From Broadway performer to Oscar-winning movie star to larger-than-life gay icon, Liza Minnelli has had a wildly varied career filled with dramatic ups and downs.
The daughter of director Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland, the actress grew up in L.A. among the movie industry’s moneyed elite. As a teenager, she sometimes joined her mother in singing appearances on television and stage. Her first big success came in 1965 with the Broadway musical “Flora, the Red Menace,” for which she received a Tony Award.
Minnelli won an Oscar for her performance as Sally Bowles in 1972’s “Cabaret.” She later starred in “New York, New York” (directed by Martin Scorsese) and “Arthur.” The actress also worked with Scorsese on the Broadway production “The Act,” for which she won her second acting Tony Award.
Her other films include “Charlie Bubbles,” “The Sterile Cuckoo” — for which she received her first Oscar nomination in 1970 — and “A Matter of Time,” directed by her father.
The actress saw her movie career fade in the '80s with duds like “Rent-a-Cop” and “Arthur 2: On the Rocks.” She also went through a highly publicized struggle with alcoholism that paralleled her mother’s descent into substance abuse. Minnelli’s romantic life has been equally eventful, with four marriages and divorces that have played out in the tabloids and on television.
More recently, Minnelli has made guest appearances in TV shows such as “Arrested Development” as well as movies including “Sex and the City 2.”
Widely imitated and parodied, Minnelli has amassed a large gay male fan base. She has had two big Broadway comebacks – “Minnelli on Minnelli” in 1999 and “Liza’s at the Palace” in 2008 – and continues to perform internationally in concerts, recitals and cabaret acts.
Minnelli’s past husbands are Peter Allen, Jack Haley Jr., Mark Gero and David Gest.
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Year | Category | Work | |
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1969 | Best Actress | The Sterile Cuckoo | Nomination |
1972 | Best Actress | Cabaret | Win |
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