Judy: The Life, Legend, and Tragedy of an American Icon

The tumultuous life story of Judy Garland, based on more than two hundred interviews and authorized access to her private papers, by the New York Timesbestselling biographer.

Gerold Frank met with legendary singer and actress Judy Garland to collaborate on her autobiography-but he completed the project alone after her fatal overdose in 1969. Drawn from more than two hundred interviews and full access to her personal records and pictures, Frank delves into the superstar's troubled life, assisted by the cooperation of her family, her doctors, and her friends in Hollywood.

Still vivid in our memory thanks to films like The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, and A Star Is Born, Judy Garland was an incomparable figure whose outsized talent made her an American icon-and her life story, an American tragedy.

"[A] messy and insatiably involving story.... Somehow beyond all the mythology of how a star was born and a cult created, Judy's consuming presence remains-the insecure charm, the mischievous humor, the guts-all programmed on self-destruct." -Kirkus Reviews

"When [Frank] digs into the roots of her behavior, he makes more sense than anybody else I have read. He is the perfect Dante for this trip into the underworld, the biographer Judy Garland deserves." -The New York Times

Includes photographs

Gerold Frank (19071998) was a bestselling author, reporter, and war correspondent. His career ranged widely, from covering World War II and the plight of European Jews, to publishing true-crime sensations, to pioneering a new literary art form: the "as-told-to" celebrity biography. A prolific ghostwriter, he formed intimate collaborations with the biggest stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, including Judy Garland, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Rita Hayworth. As a journalist and author, Frank secured extraordinary access, embedding with the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine, and later with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Boston Strangler Task Force during its investigation of the infamous serial killings. Several of his books became films, including "The Boston Strangler," starring Tony Curtis and Henry Fonda. Frank won Edgar Awards forThe Boston StranglerandThe Deed. Other bestsellers includedJudy, the only biography of Judy Garland written with the full cooperation of her family and closest confidants, andAn American Death, about the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.