Judy Garland, professional name of Frances Gumm (1922-1969), American film actress and singer. Born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Garland made her singing debut at the age of 30 months in her father's theatre. She and her sisters later formed a vaudeville act called the Gumm Sisters, touring the United States between 1927 and 1935. Her feature film career, which began in 1936, included appearances in such pictures as The Wizard of Oz (1939), the film that made her world famous and for which she received a special award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Ziegfeld Girl (1941); Meet Me in St Louis (1944); The Clock (1945); and The Pirate (1948). From 1950 onwards she appeared primarily in nightclubs, concerts, and on television; her first engagement at the Palace Theater in New York (1951-1952) broke vaudeville box-office records. Later films include A Star Is Born (1954), which won her an Oscar nomination, and which many see as her greatest performance, Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), I Could Go on Singing (1963), and A Child Is Waiting (1963). Garland was the mother of the actress and singer Liza Minnelli.