LIZA MINNELLI

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* THIS IS A LIZA MINNELLI'S UNNOFICCIAL SITE * Liza May Minnelli (born March 12, 1946) is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of fellow performer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli. In 1972, Liza Minnelli won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in Cabaret. She has also won two Tony Awards (including one special Tony), an Emmy Award and a special Grammy Award for lifetime achievement, along with many other honors and awards. Two of her records were certified gold. BIOGRAPHY Minnelli was born in Hollywood, California into a well known artistic family; her maternal lineage had entertainers in the family going back six generations. Her famous mother, Judy Garland, had legendary success in film and in music, and her aunts had been part of a singing group, "The Gumm Sisters", with her mother. Her father, also from a theatrical family including circus performers, was acclaimed MGM film director Vincente Minnelli. Her godparents were Ira Gershwin and Kay Thompson. Liza 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. Although 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 half-siblings through her mother and husband Sid Luft are sister Lorna Luft and brother Joey Luft. She also has a half-sibling Christiane Nina Minnelli (nicknamed Tina Nina) through her father's second marriage. She has also been portrayed in the Australian musical The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman. On Broadway, she was portrayed by Broadway star Stephanie J. Block. The show received four Tony nominations. Liza is also known childhood friends with Mia Farrow, Cheryl Crane, Candice Bergen, Tisha Sterling, Natalie Cole, and Katy Manning. THEATRE Minnelli began performing professionally at age 17, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received good notices, and her first award, The Theatre World Award. The next year, her mother invited Minnelli to perform with her at the London Palladium. The audience loved her, launching her future concert career. She returned to Broadway at 19, and in 1965 she became the youngest person ever to win a leading actress Tony Award for Flora the Red Menace. FILM Appearance on film is as the baby in her mother Judy Garland's film, "In the Good Old Summertime" (1949). Her first credited film role was as the love-interest in Albert Finney's only film as director and star, Charlie Bubbles (1967). In 1969 she appeared in Alan J. Pakula's first feature film, The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), as Pookie Adams, a needy, eccentric teenager. Her performance won her her first Academy Award nomination. She played another eccentric character the following year in Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon, directed by Otto Preminger. In 1972, Minnelli appeared in perhaps her best-known film role, as Sally Bowles in the movie version of Cabaret. She said that one of the things she did to prepare was to study photographs of classic actresses Louise Glaum and Louise Brooks and the dark-haired ladies of that time. Minnelli won the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance, along with a Golden Globe Award. She was the first person to ever grace the covers of Time and Newsweek magazines simultaneously. Hot off the success of the movie, Bob Fosse and Minnelli teamed up for what was to become a groundbreaking show in several departments. Liza with a 'Z', a filmed concert later aired only two times on TV until the recovery from the vaults and first public release on DVD in 2006. In the concert, filmed in one non-stop performance, Minnelli danced and sang in several daring and censor-challenging costumes designed by famed costume designer Halston. Several awards were the reward for what is regarded by both critics and public as a piece of show business history. Following a string of less successful feature movies and ventures into television, she finally got the chance to work with her father, director Vincente Minnelli, in the 1976 fantasy-musical A Matter of Time, co-starring Ingrid Bergman. After severe editing and cutting, done by the studio, with no input from Vincente Minnelli, the film was neither a commercial nor a critical success. Her appearance opposite Robert De Niro in the 1977 film, New York, New York however, gave Minnelli her best known signature song. Frank Sinatra released a successful cover version (for his Trilogy: Past Present Future album) two years later and used it as his signature song as well, sometimes even dueting with Liza live on stage. After her performance as leading lady to Dudley Moore in 1981's hit film Arthur, Minnelli made fewer film appearances although she returned to the big screen in 1991 for "Stepping Out", a feel-good musical comedy. Later career Minnelli's career has been known to be filled with highs and lows.[citation needed] 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. In 1989 Minnelli collaborated with the Pet Shop Boys on "Results", an electronic dance-style album. The release hit the top 10 in the UK and also charted in the US, spawning four singles ("Don't Drop Bombs", "Losing My Mind", "Love Pains" and "So Sorry, I Said"). This also gave her a chance to film promotional videos for the songs and resulted in a long-overdue comeback in the music business. Initially released on a VHS tape titled "Visible Results", the clips were later issued on a bonus DVD included in the 2005 remastered and expanded edition of the album. Later that year she performed "Losing My Mind" live at the Grammys ceremony before receiving a Grammy Legend Award, making her one of only 12 other entertainers, in a list that includes Whoopi Goldberg, Barbra Streisand, and Mel Brooks among others, to win an Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Academy Award, even though she is sometimes discounted since her Grammy was a special award and was not won in a competitive category. She 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, "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." After a serious case of viral encephalitis in 2000, Minnelli was in very bad shape; her family and friends were seriously worried, and even an estrangement with half-sister Lorna was buried. Doctors predicted that she would spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. However, she refused to accept this and with the help of dance lessons, which she still takes daily, managed to recover and returned to the stage "Liza's Back" in 2002 performing to rave reviews in London and New York City. After this success, the world was again made aware of Minnelli's entertainment capabilities and she continued to tour the world and received offers from several fields in the business. In 2004 and 2005 she appeared as a recurring character on the critically acclaimed TV sitcom Arrested Development as Lucille Austero, the lover of sexually and socially awkward Buster Bluth and also the lover of Buster's brother GOB. In September 2006, she made a guest appearance on the long-running NBC drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Masquerade, the Halloween-themed episode. This was written by Gina Gionfriddo and broadcast on Tuesday, October 31, 2006. She also completed guest vocals on My Chemical Romance's 2006 concept album The Black Parade, portraying "Mother War", a dark conception of the main character's mother, in the song "Mama". Her latest project is the imminent release of a collection of songs that her godmother Kay Thompson originated. In 2007 she has added the songs to her latest tour to introduce them to audiences. 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. In her second act she performed a series of numbers created by Kay Thompson. The reviews noted that while her voice was ragged at times, and her movements no longer elastic, the old magic was still very much present -- from first to last, Liza had audiences cheering and applauding and begging for more. On January 10, 2009, Minnelli made a rare live TV appearance in a surprise cameo on NBC's Saturday Night Live, playing the best friend of Penelope (Kristin Wiig). Also on January 26, 2009, she made an appearance on The View, singing "I Would Never Leave You" from her new CD Liza's at the Palace...!. She was also interviewed by the cast of The View. During March 2009, she had very successful shows in Argentina (Buenos Aires and Córdoba) and Brazil. ..

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March 30, 2009

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