Liza May Minnelli (b.1946) is an American actress, dancer, and singer. One of the few show business performers to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony during a career that has spanned more than five decades, Minnelli has succeeded in Broadway musicals, films, concerts, recordings, television specials, and her live concert performances.
Born in Los Angeles, the daughter of film director Vincente Minnelli and actress Judy Garland, Liza first appeared on screen in her mother’s film In The Good Old Summertime (1949) and acted in a school production of The Diary of Anne Frank (1960.)
Minnelli made her off-Broadway début in Best Foot Forward (1963) and became the youngest actress to win a Tony award, for Flora, the Red Menace (1965.) Seen on television and in cabaret, her vibrant voice and emotionally charged renditions brought comparisons with Garland. Roles in films like Charlie Bubbles (1967,) The Sterile Cuckoo (1969,) and Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon (1970) revealed her dramatic skills.
Minnelli won an Academy Award for Cabaret (1972,) and a television special, Liza with a Z (1972,) confirmed her versatility. Subsequent dramatic appearances include New York, New York (1977,) the television film A Time to Live (1985) and Victor-Victoria on Broadway (1997.)
Scott Schechter wrote the biography The Liza Minnelli Scrapbook (2004.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Liza Minnelli
I’m carrying on a tradition. But I’d rather be a first-rate version of myself than a second-rate version of somebody else. I’m proud of my parents, and the only way that I can prove it to them is to take what they gave me and work my head off.
—Liza Minnelli
Topics: Identity, Graduation
There are so many girls, and so few princes.
—Liza Minnelli
Topics: Girls
In Hollywood now when people die they don’t say, “Did he leave a will?” but “Did he leave a diary?”
—Liza Minnelli
Topics: Fame
It was no great tragedy being Judy Garland’s daughter. I had tremendously interesting childhood years—except they had little to do with being a child.
—Liza Minnelli
Topics: Tragedy
Reality is something you rise above.
—Liza Minnelli
Topics: Realism, Reality
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