Judy Garland
June 10, 1922 — June 22, 1969
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer whose remarkable contralto voice, emotional transparency, and raw star power made her one of Hollywood's most beloved and enduring performers — and whose difficult personal life became as much a part of her story as her extraordinary talent.
Born in a Trunk
Born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Garland was performing on stage by age two alongside her older sisters in her family's vaudeville act. When the act moved to Hollywood, studio talent scouts took notice — MGM signed her at 13, renamed her Judy Garland, and began working her relentlessly. The studio system's treatment of her was by turns exploitative and transformative: they gave her pills to keep her thin and awake during shooting, dictating a pattern of dependency that would shadow her entire adult life. But they also gave her the tools to become one of the most polished performers of the golden age.
The Wizard of Oz and Beyond
Garland's performance as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939) is among the most iconic in film history. Her rendition of "Over the Rainbow" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and became her signature for life — a fact she sometimes resented and always acknowledged. Despite receiving only an honorary juvenile Oscar, critical recognition grew steadily: she received a Best Actress nomination for A Star Is Born (1954) in a performance that many consider the greatest musical performance ever captured on film. Her concert at Carnegie Hall in 1961 was recorded and released as a double album that won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year — still the only live concert album to have won that award.
Did You Know?
Judy Garland's death on June 22, 1969 — of an accidental barbiturate overdose — occurred just days before the Stonewall Inn riots began in New York City, which many historians mark as the starting point of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The connection between the two events is more than coincidental: Garland had long been a beloved figure in gay culture, and many accounts suggest the grief of her fans played a role in the emotional atmosphere of those pivotal nights. Her funeral drew 20,000 people to Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York.
Legacy
Garland's final years were marked by financial chaos, failed marriages, and continued health struggles, but also remarkable comebacks — she remained one of the world's great concert performers right up until her death. She was married five times and is the mother of actress and singer Liza Minnelli, who inherited much of her mother's vocal talent and intensity. The American Film Institute named Garland the eighth-greatest female screen legend of classic American cinema. She has been the subject of numerous films, documentaries, and biographies, most recently the Academy Award–winning film Judy (2019), in which Renée Zellweger won the Best Actress Oscar for portraying her in her final London concert run. Garland remains one of the few performers whose legend has grown rather than faded since her death.