March 12 marks Minnelli's 69th birthday, and Playbill.com has collected some of our favorite moments from the unstoppable entertainer's career.
Minnelli is a two-time Tony Award winner for her work in Flora, the Red Menace and The Act. She is also the recipient of a 1974 Special Tony Award and was nominated for her performance in The Rink. Visit her page at the Playbill Vault.
Happy Birthday, Liza May!
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Where it all began. Minnelli made her Broadway debut at 19 in the Kander and Ebb musical Flora, The Red Menace. It would be the beginning of her lifelong creative relationship with the songwriting team behind Cabaret, Chicago and The Rink. Here's a clip of "Sing Happy" from Flora.
Kander and Ebb may be the signature songwriters of survival: "So, What?" from Cabaret.
And, here's "Mein Herr" from "Cabaret":
As well as "Cabaret":
Okay, so the quality isn't so good, but we had to include Liza and Goldie Hawn performing "All That Jazz" from Chicago.
Liza and Mikhail Baryshnikov perform a medley of showtunes in the 1980 television special "Baryshnikov on Broadway."
Opening "The Sammy Davis Jr. Show" with "My Own Best Friend" from Chicago.
Ever the activist, she turns Kander and Ebb's "The Day After That" into an anthem of hope for a cure for AIDS on national TV with Jay Leno.
Red sequined pantsuit and "City Lights." What more can we say?
Has anyone made more out of the phrase "Goodbye to blueberry pie" (or done better choreography)?
Showing 'em how it's done on "Inside the Actors' Studio." Performing Charles Aznavour's "Quiet Love."
Singing the Jerry Herman gem "I Don't Want to Know" from Dear World.
Turning a song into a scene, as always: Kander and Ebb's "Don't Smoke in Bed," written just for Liza.
Just a kid, and before she was Sally Bowles, with a song that would become one of her signatures: a rare look at "Maybe This Time."
She learned from the best: with her mother, Judy Garland, singing "Together Wherever We Go" from Gypsy.
Another song with her mother, the classic duet "Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again" (first made famous with Barbra Streisand), but here it's all in the family: 1964 at the London Palladium.
A wonderful duet with her sister Lorna Luft during the 1993 Tony Awards, with a musical moment recalling "Over the Rainbow" at the end.
"But the World Goes Round" from the 1977 film "New York, New York."
Minnelli performs from The Act on the 1978 Tony Awards:
Minnelli's appearance on the 1984 Tony Awards Show, performing Kander and Ebb's "Say, Yes" and "Cabaret":
Chita Rivera and Minnelli of the original Broadway production of The Rink perform "Wallflower" at the Tony Awards:
Minnelli performs at the 2009 Tonys:
"What Makes a Man a Man?" from Liza's At the Palace:
"Maybe This Time" from Liza's At the Palace:
"Teach Me Tonight" from Liza's At the Palace:
