Mickey Deans

Born Michael DeVinko in Garfield, New Jersey on September 24, 1934, Deans was the youngest of three children of Mary and Michael DeVinko. He grew up in a musical family, playing the piano and accordion.

He played the piano at Jilly's, a nightclub in Manhattan, later working as the manager of the discothèque Arthur. In 1966, according to Deans' book Weep No More, My Lady, he met actress and singer Judy Garland at her hotel in New York City. A mutual friend of theirs asked Deans to deliver a package of amphetamines to Garland. Deans recalled that she seemed cordial but disoriented. Because Garland's two youngest children were present, Deans felt it appropriate to introduce himself as a doctor.

After three years of intermittent dating, Deans proposed, and they were married on March 15, 1969, in London. Deans worked to promote Garland's career toward the end of her life, but he found it impossible to control her excessive use of prescription amphetamine and barbiturate drugs. Deans discovered Garland dead on the morning of June 22, 1969. Although many obituaries at the time stated Garland was found on the floor of their bathroom, Deans stated that he found her seated on the toilet. The coroner's autopsy later determined she died from an accidental overdose of barbiturates.

Following Garland's death, Deans co-authored Weep No More, My Lady, a biography of Garland written with Ann Pinchot. 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.

In 1985, he bought the Franklin Castle, a historic four-story stone mansion on Franklin Boulevard in Cleveland's Ohio City, for $93,000 ($221,000 today) and had it restored. Deans donated a feather boa that had belonged to Garland to a charity auction. He then placed the highest bid in order to maintain ownership of it. After selling Franklin Castle in 1999, Deans lived in Northfield, Ohio.

Deans died of congestive heart failure in Cleveland, Ohio on July 11, 2003 at the age of 68. Rather than being interred with Garland, his body was cremated and his ashes were sent to an unidentified person in Florida.

• Weep No More, My Lady ISBN 0-515-02989-0 Pyramid Books Edition, & ISBN 0-8161-6039-2 G. K. Hall (1972), aka Judy's Story (1974)

• Mickey Deans at IMDb
• Mickey Deans Obituary
• NY Times Judy Garland obituary
• Mickey Deans at Find a Grave