A little about the two Gene Kelly and Judy Garland made a total of three films together. ( They also appeared in two other films but they weren’t starring together) In 1942, they made their first movie together, “For me and my Gal.” This was Gene’s first film, and he learned that dancing on film was quite different than dancing live on stage to a live audience. Judy noticed this and helped him get use to movie acting. Gene later said this, "Judy pulled me through. She was very kind and helpful, more than she even realized, because I watched her to find out what I had to do. I was amazed at her skill; she knew every mark and every move. All I could do for her was help with the dancing. She wasn’t a dancer, but she could pick up a step instantly. She was a very relaxed, marvelous person...the most talented performer we’ve ever had." After seeing Gene’s talent in For me and my Gal, his career immediately kicked off, landing him three films in 1943. Garland and Kelly next starred in “ The Pirate.” which was anything but a success. One preview card reported, “ Would have fallen asleep, if it weren’t for all the noise produced on the screen.” The Pirate was the only picture Judy was ever to make that failed to yield Metro a profit. The last movie the two appeared in was Summer Stock., which turned out to be an “okay success.” It was also a perfect ending to Judy’s career. Three months later, Judy was fired from MGM.Judy GarlandJudy Garland - was born June 10, 1922 as Frances Ethel Gumm. She was born in Grand Rapids, Minnesota and was the youngest child of former vaudevillians Frank Gumm and Ethel Marion Milne. "Baby" (as Frances was affectionately called) shared the family’s flair for song and dance. "Baby" Gumm’s first appearance came at the age of two-and-a-half, when she joined her two older sisters, Mary Jane ("Suzy") and Dorothy Virginia ("Jimmie") on stage for a chorus of "Jingle Bells" in a Christmas show at her father’s theater on December 26, 1924.In 1934, the sisters, who had been touring the vaudeville circuit as "The Gumm Sisters" for many years, performed in Chicago at the Oriental Theater with George Jessel. He encouraged the group to choose a more appealing name after "Gumm" received small laughter from the audience. "The Garland Sisters" was chosen. Soon afterwards, Frances changed her name to "Judy" after a popular song of the day (by Hoagy Carmichael). How the last name Garland came about. A rumor persists that the last name Garland was originated by Jessel after Carole Lombard’s character Lily Garland in the film Twentieth Century which was then playing at the Oriental; another rumor circulates that the trio picked the surname after drama critic Robert Garland,[2] though her daughter, Lorna Luft, stated that her mother chose the name when Jessel announced that the trio of singers "looked prettier than a garland of flowers".[3] Despite this, another variation surfaced when, in 1963, Jessel was a guest on Garland’s television show. He claimed that he had sent actress Judith Anderson a telegram containing the word "garland" and it stuck in his mind; Judy agreed. Who was she? Judy was an Academy Award-winning American film actress and singer, best known for her role as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. The American Film Institute named Garland eighth among the Greatest Female Stars of All Time. Her Husbands David Rose Vincente Minnelli; Sidney Luft; Mark Herron; Mickey Deans; Her kids Liza Minelli Lorna Luft, Joey Luft Her Death In march of 1969, Judy married her fifth husband, Mickey Devinko, better known as Mickey Deans, a gay night-club promoter. Judy had an unfortunate habit of marrying gay men. They lived together in a tiny mews house in Chelsea, London. For a look inside, click here. The evening of Saturday June 21 1969, Judy and Mickey were watching a documentary, The Royal Family, on television, when they had an argument. Judy ran out the door screaming into the street, waking the neighbors. Several versions of what happened next exist, but the fact remains that a phone call for Judy woke him at 10:40 the next morning, and she was not sleeping in the bed. He searched for her, only to find the bathroom door locked. After no response, he climbed outside to the bathroom window and entered to find Judy, sitting on the toilet. Rigor Mortis had already set in. Judy Garland was dead at the age of 47.Official cause of death: Barbituate Poisoning (quinalbarbitone), incautious self-overdosage, accidental.The day Judy died, legend has it, there was a tornado in Kansas. Biography taken from Judy Garland’s wikipedia page Gene Kelly Gene Kelly was born August 23, 1912 as Eugene Curran Kelly. He was an Academy Award-winning American dancer, actor, singer, director, producer, and choreographer.Kelly was a major exponent of 20th century filmed dance, known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks and the likeable characters that he played on screen. Although he is probably best known today for his performance in Singin’ in the Rain, he dominated the Hollywood musical film from the mid 1940s until its demise in the late 1950s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Kelly among the Greatest Male Stars of All Time, ranking at No. 15. Gene was the third son of James Kelly, a phonograph salesman, and Harriet Curran, who were both children of Irish Roman Catholic immigrants. He was born in the Highland Park neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. and, at the age of eight, was enrolled by his mother in dance classes, along with his older brother James. They both rebelled, and, according to Kelly:" We didn’t like it much and were continually involved in fistfights with the neighborhood boys who called us sissies...I didn’t dance again until I was fifteen."[1] Kelly returned to dance on his own initiative and by then was an accomplished sportsman and well able to take care of himself. He graduated from Peabody High School in 1929. He enrolled in Pennsylvania State College to study journalism but the economic crash obliged him to seek employment to help with the family’s finances. At this time, he worked up dance routines with his younger brother Fred in order to earn prize money in local talent contests, and they also performed in local nightclubs.In 1931 Kelly enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt), to study economics where he joined the Phi Kappa Theta fraternity and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics in 1933.[2] In 1930, his family started a dance studio on Munhall Road in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. In 1932, it was renamed The Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance. A second location was opened in Johnstown, Pennsylvania in 1933. While still an undergraduate student and later as a student at Pitt’s School of Law, Gene was a teacher at the dance studio. Eventually, though, he decided to pursue his career as a dance teacher and entertainer full-time and so dropped out of law school after two months. He began to focus increasingly on performing, later claiming: "With time I became disenchanted with teaching because the ratio of girls to boys was more than ten to one, and once the girls reached sixteen the dropout rate was very high."[1] In 1937, having successfully managed and developed the family’s dance school business, he moved to New York City in search of work as a choreographer.Selznick sold half of Kelly’s contract to MGM and loaned him out to MGM for his first motion picture: For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. Kelly was "appalled at the sight of myself blown up twenty times. I had an awful feeling that I was a tremendous flop"[1] but the picture did well and, in the face of much internal resistance, Arthur Freed of MGM picked up the other half of Kelly’s contract. After appearing in the B-movie drama Pilot no. 5 he took the male lead in Cole Porter’s Du Barry Was a Lady opposite Lucille Ball. His first opportunity to dance to his own choreography came in his next picture Thousands Cheer, where he performed a mock-love dance with a mop. Gene’s Wives Betsy Blair Jeanne Coyne Patricia Ward Gene’s kids Kerry Kelly Bridget Kelly Tim Kelly Gene’s Death Kelly died on February 2, 1996, in Beverly Hills, California, after suffering two strokes, at the age of 83. Biography taken from Gene Kelly’s wikipedia page