Liza Minnelli

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Liza Minnelli : biography

12 March 1946 –

The next round of career was cinema. Liza’s debut on the screen took place in 1968 – it was a secondary role in a dramatic film “Charlie Bubbles”. In this year Liza married for the first time: the lucky man was an Australian journalist Peter Allen. The second Liza’s work was a film “The Sterile Cuckoo”, which appeared in 1969 and brought Liza a nomination for “Oscar”. But her mother didn’t see this success. Not long before the appearance of “The Sterile Cuckoo” on screens Judy Garland died because of hypnotic overdose, and Liza not only got a serious mental injury, but also had to pay all mother’s big debts.

A film “Cabaret” brought Liza Minelli a world-wide fame. Viewers saw it in 1971 – it was a filming of a Broadway play, directed by Bob Foss. This wonderful musical, which was also a political film, became the actress’s trademark. When she got a role of a cabaret singer, Liza imagined her character resembling Marlene Dietrich, but father advised her to make another image – and Liza followed his advice. Minelli’s character conquered viewers and critics because of a matchless manner of popular songs’ performance, a broken figure, dressed in eccentric costumes and absolute absence of deliberate parody. The actress deservedly got “The Golden Globe”, “Oscar” and the British cinema Academy award for “Cabaret”.

Among crazy number of letters there was an envelope, signed by John Travolta. The envelope was enclosed with a rose, and a letter told that Travolta dreamt to stay near Liza in front of cameras. The actress threw this letter away, as others, and forgot about it, and several days later when she saw Travolta on the screen, she was delighted and immediately sent John an offer to play together. They become friends. this friendship, according to Liza Minnelli’s words, could develop into love, but by that time the actress had divorced with Peter Allen, lived five years with a director Jack Haily and decided to get married for the third time – to a sculptor Mark Gero.

In spite of a fairy good ambition of Liza, even after the success of “Cabaret” didn’t manage to get rid of gang-ups and continued to compare herself with parents. Unfortunately, two next films strengthened the actress’s lack of self-confidence. The first was an absolutely disastrous musical “Lucky Lady”, which appeared in 1975 and brought its creators only huge losses. The second film, named “A Matter of Time”, was made in 1976 by Vincento Minnelli, and a joint work of father and daughter wasn’t a success. Liza’s hopes appealed to a role in a musical “New York, New York”, and, fortunately, they came true. Martin Scorsese made a brilliant film and chose actors successfully – Liza played with Robert De Niro in this film.

But this success, perhaps, was the last in a career of a wonderful actress. Next roles didn’t bring Liza fame. The brightest image in her works was Linda Marolla in films “Arthur” and “Arthur 2: On the Rocks”, other films were practically unnoticed. At the end of 80-s her name was mentioned not because of wonderful roles, but because of scandals, illnesses and drugs. Liza repeated her mother’s destiny – she played little, mainly preformed in night clubs, made keen on alcohol and drugs, wasn’t lucky in private life… Love meant a lot to her, but family life didn’t succeed. Probably, the actress searched in men something that she had lacked in the childhood – tenderness and calmness. She lived longer with her third husband than with others – for twelve years. Hollywood discussed her love to Martin Scorsese, her affairs with Robert De Niro, Charles Aznavour, Peter Sellers, Mikhail Baryshnikov. She was happy for some time with a jazz musician Billy Stretch, but this relationship wasn’t long. In the forth time Liza got married in 2022 to a TV producer David Gest – and divorced after a year and a half.

Going through a course of treatment in a famous among Hollywood satrs clinic of Betsy Ford, Liza heartened up – she was only forty years old, she looked beautifully and had a lot of admirers, who didn’t forget her. In 1987 the actress went on a big European tour and played in a film “Rent-a-Cop”, but soon a crazy speed of life resulted in the next serious depression. Two years later she recorded a new album under the name “Results” with a group “Pet Shop Boys”, and this album became one of the ten best albums. In 90-s Liza continued musical career and was even nominated for “Grammy”. In 1997 she appeared on the theatrical stage and played the main role in “Victor and Victoria” on Broadway.

The new century started sadly for Liza Minnelli – with a serious form of viral encephalitis. Doctors feared that the actress couldn’t walk any more, but Liza conquered the illness and returned in theatre. Though later she had to endure operations on knee and femoral joint. In last years Liza played in TV serials, took part in concerts and included in her repertoire mother’s songs – without awkwardness and hang-ups, just as a memory for Judy.

Liza Minelli, a wonderful singer and actress, doesn’t need special effects and luxurious concert garments, she never lip-synches a song, and her every performance is an absolute efficiency, a wonderful show, hypnotic, uncompromising.