March 29, 1955 - Judy gives birth to her third child, Joseph Luft. The next night is Oscar Night, and NBC is so sure she'll win Best Actress that a three-story tower containing lights and a camera crew is erected outside her hospital room window. Judy's nightgown is wired for sound, and a nurse is told to open the blinds on cue. The Oscar goes to Grace Kelly, and the tower is dismantled as Grace walks across the stage.
September 24, 1955 - Judy appears on a live, 90-minute special on CBS. She receives a record-breaking $100,000. A second special airs six months later.
July 16, 1956 - Judy makes her Las Vegas debut at the New Frontier Hotel. Every other club in town closes down so other performers can attend.
December 31, 1957 - Judy gets into a shouting match with some unruly fans in Las Vegas. One audience member yells, "Get outta here. You're too fat, and we don't wanna hear you anyway!" Judy storms off the stage. Later on, she comments, "A thing like that makes it rather hard to go into 'You Made Me Love You'."
November 18, 1959 - Judy enters the hospital. Her weight has ballooned to 180 pounds, but it's not fat. She's severely bloated because of acute hepatitis, brought on by years of pills and alcohol. Twenty quarts of fluid have to be drained from her body. When a doctor tells her she will never perform again, Judy falls back in her hospital bed and weakly cries, "Whoopee!"
August 28, 1960 - Judy has moved to London, and she tells the press, "I feel marvelous ... I've had a chance to relax and take a good look at myself. I've lost a lot of my fears and anxieties." She once again takes the stage at the Paladium and then takes her act on a small tour of Europe.
March, 1961 - In the middle of an American concert tour, Judy takes two weeks to film a small part in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg. When a scene requires her to cry, she can't do it at first. The crew starts to get nervous, wondering if she's about to freak out again. Not so. "Damn it, Stanley," she says. "I'm too happy today to cry." Her performance earns her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, but the Oscar goes to Rita Moreno for West Side Story.
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