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Birth
Name Frances Ethel Gumm
Height 4' 11½"
Spouses:
Mickey Deans (15 March 1969 - 22 June 1969) (her death)
Mark Herron (12 June 1964 - 1967) (divorced)
Sidney Luft (1952 - 1965) (divorced) 2 children
Vincente Minnelli (1945 - 1951) (divorced) 1 child
David Rose (I) (1941 - 1945) (divorced)
Judy
Garland and her image was considered an icon in the gay community
in the 1950s and 1960s.
Her
death and the loss of that emotional icon in 1969 has been
thought to be a contributing factor to the feeling of the
passing of an era that helped spark the Stonewall Riots that
began the militant gay rights movement.
Sister
of Mary Jane Gumm and Virginia Gumm.
Mother
of Liza Minnelli, Joey and Lorna Luft.
Mother-in-law
of Jack Haley Jr.
She
married Mark Herron on June 12th 1964, although her divorce
from Sid Luft was not settled. They were married in the Mandarin
by a Buddhist priest, and the validity of this marriage is
not clear.
Her
record "Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall" from 1961 garnered
5 Grammy Awards and remained at the top of Billboards charts
for two months.
Awarded
a special Academy Award for "Best Juvenile Performance of
the Year" [1939]
Footage
exists of Garland performing the lead role in Annie Get Your
Gun (1950) before she was fired, and this footage has been
used in numerous documentaries.
Originally
screen-tested and signed to play in "Valley of the Dolls";
ultimately replaced by Susan Hayward.
Judy
Garland's funeral was held 27 June 1969 in Manhattan at the
Frank E. Campgell funeral home at Madison Avenue and Eighty-first
Street. Twenty-two thousand people filed past Judy's open
coffin over a twenty-four hour period.
Judy's
ex-husband, Vincent Minnelli did not attend Judy's funeral.
Liza Minnelli originally wanted Mickey Rooney to deliver Garland's
eulogy, but she was afraid that he wouldn't be able to get
through it. So James Mason did it instead.
Judy's
body had been stored in a temporary crypt for over one year.
The reason for this is that no one had come forward to pay
the expense of moving Judy to a permanent resting spot at
Ferncliff Cemetary in Ardsley, New York. Liza
has the impression that Judy's last husband, Mickey Deans
has made the necessary arrangments but Deans claimed to have
no money. Liza then took on the task of raising the funds
to have Judy properly buried.
Judy's
death was caused by an "incautious self-overdosage of Seconal"
which had raised the barbiturate level in her body beyond
its tolerance.
Interred
at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York, USA.
Judy
heard the same phrase in two movies: For me and my gal and
Easter Parade. In both, her love interest (played by Gene
Kelly and Fred Astaire, respectively) says this: "Why didn't
you tell me I was in love with you?"
The
day she died, there was a tornado in Kansas.
Liza
Minnelli said that Judy planned on calling her autobiography
"Ho-Hum".
Her
portrayal of Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, The (1939) was the inspiration
for the character of Mary Ann on "Gilligan's Island" (1964).
(From Kansas, pigtails, lived on a farm with an aunt and uncle...)
According
to singer 'Mel Torme' , Judy had a powerful gift of retention.
She could view a piece of music once and have the entire thing
memorized.
Pictured
on one of four 25¢ US commemorative postage stamps issued
23 March 1990 honoring classic films released in 1939. The
stamp shows Judy Garland as Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, The (1939),
along with Toto. The other films honored were Beau Geste (1939),
Stagecoach (1939), and Gone with the Wind (1939).
In
1997, Judy Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime
Achievement Award.
Garland's
album, "Judy at Carnegie Hall" was inducted into the Grammy
Hall of Fame in 1998.
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