Judy Garland died on 22nd June 1969 at the age of 47. Fifty years have gone by
since then but Judy Garland is still a legend who offered cinema lovers iconic
moments such as her performance of “Over the Rainbow” in The Wizard of Oz (1939). She began acting when she was only three
years old and by the time she was 16, she had already become a star. She was a singer,
an actress and a dancer and the film studios of the time took advantage of all
her talents and made her work long hours, which led her to consuming anphetamines
during the day and barbiturates at night in order to cope with the stressful schedule
imposed on her. Judy Garland was loved by the audicence and she also outshone other
film stars thanks not only to her well-known talents but also to that mixture
of tenderness, melancholy and fragility which characterised her. A biopic of
the actress will be released in September and Renée Zellweger has been the
actress chosen to play the role of Judy Garland. We´ll have to wait to read the
reviews but as usual, the film hasn´t been welcomed by the family. Judy Garland
led a diffficult life as the fact that she died of an accidental drug overdose
makes clear: she reached stardom at a very young age but her personal life was
not a happy one and it seems that she always yearned for a normal life. Today,
we should recall her as the protagonist of The
Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis or A Star Is Born, that is, as a great American
actress and singer of musical and dramatic roles and not just as the girl who, perhaps, grew up too quiclkly and lived fast – she got married
five times – and died at a very young age in very sad circumstances. Today,
let´s remember her outstanding work and not the fact that many people were only
interested in making a profit from her successful career: those are the lights
and the shadows of the golden age of Hollywood!
