Birthdays: February 2009 Archives

As the saucy, slutty Blanche for seven seasons on "The Golden Girls" (and don't forget the one season of "The Golden Palace"), Rue McClanahan became an Emmy winner and a gay icon for playing waaaay against type. Betty White had played the slutty Sue Ann Nivens on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" while Rue was to play sweet and childlike Rose. But in the end, thankfully, they switched roles and the rest is history.
She currently stars in "Sordid Lives: The Series" as Peggy Ingram and previously starred with her "Golden Girls" co-star Bea Arthur for six seasons on the classic 70s sitcom "Maude."

When I spoke with Miss Arthur a few months back, she shared a funny anecdote about her friend: "When we started 'Golden Girls' and Rue, my darling Rue, suddenly found herself a so-called TV star. I remember she couldn't believe that I did my own grocery shopping! But I did and would usually meet Angela (Lansbury) in produce."

Here's one of her funniest "Golden" scenes as a delirious Blanche who has not slept in days. It is, an absolute a scream:

I was just checking out Dlisted and saw this photo of Dame Edna (aka Barry Humphries) and it scared the crap outa me! It really did. I jumped back from the screen.

Anyway, Edna, er Barry, turns 75 years old today so we wish the Dame a very happy birthday...

...this great star of stage, screen and television turns 65 years old today. Yes, Rizzo is 65! My favorite line of her's in "Grease" is this: "Sorry French!" My friend Brent can deliver it perfectly.

But Stockard Channing is so much more than the fabulous Betty Rizzo. She's a Tony winner with an impressive Broadway resume, a three-time Emmy winner including a win for her role as the First Lady on "West Wing," and she earned an Oscar nomination for best actress for her - in my opinion - best performance ever in "Six Degrees of Seperation."

Miss Channing, who I've had the pleasure of interviewing a few times, has done so many projects with LGBT characters and themes and I want to highlight some of them here: she won the Emmy for her portrayal of Judy Shepard in "The Matthew Shepard Story," won a Daytime Emmy for her role in "Jack" as a mom who helps her son understand why his father (and her husband) left their family for another man, and in "The Truth About Jane" she played the mother of a lesbian teen who has great difficulty accepting her daughter's sexuality.

Then there was an Emmy nomination a few years back for terrific sitcom "Out of Practice" which was criminally cancelled after just one season. One of her three children in the show was played by Christopher Gorham who we love and the daughter in the show was an outspoken lesbian played by Paula Marshall.

So whether it's LGBT themed stuff or just camp like "Isn't She Great" and "The Girl Most Likely To..." Stockard Channing is the bomb! Below is a scene from the 1973 cult fave "Girl Most Likely To" (written by Joan Rivers) starring Stockard as a former ungly duckling who cleverly kills all the people who were mean to her in high school:

And finally, here are some scenes from the wonderful "Out of Practice." Enjoy!

I haven't always been ensconced in the world of Hollywood.

Back in my 20s, I spent several years living just blocks from the ocean in Newport Beach then Huntington Beach so I'm a sucker for a surfer in a wetsuit. I even got a press pass to what was then called the OP Pro in the late 1980s (I think it's now called the US Open) and was just mesmerized by a guy named Tom Curren.

So I remain mildly interested in the sport (and the wetsuits) to this day and was surprised that last year I read all of Kelly Slater's autobiography "Pipe Dreams." It was all about his life traveling the world on the surfing tour and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Kelly is movie star handsome and even though he did once date Pamela Anderson, he seems like a cool person. He has won more surfing titles than anyone else including a record NINE world championships. The first came when he was just 20 and the most recent was last fall when he was 36.

Kelly turns 37 years old today...

We should all send cards to the great Carole King today for providing us with so much of the music that is part of the soundtrack of our lives.
The singer-songwriter turns 67 years old today, is still in fine voice and even has her own record label: Rockingale Records.

I've had several periods in my life where I've just played her "Tapestry" album over and over and over again and seen this dynamo of a live performer twice in concert.

Carole's big hits include "You've Got a Friend" which is the video above as well as "It's Too Late," "Jazzman," "I Feel the Earth Move," "So Far Away," "Sweet Seasons," "Only Love is Real," "Where You Lead ("I Will Follow") and "Smackwater Jack."

But she has written a big batch of hits for other people and fortunately, has also recorded her own versions of them. They include Aretha Franklin's "Natural Woman," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" recorded by The Shirelles, "Take Good Care of My Baby" by Bobby Vee, "The Loco-Motion" which had hit versions by Little Eva and Grand Funk Railroad, "Go Away Little Girl" recorded by Steve Lawrence and later by Donny Osmond, "One Fine Day" by the Cliftons, and "Up on the Roof" by The Drifters,

Here are two more songs from this music legend:

It brings tears to my eyes when I think about what Judith Light has meant to the LGBT community for so many years. She's given us more than her love - she's given her time and her name to countless causes.

I'll never forget a few summers back at Outfest when she was participating in an "Ugly Betty" panel and when they introduced her, the ovation was long and heartfelt and dwarfed the applause for America Fererra, Vanessa Williams or any of the show's other stars.

She is a woman who was horrfied by the AIDS epidemic and the government's lack of action when people, including her friends, were dying. She was one of the first celebrities, way back in the early 80s, to step-up and help to raise money and awareness.

"I've been part of the really dark days," Judith told me at the Ribbon of Hope event back in 2007. "How it feels now is it feels mildly better but it's not enough. I know that people are working really hard to make it be different and that's what we have to keep doing ...[HIV/AIDS is) out there and it's not over."

I love what Judith said at another awards show earlier that year about gay people: "You are my teachers, you are my role models. You risk everything to be authentic. Do you know how rare that is in this culture? ...People who are out and who are willing to risk in order to lead."

Love ya Judith!

...the great star, who is in need of a kidney transplant now, turns 59 years old today. Natalie, the winner of eight Grammys, has long been a fave of mine and it all began with her first hit: "This Will Be." That was over 30 years ago!

Natalie has had career ups and downs and personal ups and downs but she has endured and become what we gay men love: a survivor!

She's a real Broadway baby and she turns 84 years old today.

There are probably those who only know Elaine Stritch from her Emmy-winning role as Alec Baldwin's mother on "30 Rock." If so, that's a darn shame because she is one of the most dynamic performers to ever hit the Broadway stage. She won the Tony for her one-woman show "Live at Liberty" and let's face it, no one can sing "Ladies Who Lunch" from "Company" the way Miss Stritch can.

Enjoy this video: