Judy Garland

I had no idea that her father was bisexual, until watching the "Sid and Judy" documentary.

He was kind of handsome, and I loved seeing the old photos of him with other men, on the beach.

How many gay/bi husbands did Judy have?

I know there was Vincente Minelli, but were there any others?

Judy was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

[quote] Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood

In the Sid and Judy documentary, Sinatra and Dean Martin paid her a high compliment by referring to her as something like a "straight shooting dame," or something to that effect.

They were implying that she wasn't like most women. You could sit and drink with her, shoot the shit, and she didn't pretend to be someone else. Basically, she was "one of the guys."

I never understood how people can like her. Ugly face, dumpy body, zero sex appeal, grating voice, tacky songs, sad. I couldn't listen to more than two songs honestly. Don't like her acting at all. Don't see anything interesting in her. A complete victim. All I see is a tacky child star from the 30's, who really overstayed in Hollywood. Everything she did is so dated and stale. Hard pass.

[quote] Ugly face, dumpy body, zero sex appeal, grating voice, tacky songs, sad

Who me??? How rude!

Looking even worse than usual in R6 pic.

R6 - the movie was about a specific few months of her life. And I believe they showed all aspects of her.

Not sure what you expect in a 2 hour film about a few months before she died.

[quote] Judy was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life.

That’s why she kept taking drugs after Metro released her from her contract.

[quote]Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood.

It wasn’t good enough to last past age 47.

[quote] At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

That’s because she exists because of it: her father was gay or bi and basically pushed into a marriage to a domineering woman by the social conventions of the era.

I honestly never knew that Judy had weight issues, until watching the documentary.

I had only ever seen photos and videos of her, looking super thin.

The doc showed her looking really heavy, in some photos.

Her talent was daemonic, her appeal sensual and sexual. I'm sure she would have swapped it for five minutes of untortured peace, but she gave it everything she had while she had it. She and Streisand are the only two female entertainers who truly deserve the accolade of "legendary."

She was an overweight teen...

[quote]She died before I was born

Sure, Jan.

Paris Is A Lonely Town - Jack Paar 1962

Hahaha R13 wins the thread. NOBODY under 65 yo is interested in that camp overrated performer.

[quote] She was an overweight teen...

She would have fit right in on [italic]The Facts of Life[/italic] if it had been a series of two-reel B&W short subjects during the 1930s and 1940s.

[quote] She was an overweight teen...

Was she known as “Fat Gumm”?

Speaking of Judy and Streisand...

R5 is an idiot.

Judy was treated horribly by Hollywood and then practically discarded and left on the side of the road when the leeches were done taking every penny they could out of her. Her crime was that she was too trusting and cared about the people around her too much. She didn't really stand a chance.

Unattractive? When she sang, she was the sexiest performer on two legs. She was also a pinup girl in the 1940's. Men lusted after her the way they did Betty Grable. She was a very striking woman up until the mid 60's

Fortunately she has three wonderful children who take pride and care in maintaining her legacy.

[quote] Judy was treated horribly by Hollywood and then practically discarded and left on the side of the road when the leeches were done taking every penny they could out of her.

Including her husband(s) and managers.

**looking at Sid Luft**

[quote] Fortunately she has three wonderful children who take pride and care in maintaining her legacy.

I like the shapes that aren’t circles!

Judy Davis played Judy Garland in Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which was quite nice. (I'm sure some queens here will disagree.) It was a TV miniseries, so it may be difficult to find.

Her talent was huge- her voice in full flight overwhelming. Her charisma on film obvious to all but types like R5 who's probably just a troll. Even when she danced with Astaire or Kelly- it's Judy you almost always lock your eyes on. She can recite names in a phone book and you think you're hearing poetry. Yeah, hyperbole, but she was so damn special.

The recent film is just a tad better than an old made for TV movie- no more representative of the shattered human being she became at that stage due to life-long substance abuse. But even in the late stage you could see the flicker of the great talent None of that is remotely communicated by Rene- try as she does. My guess is that Judy was bi-polar or had borderline personality disorder or both. In any case her family did not take her calls in her last couple of years and she barely had clothes on her back. The slimiest of the nighttime slime who thought somehow if they latched on to her stuff would happen- did not, and with horrible results. But by then she was gone- dying. Peter Rogers the "what becomes a legend most" ad executive told me several stories of working with (or trying to) her both directly and from others he knew- they are harrowing.

That she produced the body of work she did is almost a miracle. I have always wondered what would have been if she did not become an addict so early in life. Writers and fans have claimed her mother is responsible, Louis Mayer was responsible etc. But nothing was done to her that was not done to her peers and they did not end up where she did. In any case, the concerts on record and tape, the TV show in the early 60s (and 50s) and her work on film for me at least display a talent that has never been surpassed and maybe only equaled by one other (still living). No one else is close- male or female.

I thought she was so pretty in “The Wizard of Oz”. Huh. She didn’t always look great, but I thought she was adorable in that.

I've said it many times on other threads and it didn't come until I was 30 something but I do believe she was/is the greatest talent we've ever had. I don't get any of the other "gay" divas - just her. It's inexplicable. You either feel it or you don't.

OMG. You Johnny-come-latelies are going to have to turn in your gay cards.

Love Judy. I think she was just a phenomenal talent ,the kind that simply isn't seen very much anymore. Too bad that she didn't have more loyal friends. On the other hand, I've always found Marilyn Monroe obnoxious and overrated . I just mention her because she is another legendary and tragic star with somewhat parallel life circumstances. Funny how some people just speak to us and others leave us cold.

OP, are you aware that Judy was bisexual?

OP, are you aware that Judy was most likely mentally ill?

OP, are you aware that EVERY star at the studio was serviced with drugs by Dr Feelgood?

She had a "good heart?" I don't think so. She was a pampered, self absorbed, willful entertainment personality who was used to getting her own way. That does not constitute a "good heart."

She was not molested by anybody, least of of Louis B. Mayer, who called her "my little hunchback." I mean, really...with all those gorgeous actresses at MGM he has the hots for short, dumpy, plain little Judy Garland? That was just another one of her stories that were designed to make Mayer look as bad as possible.

She had three gay husband: Vincent Minnelli, Mark Herron, and Mickey Deans. And quite a few gay lovers. One of them was a young man named Tom Green. They were engaged for a while, but it ended badly. She had him jailed for stealing from her (he hadn't; in fact he'd given HER money frequently because she was always broke). He seemed devoted to her but was gay as a goose. Lorna talked of him in her memoir; she said he wore green eye shadow.

R29, the good heart posts are a running gag here, i.e.:

Connie Stevens was one of the most talented singers ever. She also had a lot of pain and struggle throughout her life. Despite that, she had a good heart, which is hard to encounter in Hollywood. At a time when gay people were oppressed beyond belief, they identified with her struggles and she theirs.

R10, you're a real amateur if you don't know about Judy's weight issues - they defined her post MGM life. That is. combined with the drugs, alcohol and unreliability.

[quote] She was also a pinup girl in the 1940's. Men lusted after her the way they did Betty Grable.

Sure, Jan.

She was very talented, but I thought she was awful in "A Star is Born."

For one thing, she looked far too old to play an ingenue breaking into showbiz.

She was also very hammy. And singing Al Jolson songs? Please! I get that they were cheap to get the rights to, but they were also AWFUL.

Indeed, the cheapness of getting the rights to song through off the chronology in that interminable "Born in a Trunk" sequence that totally takes the movie off track. She was singing songs from the 1920s in the flashback. How old was she supposed to be? As old as she looked?

threw, not through.

"Judy was treated horribly by Hollywood and then practically discarded and left on the side of the road when the leeches were done taking every penny they could out of her. Her crime was that she was too trusting and cared about the people around her too much. She didn't really stand a chance."

Oh, please. She was treated the way every Hollywood star was treated at the time, so don't single her out as some kind of poor victim. And nobody "left her on the side of the road." MGM actually did what it could to help her, but she became impossible; she could not be depended on to work anymore. So they dropped her. Somebody said that if she'd been at Warner Brothers and behaved the way she did she would have dropped years before that. And Judy Garland certainly did "stand a chance." She was quite resilient, kept making comebacks, kept on surviving despite the ravages of illness and drugs. But finally it all caught up with. It's amazing she lived as long as she did.

Renee was spectacular as Judy. She brought her to life brilliantly.

Thanks for chiming in, Renee/R35.

But your performance was very one note. You were imitating Judy Garland, not BEING Judy Garland.

But enjoy your ill-gotten Oscar, anyway.

Handed to you, no doubt, by the countless gay Judy fans who make up the Academy.

[quote]You were imitating Judy Garland, not BEING Judy Garland.

Honey, if I were BEING Judy, I'd be dead.

You say that like it's a bad thing, r37.

Just discovered this thread about Judy Pills Garland and found it delightful.

I want to add on to the pile-on of Judy Garland. I think she was utterly tiresome. She had a few great moments and she could be really funny, especially when she was mimicking or mocking someone (for instance, Marlene Dietrich). God knows, she did not have a very good adolescence and her parents were contemptible, but that was the longest, most prolonged, and most inevitable breakdown in show business. Her death was almost a cliche.

Renee’s performance was a travesty to screen acting! It was Renee in drag pretending to be Judy! Not a believable moment!

It seemed like Judy was in drag toward the end. She was her own drag queen.

Th one and only Judy Garland is Over The Rainbow now. I hope that she finds all the peace, love, good, and contentment there that she couldn't seem to find in life.

Actually, R42, she rotted in the ground a long time ago.

Good grief compared to the teen heifers of today she was positively svelte. These days girls are borderline obese by 15 and look like matrons who popped out 5 kids already.

Judy looked really beautiful in 'Till The Clouds Roll By'.

As a gay man I never quite understood the appeal of Judy Garland. I know she is very popular within the community, I’m curious as to why so many are drawn to her?

From Ben Brantley's 2016 NYTimes interview with Streisand:

" Which brings us back to the subject of Garland, a singer with whom Ms. Streisand has been tellingly compared and contrasted over the years. Ms. Streisand was barely into her 20s when they met, but already on the cusp of astronomical stardom; Garland, 41, would be dead six years later, one of Hollywood’s most notorious casualties of devouring fame. Yet when they sang two American standards in counterpoint — “Happy Days Are Here Again” (Ms. Streisand) and “Get Happy” (Garland) — they seemed like a matched set.

Each interpreted an upbeat song with a big, trumpeting voice that nonetheless hinted at a small, solitary figure within. Happiness, as hymned in these renditions, would never be won easily. You can find that video on YouTube, and it is impossible to watch it without shivering.

“Afterward, she used to visit me and give me advice,” Ms. Streisand says. “She came to my apartment in New York, and she said to me, ‘Don’t let them do to you what they did to me.’ I didn’t know what she meant then. I was just getting started.”

Streisand would NEVER be in danger of becoming what Garland became.

One of the saddest things about Garlands life is appears never to have kept any close friendships from her years at MGM. Rooney was her "friend" professionally, but he was not someone who would be there for her in her deepest depths. Kelly could't be bothered to give her a full guest star performance on her TV show. She was very needy and probably very draining to be around.

R46, it's the cliche victimization they supposedly shared, except gay people could get arrested for going to a bar, have their names published in the papers, and lose their jobs. Her victimization was pretty much her own doing by the end.

Judy was a financial victim of Louis B Mayer, Sid Luft, Freddie Fields, and David Begelman. She worked her ass off and in return they took most of her earnings... and that's not the only thing they all had in common.

She was also the victim of her own self-destruction, lack of professionalism, and general unreliability. And her poor choices in men--they're not her fault as well? How many gay husbands?