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AP EXCLUSIVE: Judy Garland’s remains moved from NY to LA

Jan 30, 2017 | 7:30 PM

LOS ANGELES — Judy Garland’s remains were moved cross-country to a mausoleum intended as the resting place for daughters Liza Minnelli and Lorna Luft and other family members.

The transfer from a crypt in New York’s Ferncliff Cemetery to Hollywood Forever Cemetery was completed last Friday, Noelle Berman, a Hollywood Forever spokeswoman, told The Associated Press.

“The move to Hollywood was made after many years of family consultations and deliberations,” Berman said Monday. “Ms. Garland’s three children now reside in Southern California and wished to have their mother resting near them.”

The space in the mausoleum, renamed the Judy Garland Pavilion, has room for all her family including the famed actress-singer’s daughters, her son, Joey Luft, and her grandchildren, Berman said in an interview.

The move reflects resolution of an issue involving Garland’s fifth husband, according to Victoria Varela, a family spokeswoman.

“When Judy Garland died, her affairs were controlled by her husband, Mickey Deans. Her children had no say in the matter of her burial, so this is at last their opportunity to do what they feel their mother would have wanted in the first place — to be united with her family in Hollywood,” Varela said in a statement.

Garland, star of classic films including “The Wizard of Oz” and “Meet Me in St. Louis,” died in 1969 at age 47 in London. Deans died in 2003.

Her other spouses included filmmaker Vincent Minnelli, father of Oscar-winning “Cabaret” star Liza, 70, and producer Sidney Luft, father to actress-singer Lorna, 64, and Joey, 61.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, in the shadow of several historic movie studios, including Paramount Pictures, is the final resting place for famed screen stars including Cecil B. DeMille, Jayne Mansfield and Douglas Fairbanks.

Garland’s gated family room is a part of the mausoleum, the cemetery said.

Lynn Elber, The Associated Press