Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft Speak On Judy Garland’s Legacy Ahead Of 100th Birthday

“That’s the thing that bugs me the most,” Minnelli says. “They would say tragic Judy Garland and I’d say, ‘Oh shut up.’ It was her humor and her kindness. … With her family, she was hilarious.”

Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft carry on their mother’s legacy

Luft shared a similar feeling. “I’ve always said this … we’ve all had tragedies in life, but we’re not tragic. And she had tragedies, but she was not tragic, and she didn’t pass it on to us,” she says.

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Garland first began performing with her sisters in their vaudeville group The Gumm Sisters before she was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teen. She would go on to rise to fame with her performance as Dorothy Gale In 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. She also went on to perform as an adult in movies like Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Ziegfeld Follies (1945) and A Star Is Born (1954). She continued performing into her later years but faced tragedy as she struggled with drugs and alcohol. She was found dead from an accidental drug overdose on June 22, 1969.