E! Recounts the Unhappy Life of Judy Garland

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! True Hollywood Story” is a somewhat misleading title for a documentary that examines not just the last days, but the entire flaming arc of a shooting-star life. Narrated by actress Christina Pickles, the program includes a wealth of rare footage dating from her performance as 7-year-old Frances “Baby” Gumm to her final 1969 concert appearance.

For Garland fans, the outline of the story is familiar: early years on the stage with two older siblings, first as the Gumm Sisters, then the Garland Sisters, their careers driven by a quintessential stage mother; youthful years in Andy Hardy films climaxed by her breakout role in “The Wizard of Oz”; a brilliant run as one of MGM’s most vital musical stars; a series of unhappy marriages (three by the time she was in her late 20s); a deteriorating career revived momentarily by her Oscar-nominated role in “A Star Is Born”; a continuing roller-coaster ride through triumphs at the Palace Theatre and Carnegie Hall, television appearances and another Oscar nomination for “Judgment at Nuremberg.” And all of it alternating with bouts of depression and a nervous breakdown.

“The Last Days of Judy Garland” attempts to pull all these pieces together via film footage, interviews with Mickey Rooney, Ann Miller, Margaret O’Brien, Alan King and others, as well as excerpts from archival conversations with daughters Lorna Luft and Liza Minnelli and Garland’s widower, Mickey Deans.

The life story that emerges is tragic--the tale of a gifted young artist who, from the very beginning, was urged to act out her mother’s dreams of fame. A lifetime addiction to drugs (pills to wake up, to sleep, calm down, lose weight) were an implicit element in the realization of those dreams.

But the dark moments are countered by the brilliance of her performances. Brief though they are--bits and pieces of clips from her childhood, from “The Wizard of Oz,” from her MGM musicals, from the Palace performance--they make it instantly clear that Garland was one of a kind, an entertainment original.

What the documentary does not make clear is who she was, beyond the stirring performances, the emotional instability, unhappy marriages and self-medication. Virtually all the interview subjects describe, in detail, Garland’s self-destructiveness. But they offer few explanations for the manner in which, even during her most traumatic periods, she could conjure such entertainment magic.

And perhaps there can be no explanation beyond the obvious one--that the stage, the spotlights and the cameras provided the only environment in which Judy Garland could safely be herself.

* “The Last Days of Judy Garland: The E! True Hollywood Story” can be seen on E! Entertainment Television on Sunday at 9 p.m.