Liza May Minnelli was born on March 12, 1946, in Los Angeles, California. In 1952 her parents divorced, and she spent much of her life living in hotels because of her mother’s career. It is rumored that Liza Minnelli is the inspiration for the precocious Plaza Hotel dwelling Eloise, which was written by her godmother Kay Thompson.
Despite her early introduction into the world of movies at age three, Minnelli was not a child star. Her career did not really begin until 1964 when she joined her mother on stage at the London Palladium for a performance. Audiences noticed, and the following year she was on Broadway and earning a Tony for her performance in Flora the Red Menace. During her Broadway career Minnelli won three Tony’s.
She would also be nominated twice for Academy Awards for her roles in the films A Sterile Cuckoo in 1969 and Cabaret in 1972. She won the Oscar for Cabaret and also won a Golden Globe for her performance. Minnelli has also won an Emmy for her 1972 television special Liza with a Z. There are very few performers who have won all three major entertainment awards. In 1990 she was also awarded the Grammy Legend Award.
Liza Minnelli’s early career was filled with success, but after the 1981 film Arthur, in which she played Dudley Moore’s love interest, success was harder to come by. Success in her personal life was also difficult to come by. Minnelli has been married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to singer Peter Allen in 1967. The two separated in 1969 after Judy Garland’s death, and divorced in 1972. She next married Jack Haley Jr., the son of her mother’s co-star in The Wizard of Oz. That marriage lasted from 1974 to 1979 until she left Haley for her third husband, sculptor Mark Gero, whom she was married to from 1979 to 1992.
During this time there were rumors about Minnelli’s problems with drugs and alcohol. She dropped out of sight for a while and even did a stint in The Betty Ford Clinic. A sober Liza Minelli returned to Broadway in 1997, replacing Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria.
In 2002 she entered into a high profile marriage with producer David Gest. The two adopted a daughter, Serena, but the marriage only lasted sixteen months. In October of 2003 Gest sued his estranged wife for $10,000, accusing her of abusing him during a bit of alcohol-fueled violence and causing him neurological damage. Liza Minelli denied the accusations.
Liza Minelli still continues to entertain. In 2004 she had a successful guest appearance on the show Arrested Development. In 2006 she co-starred in the film The OH in Ohio with Parker Posey and Danny DeVito.
YUDDY
