1. Judy Garland possessed a powerful contralto voice and was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, radio, television and concert performance.
123 Facts About Judy Garland
1. 2.
Judy Garland's recording of "Over the Rainbow" became an enduring song in American popular music.
3.
At the age of two, Judy Garland began her career by performing with her two sisters as a vaudeville act, The Gumm Sisters.
4.
Beyond her film work, Judy Garland cultivated a distinguished career in live performance and recordings.
5.
Judy Garland's honors included a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Juvenile Award for her early contributions, and a Special Tony Award for her role in reviving vaudeville.
6.
Judy Garland married five times and had three children, including actress and singer Liza Minnelli.
7.
Judy Garland died in London in 1969 from an accidental barbiturate overdose at age forty-seven.
8.
Judy Garland was of Irish, English, Scottish, and French Huguenot ancestry, named after both of her parents and baptized at a local Episcopal church.
9.
Judy Garland encouraged the group to choose a more appealing name after "Gumm" was met with laughter from the audience.
10.
Judy Garland said that he had sent actress Judith Anderson a telegram containing the word "garland" and it stuck in his mind.
11.
However, Judy Garland asked Jessel just moments later if this story was true and he blithely replied "No".
12.
The group broke up by August 1935, when Mary Jane "Suzanne" Judy Garland flew to Reno, Nevada and married musician Lee Kahn, a member of the Jimmy Davis orchestra playing at Cal-Neva Lodge, Lake Tahoe.
13.
Judy Garland went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, "real beauties", said Charles Walters, who directed her in a number of films.
14.
On November 16,1935,13-year-old Judy Garland was in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateaux Hour when she learned that her father had been hospitalized with meningitis and his medical condition had taken a turn for the worse.
15.
Judy Garland died the following morning at age 49, leaving her devastated.
16.
Judy Garland performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday.
17.
Judy Garland's first feature-length film was a loan-out to Fox titled Pigskin Parade, a football-themed musical comedy, where she was billed tenth after Stuart Erwin, Jack Haley, Patsy Kelly, Betty Grable and others.
18.
Judy Garland sang three solos, including "The Texas Tornado" and "The Balboa".
19.
Judy Garland came to the attention of studio executives when she sang a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You " to Clark Gable at a birthday party that the studio arranged for the actor.
20.
Judy Garland's rendition was so well regarded that she performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938, when she sang to a photograph of him.
21.
Judy Garland was then cast in the fourth of the Hardy Family movies, Love Finds Andy Hardy, as a literal girl-next-door to Rooney's character Andy Hardy, although Hardy's love interest was played by Lana Turner.
22.
Judy Garland stated that she, Rooney and other young performers were constantly prescribed amphetamines to stay awake and keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another.
23.
Judy Garland later resented the hectic schedule and believed MGM stole her youth.
24.
Judy Garland's weight was within a healthy range, but the studio demanded she constantly diet.
25.
Judy Garland was plagued with self-doubt throughout her life; despite successful film and recording careers, awards, critical praise and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, she required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.
26.
In 1938, when Garland was sixteen, she was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, a film based on the 1900 children's book by L Frank Baum.
27.
Judy Garland was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming.
28.
Judy Garland was reportedly put on a diet consisting of cigarettes, chicken soup, and coffee during filming in a further attempt to minimize her curves.
29.
At the 1939 Academy Awards ceremony, Judy Garland received her only Academy Award, an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms.
30.
Judy Garland was the fourth person to receive the award as well as only one of twelve in history to ever be presented with one.
31.
Judy Garland starred in three films which were released in 1940: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band and Little Nellie Kelly.
32.
Judy Garland said it felt like "a hillbilly with a child bride".
33.
Judy Garland was deeply devoted to him and was devastated in early 1940 when he eloped with Lana Turner.
34.
They, along with Judy Garland's mother, feared the relationship would ruin Judy Garland's image.
35.
In 1941, while she was pregnant with Rose's child, Judy Garland had an abortion at the insistence of her mother, Rose, and the studio executives, who disapproved of the pregnancy.
36.
Judy Garland was given the "glamor treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns.
37.
Judy Garland's lightened hair was pulled up in a stylish fashion.
38.
Judy Garland had a second abortion in 1943 when she became pregnant during an affair with actor Tyrone Power.
39.
Judy Garland appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.
40.
Around the same time, Judy Garland had a brief affair with actor and film director Orson Welles, who was then married to actress Rita Hayworth.
41.
Judy Garland did not act again in a non-singing dramatic role for many years.
42.
Judy Garland was able to complete filming, but in July 1947 she made her first suicide attempt, making minor cuts to her wrist with a broken glass.
43.
The Pirate was released in May 1948 and it was the first film which did not make a profit since Judy Garland had starred in The Wizard of Oz.
44.
The main reasons for its failure were not only its cost but included the increasing expense of the shooting delays while Judy Garland was ill, as well as the general public's unwillingness to accept her in a sophisticated film.
45.
Judy Garland was replaced in the film by Ginger Rogers.
46.
Judy Garland was then cast in the film adaptation of Annie Get Your Gun in the title role of Annie Oakley.
47.
Judy Garland began arriving late to the set and sometimes failed to appear.
48.
Judy Garland was fired from the picture on May 10,1949, and was replaced by Betty Hutton, who stepped in to perform all the musical routines as staged by Robert Alton.
49.
Judy Garland underwent an extensive hospital stay at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in which she was weaned off her medication and after a while, was able to eat and sleep normally.
50.
Judy Garland returned to Los Angeles heavier and in the fall of 1949, she was cast opposite Gene Kelly in Summer Stock.
51.
When principal photography on Summer Stock was completed in the spring of 1950, it was decided that Judy Garland needed an additional musical number.
52.
Judy Garland agreed to do it provided the song was "Get Happy".
53.
Judy Garland was cast in the film Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire after June Allyson became pregnant in 1950.
54.
Judy Garland failed to report to the set on multiple occasions and the studio suspended her contract on June 17,1950.
55.
Reputable biographies following her death stated that after this latest dismissal, she slightly grazed her neck with a broken glass, requiring only a Band-Aid, but at the time, the public was informed that a despondent Judy Garland had slashed her throat.
56.
Judy Garland was a frequent guest on Kraft Music Hall, hosted by her friend Bing Crosby.
57.
Judy Garland was standing in the wings of it trembling with fear.
58.
In 1951, Judy Garland began a four-month concert tour of Britain and Ireland, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland.
59.
Judy Garland was honored with a Special Tony Award for her contribution to the revival of vaudeville.
60.
On November 21,1952, Judy Garland gave birth to daughter Lorna Luft, who became an actress and singer.
61.
Judy Garland was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and, in the run-up to the 27th Academy Awards, was generally expected to win for A Star Is Born.
62.
Judy Garland won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.
63.
Judy Garland's films after A Star Is Born included Judgment at Nuremberg, the animated feature Gay Purr-ee and A Child Is Waiting with Burt Lancaster.
64.
Judy Garland appeared in a number of television specials beginning in 1955.
65.
Judy Garland signed a three-year, contract with the network.
66.
In 1956, Judy Garland performed for four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas.
67.
In November 1959, Judy Garland was hospitalized after she was diagnosed with acute hepatitis.
68.
Judy Garland was told by doctors that she probably 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.
Judy Garland felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.
70.
At the beginning of 1960, Judy Garland signed a contract with Random House to write her autobiography.
71.
Judy Garland was paid an advance of and she and Finklehoffe recorded conversations about her life to be used in producing a manuscript.
72.
Judy Garland worked on her autobiography on and off throughout the 1960s, but never completed it.
73.
Judy Garland's concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23,1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many "the greatest night in show business history".
74.
The first, titled The Judy Garland Show, aired on February 25,1962, and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.
75.
Judy Garland was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952 and the failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment.
76.
The Judy Garland Show was critically praised, but for a variety of reasons, the show lasted only one season and was canceled in 1964 after 26 episodes.
77.
The relationship began in 1963 while Judy Garland was doing her television show.
78.
The affair was ended by Ford when he realized Judy Garland wanted to marry him.
79.
Judy Garland was married five times and had three children: Liza Minnelli, and Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.
80.
Judy Garland's relationships were often turbulent, influenced by her intense fame and personal challenges.
81.
Judy Garland donated money to the campaigns of Democratic presidential candidates Franklin D Roosevelt, Adlai Stevenson II, John F Kennedy and Robert F Kennedy and Progressive candidate Henry A Wallace.
82.
In September 1947, Garland joined the Committee for the First Amendment, a group formed by Hollywood celebrities in support of the Hollywood Ten during the hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives led by J Parnell Thomas.
83.
Judy Garland would call Kennedy weekly, often ending her phone calls by singing the first few lines of "Over the Rainbow".
84.
In 1963, Judy Garland sued Sidney Luft for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty.
85.
Judy Garland asserted that he had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force.
86.
Judy Garland had filed for divorce from Luft on several previous occasions, even as early as 1956, but they had reconciled each time.
87.
Judy Garland returned to the London Palladium performing with her 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964.
88.
Judy Garland made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show.
89.
Judy Garland guest-hosted an episode of The Hollywood Palace with Vic Damone.
90.
Judy Garland was invited back for a second episode in 1966 with Van Johnson as her guest.
91.
Problems with Judy Garland's behavior ended her Hollywood Palace guest appearances.
92.
However, Judy Garland eventually parted ways with Luft professionally, signing with agents Freddie Fields and David Begelman.
93.
Judy Garland was left in a desperate situation that saw her sell her Brentwood home at a price far below its value.
94.
Judy Garland was then cast in February 1967 in the role of Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls by 20th Century Fox.
95.
Judy Garland wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour; the pantsuit was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.
96.
Judy Garland was found dead by her husband Mickey Deans in the bathroom of her rented house in Cadogan Lane, Belgravia, London, on June 22,1969, at age 47.
97.
Judy Garland's autopsy showed 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 a single dose.
98.
Judy Garland gave so richly and so generously, that there was no currency in which to repay her.
99.
Judy Garland was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, a town 24 miles north of midtown Manhattan.
100.
At the request of her children, Judy Garland's remains were disinterred from Ferncliff Cemetery in January 2017 and re-interred 2,800 miles across the country at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.
101.
Judy Garland possessed a contralto singing voice, described as brassy, powerful, effortless and resonant, often demonstrating a tremulous, powerful vibrato.
102.
Jessel recalled that, even at only 12 years old, Judy Garland's singing voice resembled that of "a woman with a heart that had been hurt".
103.
Musical theater actress and director Donna Thomason opined that Judy Garland was an "effective" performer because of her ability to make her singing voice "a natural extension of [her] speaking voice", an asset that Thomason believed all musical theater actors should at least strive to achieve.
104.
Judy Garland stated that she always felt most safe and at home while performing onstage, regardless of the condition of her voice.
105.
Close friends of Judy Garland's insisted that she never truly wanted to be a movie star and would have much rather devoted her career entirely to singing and recording records.
106.
Judy Garland has been identified as a triple threat due to her ability to sing, act and dance, arguably equally well.
107.
Judy Garland was nearly as famous for her personal struggles in everyday life as she was for her entertainment career.
108.
Judy Garland has been closely associated with her carefully cultivated girl next door image.
109.
Royce argues that Judy Garland maintained "astonishing strength and courage", even during difficult times.
110.
Judy Garland was funny and she was warm and she was wonderfully gifted.
111.
Judy Garland had great highs and great moments in her career.
112.
Judy Garland has been called one of the greats of entertainment and her reputation has endured.
113.
In recent years, Judy Garland's legacy has maintained fans of all different ages, both younger and older.
114.
In 2010, The Huffington Post contributor Joan E Dowlin concluded that Garland possessed a distinct "it" quality by "exemplif[ying] the star quality of charisma, musical talent, natural acting ability and, despite what the studio honchos said, good looks ".
115.
Judy Garland has been the subject of over thirty biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft, whose memoir was later adapted into the television miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for the two actresses who portrayed her.
116.
Strassler observed that Judy Garland "created one of the most storied cautionary tales in the industry, thanks to her many excesses and insecurities that led to her early death by overdose".
117.
Judy Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.
118.
Judy Garland has twice been honored on US postage stamps, in 1989 and again in 2006.
119.
Paglia observed that actress Marilyn Monroe would exhibit behavior which was similar to that which Judy Garland had exhibited a decade earlier in Meet Me in St Louis, particularly tardiness.
120.
Judy Garland had a large fan base in the gay community and became a gay icon.
121.
Renee Zellweger portrayed Garland in the biopic Judy and won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
122.
On stage, Judy Garland is a character in the musical The Boy from Oz, portrayed by Chrissy Amphlett in the original Australian production and by Isabel Keating on Broadway in 2003.
123.
In music, Judy Garland is referenced in the 1992 Tori Amos song "Happy Phantom", in which Judy Garland is imagined to be taking Buddha by the hand.