June 11, 1964 - Judy Garland announced today that she had married actor Mark Herron, her traveling companion on a disastrous tour of Australia.
The 41-year-old singer and Herron wore matching jade rings when Judy made her announcement in a Hong Kong nightclub. “We’ve been married five days now,” Judy said.
Asked about Judy’s declaration, Herron replied, “You heard what Judy said.” And Judy added, “We are married, and I’m very happy.”
Herron later told Reuters he married Judy in a shipboard ceremony off Hong Kong after “word came through from Mexico that Judy had obtained a Mexican divorce from [producer Sid] Luft. It was a fairly big ship, but I can’t remember its name,” he said.
Hollywood was mystified by Judy’s marriage announcement. Freddie Fields, Judy’s manager, said a wedding was “impossible.” “She is not divorced from Sid Luft yet,” Field said.
One of Judy’s press agents, Guy McIlwaine, could not believe it either. His only explanation was: “It’s a gag.”
If it was, Judy was enjoying the joke. In the nightclub, she appeared flushed and happy. She joined in the entertainment and delighted the crowd with her famous “Over the Rainbow” number.
Herron, in his late 20s, had been acting as Judy’s tour manager and bodyguard during her Far East trip.
A graduate of little theatres in Los Angeles and Arizona, Herron went to Europe last year and got a bit part in Federico Fellini’s movie, “8½.”
When Fellini went to Hollywood this year for the Oscar awards, he told Herron he would like to meet Judy. Herron arranged the meeting through actor Roddy McDowall, and as a result he met Judy himself. When she set off for Australia, Herron went with her.
On the tour, Judy was booed for arriving late at a Melbourne theatre and criticized for a poor performance after she stalked off the stage. She later entered a hospital, where it was found she was suffering from pleurisy.
Luft’s divorce suit, filed in Los Angeles, is still pending, but he and Judy have been negotiating a custody arrangement for their children, Joseph, 9, and Lorna, 11.
Luft followed up his suit with a charge that Judy was “emotionally disturbed and unbalanced” and had attempted suicide more than 20 times.
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