Short answers, pulled from the story.
Judy Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm on the 10th of June 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She adopted the surname Garland in 1934, when comedian George Jessel encouraged her vaudeville act to find a more appealing name, and she later chose the first name Judy after a popular Hoagy Carmichael song.
Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award at the 1939 Academy Awards ceremony, recognizing her performances that year including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. She was only the fourth recipient of the award, which was given to just 12 actors in its history.
Judy at Carnegie Hall, recorded at Garland's concert on the 23rd of April 1961, made her the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. The album was certified gold, charted for 95 weeks on the Billboard chart with 13 weeks at number one, and won four Grammy Awards in total.
Judy Garland died on the 22nd of June 1969, at age 47, in her rented house on Cadogan Lane in Belgravia, London. Coroner Gavin Thurston determined the cause was an accidental self-overdosage of barbiturates, with her blood containing the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain Seconal capsules. The death certificate listed the death as accidental.
Producers Arthur Freed and Mervyn LeRoy had wanted Garland from the start, but studio chief Louis B. Mayer first tried to borrow Shirley Temple from 20th Century Fox, who declined the request. Deanna Durbin was then considered but was unavailable, and Garland ultimately received the role.
Garland stated that during her early years at MGM, she and other young performers including Mickey Rooney were routinely prescribed amphetamines to sustain the pace of making one film after another, and barbiturates to help them sleep. She said this regular use led to addiction and a lifelong struggle with dependency.