Judy Garland Biography, Photos and Posters

Judy Garland

Biography

Born: June 10, 1922
City and Country of Origin: Grand Rapids, Minnesota
Music Training: Vaudeville singing with her family
Awards: Academy Award 1939 Special Award; Tony 1952 Special Awards; Grammy 1961 Album Of The Year, Judy At Carnegie Hall; Best Solo Vocal Performance, Female, Judy At Carnegie Hall
Top Recordings: "Over the Rainbow," "Our Love Affair," "It's A Great Day for the Irish," "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas," "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe," "The Man That Got Away,"
Judy Garland Biography: Frances Ethel Gumm, considered by many to be the greatest female performer of the twentieth century, was the youngest child of vaudevillians Frank Gumm and Ethel Milne. "Baby" as she was called made her first professional appearance at the age of two-and-a-half when she joined her two older sisters Mary Jane ("Susie") and Dorothy Virginia ("Jimmie"), on stage for a chorus of Jingle Bells in a Christmas show at her father's theater on December 26, 1924. In 1934 while touring with her sisters as the "Gumm Sisters" they were joined by George Jessel. After the name "Gumm" received a chuckle form the audience George suggested that the sisters choose a more appealing name. They came up with Garland and young Frances later picked the name Judy from a popular Hoagy Carmichael song.

In 1935 Judy Garland was signed to a contract by MGM at the age of 13. After a string of insignificant roles, her big break came at the age of 16 when she landed the role of "Dorothy" in the, 1939, MGM film The Wizard of Oz which included the song "Over the Rainbow" which she has been associated with ever since. She would then appear in a string of movies co-starring her and Mickey Rooney, whom she was first teamed with in 1937's Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. Most notable of the 9 films they made together were Love Finds Andy Hardy and Babes in Arms.

In an attempt to maximize the efforts they got out of their young stars like Rooney and Garland the studio gave them amphetamines to get them going, as well as barbiturates, to take before bedtime. This constant drug dose would lead Garland into a lifelong struggle with drug addiction and her eventual demise. Early on she began to resent the hectic work schedule and the fact that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. In spite of her enormous talent and earning capacity she was extemely insecure and filled with doubt as to the level of her talent. The studio also found her physical appearance unacceptable and constantly goaded her to lose the weight and keep it off. As a result of her bouts with addiction and poor financial decisions she was often broke.

The studio had her photographed in plain garb and created an image for her as the girl next door. Her first lead role was in the 1942 movie For Me and My Gal a film which enabled her to transition from girl next door to an adult actress. In 1943 she was finally given the Hollywood glamour treatment for the role Presenting Lily Mars a role which required her to be dressed in gowns and have her hair pulled-up in a stylish fashion. The 1944 movie Meet Me in St. Louis was directed by Vincente Minnelli and led to a romantic affair between the young star and the middle aged director. The film introduced 3 standards "The Trolley Song," "The Boy Next Door" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."

The Clock released in 1945 was her first dramatic role casting her opposite Robert Walker. Althought he film earned a profit most viewers came away disappointed as they expected to hear Ms. Garland sing. Among her other famous movies of the 40s for MGM were The Harvey Girls (1946) (in which she introduced "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"), The Pirate, and Easter Parade (both 1948).

In March 1946 Garland gave birth to daughter Liza. In 1947 Ms. Garland suffered a nervous breakdown and had to be led away from the set of The Pirate. This was followed by a number of other breakdowns which led to her departure from MGM and her first suicide attempt. Although she was slated to appear in a number of other MGm films such as The Barkleys of Broadway, Annie Get Your Gun, none of these reached fruition with only two musical numbers from Annie Get Your Gun having been shot with her as the lead. She did manage to complete In the Good Old Summertime with Van Johnson in 1949.

In 1951, Garland divorced Vincente Minelli and married Sid Luft, who was her manager at the time, and in 1952 a daughter Lorna was born. To continue her career she turned to live concert performances which took her to sold out audiences thoughout Britain. After this success she appeared in New York's Palace Theatre. In 1954 she gave what is often considered to be her finest performance in the Warner Bros. movie A Star is Born, which was directed by George Cukor and produced by hubby Sid Luft. The original version of the film ran for about 3 hours, but after the studio received numerous complaints from theatre owners 30 minutes were ruthlessly cut. So, the effort which at first received critical acclaim wound up leaving a bad taste in the mouth's of both Judy and husband Sid. Although they had a contract to do several more films for Warner Bros. this would prove to be the couples only effort.

Although she would make no further film during the 50s she did appear in several films during the 60s like Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) (for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), the animated feature, Gay Purr-ee (1962), A Child Is Waiting (1963), co-starring Burt Lancaster, and her final film, I Could Go On Singing (1963), which mirrored her own life in the story of a fading singing star.

On April 23, 1961, after haveing recovered from hepatitis, she made what has been called by many the "greatest single night in show business," her concert at Carnegie Hall. The event has been documented on a 2 record live-recording which won her 2 Grammys. After a number of successful TV appearances CBS made her a 24 million dollar offer to develop her own show, The Judy Garland Show. The show received critical acclaim and was nominated for 4 Emmys, but was placed opposite the very popular Bonanza and was cancelled after only 1 year. The cancellation was a blow to her morale and Ms. Garland returned to doing live concerts with occasional TV appearances.

A tour of the Southern Hemisphere proved disasterous as it highlighted the effects of her long time alcohol and drug abuse, with her often forgetting her lines and slurring those which she remembered. On June 22, 1969 she was found dead in her bathroom by her last husband, Mickey Deans. The cause of death was listed as an accidental overdose of barbiturates. She had just turned 47.
Died: June 22, 1969

Source: Wikipedia

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