BIOGRAPHY: JUDY GARLAND: BEYOND THE RAINBOW (TV)
Summary
One in this series of documentaries which examines the professional and personal lives of a wide range of individuals, both those in the public eye and those of historic note. This documentary, narrated by Peter Graves, examines the life, career, and cultural influence of legendary entertainer Judy Garland. The documentary contains biographical narration; photographs, film clips, and film trailers; segments of Garland's recorded performances and interviews on television, stage and radio; and interviews with family, friends, collaborators, and artists. The film briefly covers Garland's early years, her parents' relationship, the situation of her birth, the family's move from Grand Rapids, MN, to Lancaster, CA, and Garland's early years as a child performer with her siblings as "The Gumm Sisters," before moving on to discuss Garland as a teenage performer with MGM studios and her emergence as a unrivaled star with the release of a series of films in the late 1930s. The bulk of the documentary covers the history of Garland's emotional and physical breakdowns and comebacks, beginning with Garland's success with "The Wizard of Oz" and the first inklings of her prescription drug abuse there, and her first marriage to David Rose. A detailed account of her years as an adult star of stage and screen covers the following topics: her affair with Joseph L. Mankiewicz; marriages to Vincente Minnelli and Sid Luft; the births of children Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft; lauded live performance tours in England and the United States; Garland's popularity with homosexual men; Garland's failed television show; Garland's financial difficulties; her marriages to Mark Hannon and Mickey Deans; and her death by overdose in London in 1969. Featured commentators include the following: journalist Shana Alexander; family friend Eleanor Downing; family doctor's widow Marcella Rabwin; family housekeeper Wilma Casper; singer and friend Margaret Whiting; "Wizard of Oz" assistant choreographer Dana Massin; actor and friend Robert Stack; composer Burton Lane; scenarist and screenwriter Leonard Gershe; actor Jackie Cooper; songwriter Hugh Martin; Mickey Rooney; Jerry Maren, Margaret Pellegrini and Meinhardt Raabe ("Munchkins" from "The Wizard of Oz"); actor and playwright Charles Busch; children Lorna and Joey Luft (in a recorded appearance with Garland and interviewer Barbara Walters on "The Today Show" in 1967); "The Wizard of Oz" lyricist E. Y. "Yip" Harburg; Ann Miller; June Allyson; MGM dancer Dorothy Gilmore Raye; scenic designer Tony Duquette; Joseph L. Mankiewicz (in a 1978 interview); Vincente Minnelli (in a 1978 interview); MGM dancer Dorothy Tuttle Nitch; vocal arrangers and friends Kay Thompson and Bill Spier; songwriters Betty Comden and Adolph Green; "Summer Stock" co-star Eddie Bracken; former MGM production chief Dore Schary; Norman Jewison; composer Burton Lane; former Capitol Records president Alan Livingston; Liza Minnelli (in an appearance on "Donahue"); conductor/orchestrator Mort Lindsey; photographer Douglas Kirkland; publicist Matthew West; and Dirk Bogarde (in a 1972 interview). Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: A&E
- DATE: March 23, 1997 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:30:58
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:59497
- GENRE: Arts documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arts documentaries; Biography; Actors and actresses; Singers
- SERIES RUN: A&E - TV series, 1987-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Cascio … Executive Producer
- Carolanne Dolan … Supervising Producer
- Andrew Tilles … Supervising Producer
- Peter Jones … Producer, Writer, Director
- John Fricke … Producer, Writer, Based in part on book by, "Judy Garland: World's Greatest Entertainer"
- Genevieve Halili … Associate Producer
- Scott Reynolds … Editor
- Sally Conninger … Piano Arranger, Accompanist
- Robert Israel … Additional music by
- Al Viola … Instrumentalist, "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart"
- Peter Graves … Narrator
- Shana Alexander
- June Allyson
- Dirk Bogarde
- Eddie Bracken
- Charles Busch
- Wilma Casper
- Betty Comden
- Jackie Cooper
- Mickey Deans
- Eleanor Downing
- Tony Duquette
- Judy Garland
- Leonard Gershe
- Adolph Green
- Mark Hannon
- Harburg, E. Y. "Yip"
- Norman Jewison
- Douglas Kirkland
- Burton Lane
- Mort Lindsey
- Alan Livingston
- Joey Luft
- Lorna Luft
- Sid Luft
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz
- Jerry Maren
- Hugh Martin
- Dana Massin
- Ann Miller
- Liza Minnelli
- Vincente Minnelli
- Dorothy Tuttle Nitch
- Margaret Pellegrini
- Meinhardt Raabe
- Marcella Rabwin
- Dorothy Gilmore Raye
- Mickey Rooney
- David Rose
- Dore Schary
- Spier, Bill (audio i.d. only)
- Robert Stack
- Thompson, Kay (audio i.d. only)
- Barbara Walters
- Matthew West