Judy Garland has been the subject of many biographies. Since her death in 1969, she has been the subject of over two dozen books. The first of these was The films and Career of Judy Garland by Morella and Epstein, published by Citadel Press. It was the only book published before her death. The second was Brad Steiger's Judy Garland, published shortly after her death, which includes information on Garland's astrological chart, analysis of her handwriting, numerology and biorhythms. Most of the books are entirely about Garland, but some, including Patricia Fox-Sheinwold's Too Young to Die, Some Are Born Great by Adela Rogers St. Johns and Jane Ellen Wayne's The Golden Girls of MGM, merely feature a chapter about her. Two volumes, Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show by Coyne Steven Sanders and Mel Tormé's The Other Side of the Rainbow: On the Dawn Patrol With Judy Garland, focus on Garland's television series, The Judy Garland Show. Garland's last husband, Mickey Deans, co-authored an early biography in 1972 and Garland's daughter Lorna Luft wrote a family memoir in 1988.
Garland has been profiled on-screen several times. The earliest known film biography was a 1961 installment of the syndicated television series Hollywood Hist-o-rama, which covered her career through the filming of A Star is Born. Garland was the subject of episodes of the British series Omnibus, 60 Minutes, Biography and the E! True Hollywood Story. Her life story was fictionalized in Rainbow in 1978 and in 2001 in , based on daughter Luft's memoir. On stage, Garland is a character in The Boy from Oz, a 1998 musical based on the life of former son-in-law Peter Allen, and the 2006 play The Property Known as Garland, based on tape recordings made prior to her last concert appearance.
| Author | Title | Publication date | Publisher | ISBN | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Briggs | Judy Garland: Little Woman, Big Talent | 2014 | Atombank Books | The first children's book about Judy Garland | ||
| Gerald Clarke | 2000 | Random House | Harvey Weinstein optioned Get Happy with plans to produce a stage show and film based on it, starring Anne Hathaway.[1] No such production has materialized. | |||
| Emily R. Coleman | The Complete Judy Garland: The Ultimate Guide To Her Career in Films, Records, Concerts, Radio, and Television, 1935-1969 | 1990 | Harper & Row | |||
| David Dahl and Barry Kehoe | Young Judy | 1975 | Mason/Charter | |||
| Mickey Deans and Ann Pinchot | Weep No More, My Lady | 1972 | G. K. Hall | Co-authored by Garland's last husband. | ||
| Al DiOrio, Jr. | Little Girl Lost: The Life and Hard Times of Judy Garland | 1973 | Arlington House | |||
| Paul Donnelley | Judy Garland | 2007 | Haus | |||
| Anne Edwards | Judy Garland | 1975 | Simon and Schuster | |||
| Christopher Finch | Rainbow: The Stormy Life of Judy Garland | 1975 | Ballantine | |||
| Patricia Fox-Sheinwold | Too Young to Die | 1979 1982 | Bell Publishing Company | Includes a chapter on Garland | ||
| Gerold Frank | Judy | 1975 | Harper & Row | |||
| John Fricke | Judy Garland: World's Greatest Entertainer | 1992 | Henry Holt & Co. | |||
| John Fricke | Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art & Anecdote | 2003 | Bullfinch | Includes a foreword by Lorna Luft | ||
| James Juneau | Judy Garland: A Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies | 1974 | Pyramid Communications | |||
| Lorna Luft | 1988 | Simon & Schuster | Written by Garland's daughter. Served as the basis of an Emmy award-winning television film. | |||
| David Melton | Judy: A Remembrance | 1972 | Stanyan Books | |||
| John Meyer | Heartbreaker: A Memoir of Judy Garland | 1983 2006 | Doubleday Citadel Press | (Citadel) | Story of the two months John Meyer spent with Judy Garland | |
| Joe Morella and Edward Z. Epstein | Judy: The Complete Films and Career of Judy Garland | 1969 | Citadel Press | |||
| Rita E. Piro | Judy Garland, The Golden Years | 2001 | Great Feats Press | The only biography to include a detailed family tree and history provided by Garland's maternal family. | ||
| Rita E. Piro | Judy Garland: In Celebration | 2003 | Great Feats Press | |||
| James Adam Richliano | Angels We Have Heard: The Christmas Song Stories | 2002 | Star Of Bethlehem Books | Includes a chapter on Garland's involvement in the making of the song Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas | ||
| Coyne Steven Sanders | Rainbow's End: The Judy Garland Show | 1990 | William Morrow & Co. | Focuses on Garland's television series, The Judy Garland Show | ||
| Scott Schechter | Judy Garland: The Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Legend | 2002 | Cooper Square Press / Rowman-Littlefield | |||
| David Shipman | Judy Garland: The Secret Life of an American Legend | 1993 | Little Brown and Company | |||
| Lorna Smith | Judy, With Love: The Story of Miss Show Business | 1975 | Robert Hale and Co. | |||
| James Spada, with Karen Swenson | Judy and Liza | 1983 | Doubleday & Company, Inc. | |||
| Adela Rogers St. Johns | Some Are Born Great | 1974 | Doubleday & Company, Inc. | Includes a chapter on Garland | ||
| Michelle Russell | From Tennessee to Oz - The Amazing Saga of Judy Garland's Family History, Part 1 & 2 | 2009 & 2011 | Catsong Publishing | The story of Judy Garland's paternal ancestry in Tennessee, beginning in 1793. | ||
| Brad Steiger | Judy Garland | 1969 | Ace Books | The first biography published after Garland's death | ||
| Mel Tormé | The Other Side of the Rainbow: On the Dawn Patrol With Judy Garland | 1971 | W. H. Allen | "Tell-all" book written about Tormé's time as musical director of The Judy Garland Show | ||
| Ethlie Ann Vare, ed. | Rainbow: A Star-Studded Tribute to Judy Garland | 1998 | Boulevard Books | Collection of previously published material about Garland. Foreword by Michael Musto. | ||
| Thomas J. Watson and Bill Chapman | Judy: Portrait of an American Legend | 1986 | McGraw-Hill Book Company | |||
| Jane Ellen Wayne | The Golden Girls of MGM | 2003 | Carroll and Graf | Includes a chapter on Garland |
| Year | Title | Series | Network | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | Judy Garland | Hollywood Hist-o-rama | Syndicated | Syndicated television short covering Garland's career through A Star is Born, glossing over any mention of Garland's problems. | |
| 1972 | Judy: Impressions of Garland | Omnibus | BBC | ||
| 1975 | Judy/The Ultra Secret | 60 Minutes | CBS | The Garland segment was one of two in the episode. "The Ultra Secret" was a segment about World War II code-breaking. | |
| 1978 | Judy Garland | The Hollywood Greats | BBC | ||
| 1978 | Rainbow | NBC | Biopic focusing on Garland's early years. Andrea McArdle played Garland.[2] | ||
| 1985 | Judy Garland: The Concert Years | Great Performances | PBS | Nominated for an Emmy award for "Outstanding Informational Special".[3] | |
| 1997 | Judy Garland: Beyond the Rainbow | Biography | A&E | Expanded two-hour episode.[4] | |
| 2001 | ABC | Two-part biopic based on the Luft memoir. Garland as a child was played by Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis played Garland as an adult. The mini-series was nominated for 13 Emmys,[5] and won five, including awards to both Blanchard and Davis.[6] | |||
| 2001 | Last Days of Judy Garland | E! True Hollywood Story | E! | ||
| 2004 | Judy Garland: By Myself | American Masters | PBS | Won two Emmy awards for Outstanding Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming;[7] nominated for three more.[8] | |
| 2019 | Judy | Theatrical film directed by Rupert Goold starring Renée Zellweger as Garland, who earned the Academy Award for Best Actress. |
| Year | Title | Author | Starring | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | The Boy from Oz | Nick Enright (book) Peter Allen (music and lyrics) | Chrissy Amphlett (1998 Australian production) Isabel Keating (2003 Broadway production) | Musical based on the life of Peter Allen in which Garland is a character. Amphlett reprised her role for the 2006 Australian arena tour.[9] | |
| 2005 | End of the Rainbow | Peter Quilter | Caroline O'Connor (original Australian run) Tracie Bennett (2010 London and 2012 Broadway productions) | Covers the period leading up to Garland's 1968 concert tour of England.[10] | |
| 2006 | The Property Known as Garland | Billy Van Zandt | Adrienne Barbeau | Based on tape recordings made by Garland on the night of her final concert appearance, in Copenhagen in 1969.[11] | |
| 2010 | The Judy Monologues | Darren Stewart-Jones | Various | Based on tape recordings made by Garland in the mid-1960s for her never-written autobiography.[12] |