The Wizard of Oz (1939) was the film that put Judy Garland on the Hollywood map. It is not uncommon in movie history to find actors and actresses who have emerged as stars in vehicles originally intended for other, already established, stars. The man who was ultimately responsible for the gigantic success of MGM's movie musicals in the 1940s and 1950s, ARTHUR FREED, wanted Judy Garland for the role of Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz.
But this was a major production, unlike her handful of previous films, and the rest of the MGM brass was opposed to using the relatively unknown and inexperienced young actress in such an important film. They wanted SHIRLEY TEMPLE. Plans fell through, however, when Twentieth Century- Fox refused to loan their biggest star to their competitor, and Judy Garland got the part by default. The Wizard of Oz was a hit and has become one of the most beloved movie classics of all time. The film made Judy Garland an international star, brought her a special Oscar in 1939 "for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile," and provided her with her lifelong theme song, "Over the Rainbow." It's curious to note, however, that before the movie was released, "Over the Rainbow" had almost been cut from the film.
Judy Garland continued in the Andy Hardy films but, more significantly, she starred in For Me and My Gal (1942), which introduced GENE KELLY, and Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), a landmark film that did not use a show-business background as a pretext for its musical numbers. Thanks to Judy Garland's luminous performance, the movie became MGM's second most lucrative film at that time, topped only by Gone With the Wind (1939), Judy Garland married VINCENTE MINNELLI, the director of Meet Me in St. Louis, and later had a child, Liza Minnelli, who has ably followed in her mother's footsteps.
Judy Garland proved her dramatic ability in the touching World War II home-front film, The Clock (1945), and launched into more musicals, such as The Harvey Girls (1946) and The Pirate (1948). 1948 also saw her team up with FRED ASTAIRE in Easter Parade. The movie was a mammoth hit (Astaire had come out of retirement to make it), and MGM planned on teaming the two in The Barkleys of Broadway (1949), but for the first time, Judy Garland pleaded ill health and was dropped from the film. Failing health and her subsequent pattern of making and then breaking commitments began that fateful year.
Judy Garland had been a money-making machine for MGM, and in an effort to help her sleep at night and perk her up during the day, studio doctors prescribed an assortment of pills to which she eventually became addicted. Later when she began to drink, the combination proved devastating. Nonetheless, she eventually went back to work, appearing in several films, such as Words and Music (1948), In the Good Old Summertime (1949), and Summer Stock (1950), but soon she became more famous for the films she didn't make rather the ones she did. Judy Garland failed to complete Annie Get Your Gun (1950) and had to be replaced by Betty Hutton. She was suspended for not showing up to film Royal Wedding (1950), and she bowed out of playing Julie in Showboat (1951). MGM tore up her contract. After 15 years as a movie star, it looked as if Judy Garland was through—at only 28.
Sid Luft, the third of her five husbands, arranged a concert career that kept her in the public eye, and she then made one of the greatest—if shortest—comebacks in movie history when she starred in the Warner Bros. musical remake of A Star Is Born (1954). The movie was both a critical and boxoffice winner, putting Judy Garland back on top. But her reputation for unreliability still haunted her, and no more serious projects were offered to her. Judy Garland's last film was the aptly titled I Could Go On Singing (1963). She sang in concerts and cabarets until her death from an accidental drug overdose in 1969. Ray Bolger, who played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, once said, "Judy didn't die of anything, except wearing out. She just plain wore out."
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