- published: 22 Apr 2014
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Arthur Freed (September 9, 1894 – April 12, 1973) was born Arthur Grossman in Charleston, South Carolina. He was a JewishAmerican lyricist and a Hollywood film producer.
Freed began his career as a song-plugger and pianist in Chicago. After meeting Minnie Marx, he sang as part of the act of her sons, the Marx Brothers, on the vaudeville circuit, and also wrote material for the brothers. He soon began to write songs, and was eventually hired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. For years, he wrote lyrics for numerous films, many set to music by Nacio Herb Brown.
In 1939, after working (uncredited) in the role of associate producer on The Wizard of Oz, he was promoted to being the head of his own unit within MGM, and helped elevate the studio to the leading creator of film musicals. His first solo credit as producer was the film version of Rodgers and Hart's smash Broadway musical Babes in Arms (also 1939), released only a few months after The Wizard of Oz. It starred Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and it was so successful that it ushered in a long series of "let's put on a show" "backyard" musicals, all starring Rooney and Garland.
Actors: Judy Davis (actress), Philip Williams (actor), Al Waxman (actor), Bruce McFee (actor), Aron Tager (actor), John Stocker (actor), Hugh Laurie (actor), Daniel Kash (actor), Adrian Hough (actor), Aidan Devine (actor), Michael Rhoades (actor), Victor Garber (actor), William Holden (actor), Jayne Eastwood (actress), Rosemary Dunsmore (actress),
Plot: The movie starts off at the beginning of Judy Garland's life singing when she was two years old. It jumps to when she was 12 and was signed by MGM and later when her father dies. The movie tells about her early struggles with MGM and with the addiction to barbiturates. It then jumps to the marriage to Vincette Minelli and the struggles with that, and leads into the rest of the movie and her marriages to Sid Luft, Mark Herron, and Mickey Deans and ends when she dies in 1969
Keywords: actor-shares-first-name-with-character, actress, alcoholism, amphetamine, award, based-on-autobiography, camera-shot-of-feet, carnegie-hall-manhattan-new-york-city, character-name-in-title, child-starActors: Michael Parks (actor), Rue McClanahan (actress), Jackie Cooper (director), Nicholas Pryor (actor), Jack Carter (actor), Piper Laurie (actress), John McGreevey (writer), Charles Fox (composer), Martin Balsam (actor), Philip Sterling (actor), Don Murray (actor), Moosie Drier (actor), Stanley Kamel (actor), Donna Pescow (actress), Selma Archerd (actress),
Plot: The early life and struggles of Judy Garland (portrayed by Andrea McArdle), and of the film star's trials as a youngster in dealing with the Movie Studio system that held her back while her mother was forever pushing her to excel.
Keywords: actor's-life, actress, amphetamine, barbiturates, based-on-book, domineering-mother, father-daughter-relationship, intimate, loss-of-father, meningitis