On June 10th, Judy Garland would have celebrated her 88th birthday. She was known as one of the greatest voices of the 20th Century...bar none. If she were still around today, she would be the music industry's equivalent of Betty White. "Like mother, like daughter", she and Liza Minnelli would both be energizer bunnies. Fabulously old and still going strong! ;) She was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922 and became part of a hard-working vaudeville family. Garland and her sisters were known as the Gumm Sisters. She was the youngest and later became the most talented. In 1935, she was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and in 1939, had her break-out role starring in The Wizard of Oz. With her portrayal of Dorothy Gale and the film's signature song, "Over the Rainbow", Garland was forever immortalized in cinematic celluloid. Her performance won her a special oscar for "Outstanding Performance as a Screen Juvenile". After Oz, she went on to star in the musicals, Summer Stock, The Harvey Girls, Meet Me in St. Louis, Babes in Arms, and Easter Parade. During her career, Garland battled a life-long addiction to drugs, however, besides Oz, she garnered success with two oscar nominations for her roles in Judgment at Nuremberg and the classic Hollywood tale, A Star is Born. Aside from Hollywood, she had a successful career in music. Her hits included "The Man That Got Away", "Swanee", "You Made Me Love You", "On the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe", and "The Trolley Song". In the end, she lost the battle with drug addiction and died from a fatal overdose of sleeping pills on June 22, 1969, just two weeks after her 47th birthday. Even with her inner demons and successes, she was always able to captivate her audiences with her huge presence on stage and screen--tugging at our heart strings everytime. I raise my glass to Judy Garland, wishing her a "Happy Birthday". Thank you for always taking me and millions of other fans "somewhere over the rainbow" with your films and music. :)See You at the Movies!
--Screen Siren 23
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