Judy Garland

Now, Garland’s body has been laid to rest a second time, this time for good.

She was interred once again in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Many of her old friends, like Mickey Rooney, are buried in the same cemetery, and there will be plenty of room for her children when their times come.

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.

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 forty-seven, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.

In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema. Garland was the youngest child of former 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.

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") (1915-1965) and Dorothy Virginia ("Ginnie") (1917-1977) on stage for a chorus of "Jingle Bells" in a Christmas show at her father's movie theater.

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. Frank purchased and operated another theater there and Ethel, acting as their manager, began working to get her daughters into pictures.

To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland as well as other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before bed. 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.

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.

Judy Garland (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 Special Tony Award.

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 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. 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 acting beginning with a critically acclaimed performance in 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 manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. Garland was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. Garland died of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.

In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema.

• Reference: Wikipedia

The star of many classic musical films, Judy Garland was known for her tremendous talent and troubled life. 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 Special Tony Award. She is best remembered in the films The Wizard of Oz (1939) and A Star Is Born (1954) and for the song "Over the Rainbow."

Born on Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota the youngest child of Francis Avent "Frank" Gumm (March 20, 1886 – November 17, 1935) and Ethel Marion Milne (November 17, 1893 – January 5, 1953). Garland's parents were vaudevillians who settled in Grand Rapids to run a movie theatre that featured vaudeville acts.

The star of many classic musical films, was known for her tremendous talent and troubled life. She started out in show business at an early age. The daughter of vaudeville professionals, she started her stage career as a child.

Garland was called "Baby Gumm" and sang "Jingle Bells" at her first public performance at age of two and a half. With her two older sisters, Susie and Jimmie, Garland soon began performing as part of the Gumm Sisters.

In 1926, the Gumm family moved to California where Garland and her sisters studied acting and dancing. They played numerous gigs that their mother Ethel had arranged for them as their manager and agent. In the late 1920s, the Gumm sisters also appeared in several short films.

The Gumm sisters transformed into the Garland sisters at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1934. Traveling with their mother, the sisters played at a theater with comedian George Jessel who reportedly suggested they become the Garland sisters. Garland shed her nickname "Baby" in favor of a more mature and vibrant Judy. The following year, she would become a solo act, signing a movie contract with MGM at the age of 13. It was on a radio broadcast that November, however, that Garland debuted one of the songs most closely associated with her, "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart." Shortly after the program aired, Garland suffered a great personal loss when her father Frank died of spinal meningitis.

Despite her personal anguish, Garland continued on her path to film stardom. One of her first feature film roles was in Pigskin Parade (1936). Playing a girl-next-door type of role, Garland went on to co-star in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) with friend Mickey Rooney. The two proved to be a popular pairing, and they co-starred in several more Andy Hardy films.

Not only was she working a lot, Garland was under pressure from the studio about her looks and her weight. She was given amphetamines to boost her energy and control her weight. Unfortunately, Garland would soon become reliant on this medication as well as needing to take something else to help her sleep. Drug problems would plague her throughout her career.

In 1939, Garland scored one of her greatest on-screen successes with The Wizard of Oz (1939), which showcased her singing talents as well as her acting abilities. Garland received a special Academy Award for her portrayal of Dorothy, the girl from Kansas transported to Oz. She soon made several more musicals, including Strike Up the Band (1940), Babes of Broadway (1942) with Mickey Rooney, and For Me and My Gal (1943) with Gene Kelly.

Garland married for the first time at the age of 19. Her union with bandleader David Rose was decidedly short-lived, however. On the set of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), another of Garland's signature films, she met director Vincent Minnelli. She officially divorced Rose in 1945 and soon wed Minnelli. The couple also welcomed a daughter, Liza, in 1946. Unfortunately, Garland's second marriage only lasted a little longer than her first. The Garland-Minnelli union was practically over by 1949 (they officially divorced in 1952).

Around this time, Garland began to break down emotionally. She was probably exhausted from all of the years of constantly working as well as from all the medications she was to keep herself going. She developed a reputation for being unreliable and unstable. In 1950, MGM dropped her from her contract because of her emotional and physical difficulties. Garland's career appeared to be spiraling downward.

In 1951, Garland started to rebuild her with help of producer Sid Luft. She starred in her own show on Broadway at the Palace Theater, which drew large crowds and ran for more than 20 weeks. More than simply showcasing her powerful and expressive voice, the revue also proved that Garland was a dedicated performer, helping to dispel the earlier negative stories about her. She earned a special Tony Award for her work on the show and her contributions to vaudeville in 1952.

Garland married Luft in 1952, which was a stormy relationship by some reports. They had two children together—daughter Lorna in 1952 and son Joey in 1955. What ever personal difficulty Garland and Luft had, he had a positive impact on her career and was instrumental in putting together one of her greatest films. Starring opposite James Mason, Garland gave an outstanding performance as a woman who obtains stardom at the price of love in A Star Is Born (1954). Her rendition of "The Man That Got Away" is considered one of her best performances on film. She was nominated for an Academy Award for this film.

In the 1960s, Judy Garland spent more time as a singer than an actress, but she still managed to earn another Academy Award nomination. She played a woman who had been persecuted by the Nazis in 1961's Judgment at Nuremberg. That same year, Garland won two Grammy Awards for Best Solo Vocal Performance and Album of the Year for Judy at Carnegie Hall. Despite all of her success as a singer, these were only Grammy wins of her career.

Garland also tried her hand at series television. In 1963 to 1964, she starred in The Judy Garland Show. The program went through many changes in its short run, but its strongest moments featured Garland at her best—singing. Her two daughters, Lorna Luft and Liza Minnelli, made appearances on the show as did Mickey Rooney. Jazz and pop vocalist Mel Tormé served as the program's musical advisor. For her work on the show, Garland earned an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program in 1964.

Although her television series ended, Garland was still in demand as an entertainer, playing gigs around the world. But her personal life was as troubled as ever. After many separations, Garland divorced Luft in 1965 after a bitter battle over child custody. She quickly remarried—this time to actor Mark Herron. But that union lasted only a few months before dissolving. (The pair later officially divorced in 1967.) In 1967, Garland made a critically acclaimed return to Broadway for At Home at the Palace.

The next year, Garland went to London. She was in personal and financial trouble by this time. Making some performances at London's Talk of the Town nightclub, Garland was clearly not in good shape on stage. She wed former bandleader and club manager Mickey Deans a few months before her death in 1969. Judy Garland died on June 22, 1969, in London, England, reportedly of an accidental overdose.

The legacy of Garland has been carried on by her daughters Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft, both of whom are singers and have had varying degrees of success. Lorna wrote about her life with Garland in her 1998 autobiography, Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir. It became the basis for the 2001 television mini-series Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. Both of the actresses playing Judy—Tammy Blanchard as young Judy and Judy Davis as more mature Judy—took home Emmy Awards for their portrayals of the famed entertainer.

Nearly 40 years after her death, Garland continues to maintain a devoted following. There are countless fan sites online as well as published biographies that explore almost every aspect of her life—from her brilliant talent, her professional successes and failures, and her myriad of personal struggles. In celebration of the late star, the Judy Garland Museum at her birthplace holds an annual festival.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland
2. http://www.biography.com/articles/Judy-Garland-9306838
3. http://www.notablebiographies.com/Fi-Gi/Garland-Judy.html
4. http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/judy-garland.html
5. http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018038/bio

Judy Garland, born Frances Ethyl Gumm, was a child prodigy who's singing and acting career soared after The Wizard of Oz. Her untimely death at 47 was caused by a drug overdose.

Reward for the Ruby Slippers

JULY 15, 2015

There is a $1 million reward for the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore in The Wizard of Oz. They were stolen 10 years ago from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. An anonymous donor just offered the reward for the slippers, perhaps worth over $2 million today.

Wizard of Oz” Stolen Ruby Slippers Finally Home Again SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

Another story of what was lost has been found. In this case, it was a pair of shoes with the power to bring the wearer home again. Sort of.

After years of fruitless (and symbolic) heel clicking by law enforcement officials from Michigan to Washington, D.C., a pair of Dorothy’s ruby slippers stolen in 2005 – one of four used in the film – has been found. Kovels wrote about the theft in 2015, when a $1 million reward was offered for their return. (See Kovels Komments July 15, 2015.) While the thief who took the shoes from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, is still unknown, the slippers’ owner is grateful to know that the shoes, now valued at $5 million, have been recovered.

Collector Michael Shaw bought the shoes from a Hollywood costume designer who found several pairs gathering dust on a shelf in an MGM Studios backlot property 30 years after the movie was released. He gave a pair to MGM and kept the rest.

The thief broke in the museum’s back door, smashed a glass case in the gallery and stole the slippers. They were on loan to the museum and insured for $1 million. The alarm didn’t sound and no fingerprints were left behind, police said. All that was left? A single sequin.

In the summer of 2017, an individual told the insurance company he had information about the shoes and how they could be returned. A statement from the FBI’s Minneapolis Division said “it became apparent that those involved were in reality attempting to extort the owners of the slippers.” After a nearly yearlong investigation involving the FBI Art Crime Team, FBI Laboratory, and field offices in Chicago, Atlanta and Miami, the slippers were recovered during an undercover operation in Minneapolis.

A collector owns one of the other four known pairs. Another pair has been on display since 1979 in the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. In 2012, a group of actors led by Leonardo DiCaprio purchased a pair for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, set to open this year in Los Angeles.

Source: Kovel