Judy Garland’s Remains Moved To Hollywood Nearly 50 Years After Her Death At Request Of Her Daughter Liza Minelli

Judy Garland’s remains were moved, nearly half a century after her death, from New York to Hollywood according to a report from Fox News. Judy’s body was flown from JFK Airport to Los Angeles on Thursday, January 26, 2017

Judy Garland, one of the most famous icons from the Hollywood Golden Era, was buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Greenburgh in 1969. Garland’s body will now be re-interred in the Beth Olam section of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. Other celebrities who will now lie alongside Garland, include Jonny Ramone, Jayne Mansfield and George Harrison.

Judy Garland’s Body Moved At Request Of Her Daughter Liza Minelli

Judy’s body was moved at the request of her daughter Liza Minnelli,People reports. Garland’s Ferncliff Cemetery burial site did not have enough burial plots for her children and grandchildren to be buried alongside Judy. Garland’s children are Liza Minnelli, 70, Lorna Luft, 64, and Joey Luft, 61.

Judy Garland’s Search For Happiness Ended In An Untimely Death

Garland died on the lavatory of a barbiturate overdose. Judy was only 47 years old.

During the sixties, Garland’s drug abuse had reached its peak. The Telegraph reports that in order to keep her drug habit going, Judy had more than 20 doctors who supplied her with drugs. Judy’s ex-husband Sid Luft talked openly about Garland’s drug abuse.

“She was a pill taker and nobody could stop her. She couldn’t think straight, and she certainly wouldn’t listen to me. I watched my friend Dean Martin squander his talent and drink himself to death. I couldn’t stop Dino, and I couldn’t stop Judy.”

It seems that Garland’s theme song became “Over the Rainbow” which she sang as the child star of MGM’s The Wizard of Oz. Judy struggled with depression and drug abuse, and in her quest for love married five times, but it seems that the rainbow always seemed to elude Garland.

Judy Garland’s longest marriage of 13 years was when she was married to Sid Luft, but it was to end in 1965. Garland married twice more before her death in 1969. Sid Luft has made a statement about Judy’s death being a kind of suicide.

“Maybe she was doomed, but I also think her death was a kind of assisted suicide. A lot of people took advantage of her and made a bad situation worse.”

Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli’s Relationship Close But Complicated

Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli’s relationship was a close, loving relationship on a personal level. But on the stage, there was a different side to their relationship. According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, in David Shipman’s “Judy Garland: The Secret Life Of An American Legend,” Minnelli recounts the story of when she appeared as a young 18-year-old on the stage with the legendary Judy Garland.

“It was like Mama suddenly realized I was good, that she didn’t have to apologize for me. It was the strangest feeling. One minute I was on stage with my mother, the next moment I was on stage with Judy Garland. One minute she smiled at me, and the next minute she was like the lioness that owned the stage and suddenly found somebody invading her territory. The killer instinct of a performer had come out in her.”

Garland’s Ex-Husband Sid Luft Pays Tribute In New Memoir

According to People, in Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland, Sid Luft speaks frankly about his relationship with Garland.

“Judy Garland was a very rare mix of shattered nerves and insecurities, self-destructiveness, and suicidal tendencies but also a true genius,” Luft adds. “She was to me the greatest talent who ever lived.”

Maybe Judy Garland will be able to find the peace at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. At the very least, Garland’s children and grandchildren will find solace in that they will be together forever in body and in spirit. And maybe that is where Judy Garland’s rainbow lies after all.

[Featured Image by AP Images File]