Random True Story Behind 'Judy' And Judy Garland's Final Years (13 items)

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  (#1) She Was Fired From 'Valley of the Dolls'

  On March 2, 1967, a press conference was held to announce Garland's starring role in the film adaptation of Valley of the Dolls. The actress had misgivings about the film, including song selections, and filming got off to a bad start. Garland refused to come out of her dressing room for two days, then lost the caps to her front teeth on the third day. By the end of the week, no usable footage for the film had been shot. She was fired on April 27, 1967, less than two months after announcing she would star in the film.

  The studio claimed Garland resigned, which she vehemently denied.
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  (#2) She Was Deeply In Debt

  Garland performed a successful run of concerts in 1967 that were tarnished by her significant financial woes. After netting $227,602 for 27 performances, the money was immediately taken by the IRS as payment for back taxes. 

  In 1967, the star would eventually have to sell her beloved Brentwood mansion to help pay off her debts. She would never own another home after that.
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  (#3) She Canceled Concerts At The Last Minute

  In the final of years of her life, Garland began showing up late to concerts, canceling them at the last minute or appearing inebriated on stage. On May 25, 1968, Garland abruptly canceled the second night of her run at The Back Bay Theater in Boston, saying she was too tired from her previous performances. A few weeks later, Garland was 35 minutes late for a concert, then fell asleep on stage after performing only three songs. She was immediately hospitalized, and soon entered a drug rehab program.
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  (#4) She Married A Much Younger Man

  Garland met her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deans, when he delivered some pills to her hotel room in 1967. Deans was 12 years younger than Garland. The two dated for a couple of years before marrying in March of 1969, just three months before her passing.

  After Garland's passed away, Deans wrote a biography about his late wife titled, Weep No More, My Lady. There is also a conspiracy theory that Deans was responsible for Garland's passing and made it look like an accident, but this claim has never been proven.
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  (#5) She Began To Drink And Smoke On Stage

  In the last year of her life, Garland played a number of successful concerts in the US, including sold-out performances at Madison Square Garden. Things quickly changed when she did a string of shows at London's Talk of the Town nightclub. Garland routinely drank and smoked on stage, and audiences noted her slurred speech. Once-devout fans began heckling her and throwing things at the stage after Garland arrived late for performances.

  One night the audience was so unruly Garland left after just three songs. It was one of the last performances of her life.
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  (#6) She Had A List Of People Who Controlled Her Meds

  In the final years of her life, Garland began a near-obsessive habit of making lists to keep track of her daily life. One of the more ominous lists was written at the end of 1967, after canceling her final three concerts of the year due to laryngitis. The list consisted of people she trusted to be in charge of her medication, which consisted of roughly 20 pills per day, including four Seconal tablets to help her sleep at night. The list included her daughter Lorna, ex-husband Sid Luft, and her physician. The list seems to indicate that while Garland had a dependency on pills, she wanted to make sure that she never took too many, and that people she trusted knew how many she took.
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  (#7) She Was Burned By A Dishonest Production Company

  On June 8, 1967, Garland signed a contract with a production company set up by her ex-husband Sid Luft called Group Five. Garland assumed the "five" referred to Garland, Luft, their two children, and Liza Minnelli (Garland's daughter with director Vincente Minnelli), and that the company would protect these five financially. In reality, the five referred to Luft and his four questionable business associates. The contract covered all of Garland's living expenses, but eventually resulted in her wages being garnished by the IRS.

  The IRS took $300 for each $1,500 payment Garland received for concerts. Luft and one of his associates eventually sold Garland's contract without her knowledge in exchange for an $18,750 loan.
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  (#8) She Remarried Before Her Divorce Was Final

  Garland married her fifth husband, Mickey Deans, in a secret ceremony at the St. Marylebone Parish on January 9, 1969, during her string of shows at London's Talk of the Town. However, the marriage wasn't legal. Though Garland would bring Deans on stage and introduce him to the audience as her husband, her divorce from her fourth husband, Mark Herron, wasn't finalized. This left the January 9 wedding void.

  Garland and Deans officially married at the Chelsea Registry Office in March 1969.
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  (#9) She Was Often Overworked

  Despite being fired from Valley of the Dolls, 1967 was a lucrative year for Garland. She embarked on her first concert tour since 1961, played a total of 80 concerts, and only canceled four performances. She received rave reviews and grossed nearly a million dollars during the second half of 1967. However, the long string of concerts was hard on Garland, who became increasingly dependent on drugs and alcohol. Her career began a steady decline in 1968, and continued until her passing in June 1969.
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  (#10) Two Businessmen Tried To Stop Her From Performing

  On December 28, 1968, Garland stepped off a plane at Heathrow Airport where she was served with a writ by a private investigator. Amid camera flashes and questions from reporters, Garland learned two American businessmen who had bought her Group Five contract were barring her from performing at London's Talk of the Town nightclub. They claimed the performance broke her contract with them, but Garland said she knew nothing about the contract.

  The case was eventually dismissed, and the businessmen were forced to pay the court costs.
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  (#11) She Gave Secret Concerts To Make Money

  By 1968, Garland had fallen on hard financial times. While on a trip to New York City, she agreed to give a couple of short performances at a friend's nightclub over the weekend for $100 per night. Rather than scoff at the amount, Garland was excited to make money the government couldn't take away. She told her friends the money would go toward new stockings.
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  (#12) Her Life Ended Due To Drug Overdose

  Garland's body was found by her husband Mickey Deans in the bathroom of their London home on the morning of June 22, 1969. An autopsy revealed that Garland overdosed on sleeping pills, which she had become addicted to early in her career. The coroner deemed Garland's passing an accident, and her body was buried in a small New York Cemetery at Deans' request. Deans, who had only been married to Garland for three months at the time of her passing, said he didn't want her buried in Hollywood because of the way the studio system had treated her. However, her body was exhumed in 2017 and moved to Hollywood at the request of her children.

  Garland passed away just 12 days after her 47th birthday.
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  (#13) Her Passing Is Said To Have Caused The Stonewall Riots

  A fight broke out between New York police and members of the LGBTQ community at the Stonewall Inn during the early hours of June 28, 1969. The timing of the riots coincided with Garland's public funeral, held the day before. Garland was known to be accepting of her gay fans, and members of the community reported being extremely upset by her passing. When the Stonewall Inn was raided, it wasn't an unusual occurrence. What was unusual was that the bar patrons fought back against the police and caused a riot.

  While it's debated whether Garland's tragic end really inspired the riots, her timing, as always, was uncanny.

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