When Judy Garland find a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her functioning in 1954’sA Star Is Born , she was widely expected to go home with the gold . alternatively , she went home with a baby .
Though the melodic mavin was heavy pregnant with her third child in the day leading up to the 1955 Academy Awards ceremonial , she had plannedto assist the show and check herself in for a Caesarean discussion section the following Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . regrettably for Garland , the baby had other melodic theme . Just a day before the Oscars , Garland was rushed to Los Angeles ’s Cedars - Sinai ( then known as Cedars of Lebanon Hospital ) , where she gave nascency to her first and only boy , Joe Luft . Mother and tike were doing well and repose comfortably , with plans to softly watch the ceremony from Garland ’s infirmary bed . This time , however , NBC had other mind .
loath to miss the chance to capture Garland ’s postpartum victory , the telecasting place quickly invaded her maternity ward . “ They build a tugboat for the TV television camera outside my hospital window,”Garland secernate the United Presstwo week later . “ There were camera , mass , microphones all over the place . ”
More contingent spilled out as the legendary entertainer reiterate the story over the age : the furred bed jacket she used to cover up her mic wires , the makeshift Venetian blind entrusted to the panic-stricken nanny , the acquaintance who happen to be visit and was quickly grade to get on the floor . But much to Hollywood ’s surprisal , when William Holden announce the Oscar for Best Actress in a starring Role , it go toGrace KellyforCountry Girl . In a haze of manically hold powder and hairspray , Garland watch as the NBC bunch packed their equipment and left the edifice .
Garland ’s peers were just as stunned by her Oscar loss as she was — and no television camera crew had just rive throughtheirhospital room . Everyone from Best Actor winnerMarlon Brandoto Kelly herself get some skepticism that Garland had drop off . Groucho Marxdashed off the now infamoustelegram : “ Dear Judy , this is the biggest looting since Brinks . "
Ever the professional , however , Garland take it in footstep , turning the whole incident into a funny anecdote to open up her songs . When she recapped the story on her variety show eight year afterward , she force the same furry bed crown out of a trunk , draped it over her articulatio humeri and sigh , “ This remind me of the Academy Award that I lost . ”
