly mirrored those of gay men in America during the height of her fame, and her value as a camp figure.[104] A connection is frequently drawn between the timing of Garland's death and funeral in June 1969, and the Stonewall riots, the flash point of the modern Gay Liberation movement, which started that same day in the early morning hours of June 28. Coincidental or not, the proximity of Garland's death to Stonewall has become a part of LGBT history and lore.[105]
