Liza Minnelli - her life in entertainment & remembering Michael Jackson

June 29, 1:30 AMActing ExaminerDeborah Smith Ford

Previous Next

6 comments Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Acting Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Liza Minnelli                                                      (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Liza May Minnelli, "Liza Minnelli," is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer, actress, artist Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli.

Minnelli's first film appearance was at the age of three in the final scene of the 1949 musical In the Good Old Summertime, starring her mother and Van Johnson.

Minnelli and her mother shared a warm personal relationship, during the London Palladium performances Garland recognized Minnelli's talent and felt a sense of competition. Minnelli recalled a time where she was singing on stage:

I was onstage with my mother, but suddenly, she wasn't Mama ... she was Judy Garland."

Minnelli's career has been known to be filled with highs and lows. In the beginnings, however, she recorded several studio albums for A&M and Capitol Records. The Capitol albums "Liza! Liza!", "It Amazes Me" and "There Is A Time" have recently been reissued on a two CD compilation, for the first time in their entirety.

During the early days of Television in the 1950s Liza appeared as a child guest on Art Linkletter's show and in 1959 sang and danced with Gene Kelly on his first television special.

Minnelli was also a guest star in one episode of the popular Ben Casey television series starring Vince Edwards and was a frequent guest on chat shows of the day including numerous appearances on shows hosted by Jack Paar, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, Joe Franklin, Dinah Shore and Johnny Carson.

During the 1960s she made several guest appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh In as well as other variety shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Hollywood Palace, as well as The Judy Garland Show. In 1964 she appeared as Minnie in her first television dramatic role in the episode "Nightingale for Sale" on Craig Stevens's short-lived CBS series, Mr. Broadway.

Minnelli returned to Broadway in 1997, taking over the title role in the musical Victor/Victoria, replacing Julie Andrews. In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley commented about Liza Minnelli:

Her every stage appearance is perceived as a victory of show-business stamina over psychic frailty... She asks for love so nakedly and earnestly, it seems downright vicious not to respond."

In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring character on the critically acclaimed TV sitcom Arrested Development, and in September 2006, she made a guest appearance on the long-running NBC drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Masquerade, the Halloween-themed episode, broadcast on Tuesday, October 31, 2006.

Again, Minnelli returned to Broadway in a new solo concert at the Palace Theatre called Liza's at the Palace...! which ran from December 3, 2008 through January 4, 2009.  Not to forget Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age, portraying herself.

You have to work hard for it, but first you have to want it, and then you have to dream on it." - Liza Minelli

In addition to Minnelli making guest appearances on Arrested Development and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, she has also been in the UK appearing on the Ruby Wax, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross shows and participated in a comedy skit on the Charlotte Church Show and was featured on the Michael Parkinson Show.

Liza Minnelli was good friends with Michael Jackson, had known him for 45 of his 50 years (Michael would have celebrated his 51st birthday August 29th) and devastated about his death.  Liza has been interviewed numerous times since Michael's death.  She has shared her memorable experiences with Michael Jackson since she first saw him at the age of five.  Minnelli (and others) about Jackson:

He was a kind, genuine, and wonderful man. He was also one of the greatest entertainers that ever lived. I loved him very much, and I will miss him every remaining day of my life."