Best remembered for her role as young Dorothy Gail, Judy Garland first gained fame for singing the song “Over the Rainbow” in the acclaimed movie The Wizard of Oz. At the time she was just 16 years old but playing this role earned her a Juvenile Oscar. Almost overnight she became one of the most famous stars in Hollywood, hanging out with the likes of Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, Orson Wells, and many other big stars of the day.

Nobody would have guess that the awkward little girl, born Frances Ethel Gumm, from the small town of Grand Rapids, Minnesota would grow up to become one of the most famous stars ever to light the Hollywood scene. Frances, called “Baby” affectionately by her family, was the youngest of three sisters. At only two years of age, Frances joined a dance act called “The Gumm Sisters,” which included her two older sisters Mary Jane and Virginia. The girls would repeatedly perform “Jingle Bells” and sometimes Frances had to be carried off the stage, as she loved the audience and the audience loved her.

She, her mother, and her sisters practically lived out of their car while trying to make it in Los Angles. This went on for a while until she sang for movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, who immediately signed her to join the MGM family. She changed her name to Judy Garland, her surname after film critic Robert Garland and her first name after the song ‘Judy.’ She stubbornly refused to be called anything else, having always hated her birth name Frances.

At the time she only preformed on the radio, as MGM didn’t have anything else for her to do. However, in June 1936, Judy made her film debut with Pigskin Parade (1936) at the age of 14, in which she played a barefoot, pigtailed hillbilly. The film proved to be a success, but Garland’s career was left hanging in the balance. It was singing at a birthday party for Clark Gable in February 1937 that saved her, having sung the song “You Made Me Love You,” which was devised by her singing coach Roger Edens. MGM now found reasons to put Judy into films and throughout 1937 and 1938 she was kept busy. However, despite her booming film career, the issue of Judy’s weight caused serious problems and after trying to starve the poor teenager, they began feeding the young girl pills, namely amphetamines, in order to give her the desired streamlined figure of movie stars. The actress/singer is recorded to have psychological problems with her appearance from this point on until her death.

After The Wizard of Oz, Judy yearned for more grown up roles. She got married to band leader David Ross at 19 but their bond shortly dissolved and from there Judy starred in her first grown up role during WWI in the 1942 movie, For Me and My Gal. After this she starred in the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, which pushed her further into fame. She and the movie director, Vincent Minnelli began courting and soon the two were married, and gave birth to daughter Liza Minnelli in 1946. After her second marriage deteriorated, Judy traveled to London with Sidney Luft, who she married and with whom she had two more children: Lorna Luft and Joey Luft.

Her battles with alcoholism and drugs led to Judy making thousands of headlines in newspapers, but she pushed on, forming a close friendship with President John F. Kennedy. In 1963, Judy and Sid finally separated permanently and in 1965, their divorce was finalized after almost 13 years of marriage. By this time, Judy had made her final performance in the 1963 film I Could Go on Singing at the age of 41. She married her fourth husband Mark Herron on November 14, 1965 in Las Vegas, separating in April 1966 after 5 months of marriage. She then settled down in London after their relationship ended and she began dating disk jockey Mickey Deans in December 1968. She married Mickey, her fifth and final husband, in a register office in Chelsea, London in 1969. She continued working on stage, appearing several times with her daughter Liza. It was during a concert in Chelsea, London that Judy stumbled into her bathroom late one night and died of an overdose of barbiturates, the drug that had ruled her whole life in Hollywood, on June 22, 1969 at the age of 47.

To this day Judy remains a cultural icon, praised for her performances in The Wizard of Oz (1939), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948) and A Star Is Born (1954).