Gay Icon, Judy Garland, Dies at the Age of 47 (June 22, 1969)

The 1960s began with the death of the tormented Marilyn Monroe and it ended with the death of another embattled star, Judy Garland.  She died in her apartment in London on June 22, 1969 at the age of 47.  Like Monroe, the cause of death was determined to be from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.  Sadly, much of Judy's adult life was a series of mental breakdowns and career triumphs with serious financial difficulties regularly lurking in the background.  Her tragic end arrived much too soon.

 

  

 

Gay men (at least the older generation) seem to be drawn to Garland not only by her tremendous singing and acting abilities but by her struggles with pills, booze and weight fluctuations.  And while there's no indication that she specifically acknowledged her gay fan base (she exclaimed that she adored everyone in her audience) it's interesting to note that her father as well as her second and fourth husbands, Vincente Minnelli and Mark Herron, were all gay.  (And then there was daughter Liza's gay hubbies Peter Allen and David Gest.) 

 

Judy's body was returned to the U.S. and her funeral was held in New York on June 27.  Legend has it that despair over her death was the spark that ignited the Stonewall riot in Greenwich Village the night of her funeral.  However, such stories have largely been disputed, with some saying that the basis for it was a snide remark made by a homophobic newspaper reporter. 

 

 

Here's a marvelous (or, as Judy pronounced it, "maaah-velous") moment of levity to remember Judy by from an animated 1964 interview  with Jack Paar:

 

    

 

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