Judy Garland died from an accidental “incautious self-overdosage” of the sleeping tablets she had taken since she was a child actress, a coroner said in London yesterday.
The Westminster coroner, Mr Gavin Thurston, recorded a verdict of accidental death on Miss Garland, aged 47, who was found slumped in the bathroom of her home in Cadogan Lane, Chelsea, on Sunday.
“This is quite clearly an accidental circumstance to a person who was accustomed to taking barbiturates over a very long time,” the coroner said. She had died of quinal barbitone poisoning.
There was absolutely no evidence to suggest this was a deliberate action by her. There was “no question of alcoholism,” Mr Thurston said. He described the 4.9 milligrammes per cent barbiturate level in her blood as “extremely high” as a result of repeated small doses.
Earlier, her doctor in London, Dr John Traherne, who prescribed seconal sedative tablets for her, said: “I don’t think she could have slept without them.”
Dr Traherne said Miss Garland, who had occasional bouts of depression, told him after she was married three months ago for the fifth time: “I didn’t know I could be this happy.”
Miss Garland also took another drug as an antidepressant “lift,” he said. She did not drink a lot, and he had seen her sip a vodka and fruit juice for one or two hours.
No cirrhosis
Dr Derek Pocock, a pathologist, said there was no sign of cirrhosis of the liver associated with alcoholism. She had taken 10 one-and-a-half grain tablets. He described some “rather superficial and old” cuts on the singer’s wrists which, he said, were self-inflicted.
Miss Garland’s husband, Micky Deans – Mr Michael De Vinko, aged 35, an artist manager she married in March – told of their last hours together. After watching the “Royal Family” film on television at home they went to bed – “Judy curled her feet up to me to keep warm as she always did.”
Next morning when he went to tell her of a telephone call she was in the bathroom with the door bolted. He found her slumped on the floor. She had always had sleeping tablets – “she said it went back to when she was a child at MGM and she took them to get some sleep.”
Mr Deans was asked if she drank alcohol. He said. “My wife drank very little, as opposed to what people think. She left a lot of drink around the house – about six glasses – but she sipped more than she drank. She was not a drinker in the true sense.”
Miss Garland’s body was flown to New York last night for burial on Friday.