Mickey Deans

Mickey Deans
Mickey Deans with Judy Garland on their wedding day in 1969
Born	Michael DeVinko September 24, 1934(1934-09-24) Garfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Died	July 11, 2003(2003-07-11) (aged 68) Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Cause of death	Heart Failure
Spouse	Judy Garland (1969) (her death)

Mickey Deans (born September 24, 1934 - July 11, 2003) a musician and entrepreneur, was the fifth and last husband of Judy Garland.

Early life

Born Michael DeVinko in Garfield, New Jersey, on September 24, Deans was a discothèque manager.

Judy Garland

Deans met Garland in 1967 when he delivered prescription drugs to Garland at her hotel in New York City, according to both his own book Weep No More, My Lady (1972) and Me and My Shadows: A Family Memoir (1998) by Garland's daughter Lorna Luft. Upon marrying him in London, on March 15, 1969, Garland said, "This is it. For the first time in my life, I am really happy. Finally, I am loved." Three months later, Mickey found Garland lying dead on the tiled bathroom floor of their rented Chelsea house dead from an overdose of barbiturates.

After Garland

Following Garland's death, Deans co-authored a biography of Garland with Ann Pinchot, Weep No More, My Lady. The book includes autobiographical elements of Deans' pre-Garland life and their time together. The book was published in 1972 by Hawthorn Books with paperback editions issued by Pyramid Books.

Work

Mickey played jazz piano professionally, often travelling when not working at New York's Jilly's nightclub. After Garland's death, he worked as assistant to impresario/producer Roy Radin in putting together old-fashioned vaudeville-type revues associated with The Police Conference of New York, a police fund raising organization also associated with Roy Radin. (Radin was found murdered in 1983 in the infamous Cotton Club murder, so named for a film Radin was producing.) Later, Deans settled in Cleveland, where, at one point, he opened a "haunted mansion" to paying customers.

Personal life

Mickey spent time at his summer home getaway in a quiet suburb outside Cleveland, Ohio. There he kept to himself, barely making an appearance in his few-acre hideaway with a swimming pool and three-acre pond.

Death

Mickey Deans died of congestive heart failure in Cleveland, Ohio on July 11, 2003, aged 68. Rather than being interred with Garland at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, his ashes were sent to an individual in Florida. Before much could be learned about Mickey Deans, his son also died just a few months later.

Publications

• Weep No More, My Lady ISBN 0515029890 Pyramid Books Edition, & ISBN 0816160392 G. K. Hall (1972), aka Judy's Story (1974)

References

• IMDb biography and filmography
• Biography Channel
• NY Times Judy Garland obituary

External links

• Mickey Deans at Find a Grave

Persondata
Name	Deans, Mickey
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	September 24, 1934
Place of birth	Garfield, New Jersey, U.S.
Date of death	July 11, 2003
Place of death	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.