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When you think of Judy Garland, you probably see her breakthrough role as Dorothy in 1939’s ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ or perhaps 1944’s ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,’ or 1954’s ‘A Star Is Born.’ You hear her operatic emotional depth and dynamic belting range, but ultimately you see a bright star that faded.
The 2019 film 'Judy,' starring Renée Zellweger, was a huge success that focused on a short period near the end of Garland’s life. By that point, she had already had a career spanning over four decades, a string of marriages, and a collection of heavy baggage she was dragging along with her both on- and off-stage.
Even as sad as her end was, the film still romanticized some parts of her life that became an unfortunate pattern for stars chewed up and spat out by Hollywood. Click through to see the tragic true story of Judy Garland's all too short life.
Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota on June 10, 1922, Garland was already performing by the age of four, joining her two older sisters' musical act at age seven, all at the insistence of their mother, Ethel.
The family moved to California in 1926, with the Gumm Sisters later becoming the Garland Sisters. At 12, Judy was attracting a lot of attention for the soulful belting that came out of her tiny lungs.
In 1935, she signed with MGM, one of the world's biggest film studios. Hollywood legend says studio boss Louis B. Mayer signed her without even a screen test.
These early MGM experiences, where the studio wanted to mold her into a profitable box-office star, laid the groundwork for Garland's lifelong struggles with addiction, body image, and mental health.
Her on-screen persona began to take the shape of the "ugly duckling," who wasn't pretty enough and often had unrequited crushes.
MGM provided drugs to its young performers, giving them amphetamines to help them power through exhausting shooting schedules, as well as "downers," or barbiturates, to then make sure they got enough sleep.
To add to that, there was constant pressure and comments about Garland's appearance, which involved the studio policing her meals. Even on her birthday, pictured here at Mayer's home, she reportedly wasn't allowed to have cake.
The first of Garland's five marriages was at age 19, to composer David Rose. They divorced after three years.
After filming 'The Pirate' (1947), Garland made her first suicide attempt and was forced to enter a sanitarium. When she got out, her behavior was still erratic, and MGM fired her in 1950, leading to another attempt. She and Minnelli divorced in 1951.
Garland's film career, except for 'A Star Is Born' (1954), a box-office failure, was essentially over. Her third husband, Sid Luft, became her manager and helped organize live performances to keep her afloat.
Liza and Lorna would reportedly empty out three quarters of their mother's sleeping capsules and refill them with sugar.
Garland married American actor Mark Herron in 1965, though they only lasted five months.
The truth of how Garland met nightclub manager Mickey Deans, 12 years her junior, is not like the movie. According to Time, they met when he delivered drugs to her hotel in New York in 1966, and they tied the knot three years later in London.
Some reports claim Garland said of Deans, "Finally, finally, I am loved."
Other reports, mostly anecdotes from the time, claim that he often forced her to perform in London despite her being too unwell.
Some had grand theatrics, and some were ridiculed and called "seances" because her old magic just wasn't there.
At the end of her life, Garland was reportedly consuming large quantities of alcohol and barbiturates, as well as up to 20 Ritalin tablets a day. Deans found her dead at age 47, on June 22, 1969.
"She let her guard down. She didn't die from an overdose. I think she just got tired," Liza Minnelli told Time in 1972. "She lived like a taut wire. I don't think she ever looked for real happiness, because she always thought happiness would mean the end."
As journalist Anne Helen Petersen, author of 'Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema,' wrote: "Garland was the first public victim of stardom, and certainly not the last."
Garland was and remains beloved by gay men, though in her lifetime this was framed in a somewhat derogatory manner, whereas now it's nothing but celebrated.
Garland's funeral in NYC has also been cited, somewhat controversially, as one of the inciting factors of the Stonewall riots. Thousands of fans showed up to pay their respects to Garland at her funeral on June 27, 1969. That night, the Stonewall Inn was raided by police, and the riots began.
According to Richard Dyer, author of 'Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society,' Garland came to represent "gay men's resilience in the face of oppression," as a star who had been knocked down only to rise back up again. Pictured is her daughter Lorna at the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative Launch.
Renée Zellweger earned an Oscar for her role as Judy Garland in the 2019 eponymous film which, as you can now see, has only given a narrow view of the end of Garland's life.
Sources: (The Washington Post) (The New York Times) (Time) (Insider) (HuffPost)
Judy Garland's harrowing journey under the rainbow
The entertainment icon left us on June 22, 1969
CELEBRITY Retrospective
When you think of Judy Garland, you probably see her breakthrough role as Dorothy in 1939’s ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ or perhaps 1944’s ‘Meet Me in St. Louis,’ or 1954’s ‘A Star Is Born.’ You hear her operatic emotional depth and dynamic belting range, but ultimately you see a bright star that faded.
The 2019 film 'Judy,' starring Renée Zellweger, was a huge success that focused on a short period near the end of Garland’s life. By that point, she had already had a career spanning over four decades, a string of marriages, and a collection of heavy baggage she was dragging along with her both on- and off-stage.
Even as sad as her end was, the film still romanticized some parts of her life that became an unfortunate pattern for stars chewed up and spat out by Hollywood. Click through to see the tragic true story of Judy Garland's all too short life.