What Happened to Judy Garland? - The Later Years | Biographical Documentary

In sharp contrast to her cheerful and wholesome image, Judy Garland’s real life was far from perfect.

The girl next door innocence of her early feel good musicals made everyone happy, apart from Judy herself who was tortured by insecurity, constantly having to beg for affection from her mother and fight to stay afloat on the stormy waters of the Hollywood dream machine.

In this biographical documentary about the life of Judy Garland, I explore her early struggles with the pressures piled on by her ambitious mother and a studio system interested only in box office takings… and where it all went wrong, leading into a losing battle with prescribed medication that ended when she was just 47.

Part One deals with her early years, her Hollywood breakthrough and early films and her first marriage.

In this second part we focus on the second half of her life – which brought her the joy of motherhood but a catalogue of broken relationships and marriages, career triumphs and career lows, comebacks and resilience in the face of adversity.
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Finding Out More

Academic References
López-Muñoz, F., Ucha-Udabe, R., & Alamo, C. (2005). The history of barbiturates a century after their clinical introduction. Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 1(4), 329-343.

Stern, A. (1938). Psychoanalytic investigation of and therapy in the border line group of neuroses. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 7(4), 467-489.

Copyright Disclaimer
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.

Images
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
Wellcome Collection
The Judy Room
Judy Garland News
Internet Archive

Music
Lullabye Density and Time CC0
Stephen Foster: The Old Folks at Home -Takayuki Yamashita -CC0
George Gershwin's 3 Preludes, performed by La Pianista CC3.0
Easy stroll Track Tribe CC0
Dead Wrong Jeremy Blake CC0
Resolution Wayne Jones CC0
Everet Almond Get over it CC0
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.4 in G major 3. Ruhevoll European Archive. Musopen Public Domain
Chopin: Prélude op. 28 n° 4 - Dorian Pâquet CC4.0
Nadia Boulanger - Trois Pièces pour violoncelle et piano - Cheng² Duo CC2.0
Claude-Paul Taffanel: Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano) CC2.0
Gershwin: 3 Preludes for Clarinet and Piano II. Clarinet: Byeon Gyu-ri, Piano: Kim Hwa-jeong CCAttribution
Calm Cam Track Tribe CC0
JS Bach - Cello Suite no. 1 in G major, BWV 1007 - I. Prélude Pablo Casals Public domain
Savior Telecasted CC0
Mark Gustavson: Quintet for clarinet, 2 violins, viola and cello. CC3.0
Aaron Kenny Gaiety in the Golden Age CC0
Claude Paul Taffanel- Wind Quintet in G minor -Andante -The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet CC2.0
Gabriel Faure Flute Fantasie. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano)
Isaac Albeniz - Tango Op.165 Nº2 - David Hernando Vitores - Kayoko Morimoto (Wasei Duo) CC4.0

Video edited by Manavi Sakunika and produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston

[angelNoll]

As someone in eating disorder recovery, she didn't stand a chance at recovery between the electric shocks and going back to the entertainment industry, where her eating disorder likely first started. You can't recover in the same environment that made you sick

[LPVPisFr]

She was surrounded by a pit of vipers all her life, given drugs early on, put down, never was truly loved by the closest people around her. That will f*ck you up for a lifetime.

[annewhitney]

A case study in the effect of seeing a person as a commodity and not a human being. Thank you for this presentation.

[kam]

This poor woman. This was a tiny little thing- who was barely 5 foot tall. Being on heavy drugs from the time she was a child took such a toll. You can see the exhaustion in her face by the time she’s in her early 20s and by the time she’s in her 40s, she looks like she’s 20 years older. All the drugs, forced sleep deprivation and the stress caught up with her. She was so vulnerable and it’s sad that there wasn’t anyone who could or would protect her.

[nataliewilliams]

I do so enjoy your rational, empathetic take on mental distress. Judy will forever be an icon and a cautionary tale.

[TuckerSP]

Very very sad. I feel quite drained hearing all of the details of her life. Poor thing was only 47 when she died, she looked so much older.

[williamberven-phig]

The poor girl was used and abused by nearly everyone she trusted in her life, her mother, Mayer, Sid Luft. They squeezed everything they could out of her and when she couldn't cope, chastised and finally abandoned her. The fact she managed to raise 3 childen, half the time broke, says alot about her determination. Did she become a nightmare to be around? Yes, and she had every reason. She became an abused animal snapping at anybody coming near her cage. God rest you Judy and thanks for all you gave us.

[todd-pw]

I still remember where I was when Judy Garland died..I Was seven years old, and was traveling From Ruidoso New Mexico with my Father and Sister... Over the Rainbow came on, and they announced that Judy had passed away.. I was crying so hard, my Father pulled the car off the road.

[JCPJCPJCP]

She was better than perfect in "Oz, " one of the greatest American films ever made.
This is another excellent video, Graeme. Thanks.

[ryangerardcomedy]

She died when she was my age. Epic tragedy. Those chemicals are no joke. She did the best she could. What a shame. Great video. Love your channel Professor.

[phylliscraine]

When I was a college freshman, in the fall of 1976, I went with a friend, a huge Judy fan, to see a restored print of "The Pirate". The film had not been shown in a theater for over a decade. The theater was a tiny little art movie house in Boston called The Back Bay Screening Room. Vincent Minelli gave a lecture after the film and he was really interesting. There were maybe 50 people there. It's only now, after watching your videos on Judy, I realize that she had passed only 7 years earlier. It's a strange film, her performance was very speedy or very drowsy. Her drug use is pretty evident in several scenes. Vincent Minelli was very gracious, very interesting and he did not sugar coat the difficulties they experienced together.

[MasWilsonl]

This was the most in-depth analysis I’ve heard to date on Judy Garland.
Excellent work!!

[shellymetcalfe]

“Someone always has it worse” are words to live by. Well said! Your videos never disappoint. Always look forward to them!

[ptowhxl]

Still love the kind and understanding way in which these stories are told. Thank you.

[bee_fitz]

A brilliant two part series about such a talented lady ❤
Thank you Professor, really enjoying your videos. Keep them coming!

[Krullmatic]

It's a good day when a new Prof. Yorston video comes up! Especially, continuing Garland's story.

[mrmoon]

Such a sad tragic ending, she was a beautifully brilliant actress/entertainer, thanks for taking the time to look into her life and sharing with us,

[rdo]

Beautifully done. Your hard work is appreciated.

[TerrieG-xj]

I always thought she was in her 80's when she pass away. I was shocked to find out she was only in her early 40's. So sad how she was treated.

[biancamonzo]

When she came to Sydney in 1964 my auntie got the phone number of her hotel and managed to chat to her for about five minutes. She said she was really friendly and sweet. My aunt simply rang her from a public phone box, I don't know how she got the call put through to Judy's room but somehow she did. I'm a lifelong fan of Judy's, it's so sad how it all ended 💔