Liza Minnelli

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Natalie Erin (talk | contribs) at 17:42, 25 September 2006 (rvv). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:1966 LizaMinnelli.jpg
Liza Minnelli, 1966.

Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946 in Los Angeles, California) is an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer.

She is the daughter of entertainer Judy Garland and her second husband, film director Vincente Minnelli.

Childhood and early career

Minnelli came from a well known artistic family; her maternal lineage had entertainers in the family going six generations back. [1] Her famous mother had success in film and in music, and her aunts had been part of a singing group, "The Gumm Sisters", with her mother. Her father was a noted film director. Minnelli's first film appearance was at the age of three in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime, starring her mother and Van Johnson.

Minnelli started performing at age 16, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received good notices. The next year, her mother invited Minnelli to perform with her at the London Palladium. The audience loved her, launching her musical career. She returned to Broadway at 19, and won a 1965 Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace.

Although Minnelli and her mother shared a warm personal relationship, Garland recognized Minnelli's talent and felt a sense of competition; Minnelli recalled a time where she was singing on stage. "I was on stage with my mother, but suddenly, she wasn't Mamma....she was Judy Garland." [2] As a teenager with two younger siblings, Minnelli bore the brunt of Garland's substance abuse issues and instability, and often had to take responsibility for her mother and siblings.

Film appearances

Her first notable film appearance was in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), in which Minnelli starred as Pookie, a needy, eccentric teenager. She played another eccentric character the following year in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.

In 1972, Minnelli appeared in perhaps her best known film role, as Sally Bowles in the movie version of Cabaret. Minnelli's belting vocal style was featured in the song "Cabaret" from the film.

Her appearance opposite Robert DeNiro in the 1977 film, New York, New York, would give Minnelli her signature song. "Theme from New York, New York". Frank Sinatra would release a successful cover version (for his Trilogy album) two year later.

She finally got the chance to work with her father, legendary director Vincente Minnelli, in the 1976 fantasy-musical "A Matter of Time", co-starring Ingrid Bergman. The film was neither a commercial nor a critical success.

Signature song

Minnelli had several notable public performances of her signature song, "New York, New York":

  • At the 1978 Studio 54 party honoring New York City's revival, at which a guest was Mayor Ed Koch;
  • The reopening of the Statue of Liberty on July 4, 1986;
  • Michael Jackson's 30th Anniversary Concert;
  • At a 2001 New York Mets baseball game that was the metro area's first major sporting event after the September 11 attacks;
  • On January 1, 2006, she sang the song at the second inauguration of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; and
  • At the age of 60, for the "Macy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular" televised live, and nationally on NBC on July 4, 2006, she performed the song and received an ovation.

Awards and other recognition

Minnelli's appearance in The Sterile Cuckoo garnered the young actress her first Academy Award nomination.

In 1972, Minnelli won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Cabaret.

Minnelli also won an Emmy Award for the 1972 TV special Liza with a Z, a 1990 Grammy Legend Award, and Golden Globe Awards for both Cabaret and the TV movie A Time to Live.

Minnelli received two Tony Awards: a special Tony in 1974, and a second Tony, for The Act in 1978. She was nominated in 1984 for The Rink but lost to her costar, Chita Rivera.

Minnelli has won the Oscar, Tony and Emmy, along with a special Grammy. She has the distinction of being one of the few Academy Award winners whose parents were both Academy Award nominees, and she is the only winner of that award whose parents were both winners of it as well.

Later career

After her performance as leading lady to Dudley Moore in 1981's Arthur, Minnelli made fewer film appearances.

  • In 1989 she made a well-received pop album (Results) with English duo the Pet Shop Boys, which included a hit version of the Stephen Sondheim song "Losing My Mind".
  • She returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley commented, "her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty... She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond." However, rumors of ill will between her and co-star Tony Roberts gained momentum when he deliberately skipped performances.
  • In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring character on the critically acclaimed TV sitcom Arrested Development as Lucille Austero, the lover of sexually and socially awkward Buster Bluth and also the lover of Buster's brother GOB Bluth.

Marriages and personal life

Minnelli has two half-siblings, sister Lorna Luft and brother Joe Luft. Her half-siblings are a result of Garland's marriage to producer Sid Luft.

Minnelli has been married (and divorced) four times; her husbands have been:

According to Lorna Luft's 1998 book, Me and My Shadows: Living with the Legacy of Judy Garland, Minnelli had a miscarriage while five months pregnant during her marriage to Jack Haley, Jr. Minnelli does not have children. Rumors circulated after her marriage to Gest that she had adopted a child; the rumors stemmed in part from interviews in print, and on Larry King Live, where she was quoted as saying she'd like to adopt a child and that she and Gest were "looking into it". However, no child was ever adopted. [3]

Legal challenges with David Gest

Minnelli's separation and subsequent divorce from Gest in 2003 has been fraught with controversy; the two have ongoing legal disputes. Prior legal matters were either resolved or dismissed, but in 2006, Gest filed further litigation against Minnelli, nearly three years after their divorce. A former employee of the couple has also alleged that Minnelli forced him to have sexual intercourse with her to retain his job. [4]

  • Minnelli has accused Mr. Gest of trying to poison her.
  • Mr. Gest has claimed Ms. Minnelli did not make him aware she had herpes simplex and sexually transmitted it to him. He also claims that she was violently abusive during alcoholic rages.

Image

Minnelli's work in Cabaret molded her popular image, from the black helmet of hair and extravagant eyelashes that have remained her visual trademark to the perception among many that she shares Sally Bowles's combination of fragility and toughness, her hunger for affection, and her heedless detachment from the ordinary.

Her well-publicized struggles with substance abuse have made inevitable parallels and comparisons to her mother's personal and career challenges. Minnelli has been in rehab for her substance abuse challenges numerous times. She nearly died from a bout of enchephalitis in 2000 after one rehab visit. She entered rehab shortly before her marriage to Gest. [5] Another visit occurred at their first anniversary; she recently visited rehab and a psychiatric center to deal with issues stemming from her contentious divorce from Gest. [6]

Minnelli's performance style, fashion style, and connection with her mother's legacy has brought her a large number of gay fans; she is often referred to as a gay icon. [7]

Trivia

File:Lizaminnellievitatomb.jpg
Liza Minnelli, in 1993, visiting the tomb of Eva Perón. In the early 1980s, Minnelli was in the running for the role of Evita.
  • Minnelli is named after the Gershwin song Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away), a song her mother frequently sang in concert.
  • She has had 2 hip replacement surgeries and 3 knee surgeries.
  • When Minnelli received the Grammy Legend Award she became part of a select group who have won entertainment's top four awards—the Academy Award, the Tony, the Emmy and the Grammy.
  • Was briefly managed by KISS frontman Gene Simmons in the late 1980's.
  • On September 30, 1991, Minnelli received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was honored for her career in theater. (Her star is located at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.)
  • One of only three actresses, along with Faye Dunaway and Halle Berry, to win both the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Razzie Award for Worst Actress (Dunaway shared her award with Bo Derek).
  • Her mother was pregnant with her while filming her guest starring role as dancer Marilyn Miller in Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) (Garland's scenes were directed by none other Vincente Minnelli). In order to hide her pregnant stomach she was hidden behind stacks of dishes while singing "Look For The Silver Lining" (However, a small bump on Garland's stomach is visible while she is singing "Who (Stole My Heart Away)?"). She joked with Liza's godmother Kay Thompson, "What a song to sing in my present condition".
  • In 2003–2004, she was a spokesperson for MAC Cosmetics, who even created a line of make-up colors 'inspired' by her.
  • Minnelli was very close friends with her favorite fashion designer, the late Halston, who not only designed her outfits for her award-winning special Liza with a 'Z' but for other shows and events as well.
  • In April 1992, she performed We Are The Champions with the surviving members of Queen as the last number of The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Mercury had admitted during his life that Liza Minnelli was a big influence on him.
  • Liza Minnelli is featured in a song on My Chemical Romance's upcoming album The Black Parade. The song is called "Mama", and she is meant to be representing the mother of the album's protagonist.

Filmography

Upcoming:

  • Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2007) (documentary)
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Actress
1972
for Cabaret 		Succeeded by

Music

Albums

  • Best Foot Forward (1963) (Original Cast Recording)
  • Liza! Liza! (1964) US #115
  • Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli Live at the London Palladium (1965) US #41
  • Flora the Red Menace (1965) (Original Cast Recording) US #111
  • It Amazes Me (1965)
  • There Is a Time (1966)
  • The Dangerous Christmas of Red Riding Hood (1966) (soundtrack)
  • Liza Minnelli (1968)
  • Come Saturday Morning (1969)
  • New Feelin' (1970) US #158
  • Liza Minnelli: Live at the Olympia in Paris (1972, recorded in December 1969)
  • Cabaret (1972) (soundtrack) US #25 UK #13
  • Liza with a 'Z' (1972) (soundtrack) US #19 ÙK #9
  • The Singer (1973) US #38 UK #45
  • Liza Minnelli: Live at the Winter Garden (1974) US #150
  • Lucky Lady (1975) (soundtrack)
  • A Matter of Time (1976) (soundtrack)
  • New York, New York (1977) (soundtrack) US #50
  • Tropical Nights (1977)
  • The Act (1978) (Original Cast Recording)
  • Live at Carnegie Hall (1981, realised by Minnelli herself in limited editions)
  • The Rink (1984) (Original Cast Recording)
  • Liza Minnelli at Carnegie Hall (1987) US #156
  • Results (1989) US #128 UK #6, produced by Pet Shop Boys
  • Stepping Out (1991) (soundtrack)
  • Liza: Live from Radio City Music Hall (1992)
  • Aznavour Minnelli: Paris, Palais des Congrès (1995)
  • The Life: A New Musical (1996) (concept album)
  • Gently (1996) US #156 UK #58 (features duet w /Johnny Mathis)
  • Minnelli on Minnelli: Live at the Palace (1999)
  • Liza's Back (2002)
  • The God-Mother and The God-Daughter (coming soon)
  • The Black Parade - My Chemical Romance (She sings with MCR on one track named Mama) (2006)

Hit Singles

  • "You Are For Loving" (1963, has reportedly sold 500 000 copies, but never charted)
  • "(Theme From) New York, New York" (US #104, 1977)
  • "Losing My Mind" (UK #6, August 1989) (#11 on US Dance chart)
  • "Don't Drop Bombs" (UK #46, October 1989)
  • "So Sorry, I Said" (UK #62, November 1989)
  • "Love Pains" (UK #41, March 1990) (#40 on US dance chart)

Television work

Stage productions


Preceded by Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical
1965
for Flora the Red Menace 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical
1978
for The Act 		Succeeded by

See also

References

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liza_Minnelli&oldid=77751150"