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Judy Garland was just a teenager when she starred as Dorothy Gale, a young girl from Kansas battling the Wicked Witch of the West alongside a trio of unlikely friends, in the 1939 Hollywood classic “The Wizard of Oz.”
Both the movie and L. Frank Baum’s children’s books, which “The Wizard of Oz” film was based on, helped inspire Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.” From there, the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” came out in 2003, and now, it has a blockbuster Hollywood adaption.
Garland, who was born Frances Ethel Gumm, spent her childhood years onstage in a vaudeville family act. She shot to fame acting opposite Mickey Rooney in a string of beloved Hollywood musicals before landing the part of Dorothy.
Garland received a special Academy Juvenile Award for her portrayal of Dorothy and went on to star in the box-office smashes like “Meet Me in St. Louis,” directed by future husband Vincente Minnelli, and “Easter Parade,” which co-starred Fred Astaire. She was later nominated for Oscars for her dramatic performances in “A Star is Born” (1954) and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961).
The actor and singer, who struggled with addiction and mental health challenges, welcomed her first child, Liza Minnelli, with director Vincente Minnelli, in March 1946.
Garland and her third husband, manager and producer Sidney Luft, welcomed a daughter, Lorna Luft, in November 1952, and a son, Joey Luft, in March 1955.
Read on to learn about Judy Garland’s three children.
Liza Minnelli
Garland welcomed her first child, daughter Liza Minnelli, with her second husband, Vincente Minnelli, in 1946.
Liza Minnelli, who became a stage and screen superstar in her own right, showed talent at a young age. She appeared as an entertainer on her mother’s CBS variety program, “The Judy Garland Show.”
The now 78-year-old Liza Minnelli went on to win several Tony Awards, an Emmy, an honorary Grammy and an Academy Award for best actress in the Hollywood adaption of the musical “Cabaret” (1972).
Over the years, Liza Minnelli has shared memories from her childhood with her famous mother, who died in 1969 from an apparent accidental barbiturate overdose, according to The Guardian.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about my mama is that she didn’t provide me with a happy childhood,” Liza Minnelli told Vogue Arabia in 2019. “There were highs and lows for sure, but I can say I was very happy. If people choose to believe that or not, it’s up to them, but I know I was happy.”
She added, “My fondest memory of my mama was the conversations we had. As I became a teenager, I became her best friend and confidante. We would laugh and talk for hours. Sometimes in person, sometimes on the phone, depending where we were.”
Minnelli and her half-sister, Lorna Luft, told “Entertainment Tonight” in a joint 2022 interview that their family home was visited by Hollywood legends. including Humphrey Bogart and Lana Turner.
“But it was so funny, if Mama was in the room, nobody cared,” Liza Minnelli said of her mother’s charisma. “She was so funny. She was fun.”
The sisters also objected to the media’s depiction of Garland as a “tragic” figure.
“That’s the thing that bugs me the most,” Liza Minnelli said. “They would say tragic Judy Garland and I’d say, ‘Oh shut up.’ It was her humor and her kindness. … With her family, she was hilarious.”
When Liza Minnelli was asked in a 2020 interview with Variety about what her favorite memory of her late mother was, she answered “everything.”
“We had such fun because she was so funny. She was funny, and she loved her kids so much. She was protective and very strict. She wanted you to do the right thing, like any mother. It’s that simple,” Liza Minnelli shared.
The actor has been married and divorced four times. Her second husband was Jack Haley Jr., the son of actor Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Liza Minnelli, who has no children, is the subject of the upcoming documentary, “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story,” with a release slated for January 2025.
Lorna Luft
Garland’s younger daughter, Lorna Luft, who turned 72 on Nov. 21, also followed in the Hollywood legend’s footsteps to pursue a career in show business.
Lorna Luft, whose father was Garland’s third husband, Sidney Luft, has starred on the Broadway stage in “Promises, Promises,” and toured in the national productions “Guys and Dolls” and “White Christmas.”
Lorna Luft was also in the 1982 movie “Grease 2” and appeared as a special star on hit TV shows including “Murder, She Wrote,” “Trapper John, M.D.,” “The Nanny” and “Caroline in the City.”
During their joint interview with “Entertainment Tonight” in 2022, Lorna Luft agreed with sister Liza Minnelli that Garland was a “fun” mom.
“Our mom had such an extraordinary sense of humor, and that was her survival guide. That is what I can tell you has been my lifeline is to find the funny — just find the funny,” Lorna Luft explained. “And we do, we just find the funny because I think that is the way that we were raised and brought up and we watched a woman who found the funny.”
She wrote lovingly about her life at home with Garland in the 1998 tell-all “Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir,” which was adapted into an Emmy-winning TV movie. She also co-wrote the 2018 book “A Star is Born: Judy Garland and the Film That Got Away.”
Lorna Luft has a son and daughter, both of whom she’s posted about on social media, and is married to composer Colin Freeman.
Joey Luft
Garland’s only son, Joey Luft, was just 14 when his mother died in 1969.
The son of Garland and Sidney Luft, Joey Luft has lived his life mostly out of the spotlight, although he, too, has dabbled in entertainment.
The younger Luft appeared on a special holiday episode of Garland’s CBS variety show “The Judy Garland Show,” in 1963, singing the song “Where Is Love?”
“(Garland) opened the show with ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’” Joey Luft recalled to the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “Our living room (of the Luft family’s house) on Rockingham Avenue was copied so the Christmas show looked like our living room.”
The youngest child of Garland’s later studied photography and sound, telling the outlet, “I’ve been more behind the camera.”
Joey Luft, his sister Lorna and his half-sister Liza made headlines when they appeared together at the 2014 Academy Awards for a special 75th anniversary tribute to “The Wizard of Oz.”
Like his siblings, Joey Luft has fond memories of growing up with Garland.
“She was a performer. She was a mother. She loved people,” he told the LA Times. “She was the most caring person. She had the greatest sense of humor.”
To honor his mother, Joey Luft gathered footage and stories about her to create the stage show “A Judy Garland Concert with Joey Luft,” which premiered in 2014 at the Pasadena Playhouse outside of Los Angeles, according to the LA Times.
“It’s just so fun just getting out there and talking about her and letting people know, ‘Here’s what really happened,'” he told the publication.
“(Audiences) know ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ but people don’t even know Judy,” he added. “The show is to educate people and show who she was and what she did and what she was all about — one of the world’s greatest entertainers.”
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