Rise to Fame
MGM signed Frances Gumm at 13, renamed her, and put her on a diet of chicken soup, black coffee, and amphetamines. The Wizard of Oz made her something the studio wasn't prepared for: a star who connected with audiences on a level they couldn't manufacture. She won a juvenile Academy Award for her 1939 performances, and "Over the Rainbow" became the kind of song that outlives its movie. The studio responded with 18-hour workdays and pill regimens to keep her upright through back-to-back productions. The role that made her immortal was already breaking her.
In the Spotlight
MGM fired her in 1950 after 15 years, and most careers would've ended there. Hers got weirder and bigger. A Star Is Born in 1954 earned her an Oscar nomination she lost to Grace Kelly, in what Groucho Marx called "the biggest robbery since Brinks." The Carnegie Hall concert in 1961 produced a live album that won four Grammys and held number one for 13 weeks. She died owing hundreds of thousands, and her cultural stock has only climbed since. The studio system broke her, and she became its most permanent exhibit.
Side Notes
Her last husband, Mickey Deans, was introduced to her as "Dr. Deans" by a mutual contact delivering stimulants to her hotel room. That tracks. She married five times in 28 years, and the pattern never improved. Vincente Minnelli gave her Liza and a divorce. Sid Luft co-produced A Star Is Born, then admitted to enabling her addictions for years. The men kept changing, but the damage didn't. Her mother reportedly started the cycle, giving her pills at 10 and pushing her onstage at two.
Final Chapter
An estimated 20,000 people lined up at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan, which stayed open through the night. Her husband Mickey Deans rejected a Hollywood funeral and arranged for the service in New York. In 2017, Garland's three children arranged to have her remains moved from Ferncliff Cemetery in New York to Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.