Liza Minnelli

If you like this person, let us know!

Do you like this person ?

I like

I don't like

Birth name Liza May Minnelli
Nationality USA
Birth 12 march 1946 (78 years) at Hollywood (USA)
Awards Officier de la Légion d'honneur, Academy Award for Best Actress, Primetime Emmy Award

Liza May Minnelli (/ˈlaɪzə mɪˈnɛli/, born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer best known for her portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 1972 musical film Cabaret which won her an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Though born to film actress and singer Judy Garland (1922–1969) and film director Vincente Minnelli (1903–1986), Liza Minnelli never became a child or teenage star. In her teens, she started as a musical theatre actress, nightclub performer and traditional pop recording artist in New York City. Critically lauded for her dramatic performance in the film The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), she rose to international stardom with Cabaret and the Emmy Award-winning TV special Liza with a Z (1972). Most of her following film projects got mixed reviews and failed commercially, and she had no major movie hit except the 1981 comedy Arthur. She successfully returned to Broadway stage starring in the musical The Act in 1977. Primarily known as a pop standard singer, she recorded contemporary singer-songwriter material through the late 1960s and 1970s, which mostly failed to chart.

Struggling with drug use, Minnelli became one of the first prominent people openly talking about rehab. From the late 1970s on, her work has focused on concert tours and nightclub performances. She gave highly regarded performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987, and at Radio City Music Hall in 1991 and 1992. Switching between old school entertainment and contemporary music in the late 1980s, she both toured Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. and recorded the pop album Results produced by the British duo Pet Shop Boys. Many of her albums are live records.

Struggling with viral encephalitis, Minnelli returned with her concert show Liza's Back in 2002 and made critically acclaimed guest appearances in the sitcom Arrested Development from 2003 to 2013, while continuing to tour internationally and performing Liza's at The Palace...! on Broadway in 2008/2009.

Minnelli is considered both an American icon and a gay icon. She has won an Academy Award, being nominated once more, two Golden Globe Awards, one Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, in addition to one Grammy Legend Award and one Special Tony, as well as many other industry and critics awards. In 2000, Minnelli was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

Biography

Minnelli speaks fluent French.

Minnelli has long suffered from alcoholism, and has been addicted to prescription drugs, originating from a Valium prescription after her mother's death. Minnelli left her 1984 musical The Rink to enter the Betty Ford Clinic. Her use of recreational drugs in the 1970s was noted by Andy Warhol, who in a 1978 diary entry recalled Minnelli arriving at Halston's house and imploring the host to "Give me every drug you've got." Along with Warhol and Bianca Jagger, Minnelli made frequent appearances at New York City nightclubs during the late 1970s.

Marriages
Minnelli has been married (and divorced) four times.

Her first marriage was to entertainer Peter Allen on March 3, 1967. Australian-born Allen was Judy Garland's protégé in the mid-1960s. They divorced on July 24, 1974. Minnelli told The Advocate's Editor In Chief, Judy Wieder in September 1996, "I married Peter and he didn't tell me he was gay. Everyone knew but me. And I found out...well, let me put it this way: I'll never surprise anybody coming home as long as I live. I call first!"

Later that year, she married Jack Haley, Jr., a producer and director, on September 15, 1974. His father, Jack Haley, was Garland's co-star in The Wizard of Oz. They divorced in April 1979.

Then, Minnelli was married to Mark Gero, a sculptor and stage manager, from December 4, 1979 until their divorce in January 1992.

After that she was married to David Gest, a concert promoter, from March 16, 2002, until they divorced in April 2007. (They separated in July 2003). In a 2003 lawsuit, Gest alleged that Minnelli beat him in alcohol induced rages during their marriage. Minnelli's attorneys said Gest tried to isolate the singer from her three siblings - Christiane Minnelli, Lorna and Joey Luft.

Minnelli also had relationships with Rock Brynner, Desi Arnaz, Jr., Peter Sellers, and Martin Scorsese.

Minnelli has no children; one pregnancy left her with a hiatal hernia as a result of the medical steps taken to try to save the baby.

Philanthropy
Minnelli has, throughout her lifetime, served various charities and causes which she considers very important. She served on the board of directors of The Institutes for The Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) for 20 years, a nonprofit educational organization that introduces parents to the field of child brain development. In a 2006 interview with Randy Rice at Broadwayworld.com Minnelli said that she was the person who told Elizabeth Taylor about HIV/AIDS while talking about their mutual friend, Rock Hudson. She has also dedicated much time to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, which was co-founded by Taylor. In 2007, she stated in an interview with Palm Springs Life magazine, “AmfAR is important to me because I’ve lost so many friends that I knew [to AIDS]”. In 1994, she recorded the Kander & Ebb tune "The Day After That" and donated the proceeds to AIDS research. That same year she performed the song in front of thousands in Central Park at the 25th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.