Judy Garland

Judy Garland (1922-1969), American motion picture actor and singer. Born Frances Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Garland made her singing debut at the age of two in her father's theater. Later, she and her sisters formed a vaudeville act called the Gumm Sisters, and from 1927 to 1935 they toured the United States.

Garland's film career, which began in 1936 but escalated with Broadway Melody of 1938, included appearances in such motion pictures as The Wizard of Oz (1939), for which she received a special award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; a series of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) films in which she was teamed with Mickey Rooney, beginning with Thoroughbreds Don't Cry (1937) and ending with Girl Crazy (1943); Ziegfeld Girl (1941); For Me and My Gal (1942), which introduced actor Gene Kelly; Meet Me in St. Louis (1944); The Clock (1945); The Harvey Girls (1946); The Pirate (1948); Easter Parade (1948); and In the Good Old Summertime (1949).

After 1950 Garland appeared primarily in nightclubs, concerts, and on television. Her first engagement at the Palace Theater in New York City from 1951 to 1952 broke vaudeville box-office records. Her later film performances include remarkable dramatic roles in A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), as well as I Could Go on Singing (1963) and A Child Is Waiting (1963).