![]() It was a problem that worsened when Garland signed on as an actress with MGM in 1935. At the age of two and a half, she made her stage debut performing alongside her older sisters Mary Jane and Virginia as the Gumm Sisters.Įthel, an aggressive and critical stage mother, was the first to give Garland pills-both to keep her energy up for the stage as well as to bring her down and sleep afterwards-starting as early as age ten, according to the biography Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland by Gerald Clarke. The third daughter of vaudevillians Frank and Ethel Gumm, the woman who would become an icon was born Frances Ethel Gumm on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Pictorial Parade // Getty Images A History of Addiction Garland started her career performing alongside her two older sisters as The Gumm Sisters. Garland had a history of depression and alcoholism, and had attempted suicide several times (her third husband, Sid Luft, alleged that she tried to take her own life on at least 20 different occasions) the story of Garland's life played out more like a tragedy than the lighthearted story of a hopeful young woman she so often portrayed on film. Though tragic, it was an outcome that was not entirely unexpected, both for those closest to her and the public-Garland's longterm struggles with addiction had become almost as well known as her legendary singing voice. She took more barbiturates than she could tolerate.” The coroner, Gavin Thurston, announced to the press following the autopsy, “This is quite clearly an accidental circumstance to a person who was accustomed to taking barbiturates over a very long time. Following an autopsy, the coroner officially ruled the star's cause of death to be a self-administered accidental overdose on barbiturates, a then-common sleep aid. ![]() On June 22, 1969, Garland's new husband Mickey Deans broke down the locked bathroom door in their London flat and found the star dead she was 47 years old. Judy Garland went from being one of the biggest names in Hollywood to practically bankrupt over the course of her three decade career.
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