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Judy Garland
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Judy Garland
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Judy Garland
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Judy Garland
800
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Judy Garland
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Wallpapers
Judy
Garland
Category:
American
Actress Quotes
Date of Birth:
June 10,
1922
Date of Death:
June 22,
1969
Nationality:
American
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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
Filmography
Actor Credits
-
The Great American Songbook (2003)
-
Judy Garland - Christmas Show (2002)
-
Judy Garland, Robert Goulet & Phil Silvers Special (2002)
-
Judy Garland: The Golden Years at MGM (1994)
-
That s Entertainment! III (1994)
-
I Could Go on Singing (1963)
-
Gay Purr-Ee (1962)
-
A Child Is Waiting (1962)
-
Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
-
A Star Is Born (1954)
Esther Blodgett/ Vicki Lester
-
Summer Stock (1950)
-
In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
-
Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
-
Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
-
The Harvey Girls (1946)
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The Clock (1945)
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Girl Crazy (1943)
-
Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
-
For Me and My Gal (1942)
-
Babes on Broadway (1941)
-
Great Musical Classics (1941)
-
Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
-
Little Nellie Kelly (1940)
-
Strike Up the Band (1940)
-
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
-
Everybody Sing (1938)
-
Listen, Darling (1938)
-
Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
-
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937)
Judy Garland
Links
Judy
Garland - Wikipedia - Judy Garland
imdb - Judy
Garland Database - Judy
Garland Museum
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