"The public has known me their whole life and I'm like family in a funny kind of way, and I consider them to be that as well."
The night a star became a legend
LIZA with a Z
She gives it her all
on stage in the early 80's
"The Audience is my family. Whatever is printed about you is unimportant. What's important is to stand out there with your legs planted apart and sing, damn it."
All I love to do is sing! Singing a song brings me so much joy. It heals me and it moves me. I can express my self through song, Ive never been able to express myself in any other way. I cry singing a sad song and I laugh singing a happy song. It changes my mood completely and in so many different ways.
"Keep your own council. And usually if you are in a stressful situation, if something is really bothering you, if you just sit down and take it easy and listen to so good music and look at the colors that are around you, you'll suddenly realize that you're not the most important thing in the world. That their are other things happening, a lot of other things going on, and it takes those pressures away, and you can put it into perspective. Whatever it is! And then get up and work it out. It's like taking a break - like if you're writing something at the piano, and you get stuck for a moment? If you get up and walk around and forget about it and go back to it, you usually can overcome it."
Happy and proud
Liza in the late 90's
"The greatest gift I ever recieved was my god-given humor, talent, and strength."
Giving it her all
On stage in the late 70's
"Other people have been icons. I just get up there and sing and dance."
Cheeky and sexy
Early 70's
"I'm married to everybody who has sent me a letter saying, 'you made me so happy'."
And the winner is
Liza won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Mini series for "A Time to Live"
"My first love is music and dance."
Come to the cabaret
"I never really cared why people came to see me perform, I just cared what they thought when they went out."
At the Glaad awards
"Don't be too rough on yourself, it's too hard. If you're not gentle with yourself, nobody else id gonna be."
Simply Devine
mid 70's
"I always find it baffling when people think I resent where I came from-I'm thrilled with where I came from. I was a witness to all this incredible talent and taste, and there's something nice about tradition. From my mother, I got the 'knock'em dead' style of performing that comes out of vaudeville, and from my father, I took a European, more intricate approach. So I don't mind the idea of carrying on traditions, as long as I've made them my own."
Bob Fosse and Liza
Mid 70's
"Be a nice person. Just make nice to other people. I don't care what you do or what area of the world you want to work in, but for gods sake, be nice to other people. Life is too short to get picked at and -nailed! Even at school as a kid. Remember there was always that one kid who was always so nasty? First thing I'd tell my kid is, 'Don't pay any attention, that kid's a moron: you are a smart person. Don't talk to this child. If she hurts you, go away. Don't talk to her.' It's that kind of thing. And, 'Look around-keep your eyes open'."
Liza as Junie Moon
1969
"Most of the time it is fun being Liza. What aggravates me is when you read something about yourself that you haven't done or said. And you think 'Wow, how do people get away with doing that?'. Then there's the assumption that you don't have all the ordinary feelings that everybody else does. That you're not like everybody else, that you're special. When, in fact, you are not special, you just have a talent in a certain area, and you're lucky to have that talent. As far as everything else goes, you're exactly like everyone else."
On the telephone
mid 80's
"My father said to me right before he died. 'You haven't scratched the surface yet'. And I agree with him."
Beautiful
early 90's
"The main thing that I like doing is performing live. I'm a road rat, and I just love getting out there. Singing is what I do, It's what I'm made of."
Movie reel
from baby to Lady
"I'm a singer, not much else. Other people have been icons. I just get up there and sing and dance. I tread the boards for a living and sing my guts out. Sometimes my heart, too."
"I'm the kind of person who would feel rude if I was flippant to anyone. Being flippant is a cover."
Judy, Liza and Vincente
1946
"My thoughts and the songs that I sing are about people who can get along, who will make it, who have to make it!"
Liza and the Muppets
1980's
"I think I'm comfortable with stardom. I think so. I'm just comfortable working. There are people who are stars, and people who are workers. I like to think of myself as a worker."
Liza with Barbra Streisand
Human Rights Campain
"Yes, I get down. But I don't let it eat away at me. I've worked out an antidote. I go where there's laughter and I can be with sympathetic people. If there's anything I know it's when you're negative, drown yourself with the company of positive people!"
With her childhood friend Mia Farrow
late 70's
"There are times in one's life when one is gripped with a curious bravery; when all your instincts tell you to move in a new and unknown direction, eventhough it may scare you. When you act on those instincts and move forward despite the fear-that's stepping out."
Liza with her brother, Joey Luft
"In this art form, performance, what you are looking for is to get rid of anything that's not the truth. Suddenly you find yourself relying on gestures, a certain type of song. Kick it away, it's something your leaning on. What you want it to be able to stand, without any tricks in the light. To be pure, to be truthful."
Liza with Carol Burnett
"The truth is, I'm a very adaptable creature. I don't have many hang-ups. I have my bad days-so what else is new? At heart, I'm really an Italian broad. I really am a nice person, and I think nice people are ultimately rewarded."
Early 90's Liza
"What's important, what counts is getting a piano player and going to the hospitals and hospices, and singing and talking and being there. That's important. The hands-on stuff- OK? That's the trenches. I'm not about being a victim. I'm singing about survival. About surviving life. What I'm saying is, we'll get through it, damn it. It might break our hearts and do in our heads, but at the end we'll be standing."
Liza with the wonderful Sam Harris
"You put what you go through up on that stage. That's part of my job. If there is any truth to your life as your art, you might as well throw it up there."
Liza in 'Law & Order'
October 31st 2006
"I like my fans. I think I would hate it without them. The only thing I do object to is that sometimes you go someplace and you can't do what you'd like to do when you get there, like the other night I was in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After the show we went to a discotheque, and for no reason at all there were so many security guards around me that it was impossible to get up and dance. And you know I love to dance. I didn't ask to be guarded. The people around you sometimes get carried away. They become overprotective and they can overprotect you right out of a good time. Also, the people who meet me under these circumstances never get to meet me. That's the part of it I don't like."
Liza with Sharon Stone
"I've always chosen people that I always thought were better than I was, to take from, to learn from, to observe from."
Liza with Jim Caruso
"Life is adversity. Just getting up is adversity. But the decision to be happy is a conscious choice. I like that, That it's up to you."
Liza as 'Alissa' in The Oh in Ohio
"You realize that there are a lot of people that really care about you, and realize that everyone is born with the same feelings and same stresses and the same everything. You just do your job and you just get through it and keep going. We do our job and I like my job. You do what you do."
Liza with her father, Desi Arnaz Jr and Lorna
Oscar night 1973
"You don't worry about your price, for god's sake. Sure, a lot of actors say they want to return to the stage, but look at how many do. I don't want to make any enemies, but there aren't too many ladies who go back. What happens is, you get spoiled by a marvelous cinematographer. But you have to go back to those little dressing rooms that you're forced to share. Or you absolutely lose your perspective."
Liza in 1981
during the filming of "Arthur"
Liza with Martin Scorsese and Robert Dinero
during filming of "New York, New York"
Liza with her mother, Judy Garland and siblings Lorna and Joey
Early 60's
Liza as Mary Louise Weisman
A Time to Live 1985
Liza with Sonny and Cher
late 60's
Liza with Parker Posey
On the set of "The Oh on Ohio"
Liza after knee replacement surgery
1995
Liza with Anthony Hopkins and Michael Jackson
2002
Liza with Princess Diana
Early 90's
Liza with her mother, Judy Garland
1960's
Liza with former husband, Mark Gero
Liza in Victor/Victoria
1997
Liza with her ex husband and long time friend, Peter Allen
Liza with the wonderfully talented Sam Harris
Angie loves him
Liza as she is today, at the premiere of Hairspray