The Queen of Showbiz: Liza Minnelli At 75

By JC Villamere. 12 Mar 2021 2:02 PM

As a singer, dancer, actress and stage star, audiences can’t help but root for her. Liza Minnelli’s raw, vulnerable, exuberant performance style is genuinely original. On the occasion of this show business legend’s 75th birthday, we’re looking back (through tarantula eyelashes) at some of her most memorable career moments.

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Vertigo
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If you saw Minnelli perform as Lucille Austero (Lucille 2) on "Arrested Development", you got a taste of all the delicious flavours of her performance style. She's super into aesthetics, theatrical to the gods, there's a sense of irony and humour, and she's in on the joke.
Million Dollar Baby
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Minnelli was famous even before she was born, on March 12, 1946, in L.A. Both her parents were showbiz stars and Oscar winners. Her mother Judy Garland was the famed lead of "Wizard of Oz". Her dad, Vincent Minnelli, would win the Best Director Oscar for "Gigi". Ms. Minnelli spent time as a child on the sets of musicals her parents were filming and naturally picked up the performance bug. "I used to go over to Rehearsal Hall B or C and watch Cyd Charisse, Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly, and I'd learn all their numbers. Then I'd go home and practise for hours in front of the mirror,” she told Time magazine in 1972.
'Best Foot Forward'
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In 1961, Minnelli moved to New York to try to make it as an actress, nightclub performer and recording artist. She made her formal debut in 1963 in an Off-Broadway revival of "Best Foot Forward". From there, she scored a role in the Broadway show "Flora, The Red Menace". Her performance netted her a Tony Award in 1965. At 19, she was the category's youngest winner in history. Here, she celebrates with fellow winner Zero Mostel from "Fiddler On The Roof".
'The Sterile Cuckoo'
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The 1969 drama told the unvarnished story of young love. It starred Minnelli as Pookie, a fragile, needy teenager in college. The role earned her a Golden Globe nomination in 1970 for Best Actress but she lost out to Maggie Smith (a.k.a. Lady Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess of Grantham). Screen star Gene Kelly has said, "I think there are thousands of sons and daughters of great artists who couldn't even carry a tune. I don't think it harmed her having two talented parents, but I don't think you can say it gave her her talent."
'Cabaret'
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Minnelli's role as Sally Bowles is one of the best-known of her career. Her starring role in the 1972 film "Cabaret" was her first chance to sing on screen. The musical drama was a smash hit.
With A Zed
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Building on the success of "Cabaret", Minnelli filmed a concert for TV. In 1972's "Liza With A Z", she sang and danced to hits, including songs from the "Cabaret" soundtrack. Like "Cabaret", it was choreographed by the famous Bob Fosse, a.k.a. the King of Jazz Hands. Halston designed the costumes. He was a friend of Minnelli's and also designed much of her wardrobe. The program won four Emmys, including the award for Outstanding Achievement in Music, Lyrics and Special Material.
At The Golden Globes
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Minnelli won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her role in “Cabaret”. She triumphed over fellow nominees Maggie Smith, Goldie Hawn, Carol Burnett, and Juliet Mills (a.k.a. Tabitha Lenox from classic camp ‘90s soap opera “Passions”). Minnelli’s date for the award ceremony was boyfriend Desi Arnaz Jr. As the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, he could identify with Minnelli’s experience as a child of Hollywood stars. Nevertheless, Minnelli has been married four times but never to Arnaz.
At The Oscars
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“Cabaret” won eight Oscars at the 1973 ceremony, including the Best Actress award for Minnelli. Now, like each of her parents, she had an Academy Award to call her own. Here, Raquel Welch presents Minnelli with the award as Gene Hackman looks on. With a Tony, Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe, Minnelli had entered an exclusive circle of award-winning artists.
'New York, New York'
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Minnelli played a pop singer trying to make love work with a jazz saxophonist portrayed by Robert De Niro in this 1977 film. Martin Scorsese directed it in the wake of his success with "Taxi Driver". Minnelli was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe for her work in the gritty musical, and Robert De Niro was nominated as Best Actor. The "Theme from New York, New York" was a hit for Minnelli and later for Frank Sinatra, who recorded his famous cover in 1979.
'Arthur'
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In the 1981 hit rom-com, Minnelli stars as a working-class woman from Queens who finds love with a boozy billionaire, Arthur, who is inconveniently already betrothed to a rich heiress to secure his fortune. Dudley Moore stars as Arthur. The role earned Minnelli another nomination for a Best Actress Golden Globe.
The Advocate
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Minnelli posed with her friends Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor at the Golden Globe Awards in January 1985. By October, Hudson would be dead from a taboo new mystery virus, AIDS. In response, Elizabeth Taylor established the Foundation for AIDS Research (AmfAR), to which Minnelli dedicates her time. AIDS was affecting the gay population, which had made an icon of Minnelli's mother, Judy Garland. She was part of the same culture. In 2007, she told 'Palm Springs Life' magazine, "AmfAR is important to me because I've lost so many friends that I knew [to AIDS]."
Rat Pack
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After Dean Martin dropped out, Minnelli joined Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. on the "Frank, Liza & Sammy: The Ultimate Event" tour. We don't think that tour name is overselling it. We 100 per cent believe that this was the ultimate event. The trio of icons toured together from 1988 to 1990.
The Look Of An Icon
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"She has that personal magnetism," her “Cabaret” co-star Joel Grey told 'Time'. "She is capable of making you care about her, making you want to protect her — and then you realize that she's perfectly capable of protecting herself." She's distinctive, inspiring, fascinating, and brimming with talent."
Happy 75th, Liza with a Z.

The Queen of Showbiz: Liza Minnelli At 75

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