Frances Ethel Gumm was born on 10 June 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, USA, of Irish, Scottish and English descent. Garland was an actress, singer and vaudevillian well known for her voice as well as her acting roles. She was nominated for and won various awards, including becoming the first woman to win an Album of the Year award at the Grammys. Her variopus exploits helped raise her net worth to where it was prior to her passing in 1969.
How rich was Judy Garland? As of early-2016, sources inform us that her net worth was at $20 million, mostly earned through her success as a singer and actress. She was in musicals, films, television, and was one of the most iconic actresses during what was considered Hollywood’s Golden Age. The variety of work she did raised her wealth considerably.
Judy Garland Net Worth $20 Million
Judy was born into a family that were used to films and theatres since her parents were vaudevillians. Her first performance would be when she was two years old, performing with her sisters singing Jingle Bells, and they would become a performing group in the coming years. Judy would attend Hollywood High School, and would matriculate from University High School.
By 1928, the Gumm sisters had become a group act and they enrolled in a dance school together, eventually making their film debut the following year in “The Big Revue”. They continued making appearances and shorts, with Judy’s first solo in “A Holiday in Storyland”. In late 1934, the group was given a suggestion to change their name since audiences didn’t take the name Gumm seriously. It was then that the group would become the Garland sisters, and Frances would change her name to Judy based on a popular song. The group’s final performance was in a short called “La Fiesta de Santa Barbara”.
In 1935, Judy along with her father was brought to a studio of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for an impromptu audition. Garland’s performance impressed and she was immediately signed by MGM, who gave her a “girl-next-door” image and she would become one of the financial foundations for the company, earning very high amounts of money. Late in 1935, her father was hospitalized due to meningitis and passed away the following morning.
Eventually MGM paired Garland and Mickey Rooney with performances that were called “backyard musicals”. Their first appearance would be in the movie “Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry”, then on Judy was included in the Hardy Family movies starting from the fourth film “Love Finds Andy Hardy”. In 1938, Judy found another big role in the film “The Wizard of Oz” in which she was cast as the main character Dorothy Gail. Her song “Over the Rainbow” would be one of her most popular and iconic songs. The film found extreme success and earned an estimated $4 million, the equivalent of $68 million today, and Judy received an Academy Juvenile Award.
As Judy grew older she would continue starring in various films for MGM, including “Strike up the Band” and 1944’s “Meet Me in St. Louis”. She then became identified for her great performances in dramatic roles. In great films such as “The Clock”, “The Harvey Girls” and later “Easter Parade”. However, around this time Judy was suffering from addiction from both drugs and alcohol, and eventually after multiple problems within the company she left.
After a few years she would return and start performing in concerts again, giving tribute to her original vaudevillain acts. She would slowly but surely regain her reputation and popularity, eventually getting her own show called “The Judy Garland Show”. The show had multiple guests and was nominated for several Emmy Awards, but she did relapse somewhat into her former habits.
For her personal life, Judy was married five times. Her first was to David Rose which lasted from 1941 to 1944. The second one was to Vincente Minelli, from 1945 to 1951, which produced daughter Liza Minnelli. The third one was to Sidney Luft from 1952 to 1965, with whom she had son Joey and daughter Lorna She was married to Mark Herron from 1965-67, and her final marriage was to Mickey Deans in 1969. Her death was attributed to an accidental overdose of barbiturates, but was probably the culmination of her long addiction to drugs and alcohol.
