The most memorable night of The Judy Garland Show for me was the night my mother pulled me out of the audience and sang to me onstage.
I don't think I have the image that say, Judy Garland has, or Bette Davis.
I knew the full 'Judy Garland Carnegie Hall' double album set at age 2. And then my mother wondered why I was gay. I was like, 'Are you nuts? You would make me get on the table to sing Judy Garland songs and you're upset?'
I made all these great musicals with Judy Garland. It was all about me going into a barn and saying: 'Let's put on a show.' That's what me and Judy did.
I took some lessons as a kid but trained myself by ear. I did it the way jazz musicians used to learn years ago, which is to play records and slow them down to figure out the notes. At first I tried to imitate Red Garland, who was my favorite jazz pianist.
I was always in love with Judy Garland, and when I was growing up, I fell in love with Leonardo DiCaprio, of course.
Judy Garland was just so delicious in every way and just so honest and generous.
As a newcomer, you know, you don't come out the gate as a singer and try to compare with Judy Garland.
My mother was a phoenix who always expected to rise from the ashes of her latest disaster. She loved being Judy Garland.
Arguably, the relationship between Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland is one of the great mother-daughter sagas of all time. Certainly, for certain people, and a lot of them, Liza is the bigger star. Liza is the more kind of viable legend, shall we say. Then there's the other camp, where Judy is the one.