Judy Garland was just a teenager when she played Dorothy Gale, a young Kansas girl who teams up with a trio of unlikely friends to battle the Wicked Witch of the West, in the 1939 Hollywood classic “The Wizard of Oz.” .

Both the film and the children’s books by L. Frank Baum, on which the film “The Wizard of Oz” was based, helped inspire Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel, “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West “. Broadway musical “Wicked” was released in 2003 and now has a blockbuster Hollywood adaptation.

Born Frances Ethel Gumm, Garland spent her childhood on stage in a vaudeville family act. She rose to fame appearing opposite Mickey Rooney in a series of beloved Hollywood musicals before landing the role of Dorothy.

Garland received a special Academy Juvenile Award for her portrayal of Dorothy and went on to star in such box office hits as “Meet Me in St. Louis,” directed by future husband Vincente Minnelli, and “Easter Parade,” which also starred Fred Astaire. She was later nominated for Oscars for her dramatic performances in “A Star is Born” (1954) and “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961).

The actor and singer, who struggled with addiction and mental health issues, welcomed her first child, Liza Minnelli, with director Vincente Minnelli in March 1946.

Garland and her third husband, manager and producer Sidney Luft, welcomed a daughter, Lorna Luft, in November 1952, and a son, Joey Luft, in March 1955.

Read on to learn more about Judy Garland’s three children.

Liza Minnelli

Garland welcomed her first child, daughter Liza Minnelli, with her second husband, Vincente Minnelli, in 1946.

Liza Minnelli, who became a stage and screen superstar in her own right, showed talent from an early age. She appeared as an entertainer on her mother’s CBS variety program, ‘The Judy Garland Show’.

Liza Minnelli, now 78, went on to win several Tony Awards, an Emmy, an honorary Grammy and an Academy Award for Best Actress in the Hollywood adaptation of the musical “Cabaret” (1972).

Over the years, Liza Minnelli has shared childhood memories with her famous mother, who died in 1969 of an apparently accidental barbiturate overdose, according to The Guardian.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about my mother is that she didn’t give me a happy childhood,” Liza Minnelli told Vogue Arabia in 2019. “There were definitely highs and lows, but I can say I was very happy. people choose to believe that or not, it’s up to them, but I know I was happy.

She added: “My fondest memory of my mother is the conversations we had. When I became a teenager, I became her best friend and confidante. We laughed and talked for hours. Sometimes in person, sometimes on the phone, depending on where we were. were.”

Minnelli and her half-sister, Lorna Luft, told “Entertainment Tonight” in a joint interview in 2022 that their childhood home was visited by Hollywood legends. including Humphrey Bogart and Lana Turner.

“But it was so funny: When Mom was in the room, no one cared,” Liza Minnelli said of her mother’s charisma. “She was so funny. She was fun.”

The sisters also objected to the way Garland was portrayed by the media as a “tragic” figure.

“That’s what irritates me the most,” Liza Minnelli said. “They tragically said Judy Garland and I said, ‘Oh, shut up.’ It was her humor and her kindness. … She was hilarious with her family.”

When Liza Minnelli was asked in a 2020 interview with Variety what her favorite memory of her late mother was, she replied “everything.”

“We had so much fun because she was so funny. She was funny and she loved her children so much. She was protective and very strict. She wanted you to do the right thing, like any mother. It’s that simple,” says Liza Minnelli.

The actor has been married and divorced four times. Her second husband was Jack Haley Jr., the son of actor Jack Haley who played the Tin Man in “The Wizard of Oz.”

Liza Minnelli, who has no children, is the subject of the upcoming documentary ‘Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story’, due out in January 2025.

Lorna Luft

Garland’s youngest daughter, Lorna Luft, who turned 72 on November 21, also followed in the Hollywood legend’s footsteps and began a career in show business.

Lorna Luft, whose father was Garland’s third husband, Sidney Luft, starred on the Broadway stage in “Promises, Promises” and toured in the national productions “Guys and Dolls” and “White Christmas.”

Lorna Luft also starred in the 1982 film ‘Grease 2’ and appeared as a special star in popular TV shows including ‘Murder, She Wrote’, ‘Trapper John, MD’, ‘The Nanny’ and ‘Caroline in the City ‘.

During their joint interview on “Entertainment Tonight” in 2022, Lorna Luft agreed with sister Liza Minnelli that Garland was a “fun” mom.

“Our mother had such an extraordinary sense of humor, and that was her survival guide. I can tell you that my lifeline has been to find the funny – just find the funny,” Lorna Luft explained. “And we think so, we just think it’s funny because I think that’s the way we were brought up and raised and we looked at a woman who thought it was funny.”

She wrote lovingly about her life at home with Garland in the 1998 tell-all “Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir,” which was adapted into an Emmy-winning TV movie. She also co-wrote the 2018 book “A Star is Born: Judy Garland and the Film That Got Away.”

Lorna Luft has a son and daughter, both of whom she posts on social media, and is married to composer Colin Freeman.

Joey Luft

Garland’s only son, Joey Luft, was only 14 when his mother died in 1969.

Joey Luft, the son of Garland and Sidney Luft, has lived his life largely out of the spotlight, although he has also dabbled in entertainment.

The younger Luft appeared on a special holiday episode of Garland’s CBS variety show “The Judy Garland Show” in 1963, singing the song “Where Is Love?”

“(Garland) opened the show with ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,’” Joey Luft recalled to the Los Angeles Times in 2014. “Our living room (of the Luft family home) on Rockingham Avenue was copied so that the Christmas show looked like our living room.”

Garland’s youngest child later studied photography and sound, telling the outlet, “I’ve been behind the camera more.”

Joey Luft, his sister Lorna and his half-sister Liza made headlines when they performed together at the 2014 Academy Awards for a special 75th anniversary tribute to “The Wizard of Oz.”

Like his siblings, Joey Luft has fond memories of growing up with Garland.

“She was an artist. She was a mother. She loved people,” he told the LA Times. “She was the most caring person. She had the greatest sense of humor.”

To honor his mother, Joey Luft collected images and stories about her to create the show “A Judy Garland Concert with Joey Luft,” which premiered in 2014 at the Pasadena Playhouse outside Los Angeles, according to the LA Times.

“It’s just so nice to get out there and talk about her and let people know, ‘This is what really happened,’” he told the publication.

“(Audiences) know ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ but people don’t even know Judy,” he added. “The show is intended to educate and show people who she was, what she did and what she was all about: one of the greatest entertainers in the world.”