Editing Judy Garland (section)

===1940–1946: Adult stardom===
[[File:Nellie Kelly.png|thumb|Garland as Nellie Kelly in ''[[Little Nellie Kelly]]'' (1940), which was her first adult role|259x259px]]
Garland starred in three films which were released in 1940: ''[[Andy Hardy Meets Debutante]]'', ''[[Strike Up the Band (film)|Strike Up the Band]]'' and ''[[Little Nellie Kelly]]''. In the last, she played her first adult role, a dual role of both mother and daughter. ''Little Nellie Kelly'' was purchased from [[George M. Cohan]] as a vehicle for her to display both her audience appeal and her physical appearance. The role was a challenge for her, requiring the use of an accent, her first adult kiss and the only death scene of her career.{{sfn|Juneau|1974|pp=55–56}} Her co-star [[George Murphy]] regarded the kiss as embarrassing. He said it felt like "a hillbilly with a child bride".<ref name= Petersen />

During that time, Garland was still in her teens when she experienced her first serious adult romance with bandleader [[Artie Shaw]]. She was deeply devoted to him and was devastated in early 1940 when he eloped with [[Lana Turner]].{{sfn|Frank|1975|pp=148–49}} In the early 1940s, Garland began a relationship with musician [[David Rose (songwriter)|David Rose]], 12 years her senior.<ref name="Nicolaou-2019">{{Cite web |last=Nicolaou |first=Elena |date=September 26, 2019 |title=Inside Judy Garland's Five Marriages |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/09/8473185/judy-garland-husbands-married-divorce#slide-1 |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=Refinery29 |language=en}}</ref> On her 18th birthday, he proposed to her. MGM disapproved of the relationship because, at the time, he was married to actress and singer [[Martha Raye]]. They agreed to wait a year to allow for his divorce to become final. During that time, Garland had a brief affair with songwriter [[Johnny Mercer]]. After her breakup with Mercer, Garland and Rose were wed on July 27, 1941, when Garland was only 19 years old.{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=155}} The media called the relationship "a true rarity".<ref name="Petersen" /> Together, they moved into a house in [[Bel Air, Los Angeles]], where Rose had room to build miniature trains in the backyard. Though life together was initially enjoyable, MGM still disapproved of the relationship and allegedly tried to separate them.<ref name="Nicolaou-2019" /> They, along with Garland's mother, feared the relationship would ruin Garland's image.<ref name="Mosness-2024">{{Cite web |last=Mosness |first=Carissa |date=October 19, 2024 |title=A Look at Judy Garland's 5 Marriages—From Romance to Heartbreak |url=https://www.womansworld.com/entertainment/celebrities/judy-garlands-marriages-a-timeline-of-her-5-husbands#:~:text=David%20Rose%20(1941%20to%201944)&text=Rose%20himself%20was%20also%20quite,just%20three%20years%20of%20marriage. |access-date=November 11, 2024 |website=[[Woman's World]] |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1941, while she was pregnant with Rose's child, Garland had an abortion at the insistence of her mother, Rose, and the studio executives, who disapproved of the pregnancy. According to ''[[Woman's World]]'', Rose was even hostile toward Garland.<ref name="Mosness-2024" /> The couple agreed to undergo a [[trial separation]] in January 1943 and they divorced in 1944.{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=211}}
[[File:Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.png|left|thumb|251x251px|Garland and Gene Kelly in a publicity photo for ''[[For Me and My Gal (film)|For Me and My Gal]]'' (1942)]]
In her next film, ''[[For Me and My Gal (film)|For Me and My Gal]]'' (1942), Garland performed with [[Gene Kelly]] in his first screen appearance. She was given the "glamor treatment" in ''[[Presenting Lily Mars]]'' (1943), in which she was dressed in "grown-up" gowns. Her lightened hair was also pulled up in a stylish fashion. However, no matter how glamorous or beautiful she appeared on screen or in photographs, she was never confident about her appearance and never escaped the "girl-next-door" image that the studio had created for her.{{sfn|Frank|1975|p=175}} She had a second abortion in 1943 when she became pregnant during an affair with actor [[Tyrone Power]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=July 15, 2016 |title=Classic Hollywood's Secret: Studio executives Wanted Their Stars to Have Abortions |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/07/classic-hollywood-abortion |access-date=May 27, 2019 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Judy Garland in Meet Me in St Louis trailer 2.jpg|thumb|Garland singing "The Trolley Song" in the ''[[Meet Me in St. Louis]]'' ''trailer'' (1944)|245x245px]]

One of Garland's most successful films for MGM was ''[[Meet Me in St. Louis]]'' (1944), in which she introduced three standards: "[[The Trolley Song]]", "[[The Boy Next Door (song)|The Boy Next Door]]" and "[[Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas]]". This was one of the first films in her career that gave her the opportunity to be the attractive leading lady. [[Vincente Minnelli]] was assigned to direct and he requested that make-up artist Dorothy Ponedel be assigned to Garland. Ponedel refined her appearance in several ways which included extending and reshaping her eyebrows, changing her hairline, modifying her lip line and removing her nose discs and dental caps. She appreciated the results so much that Ponedel was written into her contract for all her remaining pictures at MGM.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=April 1, 2000 |title=Till MGM Do Us Part |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2000/04/judy-garland-excerpt-200004 |access-date=May 10, 2022 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}</ref>

Around the same time, Garland had a brief affair with actor and film director [[Orson Welles]], who was then married to actress [[Rita Hayworth]]. Garland and Welles ended the affair in early 1945 but remained on good terms afterwards.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leaming |first=Barbara |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0879101997 |title=Orson Welles: A Biography |publisher=Limelight |year=2004 |pages=305 |orig-year=1985}}</ref>
[[File:Judy Garland The Harvey Girls MGM Publicity still.jpeg|left|thumb|251x251px|Garland in 1945]]

During the filming of ''Meet Me in St. Louis'', Garland and Minnelli had some initial conflicts, but they entered into a relationship and they got married on June 15, 1945.<ref>{{cite news|last=Hopper|first=Hedda|author-link=Hedda Hopper|title=No More Tears for Judy|work=[[Woman's Home Companion]] |date=September 1954}}</ref> On March 12, 1946, daughter [[Liza Minnelli|Liza]] was born.{{sfn|Clarke|2001|p=223}}

''[[The Clock (1945 film)|The Clock]]'' (1945) was Garland's first straight dramatic film; [[Robert Walker (actor, born 1918)|Robert Walker]] was cast in the main male role. Though the film was critically praised and earned a profit, most movie fans expected her to sing. She did not act again in a non-singing dramatic role for many years. Garland's other films of the 1940s include ''[[The Harvey Girls]]'' (1946), in which she introduced the Academy Award-winning song "[[On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe]]", and ''[[Till the Clouds Roll By]]'' (1946).<ref>{{Cite web|title=AFI{{!}}Catalog|url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/25018|access-date=November 27, 2021|website=catalog.afi.com}}</ref>