As many of my friends and family are aware, I am utterly enticed with Judy Garland. Many would even call it an obsession, and I would not argue with them. In my eyes, she’s the queen of Hollywood and everything it represents: glamour, passion, tragedy, and despair. Judy Garland is Hollywood, and Hollywood has been shaped by Judy Garland.
89 years ago today, she was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesoda as Frances Gumm. At age 3, she began her 45 year career in show business and by age 16, she was a worldwide sensation. She unfortunately passed at age 47 in London, leaving behind 3 children and millions of fans who adore her.
I’m asked a lot why I’m such a fan of hers. And the truth is that I can endlessly talk about why I love Judy Garland. I can talk about how much I love the sound of her voice, no matter if she’s singing or talking. I can talk about how much I love every facial expression she makes, especially the face she makes in Summer Stock when her barn is invaded by Gene Kelly‘s acting troupe. I can talk about how much The Wizard of Oz has come to mean to me, and how much it really has shaped my life. I can go on and on about how well she worked with Mickey Rooney and how much she shined in the earliest days of her career. Or how she blossomed to become a beautiful woman in Meet Me in St. Louis. I can talk about how she can go from being terribly funny to devastatingly heartbreaking in a split second. I can go on an on about how much she inspired every actor to shine in her presence or about how much she cared about her fellow actors. I can talk about how much I cried and laughed and cried the first time I watched A Star is Born and how much I cry and laugh and cry every single time I watch it.
But more than anything else, I could endlessly talk about the passion that resonated inside of Judy Garland and how much it spilled out into every performance she gave. Her gifts of singing, dancing, and acting came naturally to her, and she was so passionate about being the best singer, dancer, and actress she could. She was so passionate about her work that she was able to lose herself in it during the most difficult times in her life. None of her performances contain a trace that her life was less than perfect. She never brought her (many) personal problems into her characters when it wasn’t necessary, and her audience never suffered.
Hollywood was a gift and a curse to Judy; she got to do what she loved to do and perform her heart out, but Hollywood stole her life, drugged her up, and drove her insane. By the time Judy was 16, MGM fed her pills to sleep, pills to wake up, pills to lose weight, and other pills for good measure. As a young performer, she became dependent on these pills to keep her schedule and weight. And later in her life she continued to be an addict to these pills to keep her life going. Hollywood gave her the job of a lifetime, but ultimately contributed to her death at age 47 of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Hollywood gave her life, but then took it away.
Above all, I love the way Judy’s eyes glimmer in the heat of a scene. I love the way she acts with her entire body, with her voice, and with the passion burning in her eyes. I love the way that she can steal my attention from everything else in the world and command me to watch her. I really do believe that she’s one of the greatest actresses to ever live, perhaps even the greatest, for she gave so much of herself during every performance of her life. Frank Sinatra commented once that she gave so much that she died a little every time she sang, which could be the reason her poor body was so tired by the time she was 47. I can’t think of any other actor who gave into their passions so much that they allowed them to consume and envelope their entire lives; in that sense, she’s in a class of her own, unmatched by any other performer.
She inspires me to give into my passions wholeheartedly, and there is no way I can possibly thank her enough for sending me down the path of my passions that I’m currently following.
Happy Birthday Judy, I hope that you have found what it is you were searching for Over the Rainbow.
Extremely Behind the Camera 