Judy Garland siblings: Meet Mary Jane Gumm & Dorothy Virginia Gumm

Frances Ethel Gumm, better known by her stage name Judy Garland, was an American singer and actress who was born on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and passed away on June 22, 1969, in London, England. Her extraordinary talents and frailties combined to make her one of the most enduringly popular Hollywood icons of the 20th century.

Beginning with a performance of “Jingle Bells” at their parents’ movie theater, Judy Garland joined her older sisters Mary Jane “Suzy” and Dorothy Virginia “Jimmie” on stage. Garland hadn’t even turned two yet.

She and her sisters joined at a dancing school in Lancaster, California after years of performing together at the theater while their mother played the piano. After her triumph with The Wizard of Oz, Judy Garland’s career flourished for many years.

Judy Garland siblings: Meet Mary Jane Gumm & Dorothy Virginia Gumm

On June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, Frances Ethel Gumm was born to Ethel Marion (Milne) and Francis Avent Gumm. She was the youngest of three girls and was exposed to the entertainment business by her vaudeville-performing parents at a young age. Frances joined the Gumm sisters’ dance performance before turning three. Mary Jane Gumm, who lived from 1915 to 1964, was Judy Garland’s future older sister and the eldest child of vaudevillians Frank and Ethel Gumm.