To celebrate the release of the 70th Anniversary Edition of the family classic, The Wizard of Oz, which is released on sing-a-long Blu-ray and DVD from 2nd November we will be taking a look back the troubled life of the films star, the legend that is Judy Garland.
Frances Ethel Gumm made her stage debut at the age of two, at her father's movie house and theatre. Judy's parents were small-time Vaudevillians, and they and their daughters would perform almost nightly.
After the family moved to California, Judy and her sisters began performing as 'The Gumm Sisters', and were enrolled in a show business agency for children.
She was signed by MGM in 1936, but unsure about Garland, she was loaned to 20th Century Fox where, ninth-billed in 'Pigskin Parade', she stole the show, and returned to MGM in triumph, and was cast as Dorothy.
The film follows 12-year-old farmgirl Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) who lives on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." After being struck unconscious during a tornado by a window which has come loose from its frame, Dorothy dreams that she, her dog Toto and the farmhouse are transported to the magical Land of Oz.
Initially, The Wizard of Oz was not considered a commercial success in relation to its enormous budget, although it made a small profit and received largely favourable reviews. The impact it had upon release was reportedly responsible for the release of two other fantasy films in Technicolor the following year The Blue Bird and The Thief of Bagdad.
The songs from The Wizard of Oz became widely popular, with "Over the Rainbow" receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the film itself garnering several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. In those days, Over the Rainbow was occasionally heard on live radio.
Actress Deanna Durbin, who was under contract to Universal, was also considered for the part of Dorothy. Durbin, at the time, far exceeded Garland in film experience and fan base and the two had co-starred in a 1936 two-reeler called Every Sunday. The film was most notable for exhibiting Durbin's operatic style of singing against Garland's jazzier style.
Durbin was possibly passed over once it was decided to bring on Betty Jaynes, also an operatic singer, to rival Garland's jazz in the aforementioned discarded subplot of the film. LeRoy and company also considered actress Bonita Granville yet passed on her due to the fact that she had never made a musical.
Garland was initially outfitted in a blond wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her breasts were bound with tape and she was made to wear a special corset to flatten out her curves and make her appear younger; her blue gingham dress was also chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.
The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4 million coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets, meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s.
At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. Following this recognition, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
In the 1940s she was a song-and-dance star in movies like Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). She married director Vincente Minnelli; their daughter Liza Minnelli became a star in her own right. Garland eventually married five times.
In the 1950s Garland began touring as a singer and became famous for her emotional, high-energy live performances. Throughout her last two decades she struggled with addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, while continuing to perform like a determined trouper on Broadway and in cabarets.
On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented Chelsea, London house. The coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdose" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules.
Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Garland's autopsy showed that there was 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 one dose.
Her death certificate stated that her death had been "accidental." Even so, a British specialist who had attended Garland said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver. Garland had turned 47 just 12 days prior to her death.
Her Wizard of Oz co-star Ray Bolger commented at Garland's funeral, "She just plain wore out." An estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to view her body. Garland was interred in Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York
Garland's five husbands were: composer David Rose (1941-44), Vincente Minnelli (1945-51), manager Sid Luft (1952-65), actor Mark Herron (1965-67), and restaurant manager Mickey Deans (1968 until her death). She had one child with Minelli (Liza Minelli) and two with Sid Luft: Lorna Luft (b. 1952) and Joseph Luft (b. 1955)
Though not gay herself, Garland somehow became an enduring icon for the gay community, and the term "Friend of Dorothy" became pop culture shorthand for a gay man.
In 1997 Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1999, the American Film Institute placed her among the ten greatest female stars in the history of American cinema (at number eight).
70th Anniversary Edition of the family classic, The Wizard of Oz, which is released on sing-a-long Blu-ray and DVD from 2nd November.
To celebrate the release of the 70th Anniversary Edition of the family classic, The Wizard of Oz, which is released on sing-a-long Blu-ray and DVD from 2nd November we will be taking a look back the troubled life of the films star, the legend that is Judy Garland.
Frances Ethel Gumm made her stage debut at the age of two, at her father's movie house and theatre. Judy's parents were small-time Vaudevillians, and they and their daughters would perform almost nightly.
After the family moved to California, Judy and her sisters began performing as 'The Gumm Sisters', and were enrolled in a show business agency for children.
She was signed by MGM in 1936, but unsure about Garland, she was loaned to 20th Century Fox where, ninth-billed in 'Pigskin Parade', she stole the show, and returned to MGM in triumph, and was cast as Dorothy.
The film follows 12-year-old farmgirl Dorothy Gale (Judy Garland) who lives on a Kansas farm with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, but dreams of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow." After being struck unconscious during a tornado by a window which has come loose from its frame, Dorothy dreams that she, her dog Toto and the farmhouse are transported to the magical Land of Oz.
Initially, The Wizard of Oz was not considered a commercial success in relation to its enormous budget, although it made a small profit and received largely favourable reviews. The impact it had upon release was reportedly responsible for the release of two other fantasy films in Technicolor the following year The Blue Bird and The Thief of Bagdad.
The songs from The Wizard of Oz became widely popular, with "Over the Rainbow" receiving the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the film itself garnering several Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. In those days, Over the Rainbow was occasionally heard on live radio.
Actress Deanna Durbin, who was under contract to Universal, was also considered for the part of Dorothy. Durbin, at the time, far exceeded Garland in film experience and fan base and the two had co-starred in a 1936 two-reeler called Every Sunday. The film was most notable for exhibiting Durbin's operatic style of singing against Garland's jazzier style.
Durbin was possibly passed over once it was decided to bring on Betty Jaynes, also an operatic singer, to rival Garland's jazz in the aforementioned discarded subplot of the film. LeRoy and company also considered actress Bonita Granville yet passed on her due to the fact that she had never made a musical.
Garland was initially outfitted in a blond wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her breasts were bound with tape and she was made to wear a special corset to flatten out her curves and make her appear younger; her blue gingham dress was also chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.
The Wizard of Oz was a tremendous critical success, though its high budget and promotions costs of an estimated $4 million coupled with the lower revenue generated by children's tickets, meant that the film did not make a profit until it was re-released in the 1940s.
At the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony, Garland received an Academy Juvenile Award for her performances in 1939, including The Wizard of Oz and Babes in Arms. Following this recognition, Garland became one of MGM's most bankable stars.
In the 1940s she was a song-and-dance star in movies like Meet Me in St. Louis (1944). She married director Vincente Minnelli; their daughter Liza Minnelli became a star in her own right. Garland eventually married five times.
In the 1950s Garland began touring as a singer and became famous for her emotional, high-energy live performances. Throughout her last two decades she struggled with addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, while continuing to perform like a determined trouper on Broadway and in cabarets.
On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented Chelsea, London house. The coroner, Gavin Thursdon, stated at the inquest that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdose" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules.
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