Minnelli Liza

American singer and actress who won an Academy Award for "Cabaret" and an Emmy for her "Liza with a Z" television special (both in 1972) and three Tonys including one for "Flora, the Red Menace" in 1965. Minnelli, the daughter of Judy Garland, has had a roller-coaster career that has been marked with substance abuse rumors and a stint at the Betty Ford clinic. She is the daughter of legendary singer Judy Garland and her first husband, director Vincente Minnelli. In 1951, her parents divorced, and her mother re-married producer Sid Luft the same year, giving her a half-sister, Lorna, and half-brother, Joey. She made her film debut at age three in her mother’s musical "In the Good Old Summertime." Her stage debut was in February 1952 when, not quite six years old, she danced to her mother singing "Swanee" in Garland’s concert at the New York Palace Theatre. At age 13, Minnelli was featured on a Gene Kelly television special. By 1961, Liza was touring Israel, Athens and Rome in the title role of "The Diary of Anne Frank," a drama club production of her high school. She studied briefly at the Sorbonne in Paris before making her New York stage debut 4/02/1963 in an off-Broadway revival of "Best Foot Forward." On 11/08/1964, she appeared at the London Palladium with her mother, the first time they performed together. The concert was considered a milestone in show business history: It was Garland’s show, but Minnelli took the audience by storm, upstaging her mother by most reports. In 1964, she made her first album for Capitol Records. On 5/11/1965, she made her Broadway debut in "Flora the Red Menace" for which she won the Tony Award as the best musical actress. Shortly afterwards, Minnelli ventured into films. She was nominated for an Oscar in 1969 for her role in the movie "The Sterile Cuckoo." That same year, on 6/22/1969, Judy Garland died of a drug overdose in London. Her most memorable screen role was as Sally Bowles in "Cabaret" released in February 1972. For her work, Minnelli won the Oscar, the Golden Globe, and the English Academy Award. By the end of 1972, she’d also won the Emmy for NBC’s "Liza with a Z." In January 1974 she opened at the Winter Garden on Broadway and won a special Tony award for her concert. In 1975, she appeared in several movies that did not do well at the box office. On 10/29/1977, she appeared in the musical "The Act" on Broadway which earned her a third Tony award, though the play had poor notices. She starred in "Arthur" in 1981. On 7/15/1984, Minnelli checked into the Betty Ford Clinic, acknowledging alcohol and drug addiction. Then in June 1985, she starred in a comeback concert, and won her second Golden Globe award for her role in an NBC movie, "A Time to Live," which aired in October 1985. In November 1964 she met her future first husband, singer-dancer Peter Allen, through her mother, and began living with him. They married 3/03/1967, and divorced in 1974. (Allen later died of AIDS on 6/18/1992.) She married Jack Haley Jr., in 1974 and they were divorced in 1978. She married her third husband, Mark Gero, on 12/04/1979: They were divorced in 1991. She has had three miscarriages, no children. In recent years, Minnelli was plagued with problems when she substituted for Julie Andrews in "Victor/Victoria" on Broadway in January 1997. There were reports of flubbed lines and missed rehearsals, though she replaced the original star on only two days notice. Besides the pr Read less