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Clara Blandick
Blandick (c. 1903) in a photograph by Otto Sarony
Born	Clara Dickey (1880-06-04)June 4, 1880 Hong Kong, China
Died	April 15, 1962(1962-04-15) (aged 81) Hollywood, California
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1900–1951
Spouse	Staunton Elliott (m.1905-1912; divorced)

Clara Blandick (June 4, 1880 – April 15, 1962) was an American actress. Her many film appearances include the role of Auntie Em in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz.

Early life[link]

She was born Clara Dickey, the daughter of Isaac B. and Hattie (Mudgett) Dickey, aboard the Willard Mudgett—an American ship captained by her father (named after another of her relatives), and docked in Hong Kong harbor. Her parents settled in Quincy, Massachusetts, by 1880.^[1]

Acting[link]

She grew up in Boston, and there met famed Shakespearean actor, E. H. Sothern, with whom she appeared onstage in a production of the play Richard Lovelace. She moved from Boston to New York City by 1900, and began pursuing acting as a career. Her first professional appearance came in 1901, when she was cast as Jehanneton in the play If I Were King, which ran for 56 performances at Garden Theatre (an early component of Madison Square Garden). She achieved acclaim for her role in The Christian and was described by newspaper critics as a "dainty, petite, and graceful" heroine. In 1903 she played Gwendolyn in the Broadway premiere of E. W. Hornung's Raffles The Amateur Cracksman opposite Kyrle Bellew. She started in pictures with the Old Kalem company in 1908 and made a number of appearances like in The Maid's Double in 1911. Blandick finally broke onto Broadway in 1912, when she was cast as Dolores Pennington in Widow By Proxy which ran for 88 performances through early 1913 at George M. Cohan's Theatre on Broadway. During this same period she appeared on stages throughout the Northeastern United States as a member of Sylvester Poli's stock theater company, The Poli Players.

She would continue to achieve success on the stage, playing a number of starring roles, including the lead in Madame Butterfly. By 1914 she was reappearing on the silver screen, this time as Emily Mason in the film Mrs. Black is Back.

During World War I, Blandick performed some overseas volunteer work for the American Expeditionary Force in France. She also continued to act on stage and occasionally in silent pictures.

In 1924, she earned rave reviews for her supporting role in the Pulitzer Prize winning play Hell-Bent Fer Heaven, which ran for 122 performances at the Klaw Theatre in New York (later renamed CBS Radio Playhouse No. 2).

In 1929, Blandick moved to Hollywood. By the 1930s, she was well known in theatrical and film circles as an established supporting actress. Though she landed roles like Aunt Polly in the 1930 film Tom Sawyer (a role she reprised in the 1931 film Huckleberry Finn), she spent much of the decade as a character actor, often going uncredited. At a time when many actors were permanently attached to a single studio, Blandick played a wide number of bit parts for almost every major Hollywood studio (though she would later be under contract with 20th Century Fox). In 1930, she acted in nine different films. In 1931 she was in thirteen different films. As is the case with some other busy character actors, it's impossible to make an exact tally of the films in which Clara appeared. A reasonable estimate would fall between 150 and 200.

[edit] The Wizard of Oz and after

In 1939, Blandick landed her most memorable minor role yet — Auntie Em in MGM's classic The Wizard of Oz. Though it was a small part (Blandick filmed all her scenes in a single week), the character was an important symbol of protagonist Dorothy's quest to return home to her beloved aunt and uncle – a snipe at people who revere glitz and tinsel over a happy homelife. (Auntie Em and Uncle Henry are the only characters from the beginning of the movie not to have alter ego characters in the Land Of Oz). Blandick beat out May Robson, Janet Beecher, and Sarah Padden for the role, and earned $750 per week. Some believed Auntie Em's alter ego was to be the Good Witch of the North but the studio opted to use different actresses for each role rather than have a dual role for this. The reason was they wanted someone younger looking to contrast the good witch from the bad witches. Ironically, Billie Burke, who played the Witch of the North, was only 4 years younger than Blandick.

Though the Auntie Em character proved memorable to audiences, few fans knew Blandick's name. She was not billed in the opening credits and is listed last in the movie's closing credits.

After The Wizard of Oz, Blandick returned to her staple of character acting in supporting and bit roles. She would continue to act in a wide variety of roles in dozens of films. She played the spiteful Mrs. Pringle in 1940s Anne of Windy Poplars, a surprised customer in the 1941 Marx Brothers film The Big Store, a fashionable socialite in the 1944 musical Can't Help Singing, and a cold-blooded murderer in the 1947 mystery Philo Vance Returns. Her final two roles both came in 1950 – playing a housekeeper and a landlady in Key to the City and Love That Brute respectively.

She retired from acting at the age of 69 and went into seclusion at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Death[link]

Throughout the 1950s, Blandick's health steadily began to fail. She started going blind and began suffering from severe arthritis. On April 15, 1962, she returned home from Palm Sunday services at her church. Her residence was 1735 North Wilcox Avenue, Los Angeles, California. She began rearranging her room, placing her favorite photos and memorabilia in prominent places. She laid out her resume and a collection of press clippings from her lengthy career. She dressed immaculately, in an elegant royal blue dressing gown. Then, with her hair properly styled, she took an overdose of sleeping pills. She lay down on a couch, covered herself with a gold blanket over her shoulders, and tied a plastic bag over her head. Blandick left the following note: “I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen.”

Her landlady, Helen Mason, found her body Sunday morning. In preparing to die, Blandick had disposed of all her medicines the previous week. She told James Busch, a friend for many years, that they might be discovered if anything happened to her. Blandick was survived by a niece, Catherine Hopkins, of Camarillo, California. The actress was married December 7, 1905, in Manhattan, to mining engineer Harry Staunton Elliott.^[2] They separated by 1910, and are said to have divorced in 1912. They had no children.

Blandick's ashes were interred at the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Security (Niche 17230) at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale. Blandick's cremated remains lie just yards (Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Inspiration, (Niche 14639) from those of The Wizard of Oz co-star, actor Charles Grapewin, who portrayed her on-screen farmer husband, Uncle Henry.

Partial filmography[link]

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2008)

External links[link]

Biography portal

• Clara Blandick at the Internet Broadway Database
• Clara Blandick at the Internet Movie Database
• Clara Blandick at AllRovi
• Clara Blandick at Find a Grave
• Clara Blandick as a young actress in The Actors Birthday Book by Johnson Briscoe (both 1908 & 1909 editions)
• Clara Blandick as a young attractive actress, New York Public Library Billy Rose Collection
• Clara Blandick portraits Univ of Washington Sayre Collection(enter her name)

Clara Clóirtheach
—  Town  —
Clara on the R436
Clara Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°20′34″N 7°36′49″W / 53.342661°N 7.613525°W / 53.342661; -7.613525Coordinates: 53°20′34″N 7°36′49″W / 53.342661°N 7.613525°W / 53.342661; -7.613525
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
County	County Offaly
Elevation	57 m (187 ft)
Population (2006)	3,001
Irish Grid Reference	N254325

Clara (Clóirtheach or An Clárach in Irish) is a town on the River Brosna in County Offaly and is the 10th largest town in the midlands of Ireland. The town has a population of 3001 (2006 census), however a number of well populated housing estates lie outside the town boundary making the actual population higher. Clara has plenty of local services including churches, banks, credit union, schools, supermarkets, shops, garages, pubs, nightclubs and restaurants. It has its own Garda(police) and fire station while the Midlands regional hospital is located just seven miles away in Tullamore. Clara has a strong association with sport. The successful GAA club looks after Gaelic football and hurling from under 8 to senior level. Clara also has a successful junior soccer club. The town has two swimming pools and a successful pitch and putt club. Clara's power lifting club has won a number of national and international awards. A golf driving range is located in the town also with the Esker Hills golf club located just outside the town. There is a local equestrian centre and sports centre also.

Geography[link]

Clara is situated in the north of County Offaly near the border with County Westmeath, on national route N80 some 12 km northwest of Tullamore. Situated on a plain (Clóirtheach meaning plain or level place), the town is in reality an urban centre surrounded by a series of mini-villages. The town is connected to the River Shannon by one of its tributaries, the Brosna. Clara is the modern name of what was known as the Barony of Kilcoursey and Parish of Kilbride. The earliest known map of Clara dates from the Ordnance Survey of 1838.

History[link]

Industrial heritage

While the town as we know it today was established by Quakers in the mid-18th century, there is evidence of community habitation for some time. Situated on the Esker Riada, the ancient thoroughfare which connected the east and west coasts of Ireland, numerous ring forts are to be found in the countryside surrounding the town suggesting that the early settlement may have been an important staging post for travellers. Just outside the town in Kilbride, the remnants of a 12th century monastery testify to the existence of a vibrant religious presence. According to tradition this monastery was founded by St Brigid of Kildare (d.c 525 AD) and is linked by an ancient road to Durrow Abbey founded by St Colm Cille (St Columba). St Brigid's original monastery, founded shortly after her religious profession - her first foundation, would have been constructed in wood and consisted of a number of buildings surrounding a central church. These buildings were replaced by stone structures in the 12th century. The original parish was named after St Brigid: Kilbride (from Cill Bhride: the Church of Brigid). The ruins of an ancient church are to be found not far from the monastery at the foot of a hill (Chapel Hill) and this may have been the original parish church.

Politically the family which had dominion over the area was the Sinnach O'Catharniagh (Fox O'Carney) clan; they were referred to as the Muinter Tadgain (people of Tadgain). The O'Catharniagh were princes of Teffia (an area in County Westmeath). The ruins of their castle, Lehinch Castle, are to be found on a hill in Kilcoursey, less than a mile from the town centre. The McAuley family are also associated with the Barony of Kilcoursey. Mass rocks are also to be found in the hills outside the town, having provided secret places for Catholics to worship during the persecution which followed the Reformation.

The Fox family owned much of the district up until the 1650s. Following the involvement of the Chieftain, Hubert Fox in a rebellion in the 1640s - he was defending Catholic interests against the Puritan Oliver Cromwell who came to Ireland to suppress uprisings against English rule. Ironically, in 1599, Fox's father, also Hubert, had signed an agreement of "surrender and regrant" with the English crown to avoid the complete destruction of his estates following the Nine Years War: the lands were returned to Fox senior in recognition of his fealty. Hubert junior, however, was not so inclined, preferring to stand by the family's traditional allegiance. Cromwell proved victorious and Fox lost his lands which were given to Samuel Rust, a Cromwellian soldier. He in turn sold the district to two families - the Armstrongs and the Bagots. The Armstrongs settled in the town and would eventually establish industries, notably a Linen factory which proved quite lucrative. Andrew Armstrong (1727–1802) built Clara House on the west side of the town in the 1770s - a fine neo-classical building. Members of the Armstrong family distinguished themselves in other areas of life. One of them, John Armstrong, uncle of Andrew, was Governor of Minorca and author of a history of the island in 1752. Andrew Armstrong died in 1802 and the estates were sold to a Cox family, another family with notable connections.

In 1825, the Goodbody family moved to Clara from Mountmellick and introduced industry into the town, trading under the name of J & L F Goodbody. Buying flour mills at Erry and Charlestown, they developed the river Brosna and used it to harness power for their factories. In 1864 the Goodbodys started a jute factory at Clashawaun. The jute was imported from India and the resulting bags were exported worldwide. In the last decades of the 20th century the factories declined and the last Goodbody's factory closed in 1984. The family had provided the people of Clara with employment in a number of areas: factory work, domestic service and farming. Other industries in the town included flour mills, distilleries, a brewery, manufacturers of tobacco, soap, candles, and clothes together with food processing companies.

As the town entered a heyday at the end of the 19th and for much of the 20th centuries, its prosperity led to a number of building projects. Stately houses litter the town and surrounding countryside as the various members of the Goodbody family set up their households. Thanks to Catholic Emancipation in 1829 a more prominent Catholic church was built on the outskirts of the town in Charlestown, but this proved too small and in the 1880s the parish, now St Brigid's Parish, built a fine neo-gothic church in the centre of the town on one side of the main square: a relic of St Brigid is preserved in the church. To cater for the needs of the townspeople, two religious orders founded communities and schools: the Franciscan Brothers arrived in 1821 and the Sisters of Mercy some years later. Other religious buildings in the town consist of St Brigid's parish church for the Church of Ireland community (Anglican Communion) looking down over the Fair Green and the Friends' Meeting Hall (Quaker) which is no longer in use. As the town prospered so did social life. Numerous cultural and sporting associations flourished in the town and continue to do so to this day.

Main Street Clara c. 1915

Transport[link]

Clara railway station opened on 3 October 1859, and located beside Railway View Housing Estate.^[6] It is on the main Dublin to Ballina / Westport / Galway railway line. Clara was once a railway junction, with a branch to Streamstown on the now disused Athlone–Mullingar link. There was also a railway junction west of Clara serving the Banagher branch line. Clara is also served by the M6 Dublin/Galway motorway with junction 6 less than 5 minutes drive from the town centre. Consultation is ongoing regarding a small airport which is proposed on lands between Clara, Tubber and Horseleap.

Notable figures[link]

St Brigid of Ireland (c 450 – c 525). Also known as St Brigid of Kildare. Born in Faughart, Co. Louth, Ireland, St Brigid was the daughter of a pagan chieftain and Christian slave woman. She was religious by nature and when she reached maturity she took vows under St. Mel. She founded a famous monastery in Kildare (Cill Dara) which became an ecclesiastical city and eventually the cathedral city of a diocese. She was revered as a saint in her own lifetime. She is buried with St Patrick and St Columba in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland: the three are considered the patron saints of Ireland. Her association with Clara is ancient: according to tradition she founded her first monastery there, the ruins of which are still extant. She is the patron of the parish of Clara and the local Catholic church preserves a first-class relic of the saint.

Matilda de Lacy (1223–1289). Born in Lincolnshire in England]in 1223, Matilda (Maud) was one of the most significant women of her time. The daughter of John de Lacy, the Earl of Lincolnshire and Margaret de Quincy, Countess of Derby, granddaughter of Walter de Lacy, Lord of Meath, she inherited a considerable fortune following her grandfather's death on 1241. As the eldest of her family, she inherited the family castle in Trim, Co. Meath and with it a number of estates. Unusual for women at the time, she exercised considerable power and influence. She was married to Peter de Genevre (died 1249). She founded a convent at Gageborough, a townland of Clara. She died in 1289.

Connall Mac Geoghegan (17th century). Connall Mac Geoghegan, known as Connall the Historian, lived in Lismoyny, a townland of Clara. He is noted by history as the translator of the Annals of Clonmacnoise, a chronicle of historical events in Ireland from pre-history to 1408 AD. His translation into English was complete by 1627 and was his work was praised for its understanding of the Gaelic idiom. The years of Connall's life are not known, but he was still alive in 1644.

Hubert Fox (17th century). The Irish love a rebel, and Hubert Fox can stake a claim to this affection. Chief of the Fox clan in the 17th century he resisted English rule and fought against Cromwellian forces. He lost his estates and fled his ancestral home, Lehinch castle, in 1641 with a price of 400 pounds on his head: the English even promised outlaws a pardon if they delivered Fox into their hands. A testament to the loyalty of the Irish, no one did, and he disappeared from history. Many lines of the Fox family today claim descent from him.

Fr James Dillon (c 1643- ?). Fr Dillon was the Catholic pastor of the parish of Kilbride (Clara). Born around 1643, he was ordained priest in 1688 in Ballyleoge, Co. Galway. He was appointed to the parish in 1704. He was an astounding pastor,^{[citation needed]} but given the nature of the times he was the victim of much persecution. He was betrayed a number of times to the priest-hunters and several times arrested for carrying out his ministry, spending time in prison and almost dying of his ill-treatment at one stage. The date of his death is unknown, but he was buried in the cemetery of St Brigid's monastery in Kilbride.

Andrew Armstrong (1727–1802). As noted above, Armstrong was a successful industrialist in the town. Born in 1727 the son of Warenford Armstrong of Ballycumber and Elizabeth Bagot of Newtown. He was responsible for Clara's prominence as a manufacturing town in the late 18th/early 19th centuries.

Robert Goodbody (1781–1860). Born in Mountmellick, County Laois, Ireland, on April 9, 1781, he was the son of Quaker parents, Mark Goodbody and Elizabeth Pim. The Goodbodys were already a prominent merchant family in the Midlands, but Robert would prove to be the one who would strengthen the family's position in Ireland's industrial elite. He moved to Clara on October 17, 1825 when he took over Brosna Mills and from this industry he founded a dynasty of merchants who would dominate not only the commercial life of the Midlands, but have considerable influence in Ireland and abroad. He married twice and had six children. When he was 74 years old he began writing his Memoirs which constitute not only an autobiography but also a valuable record of events in the Midlands including the rebellion of 1798, an important uprising against English rule in Ireland.

Vivian Mercier (1919–1989). Vivian Mercier was a foremost literary historian. Born in Clara in 1919 he studied at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen (Oscar Wilde's alma mater) and afterwards at Trinity College, Dublin, where he completed his doctorate entitled Realism in Irish Fiction. After a spell in Ireland working for a literary periodical, he went to the US where he held a number of positions in various universities, finally accepting a professorship at the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1974. The same year he married his second wife, the Irish writer Eilis Dillon. He published a number of works in the area of literature and was a committed defender of the Irish language (Gaelic), writing a landmark work on Irish literature in 1964. He was also regarded as an authority on the works of Samuel Beckett. He died in 1989 and is buried in Clara with his wife, Eilis.

Br Placidus Timmons, OSF (1948–1997). Larry Timmons was born in Delvin, County Westmeath on April 17, 1948. He entered the Franciscan Brothers (Third Order of Penance) taking the name Br Placidus, and after profession was appointed to the Franciscan Monastery in Clara where he spent a number of years as a teacher in the Boy's Primary School. He was a popular figure in the parish, involved in numerous organisations and with a deep concern for the young and poor. In 1982 he was transferred to the Order's mission house in Kenya where he spent fifteen years teaching and helping improve the living standards of the local communities he served. On January 22, 1997 during an armed break-in, Br Placidus was shot dead. An investigation into his death revealed that his death was not an unfortunate mistake, but was in fact, deliberate: he was murdered for his efforts to obtain justice for the victims of a corrupt regime. His remains were brought back to Clara and a large crowd attended his funeral. He is buried in the community cemetery of the Franciscan Brothers. He is regarded as a martyr for justice by many.

Brian Cowen (born 1960) Taoiseach (Prime Minister) from 2008 to 2011. Son of Bernard Cowen, former TD and Junior Minister for Agriculture. He took office on 7 May 2008, heading a coalition government led by his Fianna Fáil party that includes the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats, with the support of independent TDs. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the constituency of Laois–Offaly from 1984 to 2011. He served as Minister for Labour (1992–1993), Minister for Energy (1993), Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (1993–1994), Minister for Health and Children (1997–2000), Minister for Foreign Affairs (2000–2004) and Minister for Finance (2004–2008). He served as Tánaiste from 2007 to 2008. He became leader of Fianna Fáil on the resignation of Bertie Ahern. On 7 May 2008 following the resignation of Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach, Cowen was nominated in the Dáil and elected Taoiseach. Within a short period of him taking office Ireland was hit by the global recession, a construction industry collapse and a near-collapse of the country's banks leading to job losses, wage reductions,etc. This caused him and his government to take many unpopular decisions. Brian Cowen's term as Taoiseach came to an end following the general election in February 2011. He did not contest the election and stepped down from public life.

Michelle McKeon-Bennett (born 1974) current (Space Life Science researcher). Daughter of Michael and Margaret M^cKeon, was chosen in 2002 to travel to NASA, Florida as a potential astronaut candidate, after she approached NASA researchers regarding her research on bog plants. It was not until September 2003 that she began research into the use of Sphagnum Moss from Clara Bog for space applications. She developed a system that allowed water to be filtered and plants to grow in the enclosed environment of a space orbiter (shuttle) and planetary colony. She returned to Ireland (and [Limerick Institute of Technology]) in September 2004 and continued her research link with NASA, Kennedy Space Centre Florida under a student transfer programme from LIT with Dynamac Corporation, the space life science company contracted to NASA to carry out space life science research. She established the Controlled Environment Laboratory for Life Sciences (CELLS) in LIT in 2008, and successfully obtained funding to purchase state-of-the-art growth chambers to the exact specifications as those in Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. They are the only ones in of this specification in Europe. She currently has 6 postgraduate students based in LIT with placements in Kennedy Space Centre researching the use of Irish plants in space research with terrestrial applications such as health foods and natural pharmaceutical products. In 2005 she was made Head of Department of Applied Science, LIT and is currently developing a new space science programme for undergraduate students, the first in Ireland. In 2009, she made it to the third last round of astronaut selection in Europe.

Professional golfer Shane Lowry comes from Clara. He was born on April 2, 1987 and comes from a strong sporting background. His father Brendan played Gaelic football for Offaly, winning a senior All-Ireland medal in 1982. Shane's mother Brigid, née Scanlon, comes from a prominent sporting and musical family from Clara. Shane attended Clara's St. Francis boys national school and Clara vocational school. During his school years he played both football and hurling. At the age of 12 he developed an interest in pitch and putt and quickly began winning numerous prizes in the sport. In his mid teens Shane's interest turned to golf. Within a couple of years he was rising within the ranks of the amateur golf circuit. In 2009 he came to international attention when he won the Irish open golf championship, as an amateur. He turned professional shortly afterwards.

Guglielmo Marconi[link]

One of Clara's visitors provide it with some notability in the history of modern communications: Guglielmo Marconi. Marconi was born in Bologna, Italy on April 25, 1874, the son of Giuseppe Marconi and Annie Jameson, the daughter of Andrew Jameson of Daphne Castle, County Wexford, Ireland. He grew up and was educated in Italy proudly aware of his Irish and Italian heritages.

In 1895 he began the experiments which would eventually lead to his invention of the radiotelegraph system. He was a frequent visitor to Ireland and in 1905 he married the Hon. Beatrice O'Brien, the daughter of the 14th Baron Inchiquin. The marriage broke down and the couple were granted an annulment in 1927, after which he married the Countess Bezzi-Scali of Rome. He received numerous awards and honours including the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1909 and was conferred with the hereditary title of Marchese in 1929. He died in Rome on 20 July 1937.

Marconi was a friend of the Goodbody family and it was during one of his visits to Robert Goodbody at Inchmore House in Clara that he conducted some of his experiments which made important advances in the development of the radiotelegraph system. Marconi received considerable backing from the Goodbody family.

Special Area of Conservation[link]

Main article Clara bog

Two kilometres from the town centre lies Clara Bog, a raised bog which contains rare flora. It was considered for nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^[7]

The Clara Bog visitor centre is located beside the town's library. A bog boardwalk (Accessible from Ballinough, off Tullamore road) is very popular with local walkers, but is virtually unknown to visitors. The board walk allows walkers to safely cross the surface of the bog. A much shorter, but more accessible bog boardwalk is also located 2 km from Clara on the main Rahan road.

Recent[link]

Clara continues to be an industrial town albeit not to the same extent as it had been. Farming remains an important way of life for many around the area. Plans for urban renewal during the economic boom never took off and the town did not benefit to the extend that other similar size towns did. There is a strong musical tradition in the area producing numerous singers and bands of various genres and the Clara Musical Society.

Sharon Touhey got to the final of the model agent, aired on RTÉ in spring 2009.

External links[link]

• Local Website
• Various articles on the history of Clara
• Robert Goodbody's Memoirs
• Clara Bog
• Local job vacancy listings online
• Clara railway station

References[link]

1. ^ Census for post 1821 figures.
2. ^ http://www.histpop.org
3. ^ http://www.nisranew.nisra.gov.uk/census
4. ^ Lee, JJ (1981). "On the accuracy of the Pre-famine Irish censuses". In Goldstrom, J. M.; Clarkson, L. A.. Irish Population, Economy, and Society: Essays in Honour of the Late K. H. Connell. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. 
5. ^ Mokyr, Joel; O Grada, Cormac (November 1984). "New Developments in Irish Population History, 1700-1850". The Economic History Review 37 (4): pp. 473–488. DOI:10.1111/j.1468-0289.1984.tb00344.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/120035880/abstract. 
6. ^ "Clara station" (PDF). Railscot - Irish Railways. http://www.railscot.co.uk/Ireland/Irish_railways.pdf. Retrieved 2007-09-07. 
7. ^ Gordon Deegan (June 8, 2010). "Killarney park and Clara Bog fail to make Unesco shortlist". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. http://www.webcitation.org/5zCTcfhr0. Retrieved 2011-07-01. 

v t e Places in County Offaly County town: Tullamore Towns Birr Clara Edenderry Ferbane Tullamore Villages and Townlands Ballinagar Ballyboy Ballycumber Banagher Blue Ball Bracknagh Brosna Cadamstown Capppancur Clareen Cloghan Clonbollogue Clonmacnoise Clonony Clonygowan Coolderry Crinkill Croghan Cushina Daingean Doon Dunkerrin Durrow Geashill Horseleap Kilcormac Killeigh Killoughey Kinnitty Moneygall Mountbolus Pollagh Rahan Rhode Roscore Shannonbridge Shannon Harbour Shinrone Walsh Island Landforms Arderin Barcam Bog of Allen Boora bog Carroll's Hill Farbreague Clara Bog Croghan Hill Esker Riada Grand Canal Raheenmore Bog River Brosna River Camcor River Shannon Silver River Stillbrook Hill Wolftrap Mountain Topics Education in County Offaly Geography of County Offaly History of County Offaly List of National Monuments in County Offaly List of townlands in County Offaly Media in County Offaly Mountains and hills of County Offaly Politics of County Offaly Religion in County Offaly Rivers of County Offaly Transport in County Offaly Counties of Ireland

Judy Garland
c. 1940
Born	Frances Ethel Gumm (1922-06-10)June 10, 1922 Grand Rapids, Minnesota
Died	June 22, 1969(1969-06-22) (aged 47) Chelsea, London, England
Cause of death	Barbiturate overdose
Resting place	Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York
Nationality	American
Other names	Judy Garland
Occupation	Singer, actress, vaudevillian
Years active	1924-1969 as a singer 1929-1967 as an actress
Spouse	David Rose (m. 1941-1944; divorced) Vincente Minnelli (m. 1945-1951; divorced) Sidney Luft (m. 1952-1965; divorced) Mark Herron (m. 1965-1967; divorced) Mickey Deans (m. 1969, her death)
Children	Liza Minnelli Lorna Luft Joey Luft
Awards	List of awards and honours

Judy Garland (June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American actress, singer and vaudevillian. Renowned for her contralto voice, she attained international stardom through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage.^[1] Respected for her versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award, as well as Grammy Awards and a Special Tony Award. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the remake of A Star is Born and for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1961 film, Judgment at Nuremberg. At 39 years of age, she remains the youngest recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in the motion picture industry.

After appearing in vaudeville with her two older sisters, Garland was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. There she made more than two dozen films, including nine with Mickey Rooney and the 1939 film with which she would be most identified, The Wizard of Oz. After 15 years, she was released from the studio but gained renewed success through record-breaking concert appearances, including a return to acting beginning with critically acclaimed performances.

Despite her professional triumphs, Garland battled personal problems throughout her life. Insecure about her appearance, her feelings were compounded by film executives who told her she was unattractive and manipulated her on-screen physical appearance. She was plagued by financial instability, often owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. She married five times, with her first four marriages ending in divorce. She had a long struggle with alcohol and drug use during most of her career, dying of an accidental drug overdose at the age of 47, leaving children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft, and Joey Luft.

In 1997, Garland was posthumously awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 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.^[2]

Early life[link]

Garland's birthplace in Grand Rapids, Minnesota

Born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Garland was the youngest child of Ethel Marion (née Milne; November 17, 1893–January 5, 1953) and Francis Avent "Frank" Gumm (March 20, 1886–November 17, 1935). Her parents were vaudevillians who settled in Grand Rapids to run a movie theatre that featured vaudeville acts.

Garland's ancestry on both sides of her family can be traced back to the early colonial days of the United States. Her father was descended from the Marable family of Virginia, her grandfather from a Milne ancestry from Aberdeen, Scotland^[3] and her maternal grandmother from a Patrick Fitzpatrick, who emigrated to America in the 1770s from Smithtown, County Meath, Ireland.^[4]

Named after both her parents and baptized at a local Episcopal church, "Baby" (as she was called by her parents and sisters) shared her family's flair for song and dance. Her first appearance came at the age of two-and-a-half when she joined her two older sisters, Mary Jane "Suzy/Suzanne" Gumm (1915–1964) and Dorothy Virginia "Jimmie" Gumm (1917–1977), on the stage of her father's movie theater during a Christmas show and sang a chorus of "Jingle Bells".^[5] Accompanied by their mother on piano, The Gumm Sisters performed there for the next few years.

Following rumors that Frank Gumm had made sexual advances toward male ushers, the family relocated to Lancaster, California in June 1926.^[6] Frank purchased and operated another theater in Lancaster, and Ethel, acting as their manager, began working to get her daughters into motion pictures.

Early career[link]

The Gumm Sisters[link]

The Gumm Sisters, AKA The Garland Sisters, circa 1935, from left to right: Mary Jane, Frances Ethel (Judy Garland) and Dorothy Virginia Gumm.

In 1928, The Gumm Sisters enrolled in a dance school run by Ethel Meglin, proprietress of the Meglin Kiddies dance troupe. They appeared with the troupe at its annual Christmas show.^[7] It was through the Meglin Kiddies that they made their film debut, in a 1929 short subject called The Big Revue. This was followed by appearances in two Vitaphone shorts the following year, A Holiday in Storyland (featuring Garland's first on-screen solo) and The Wedding of Jack and Jill. They next appeared together in Bubbles. Their final on-screen appearance came in 1935, in another short entitled La Fiesta de Santa Barbara.^[8]

In 1934, the trio, who by then had been touring the vaudeville circuit as "The Gumm Sisters" for many years, performed in Chicago at the Oriental Theater with George Jessel. He encouraged the group to choose a more appealing name after "Gumm" was met with laughter from the audience. According to theatrical legend, their act was once erroneously billed at a Chicago theater as "The Glum Sisters".^[9]

Several stories persist regarding the origin of the name "Garland". One is that it was originated by Jessel after Carole Lombard's character Lily Garland in the film Twentieth Century which was then playing at the Oriental; another is that the girls chose the surname after drama critic Robert Garland.^[10] Garland's daughter, Lorna Luft, stated that her mother selected the name when Jessel announced that the trio "looked prettier than a garland of flowers".^[11] Another variation surfaced when he was a guest on Garland's television show in 1963. He claimed that he had sent actress Judith Anderson a telegram containing the word "garland," and it stuck in his mind.^[12]

By late 1934 the Gumm Sisters had changed their name to the Garland Sisters.^[13] Frances changed her name to "Judy" soon after, inspired by a popular Hoagy Carmichael song.^[14] By August 1935 they were broken up when Suzanne Garland flew to Reno, Nevada and married musician Lee Kahn, a member of the Jimmy Davis orchestra playing at Cal-Neva Lodge, Lake Tahoe.^[15]

Signed at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[link]

Garland with Mickey Rooney in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

In 1935, Garland was signed to a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, supposedly without a screen test, though she had made a test for the studio several months earlier. It did not know what to do with her, as at age 13 she was older than the traditional child star but too young for adult roles. Her physical appearance created a dilemma for MGM. At only 4 feet 11.5 inches (151.1 cm), her "nice" or "girl next door" looks did not exemplify the more glamorous persona required of leading ladies of the time. She was self-conscious and anxious about her appearance. "'Judy went to school at Metro with Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, real beauties,' said Charles Walters, who directed her in a number of films. 'Judy was the big money-maker at the time, a big success, but she was the ugly duckling ...I think it had a very damaging effect on her emotionally for a long time. I think it lasted forever, really.'"^[16] Her insecurity was exacerbated by the attitude of studio chief Louis B. Mayer, who referred to her as his "little hunchback".^[17] During her early years at the studio, she was photographed and dressed in plain garments or frilly juvenile gowns and costumes to match the "girl next door" image that was created for her. She was made to wear removable caps on her teeth and rubberized disks to reshape her nose.^[18]

She performed at various studio functions and was eventually cast opposite Deanna Durbin in the musical short Every Sunday. The film contrasted her alto vocal range^[19] and swing style with Durbin's operatic soprano and served as an extended screen test for the pair, as studio executives were questioning the wisdom of having two girl singers on the roster.^[20] Mayer finally decided to keep both actresses, but by that time Durbin's option had lapsed and she was signed by Universal Studios.

On November 16, 1935, in the midst of preparing for a radio performance on the Shell Chateau Hour, Garland learned that her father, who had been hospitalized with meningitis, had taken a turn for the worse. Frank Gumm died the following morning, on November 17, leaving her devastated. Her song for the Shell Chateau Hour was her first professional rendition of "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart", a song which would become a standard in many of her concerts.^[21]

Garland next came to the attention of studio executives by singing a special arrangement of "You Made Me Love You" to Clark Gable at a birthday party held by the studio for the actor; her rendition was so well regarded that she performed the song in the all-star extravaganza Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937), singing to a photograph of him.^[22]

MGM hit on a winning formula when it paired Garland with Mickey Rooney in a string of "backyard musicals".^[23] The duo first appeared together in the 1937 B movie Thoroughbreds Don't Cry. They became a sensation and teamed up again in Love Finds Andy Hardy. She would eventually star with him in nine films.

To keep up with the frantic pace of making one film after another, Garland, Rooney, and other young performers were constantly given amphetamines, as well as barbiturates to take before going to bed.^[24] For Garland, this regular dose of drugs led to addiction and a lifelong struggle and contributed to her eventual demise. She later resented the hectic schedule and felt that her youth had been stolen from her by MGM. Despite successful film and recording careers, awards, critical praise and her ability to fill concert halls worldwide, she was plagued throughout her life with self-doubt and required constant reassurance that she was talented and attractive.^[25]

[edit] The Wizard of Oz

Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)

In 1938, aged 16, she was cast as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939), a film based on the children's book by L. Frank Baum. In this film, she sang the song for which she would forever be identified, "Over the Rainbow". She was initially outfitted in a blonde wig for the part, but Freed and LeRoy decided against it shortly into filming. Her blue gingham dress was chosen for its blurring effect on her figure.^[26]

Shooting commenced on October 13, 1938,^[27] and was completed on March 16, 1939,^[28] with a final cost of more than US$2 million.^[29] With the conclusion of filming, MGM kept Garland busy with promotional tours and the shooting of Babes in Arms. She and Rooney were sent on a cross-country promotional tour, culminating in the August 17 New York City premiere at the Capitol Theater, which included a five-show-a-day appearance schedule for the two stars.^[30]

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.^[31] 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.^[32] Following this recognition, she became one of MGM's most bankable stars.

Stardom as an adult[link]

Garland performing "The Trolley Song" in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)

In 1940, she starred in three films: Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, Strike Up the Band, and Little Nellie Kelly. In the latter, she played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. Little Nellie Kelly was purchased from George M. Cohan as a vehicle for her to display both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss, and the only death scene of her career.^[33] The success of these three films, and a further three films in 1941, secured her position at MGM as a major property.

During this time Garland experienced her first serious adult romances. The first was with the band leader Artie Shaw. She was deeply devoted to him and was devastated in early 1940 when he eloped with Lana Turner.^[34] Garland began a relationship with musician David Rose, and, on her 18th birthday, he gave her an engagement ring. The studio intervened because he was still married at the time to the actress and singer Martha Raye. They agreed to wait a year to allow for his divorce from her to become final, and were wed on July 27, 1941.^[35] Garland, who had aborted her pregnancy by him in 1942, agreed to a trial separation in January 1943, and they divorced in 1944.^[36] She was noticeably thinner in her next film, For Me and My Gal, alongside Gene Kelly in his first screen appearance. She was top billed over the credits for the first time and effectively made the transition from teenage star to adult actress.

in Presenting Lily Mars (1943)

At the age of 21, she was given the "glamour treatment" in Presenting Lily Mars, in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident in her appearance and never escaped the "girl next door" image that had been created for her.^[37]

One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "The Trolley Song", "The Boy Next Door", and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". Vincente Minnelli was assigned to direct and he requested that makeup artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland. Ponedel refined her appearance in several ways, including extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line and removing her nose discs. She appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.

During the filming of Meet Me in St. Louis, after some initial conflict between them, Garland and Minnelli entered a relationship. They were married June 15, 1945,^[38] and on March 12, 1946, daughter Liza was born.^[39] In 1951, they divorced.^[40]

The Clock (1945) was her first straight dramatic film, opposite Robert Walker. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. It would be many years before she acted again in a non-singing dramatic role. Garland's other famous films of the 1940s include The Harvey Girls (1946), in which she introduced the Academy Award-winning song "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", and The Pirate (1948).

Leaving Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer[link]

During filming for The Pirate in April 1947, Garland suffered a nervous breakdown and was placed in a private sanitarium.^[41] She was able to complete filming, but in July she undertook her first suicide attempt, making minor cuts to her wrist with a broken glass.^[42] During this period, she spent two weeks in treatment at the Austen Riggs Center, a psychiatric hospital in Stockbridge, Massachusetts^[43] Following her work on The Pirate, she completed three more films for MGM: Easter Parade (in which she danced with Fred Astaire), In the Good Old Summertime, and her final film with MGM, Summer Stock.

Garland in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

Because of her mental condition, Garland was unable to complete a series of films. During the filming of The Barkleys of Broadway, she was taking prescription sleeping medication along with illicitly obtained pills containing morphine. It was around this time she also developed a serious problem with alcohol. These, in combination with migraine headaches, led her to miss several shooting days in a row. After being advised by her doctor that she would only be able to work in four-to-five-day increments with extended rest periods between, MGM executive Arthur Freed made the decision to suspend her on July 18, 1948. She was replaced by Ginger Rogers.^[44]

Garland was cast in the film adaptation of Annie Get Your Gun in the title role of Annie Oakley. She was nervous at the prospect of taking on a role strongly identified with Ethel Merman, anxious about appearing in an unglamorous part after breaking from juvenile parts for several years and disturbed by her treatment at the hands of director Busby Berkeley. She began arriving late to the set and sometimes failed to appear. She was suspended from the picture on May 10, 1949, and was replaced by Betty Hutton.^[45]

Garland was next cast in the film Royal Wedding with Fred Astaire after June Allyson became pregnant in 1950. She again failed to report to the set on multiple occasions and the studio suspended her contract on June 17, 1950. She was replaced by Jane Powell.^[46] Reputable biographies following her death stated that after this latest dismissal, she slightly grazed her neck with a broken water glass, requiring only a Band-Aid, but at the time, the public was informed that a despondent Garland had slashed her throat.^[47] "All I could see ahead was more confusion," Garland later said of this suicide attempt. "I wanted to black out the future as well as the past. I wanted to hurt myself and everyone who had hurt me."^[48]

Later career[link]

Renewed stardom on the stage[link]

In October 1951, Garland opened in a vaudeville-style, two-a-day engagement at Broadway's newly refurbished Palace Theatre. Her 19-week engagement exceeded all previous records for the theater, and was described as "one of the greatest personal triumphs in show business history".^[49] Garland was honored for her contribution to the revival of vaudeville with a Special Tony Award.^[50]

In May 1952, at the height of Garland's comeback, her mother Ethel was featured in a Los Angeles Mirror story in which she revealed that while Garland was making a small fortune at the Palace, Ethel was working a desk job at Douglas Aircraft Company for $61 a week.^[51] They had been estranged for years, with Garland characterizing her mother as "no good for anything except to create chaos and fear" and accusing her of mismanaging and misappropriating her salary from the earliest days of her career.^[52] Garland's sister Virginia denied this, stating "Mama never took a dime from Judy."^[53] On January 5, 1953, Ethel Gumm was found dead in the Douglas Aircraft parking lot. She was 59 years old.^[54]

[edit] A Star Is Born

Garland in A Star Is Born (1954)

In 1954, Garland filmed a musical remake of the 1937 film A Star is Born for Warner Bros. She and her third husband, Sid Luft (whom she had married in 1952) produced the film through their production company, Transcona Enterprises, while Warner Bros. supplied the funds, production facilities, and crew.^[55] Directed by George Cukor and costarring James Mason, it was a large undertaking to which she initially fully dedicated herself.

As shooting progressed, however, she began making the same pleas of illness which 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 Warner. Principal photography wrapped on March 17, 1954. At Luft's suggestion, the "Born in a Trunk" medley was filmed as a showcase for her and inserted over director Cukor's objections, who feared the additional length would lead to cuts in other areas. It was completed on July 29.^[56]

Upon its September 29, 1954 world premiere, the film was met with tremendous critical and popular acclaim. Before release, it was edited at the instruction of Jack Warner; theater operators, concerned that they were losing money because they were only able to run the film for three or four shows per day instead of five or six, pressured the studio to make additional reductions. About 30 minutes of footage was cut, sparking outrage among critics and filmgoers. A Star is Born ended up losing money, and the secure financial position Garland had expected from the profits did not materialize.^[57] Transcona made no more films with Warner.^[58]

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. She could not attend the ceremony because she had just given birth to her son, Joseph Luft, so a television crew was in her hospital room with cameras and wires to televise her anticipated acceptance speech. The Oscar was won, however, by Grace Kelly for The Country Girl (1954). The camera crew was packing up before Kelly could even reach the stage. Groucho Marx sent her a telegram after the awards ceremony, declaring her loss "the biggest robbery since Brinks". TIME magazine labeled her performance as "just about the greatest one-woman show in modern movie history".^[59] Garland won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.^[60]

Garland's films after A Star Is Born included Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) (for which she was Oscar- and Golden Globe-nominated for Best Supporting Actress), the animated feature Gay Purr-ee (1962), and A Child Is Waiting (1963) with Burt Lancaster. Her final film was I Could Go On Singing (1963), costarring Dirk Bogarde.

Television, concerts, and Carnegie Hall[link]

Garland before a concert, circa 1957

Garland engaged Sid Luft as her manager the same year she divorced Minnelli.^[61] He arranged a four-month concert tour of the United Kingdom, where she played to sold-out audiences throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland.^[62] It included her first appearances at the renowned London Palladium, for a four-week stand in April.^[63] Although some in the British press chided her before her opening for being "too plump",^[64] she received rave reviews and the ovation was described by the Palladium manager as the loudest he had ever heard.^[65]

Garland and Luft were married on June 8, 1952, in Hollister, California.^[66] Garland gave birth to Lorna Luft, herself a future actress and singer, on November 21, 1952, and to Joey Luft on March 29, 1955.^[67]

Beginning in 1955, Garland appeared in a number of television specials. The first, the 1955 debut episode of Ford Star Jubilee, was the first full-scale color broadcast ever on CBS and was a ratings triumph, scoring a 34.8 Nielsen rating. She signed a three-year, $300,000 contract with the network. Only one additional special, a live concert edition of General Electric Theater, was broadcast in 1956 before the relationship between the Lufts and CBS broke down in a dispute over the planned format of upcoming specials.^[68] In 1956, Garland performed four weeks at the New Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip for a salary of $55,000 per week, making her the highest-paid entertainer to work in Las Vegas.^[69] Despite a brief bout of laryngitis, her performances there were so successful that her run was extended an extra week.^[70] Later that year she returned to the Palace Theatre, site of her two-a-day triumph. She opened in September, once again to rave reviews and popular acclaim.^[71]

In November 1959 Garland was hospitalized, diagnosed with acute hepatitis.^[72] Over the next few weeks several quarts of fluid were drained from her body until, still weak, she was released from the hospital in January 1960. She was told by doctors that she likely had five years or less to live, and that even if she did survive she would be a semi-invalid and would never sing again.^[73] She initially felt "greatly relieved" at the diagnosis. "The pressure was off me for the first time in my life."^[47] However, she recovered over the next several months and, in August of that year, returned to the stage of the Palladium. She felt so warmly embraced by the British that she announced her intention to move permanently to England.^[74]

Her concert appearance at Carnegie Hall on April 23, 1961, was a considerable highlight, called by many "the greatest night in show business history".^[75] The two-record Judy at Carnegie Hall was certified gold, charting for 95 weeks on Billboard, including 13 weeks at number one. The album won four Grammy Awards including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal of the Year.^[76] The album has never been out of print.

In 1961, Garland and CBS settled their contract disputes with the help of her new agent, Freddie Fields, and negotiated a new round of specials. The first, entitled The Judy Garland Show, aired in 1962 and featured guests Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.^[77] Following this success, CBS made a $24 million offer to her for a weekly television series of her own, also to be called The Judy Garland Show, which was deemed at the time in the press to be "the biggest talent deal in TV history". Although she had said as early as 1955 that she would never do a weekly television series,^[78] in the early 1960s she was in a financially precarious situation. She was several hundred thousand dollars in debt to the Internal Revenue Service, having failed to pay taxes in 1951 and 1952, and the failure of A Star is Born meant that she received nothing from that investment.^[79] A successful run on television was intended to secure her financial future.

Following a third special, Judy Garland and Her Guests Phil Silvers and Robert Goulet, Garland's weekly series debuted September 29, 1963.^[80] The Judy Garland Show was critically praised,^[81][82] but for a variety of reasons (including being placed in the time slot opposite Bonanza on NBC) the show lasted only one season and was canceled in 1964 after 26 episodes. Despite its short run, the series was nominated for four Emmy Awards.^[83] The demise of the series was personally and financially devastating for Garland.

Garland sued Luft for divorce in 1963, claiming "cruelty" as the grounds. 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.^[84] She had filed for divorce from Luft more than once previously, including as early as 1956, but had reconciled.^[85]

Final years[link]

Mickey Deans and Garland, at their wedding in March 1969, only three months before her death

With the demise of her television series, Garland returned to the stage. Most notably, she performed at the London Palladium with her then 18-year-old daughter Liza Minnelli in November 1964. The concert, which was also filmed for British television network ITV, was one of her final appearances at the venue. She made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show, The Hollywood Palace, and The Merv Griffin Show, on which she guest-hosted an episode.^[86]

Garland was a lifelong Democrat and was active in both the Hollywood Democratic Committee and attended many of the Democratic National Conventions. In 1960 she was in attendance at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles with John F. Kennedy, Adlai Stevenson, and Lyndon B. Johnson.^[87][88][89]

A 1964 tour of Australia was largely disastrous. Garland's first concert in Sydney, held in the Sydney Stadium because no concert hall could accommodate the crowds who wanted to see her, went well and received positive reviews. Her second performance, in Melbourne, started an hour late. The crowd of 7,000, angered by her tardiness and believing her to be drunk, booed and heckled her, and she fled the stage after just 45 minutes.^[90] She later characterized the Melbourne crowd as "brutish".^[52] A second concert in Sydney was uneventful but the Melbourne appearance garnered her significant bad press.^[91] Some of that bad press was deflected by the announcement of a near fatal episode of pleurisy.

Garland's tour promoter Mark Herron announced that they had married aboard a freighter off the coast of Hong Kong; however, she was not legally divorced from Luft at the time the ceremony was performed.^[92] It became final on May 19, 1965,^[84] but she and Herron did not legally marry until November 14, 1965 and then separated six months later.^[93]

In February 1967, Garland was cast as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls for 20th Century Fox.^[94] During the filming, she missed rehearsals and was fired in April, replaced by Susan Hayward.^[95] Her prerecording of the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" survived, along with her wardrobe tests.

Returning to the stage, Garland made her last appearances at New York's Palace Theatre in July, a 16-show tour, performing with her children Lorna and Joey Luft. She wore a sequined pantsuit on stage for this tour, which was part of the original wardrobe for her character in Valley of the Dolls.^[96]

By early 1969, Garland's health had deteriorated. She performed in London at the Talk of the Town nightclub for a five-week run^[97] and made her last concert appearance in Copenhagen during March 1969.^[98] She married her fifth and final husband, musician Mickey Deans, at Chelsea Register Office, London, on March 15, 1969,^[99] her divorce from Herron having been finalized on February 11.^[100]

Death[link]

Garland's crypt at the Ferncliff Mausoleum.

On June 22, 1969, Garland was found dead by Deans in the bathroom of their rented house in Chelsea, London. At the subsequent inquest, coroner Gavin Thursdon stated that the cause of death was "an incautious self-overdosage" of barbiturates; her blood contained the equivalent of ten 1.5-grain (97 mg) Seconal capsules.^[101] Thursdon stressed that the overdose had been unintentional and that there was no evidence to suggest she had committed suicide. Her autopsy showed that there was no inflammation of her stomach lining and no drug residue there, 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".^[102] Even so, a British specialist who had attended her said she had been living on borrowed time due to cirrhosis of the liver.^[103] She had turned 47 just twelve days prior to her death. Her Wizard of Oz costar Ray Bolger commented at her funeral, "She just plain wore out."

On June 26, Deans took Garland's remains to New York City, where an estimated 20,000 people lined up for hours at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan to pay their respects. On June 27, James Mason gave a eulogy at the funeral, an Episcopal service led by the Rev. Peter A. Delaney of Marylebone Church, London, who had officiated at her marriage to Deans.^[104] The public and press were barred. She was interred in a crypt in the community mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery, in Hartsdale, New York.^[105]

Legacy[link]

Star for recognition of film work at 1715 Vine Street on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has another for recording at 6764 Hollywood Blvd.

Rooney watches Garland put her handprint into cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, 1939.

Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured long after her death. The American Film Institute named her eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time.^[106] She has been the subject of over two dozen biographies since her death, including the well-received Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir by her daughter, Lorna Luft, whose memoir was later adapted into the television miniseries Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which won Emmy Awards for the two actresses portraying her (Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis).^[107]

Garland was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997.^[108] Several of her recordings have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.^[109] These include "Over the Rainbow", which was ranked as the number one movie song of all time in the American Film Institute's "100 Years...100 Songs" list. Four more Garland songs are featured on the list: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (#76), "Get Happy" (#61), "The Trolley Song" (#26), and "The Man That Got Away" (#11).^[110] She has twice been honored on U.S. postage stamps, in 1989 (as Dorothy)^[111] and again in 2006 (as Vicki Lester from A Star Is Born).^[112]

Gay icon[link]

Garland always had a large base of fans in the gay community and has become a gay icon.^[113] Reasons often given for her standing, especially among gay men, are admiration of her ability as a performer, the way her personal struggles mirrored those of gay men in America during the height of her fame and her value as a camp figure.^[114] When asked about how she felt about having a large gay following, she responded, "I couldn't care less. I sing to people."^[115]

Some have also suggested a connection between the date of Garland's death and funeral on June 27, 1969 and the Stonewall riots, the flashpoint of the modern Gay Liberation movement,^[116][117] which started in the early hours of June 28.^[116] However, in a 2009 interview gay historian David Carter stated that this connection is untrue, and based on a mocking reference to the riot by an anti-gay writer in the Village Voice the next day.^[118]

Filmography and performances[link]

Portrayals in fiction[link]

Garland has been portrayed on television by Andrea McArdle in Rainbow (1978), Tammy Blanchard (young Judy) and Judy Davis (older Judy) in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (2001) and Elizabeth Karsell in James Dean (2001). Anne Hathaway is set to play Garland in a biopic titled Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland which is in production and is set to be released in either 2012 or 2013.

On stage, Garland is a character in the musical The Boy from Oz (1998), portrayed by Chrissy Amphlett in the original Australian production and by Isabel Keating on Broadway in 2003. End of the Rainbow (2005) featured Caroline O'Connor as Garland and Michael Cumpsty as Garland's pianist. Adrienne Barbeau played Garland in The Property Known as Garland (2006) and The Judy Monologues (2010) featured Kimberly Roberts as Garland. Garland was briefly mentioned in the biopic film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge for the 1954 Academy Awards for A Star Is Born.

Discography[link]

Awards[link]

Biography portal

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Bianco, David. Gay Essentials: Facts For Your Queer Brain. Alyson Publications. Los Angeles, 1999. ISBN 1-55583-508-2.
• Clarke, Gerald (2001). Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland. New York, Random House. ISBN 0-375-50378-1.
• DiOrio, Jr., Al. Little Girl Lost: The Life and Hard Times of Judy Garland. Manor Books. New York, 1973.
• Duberman, Martin (1993). Stonewall. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-525-93602-5.
• Edwards, Anne. Judy Garland. Simon & Schuster. New York, 1975. ISBN 0-671-80228-3 (paperback edition).
• Finch, Christopher. Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland. Ballantine Books. 1975. ISBN 0-345-25173-3 (paperback edition).
• Frank, Gerold. Judy. Harper & Row. New York, 1975. ISBN 0-06-011337-5.
• Juneau, James. Judy Garland: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies. Pyramid Publications. 1974, New York. ISBN 0-515-03482-7.
• Luft, Lorna. Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir. Simon & Schuster. New York, 1999. ISBN 0-283-06320-3.
• Sanders, Coyne Steven. Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show. Zebra Books. 1990 ISBN 0-8217-3708-2 (paperback edition).
• Seaman, Barbara. Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann. Seven Stories Press. 1996, New York. ISBN 0-9658770-6-X (1996 edition).
• Shipman, David. Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend. Hyperion. New York, 1992. ISBN 0-7868-8026-0 (paperback edition).
• Steiger, Brad (1969). Judy Garland. New York, Ace Books.
• Wayne, Jane Ellen (2003). The Golden Girls of MGM. New York, Carroll & Graf Publishers. ISBN 0-7867-1303-8.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Judy Garland

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Judy Garland

• Judy Garland at the Internet Movie Database
• Judy Garland at AllRovi
• Judy Garland at the TCM Movie Database
• Judy Garland at the Internet Broadway Database
• Judy Garland at TV Guide
• The Judy Room Celebrating the life and career of Judy Garland
• The Judy Garland Birthplace and Museum in Grand Rapids, MN
• The Judy Garland Club official international fan club
• Judy Garland: By Myself – American Masters special
• Judy Garland's Film "The Wizard of Oz" Film site on Judy and Oz
• Judy Garland at The Biography Channel