Judy Garland: the story on HearLore

Judy Garland

Frances Ethel Gumm was born on the 10th of June 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, but she was never allowed to be just a child. By the age of two, she was already performing on stage, singing Jingle Bells alongside her two older sisters, Mary Jane and Dorothy Virginia, in a vaudeville act that would eventually become known as The Gumm Sisters. Her parents, Ethel Marion Milne and Francis Avent Gumm, were vaudevillians who ran a movie theater showcasing live acts, and they instilled in their youngest daughter a relentless drive to perform from the moment she could walk. The family relocated to Lancaster, California, in June 1926, following rumors that her father had homosexual inclinations, and there she continued to hone her craft, eventually making her film debut in The Big Revue in 1929. By 1934, the trio had changed their name to The Garland Sisters after George Jessel, a theater owner who encouraged them to adopt a more appealing name, and Frances herself had adopted the name Judy, inspired by a popular Hoagy Carmichael song. The transition from Gumm to Garland was not merely a marketing decision but a survival strategy in an industry that demanded perfection and often punished imperfection. The studio system, particularly Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, would soon take notice of the young performer, but they would not see the person behind the voice. They saw a product to be molded, a girl-next-door image to be sold, and a star to be exploited. The pressure began early, and it never stopped.

The Studio's Ugly Duckling

In September 1935, Louis B. Mayer, the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, sent songwriter Burton Lane to watch The Garland Sisters perform at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles. A few days later, the thirteen-year-old Frances Gumm was brought to the studio for an impromptu audition, where she performed Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart and Eli, Eli, a Yiddish song written in 1896. The studio signed her immediately, but they did not know what to do with her. She was too old to be a child star and too young for adult roles, and her physical appearance was a dilemma for the executives. She was only four feet and five inches tall, and her cute or girl-next-door looks did not match the glamorous persona then required of female leading performers. Charles Walters, who directed her in a number of films, later recalled that Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling. The studio made her wear removable caps on her teeth and rubberized discs to reshape her nose, and they photographed her in plain clothing or frilly juvenile gowns to match the image they had created for her. Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Mayer, who referred to her as his little hunchback. The studio demanded that she constantly diet, and they even went so far as to serve her only a bowl of chicken soup and black coffee when she ordered a regular meal. The pressure to maintain a specific image took a toll on her mental and physical health, and she developed dependencies on prescription medications that affected her well-being. The studio's treatment of her was a precursor to the struggles that would define her life, and it set the stage for a career that would be both celebrated and tragic.

When was Judy Garland born and where was she born?

Frances Ethel Gumm was born on the 10th of June 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. She began performing on stage by the age of two alongside her two older sisters in a vaudeville act known as The Gumm Sisters.

What was the cause of Judy Garland death?

The cause of Judy Garland death was an incautious self-overdosage of barbiturates found in her blood on the 22nd of June 1969. Her death certificate stated that the death was accidental and no evidence suggested she had intended to kill herself.

How old was Judy Garland when she died?

Judy Garland was 47 years old when she died on the 22nd of June 1969. She was found dead in the bathroom of her rented house in Cadogan Lane, Belgravia, London.

Who was Judy Garland married to when she died?

Judy Garland was married to her fifth and final husband Mickey Deans when she died. They married at the Chelsea Register Office in London on the 15th of March 1969.

What was the financial state of Judy Garland estate after her death?

Judy Garland estate came to just $100,000 despite her having earned millions during her career. Years of mismanagement of her financial affairs by her representatives and staff resulted in her poor financial situation at the end of her life.

The Breakdown and The Comeback

During the filming of The Pirate in 1947, Garland suffered a nervous breakdown and was admitted to a private sanatorium. She 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. During this period, she spent two weeks in treatment at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The Pirate, released in May 1948, was the first of Garland's films not to make a profit since The Wizard of Oz. The main reasons for its failure were its cost, the increasing expense of the shooting delays while Garland was ill, and the general public's unwillingness to accept her in a sophisticated film. Following her work in The Pirate, she co-starred for the first and only time with Fred Astaire, who replaced Gene Kelly after Kelly broke his ankle, in Easter Parade in 1948. It was Hollywood's highest-grossing musical that year. However, during the initial filming, Garland was taking prescription barbiturate sleeping pills along with illicitly obtained pills containing morphine. Around this time, she also developed a serious problem with alcohol. These issues, in combination with migraine headaches, caused her to miss several shoot days in a row. After being advised by her doctor that she would be able to work only in four- to five-day increments with extended rest periods in between, MGM executive Arthur Freed made the decision to suspend her on the 18th of July 1948. She was replaced in the film by Ginger Rogers. When Garland's suspension was over, she was summoned back to work, but the damage had been done. The studio's treatment of her had taken a toll on her mental and physical health, and she developed dependencies on prescription medications that affected her well-being. The pressure to maintain a specific image took a toll on her mental and physical health, and she developed dependencies on prescription medications that affected her well-being. The studio's treatment of her was a precursor to the struggles that would define her life, and it set the stage for a career that would be both celebrated and tragic.

The Tragedy of A Star Is Born

Garland appeared with James Mason in the Warner Bros. film A Star Is Born in 1954, the first remake of the 1937 film. She and her then-husband Sidney Luft produced the film through their production company, Transcona Enterprises, while Warner Bros. supplied finances, production facilities, and crew. Directed by George Cukor, the film was a large undertaking to which Garland initially fully dedicated herself. As shooting progressed, however, she began making the same pleas of illness that she had so often made during her final films at MGM. Production delays led to cost overruns and angry confrontations with Warner Bros. head Jack L. Warner. Principal photography wrapped on the 17th of March 1954. At Luft's suggestion, the Born in a Trunk medley was filmed as a showcase for her and inserted into the edit despite director Cukor's objections, who feared the additional length would lead to cuts in other areas. The film was completed on July 29. Upon its world premiere on the 29th of September 1954, the film was met with critical and popular acclaim. Before its release, it was edited down at the instruction of Jack Warner, as theater operators, concerned about losing money because they were able to have only three or four shows per day instead of five or six, pressured the studio to make additional cuts. After its first-run engagements, about 30 minutes of footage were cut, sparking outrage among critics and filmgoers. Although the film was still popular, drawing huge crowds and grossing over $6 million during its first release, A Star is Born did not make back its costs and ended up losing money. As a result, the secure financial position Garland had expected from the profits did not materialize. Transcona made no more films with Warner. 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. She could not attend the ceremony because she had just given birth, so a television crew was stationed in her hospital room with cameras and wires to broadcast her anticipated acceptance speech. The Oscar was won, however, by Grace Kelly for The Country Girl. The camera crew packed up before Kelly could even reach the stage. Groucho Marx sent Garland a telegram after the awards ceremony, declaring her loss the biggest robbery since Brinks. Time labeled her performance as just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history. However, Garland did win the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role. The film was a critical and commercial success, but it did not provide the financial security she had hoped for, and it marked the beginning of a series of financial and personal struggles that would continue until her death.

The Final Curtain

In 1963, Garland sued Sidney Luft for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty. She also asserted that he had repeatedly struck her while he was drinking and that he had attempted to take their children from her by force. She had filed for divorce from Luft on several previous occasions, even as early as 1956, but they had reconciled each time. After her television series was canceled, Garland returned to work on the stage. She returned to the London Palladium in November 1964, performing with her then-18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli. One of her final appearances at the venue, the concert was also shown on the British television network ITV. Garland also made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show. She moved into guest-hosting for an episode of The Hollywood Palace with Vic Damone and was invited back for a second episode in 1966 with Van Johnson as her guest, but problems with her behavior ended her appearances on that show. A 1964 tour of Australia also ended badly. Garland's first two concerts in Sydney were held in the Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the overflow crowds who wanted to see her. Both went well, receiving positive reviews. However, her third performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late, angering the crowd of 7,000. Believing she was drunk, they booed and heckled her, and she fled the stage after 45 minutes. She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as brutish. Her appearance was covered negatively in the press. Garland's tour promoter Mark Herron announced that they had married aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong, although she was not officially divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed. When the divorce became final on the 19th of May 1965, she and Herron legally married on November 14 of that year. They separated five months later. During the divorce proceedings, Garland testified that Herron had beaten her; he claimed that he only hit her in self defense. Although Sidney Luft was Garland's manager for much of her career throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, they eventually parted ways professionally when she signed with agents Freddie Fields and David Begelman. By the fall of 1966, Garland had also split from them too. Their mismanagement of Garland's money, as well as their embezzlement of much of her earnings, resulted in her owing around $500,000 in total to the IRS and to personal creditors. The IRS placed tax liens on her home in Brentwood, Los Angeles, her recording contract with Capitol Records, and any other business deals from which she could derive an income. She was left in a desperate financial situation that saw her sell her Brentwood home at a price far below its value. In February 1967, Garland was cast in the role of Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls by 20th Century Fox. According to co-star Patty Duke, she had been hired primarily to augment publicity for the film and was treated poorly on the set by director Mark Robson. After Garland's dismissal from the film, author Jacqueline Susann said in the 1967 television documentary Jacqueline Susann and the Valley of the Dolls, I think Judy will always come back. She kids about making a lot of comebacks, but I think Judy has a kind of a thing where she has to get to the bottom of the rope and things have to get very, very rough for her. Then with an amazing inner strength that only comes of a certain genius, she comes back bigger than ever. Returning to the stage, Garland made her last US appearances in a 27-show run at New York's Palace Theatre in July 1967, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. Garland's 75% share of the profits generated by her engagement earned her more than $100,000. On closing night at the Palace, however, federal tax agents seized the majority of her earnings. By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. However, she was able to do a five-week run of performances at the Talk of the Town nightclub in London, for which she was paid £2,500 per week. She made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March of that year. After her divorce from Herron was finalized on February 11, she married her fifth and final husband, nightclub manager Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on the 15th of March 1969. On the 22nd of June 1969, Deans found Garland dead in the bathroom of her rented house in Cadogan Lane, Belgravia, London. She was 47 years old. At the inquest, Coroner Gavin Thurston stated that the cause of death was an incautious self-overdosage of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten Seconal capsules. Thurston stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and no evidence suggested that she had intended to kill herself. 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. Her death certificate stated that her death was accidental. Supporting the accidental cause, Garland's physician noted that a prescription of 25 barbiturate pills was found by her bedside half-empty, and another bottle of 100 barbiturate pills was still unopened. A British specialist who had attended Garland's autopsy stated that she had nevertheless been living on borrowed time owing to cirrhosis, although a second autopsy conducted later reported no evidence of alcoholism or cirrhosis. As her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented at her funeral, She just plain wore out. After Garland's body had been embalmed and clothed in the same gray silk gown she wore at her wedding to Deans, Mickey Deans travelled with her remains to New York City on the 26th of June 1969, where an estimated 20,000 people lined up to pay their respects at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan. It remained open all night long to accommodate the overflowing crowd. The next day, her A Star Is Born co-star James Mason gave a eulogy at the funeral, an Episcopal service led by the Rev. Peter Delaney of St Marylebone Parish Church, London, who had officiated at her marriage to Deans three months earlier. The public and press were barred. Judy's great gift, Mason said in his eulogy, was that she could wring tears out of hearts of rock... She gave so richly and so generously, that there was no currency in which to repay her. Garland was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, a town north of midtown Manhattan. However, at the request of her children, her remains were disinterred in January 2017 and re-interred across the country at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. Upon Garland's death, despite her having earned millions during her career, her estate came to just $100,000. Years of mismanagement of her financial affairs by her representatives and staff, along with her generosity toward her family and various causes, resulted in her poor financial situation at the end of her life. In her last will, signed and sealed in early 1961, Garland made many generous bequests that could not be fulfilled because her estate had been in debt for many years. Her daughter Liza Minnelli worked to pay off her mother's debts with the help of family friend Frank Sinatra. In 1978, a selection of Garland's personal items was auctioned off by her ex-husband Sidney Luft with the support of their daughter Lorna and son Joey. Almost 500 items, ranging from copper cookware to musical arrangements, were offered for sale; and the auction raised $100,000 for her heirs. Strassler observed that 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.