Judy Garland

For movie musical lovers in general and gay men of a certain age in particular, Judy Garland represents the alpha and omega of stardom. So it was with some trepidation that I knocked on the apartment door of Tracie Bennett, the English actress who has been uncannily transforming herself into Garland in "End of the Rainbow," Peter Quilter's musical drama about the final chapter of Garland's life. Garland died tragically in 1969 at age 47. Bennett, just over the half-century mark yet still vibrating with pixieish vitality, is the next best thing to a fantasy meeting with the icon.

Playing Judy Garland in the months leading up to the actress' fatal 1969 overdose, Tracie Bennett spends much of "End of the Rainbow" horizontal - though rarely for more than 10 seconds at a time. The central prop of the bio-musical now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre is a hotel suite's fainting couch, but there's little fainting going on. Bennett throws herself onto or drapes herself across that beleaguered piece of furniture in every manic contortion possible. Even momentarily prone, she has enough manic energy to repower the San Onofre reactors.

Turner Classic Movies celebrates what would have been the 90th birthday of screen legend Judy Garland on June 10 with 24 hours of Garland movie musicals. TCM host Robert Osborne and historian John Fricke, author of "The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland," will emcee proceedings, which begin at 3 a.m PDT with the 1938 musical "Everybody Sing," which also stars Fanny Brice. Other films include three films Garland made with Mickey Rooney — 1938's "Love Finds Andy Hardy," 1940's "Strike Up the Band" and 1943's "Girl Crazy.

For movie musical lovers in general and gay men of a certain age in particular, Judy Garland represents the alpha and omega of stardom. So it was with some trepidation that I knocked on the apartment door of Tracie Bennett, the English actress who has been uncannily transforming herself into Garland in "End of the Rainbow," Peter Quilter's musical drama about the final chapter of Garland's life. Garland died tragically in 1969 at age 47. Bennett, just over the half-century mark yet still vibrating with pixieish vitality, is the next best thing to a fantasy meeting with the icon.

Update: A childhood home of Oscar-winning actress and singer Judy Garland, who played Dorothy in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz," has sold in Bel-Air for $5.2 million. The 1938 two-story house, with dormer windows and white columns set against a red-brick clad veranda, was designed by Wallace Neff. It went into escrow a week after coming on the market at $5.5 million and closed in two weeks. On more than 21/2 acres, the 5,500-square-foot house has five bedrooms and 61/2 bathrooms.

Judy Garland's hometown honored the late actress Saturday with a parade that featured 13 Munchkins from the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz" and drew thousands of people. Garland, who died in 1969, would have been 68 today.

Mort Lindsey, a conductor, arranger and composer best known as the music director for Judy Garland in the 1960s and for his more than two decades as music director for "The Merv Griffin Show," has died. He was 89. Lindsey, who was in declining health since breaking his hip six months ago, died May 4 at his home in Malibu, said his son Trevor. A pianist and a former staff conductor for CBS and ABC in New York in the 1950s, Lindsey was music director for Garland at her historic Carnegie Hall concert on April 23, 1961.

Tony- and Oscar-winner Liza Minnelli offered a personal message Sunday about her mother, legendary performer Judy Garland , to mark what would have been her 90 th birthday. "Today is a day for celebration. We celebrate the privilege of having had Mama touch all of our lives. She left us with so many feelings we never would have discovered about ourselves until she exquisitely translated them to us with her voice. "She is to be missed deeply, yes… But, what if we never had her?

A Bel-Air house that actress and singer Judy Garland once called home has come on the market at $5.5 million. The 1938 two-story house, with dormer windows and white columns set against a red-brick clad veranda, was designed by Wallace Neff for Garland and her mother, who lived there until the early 1940s, according to the Movieland Directory. On more than 2.5 acres, the 5,500-square-foot house has five bedrooms and 61/2 bathrooms. A swimming pool, cabanas and a writer's cottage sit in the backyard.

NEW YORK - Judy Garland, often drunk and occasionally disheveled, in Peter Quilter's biographical drama "End of the Rainbow," is rummaging for booze in her suite at the Ritz hotel. She's wired, and not simply because of the pills she can't seem to wean herself off of. As embodied by the astonishing British actress Tracie Bennett in a tour de force at the Belasco Theatre that has Broadway abuzz, Garland is amid a five-week London cabaret gig that's been arranged to steady her shaky finances.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of June 17 - 23 in PDF format TV listings for the week of June 17 - 23 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies SERIES Need to Know:  This new episode of the news magazine series focuses on long-term care for veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan (8:30 p.m. KOCE). Whale Wars:  The crew of the Brigitte Bardot must abandon their damaged vessel in a new episode (9 p.m. Animal Planet)

Tony- and Oscar-winner Liza Minnelli offered a personal message Sunday about her mother, legendary performer Judy Garland , to mark what would have been her 90 th birthday. "Today is a day for celebration. We celebrate the privilege of having had Mama touch all of our lives. She left us with so many feelings we never would have discovered about ourselves until she exquisitely translated them to us with her voice. "She is to be missed deeply, yes… But, what if we never had her?

Turner Classic Movies celebrates what would have been the 90th birthday of screen legend Judy Garland on June 10 with 24 hours of Garland movie musicals. TCM host Robert Osborne and historian John Fricke, author of "The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland," will emcee proceedings, which begin at 3 a.m PDT with the 1938 musical "Everybody Sing," which also stars Fanny Brice. Other films include three films Garland made with Mickey Rooney — 1938's "Love Finds Andy Hardy," 1940's "Strike Up the Band" and 1943's "Girl Crazy.

The sheriff's sale of a French estate on the Westside that was once the battleground for the bitter custody battle between screen star Judy Garland and Sid Luft was canceled this week after the parties involved negotiated a settlement. The 6,255-square-foot house, which sits on close to an acre near the border of Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, had been listed at $8.1 million, which would have been the minimum bid. The Midcentury house has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

"End of the Rainbow," the Broadway play about Judy Garland currently running at the Belasco Theatre, will make its Los Angeles debut in 2013 at the Ahmanson Theatre, with the Tony-nominated Tracie Bennett reprising her role as the troubled actress and singer. The Los Angeles engagement is scheduled to run March 12 through April 21, though the exact opening hasn't been announced. The Ahmanson engagement will be the first stop of a national tour of the play. Bennett, who is British, has received rave reviews for her performance as Garland.

Mort Lindsey, a conductor, arranger and composer best known as the music director for Judy Garland in the 1960s and for his more than two decades as music director for "The Merv Griffin Show," has died. He was 89. Lindsey, who was in declining health since breaking his hip six months ago, died May 4 at his home in Malibu, said his son Trevor. A pianist and a former staff conductor for CBS and ABC in New York in the 1950s, Lindsey was music director for Garland at her historic Carnegie Hall concert on April 23, 1961.

The sheriff's sale of a French estate on the Westside that was once the battleground for the bitter custody battle between screen star Judy Garland and Sid Luft was canceled this week after the parties involved negotiated a settlement. The 6,255-square-foot house, which sits on close to an acre near the border of Brentwood and Pacific Palisades, had been listed at $8.1 million, which would have been the minimum bid. The Midcentury house has eight bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

Judy Garland's life was a classic illustration of the joys, the perils and, ultimately, the tragedy of a life lived in the spotlight glare of the entertainment world. On stage from the time she was barely old enough to walk, she spent the balance of her years in one entertainment venue or another until her premature death in 1969 at the age of 47. "The Last Days of Judy Garland: The E!

Her Kansas home in "The Wizard of Oz" flew through the air. Now a Bel-Air house that was home to a young Judy Garland has flipped, selling for the second time since last year for $6,772,669. The Wallace Neff-designed house sold in 2011 for $5.2 million and was then updated and renovated. The two-story traditional, built in 1938, sits on about 2.5 acres. The 5,513-square-foot house features dormer and bay windows, white columns, French doors, five bedrooms and 61/2 bathrooms.

NEW YORK - Judy Garland, often drunk and occasionally disheveled, in Peter Quilter's biographical drama "End of the Rainbow," is rummaging for booze in her suite at the Ritz hotel. She's wired, and not simply because of the pills she can't seem to wean herself off of. As embodied by the astonishing British actress Tracie Bennett in a tour de force at the Belasco Theatre that has Broadway abuzz, Garland is amid a five-week London cabaret gig that's been arranged to steady her shaky finances.