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Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969)
was an United States|American film Actor|actress
who is considered one of the greatest singing
stars of Hollywood's Golden Era of musical film,
known for her intense acting and for her strong,
husky mezzo-soprano voice. 

Ancestry Ancestry She was of Irish Scottish
ancestry with her earliest recorded maternal
ancestor Patrick Fitzpatrick born in County Meath
arriving in America circa 1750s, her maternal
Great Grandmother was Mary Elizabeth Harriott born
in Dublin, Ireland circa 1854. Her Milne ancestors
hailed from Ardbroath near Aberdeen, Scotland. Her
Paternal Gumm ancestors were a mixture of
English,Irish and Scottish ancestry and were among
the earliest settlers of Virginia and Tennessee. 
The Irish American St.Patrick's Day anthem "Its a
Great Day for the Irish" was written especially
for her and was one of her greatest hits. She
recorded other Irish songs including Danny Boy,
The Wearing of the Green and A Pretty Girl Milking
her Cow. Her only death scene in films was as
Little Nellie Kelly, 1940 in which she palyed dual
roles as an Irish immigrant mother and American
born daughter. Garland was very proud of her Irish
roots and often made mention of them during
concerts. In July 1951 she appeared in Ireland at
the Theatre Royal for 14 sold out performances
where her show was performed for 50,000 people
which was unprecidented for the time. Upon arrival
in Dublin she was met with great love and
affection by huge crowds where she sang to them
from her dressing room window.

*
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*
http://users.deltacomm.com/rainbowz/con070951.html


==Child star==

Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids,
Minnesota, she was born into a family of
vaudeville players. One year, her parents and her
two older sisters were performing in a Christmas
show. Young Frances got on the stage and stole the
show with a rendition of Jingle Bells; she was two
and a half years old. The family soon moved to
Lancaster, California and the Gumm Sisters began
work on stage and in short films. Frances was soon
known as Baby Gumm.

In 1934, the Gumm Sisters were performing in
Chicago, Illinois|Chicago with George Jessel
(actor)|George Jessel. Jessel encouraged the group
to choose a more appealing name. They settled on
the Garland Sisters, and young Frances chose the
name Judy.

Garland was signed at the age of 13 by Louis B.
Mayer to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM
allegedly without a screen test in 1935 (she had
actually made a test for the studio a few months
earlier). Garland first got noticed by studio
executives after singing "You Made Me Love You" to
Clark Gable at a studio held birthday party for
the "King of Hollywood". Her rendition proved so
popular that MGM placed Garland (and the song) in
their all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of
1938 (1937).  At the age of 16 (and after a string
of unsuccessful films), she got the role of
Dorothy in the film of The Wizard of Oz (1939
movie)|The Wizard of Oz (1939 in film|1939), and
was forever afterwards associated with the song,
"Over the Rainbow". After Oz, Garland became one
of MGM's most bankable stars, proving particularly
popular when teamed with Mickey Rooney in a string
of "let's put on a show!" musicals (The duo first
appeared together in the 1937 b-movie
Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, they became a sensation
and they reteamed in Love Finds Andy Hardy and
soon after in Babes in Arms) . She would end up
starring with Rooney in nine films. To keep up
with a frenetic pace of making one movie after
another, Garland, Rooney, and other young
performers were constantly given amphetamines, as
well as barbiturates to take before bedtime. This
constant dose of drugs would lead to addiction and
a lifelong struggle for Garland as well as her
eventual demise. She would also in her later life
resent the hectic work and feel that her youth was
stolen from her by MGM, and she was plagued with
self-doubt throughout life and needed constant
reassurance that she was talented, in spite of
filling concert halls to hear her, high critical
praise, and several awards.

==Movie star==

Throughout the 1940s her films increased in
popularity, making her the most critically and
financially successful female musical star of the
time.  Among her most successful 1940s films is
the 1944 classic Meet Me in St. Louis, in which
she introduced three standards:  "The Trolley
Song," "The Boy Next Door," and "Have Yourself a
Merry Little Christmas."  Her other famous films
include The Harvey Girls (1946) (in which she
introduced "On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa
Fe"), Easter Parade (1948), A Star Is Born (1954)
(considered by many to be her best dramatic
performance), and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). 
She received an honorary Academy Award for her
performance in The Wizard of Oz, and was nominated
for Academy Award for Best Actress|Best Actress in
A Star is Born, and Academy Award for Best
Supporting Actress|Best Supporting Actress for
Judgement at Nuremberg.

==Renewed stardom on the stage and television==

When her MGM contract was terminated in 1950
(depending upon the source, she either asked to be
released from the contract, or she was fired due
her unreliability on the set of the musical Royal
Wedding), Garland turned to television and live
concert appearances. 

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she made
enormously successful appearances in both media.
Her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April
23, 1961 was a considerable highlight, called by
many the "greatest single night in show business."
The live recording made of the concert was a best
seller (certified gold), charting for 73 weeks on
Billboard (13 weeks at number one), and won five
Grammy Awards including Grammy Award for Album of
the Year|Album of the Year and Grammy Award for
Best Female Vocal of the Year|Best Female Vocal of
the Year. 

After hugely successful television specials and
guest appearances in the early 1960s, CBS made a
$24 million offer to Garland for a weekly
television series of her own, called The Judy
Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the
press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV
history."  The television series was critically
praised, but, for a variety of reasons, lasted
only one season, and went off the air in 1964,
after 26 episodes. Despite this, the show won four
Emmy nominations.  The demise of the series was
personally devastating for Garland.

==Untimely death==
The shortcomings of her childhood years became
more apparent as Garland struggled to overcome
various personal problems, including weight gain,
heavy drinking, and drug addiction.  Her children
are Liza Minnelli (who is now a legendary singer
and actress in her own right), Lorna Luft (who is
also an acclaimed singer), and Joey Luft (who is
now a scenic photographer).  Of Garland's five
marriages, the first four marriages all ended in
divorce. She died in 1969 at the age of 47 in
London from an accidental overdose of
barbiturates. Garland was interred in the
Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.

===Legacy in gay rights===
A gay icon, Garland always had a large fan base in
the gay community. Her funeral in Manhattan
resulted in an outpouring of New York City fans,
with more than 20,000 coming to view her body -
including 12,000 homosexual|gay men. Five days
after her death, mourning gay fans fought back
against police during a routine police raid at the
Stonewall riots|Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in
Greenwich Village, which set off several days of
"gay liberation" riots. Garland's death is often
noted as a cause of one of the key events of the
modern gay rights movement.

According to a book of David Shipman, Judy
Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend she
was bisexual herself, and was in  relationships
with her (female) secretary Betty Asher, vocal
arranger/author Kay Thompson, Ethel Merman, and
Katharine Hepburn; however, Shipman's tale has not
been corroborated, and much of his scholarship has
been questioned.

==Marriages==
*1) David Rose (1910-1990); married (1941-1945))
*2) Vincente Minnelli (1903-1986); married
1945-1951), one daughter Liza Minnelli
*3) Sidney Luft (1910-   ); married (1951-1964),
one daughter Lorna Luft and one son Joey Luft
*4) Mark Herron (1928-1996); married (1964-1967)
(might not have been a legal marriage, as it is
unsure whether the divorce from Luft was yet
effective and the marriage was under dubious
circumstances)
*5) Mickey Deans (né Michael DeVinko)
(1934-2003); (married 1967-1969)

==Filmography==

*The Big Revue (1929) (short subject)
*A Holiday in Storyland (1930)  (short subject)
*Bubbles (1930) (short subject) 
*The Wedding of Jack and Jill (1930) (short
subject) 
*La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935) (short subject)

*Every Sunday (1936) (short subject)
*Pigskin Parade (1936)
*Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
*Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937)
*MGM Christmas Trailer (1937) (short subject)
*Everybody Sing (1938)
*Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)
*Hollywood Goes to Town (1938) (short subject)
*Listen, Darling (1938)
*The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie)|The Wizard of Oz
(1939)
*Babes in Arms (1939)
*If I Forget You (1940) (short subject)
*Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)
*Strike Up the Band (1940)
*Little Nellie Kelly (1940) (see link below)
*Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
*Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)
*Babes on Broadway (1941)

*We Must Have Music (1942) (short subject)
*For Me and My Gal (1942)
*Strictly G.I. (1943) (short subject)
*Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
*Thousands Cheer (1943)
*Girl Crazy (1943)
*Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
*The Clock (1945)
*The Harvey Girls (1946)
*Ziegfeld Follies (1946)
*Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)
*The Pirate (1948)
*Easter Parade (1948)
*Words and Music (1948)
*In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
*Summer Stock (1950)
*A Star Is Born (1954)
*Pepe (1960) (Cameo) (voice only)
*Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)
*Gay Purr-ee (1962) (voice)
*A Child Is Waiting (1963)
*I Could Go On Singing (1963)



==Albums==
Although she had recorded singles of her hit songs
for Decca Records, Garland began recording albums
for Capitol Records in the 1950's.

*1955 Miss Show Business
*1956 Judy
*1957 Alone
*1958 Judy in Love
*1959 The Letter
*1960 Judy: That's Entertainment!
*1961 Judy at Carnegie Hall
*1962 The Garland Touch
*1964 Judy and Liza Live at the London Palladium
*1967 Judy: At Home at the Palace (ABC-Paramount
Records)

==External links==
* http://www.classicactresses.com/judy.html Judy
Garland at Classic Actresses
*http://www.judygarlandclub.org The Judy Garland
Club: established 1963; official international
Club supported by Judy during her lifetime
*http://www.thejudyroom.com The Judy Room
*imdb name | id=0000023 | name=Judy Garland
*http://www.triviatribute.com/judygarland.html TV
and Movie Trivia Tribute: Judy Garland
*http://www.geocities.com/judygarland44/home.htm
Judy Garland: The Little Girl with the Big Voice
*http://www.jgdb.com/nellie.htm  (Link to Little
Nellie Kelly 1940)
*http://www.irishabroad.com/irishworld/irishameric
amag/octnov/features/olstory.asp?article=1478388
(Link to Irish America Magazine Article)