Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922 – June 22, 1969) was an American singer, actress, and vaudevillian. She was renowned for her contralto vocals and attained international stardom that continued throughout a career spanning more than 40 years as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist, and on concert stages.
Garland began performing in vaudeville with her two older sisters and was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She made more than two dozen films with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including nine with Mickey Rooney. Garland had several well-remembered film appearances. At age seventeen, she played her most famous role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). Some of her other notable films at MGM include Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), Easter Parade (1948) and Summer Stock (1950). After 15 years, she was released from her contract with the studio and made record-breaking concert appearances, had a successful recording career and her own Emmy-nominated television series. Garland had fewer film appearances in the later years of her career, but she did appear in two Academy Award-nominated performances in A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961).