Judy Garland

American actress, singer, dancer and vaudevillian (1922–1969)

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Momentum0.4
Actors rank#217
Wikipedia269.5K

Lived 1922–1969, aged 47United States

United States ActorsActor

Wikipedia
130 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1922–1969
Aged 47
Known for
The Wizard of Oz
1939

Summary

Updated 2026-08-31

She sang "Over the Rainbow" at seventeen and spent the rest of her life trying to get back. The girl who made Dorothy Gale immortal became Hollywood's most visible casualty — a voice that could break hearts paired with a studio system that broke hers.

Biography

About

Frances Ethel Gumm started performing at two with her sisters in vaudeville. MGM signed her at thirteen in 1935, handed her supporting roles, then cast her as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz in 1939 — the part that made her inescapable. She spent the next decade anchoring MGM musicals: Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, Summer Stock. By the 1950s she'd shifted into dramatic work, earning Academy Award nominations for A Star Is Born and Judgment at Nuremberg. Her live album Judy at Carnegie Hall made her the first woman to win the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1961, the same year she became the…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Judy Garland

Judy Garland

said2 Jun 1961

You are never so alone as when you are ill on stage. The most nightmarish feeling in the world is suddenly to feel like throwing up in front of four thousand people.

— LIFE magazine (2 June 1961)

Judy Garland

said16 Mar 1961

I've never looked through a keyhole without finding someone was looking back.

— Interview, NBC TV (16 March 1961)

Judy Garland

said18 Feb 1951

I was born at the age of twelve on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer lot.

— As quoted in The Observer (18 February 1951)

Judy Garland

said1946

When you get to know a lot of people, you make a great discovery. You find that no one group has a monopoly on looks, brains, goodness or anything else.

— Speaking for America, Scholastic Magazines (1946)

Judy Garland

saidundated