Born On This Day- August 26th... Michael Jeter

Michael Jeter was much loved at Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, not the least for providing us with the best ever moments at the Tony Awards. He was a Tony & Emmy Award-winning actor who played nebbishy characters with a Chaplinesque flair.

Jeter was born in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., & landed his first film role in Milos Forman's  film version of Hair in 1979. He had small parts in film & TV & was a frequent performer Off Broadway during the early 1980s, where he appeared in Alice in Concert & G. R. Point, & in gay playwright Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9, directed by gay polymath,Tommy Tune.

In 1989, Jeter appeared in the musical adaptation of the film Grand Hotel, also directed by Mr. Tune. He played Otto Kringelein, the dying bookkeeper who goes on one last night on the town, releasing a lifetime of pent-up emotion in a frantic Charleston-  We'll Take a Glass Together, one of the best musical theatre numbers of all time.

Frank Rich: "Mr. Jeter lets loose like a human top gyrating out of control, literally breaking out of his past into a new existence."

Jeter won a Tony for best supporting actor for the role, & was soon a frequent face in film & TV, though he was rarely the star. In The Fisher King (1991), he played played a homeless man who does a spirited Ethel Merman impression, & he was nominated 3 times for an Emmy for his role in the CBS series Evening Shade  (1990-94), in which he played a wimpy but high-strung high school math teacher, Herman Stiles, who finds himself the assistant football coach under Burt Reynolds.

He won the award in 1992 & was nominated 2 more time, for roles on Post Apocalyptic Bohemian favorites- Picket Fences & Chicago Hope.

Jeter's film credits include: Patch Adams, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Welcome to Collinwood, Jurassic Park III, Jakob the Liar & The Green Mile.

For more than a decade, Jeter also had a recurring role on Sesame Street as Mr. Noodle.

Jeter lived in LA & NYC with his longtime partner Sean Blue. On March 30, 2003, Jeter was found dead in his Hollywood home at the age of 50, a victim of HIV. He was cremated & his ashes were scattered over the Pacific. He is missed. On this day, August 26th, Jeter would have been, should have been 60 years old.

Born On This Day- August 7th... John Glover

I first made note of a pair of new actors- John Glover & Meryl Streep in small parts in just 2 scenes in the film Julia(1977). They both made quite an impression in essentially tiny roles. I have watched Glover’s career with interest & have enjoyed his performances, most often playing villains, in film & on TV.

Glover has done extensive stage work on Broadway, Off-Broadway & in regional theatre. Highlights for me include an Emmy nominated turn in An Early Frost, one of the first movies to deal with AIDS & in Annie Hall, in another tiny role, he utters to Diane Keaton, the very funny line: "Touch my heart. With your foot."

He has had reoccurring roles on Frasier, Murder She Wrote, Law & Order, Brothers & Sisters, Heroes, & as Lux Luther's father Lionel on Smallville.

Glover received a Tony nomination last year as Lucky in Waiting For Godot. For me the apex of his long career was playing 2 roles, twin brothers, in Love! Valor! Compassion!for which he won the Tony & repeated the role in the film version. I really admired & was touched this very fine performance.

Glover lives in NYC with his longtime partner- sculptor Adam Kurtzman. Glover turns 68 years old today.

Good-Bye, Eugene Luther Gore Vidal

He was quite simply, one of my favorite writers, elegant & fearless. I have been reading him for more than 5 decades & my book shelves are heavy in the Vs.

He watched & reported on the decline of this once great country of ours. Gore Vidal reminded readers of our failure of education, manners on the decline, & political leaders cynical, cretinous, & closed to the reality.  He found the values & culture of his fellow Americans to be shameful, & the state of literature & pop culture, almost, but not quite, beyond words.

He had a distaste for TV, & it was a compliment to his skillful storytelling & considerable wit that he could appear with such frequency on the most popular medium to deride popular entertainment, & be welcomed back the following week to do it again.

There were few subjects for which he could not invent a quip, often memorably dismissive. Vidal could be relied on to be entertaining about almost anything: history, politics, art, journalism, theatre, sex, morals or celebrity.  Vidal: “I am at heart a propagandist, a tremendous hater, a tiresome nag, complacently positive that there is no human problem which cannot be solved if people would simply do as I advise.”

His literary output was prodigious: collections of smart, witty, biting essays, plays, screenplays, & more than 20 novels, including 7 books about our country from the American Revolution to the Korean War known as the Narrative of Empire series.

Vidal: “Our leaders can no longer write their own speeches or books, & there is some evidence they cannot read them either. Our political system has become a game for the very rich.”

His statements found detractors. Norman Mailer went so far as to headbutt Vidal while they were in the green room, waiting to appear together on a chat show. William F. Buckley called his a fag, on air & threatened to punch him on the spot.  But, Vidal appeared to relish feuds. When Truman Capote made a comment about Vidal being thrown out of the Kennedy White House, Vidal sued for libel.

Vidal derided the term “gay” & claimed that he had had sex with 1,000s of people of both genders by the time he was 25. But the great love of his life was Jimmie Trimble, an athletics star who was to die at Iwo Jima, preserving forever the image of a kind of romantic ideal in Vidal’s mind.

Vidal joined the Army after graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He served in a transport ship, ending the war as a warrant officer. It was while on board ship that he wrote his first novel- Williwaw (1946). The word means an Arctic squall, & the novel’s setup is the effect of the storm on a crew of hot young men in cramped conditions.

In 1948, Vidal’s The City & the Pillar was published. It is a groundbreaking novel of youthful homosexuality told against the background of the story of Sodom. At the time the Kinsey Report had just been released & homosexuality was more widely discussed, & acknowledged to exist, than ever before. Vidal: “I wanted to take risks, to try something no American had done before. I decided to examine the homosexual underworld, which I knew rather less well than I pretended, & in the process show the 'naturalness’ of homosexual relations.”  Written 2 years after Iwo Jima, the book was dedicated “to JT”.

Not shocking by current standards, at the time Vidal’s book was hugely controversial, & it was described it as embarrassing, courageous, serious, social tract. Some papers which slammed the novel would not accept advertisements for it. Vidal claimed that the book affected the reviews of future reviews he received from major publications, especially The NY Times, for his later books. “He may have been right,” The NY Times stated this morning.

In the 1950s he wrote screenplays in Hollywood: The Catered Affair, I Accuse, The Scapegoat, Suddenly Last Summer & Is Paris Burning?

Vidal wrote successfully for the theatre: Visit To A Small Planet, The Best Man (which had a well-received revival this Broadway season), Romulus, & An Evening With Richard Nixon. For TV he wrote: Dark Possession, The Death Of Billy The Kid, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, The Turn Of The Screw, State Door, & A Farewell to Arms. He found the work interesting, but only as a way to make money to buy time to write books.

I appreciate his essays the mist, but I have been lost in his elegant historical fiction where Vidal introduced real figures from the past, & combine them with gossipy asides from his fictional characters. His plots featured cameo appearances by Washington Irving, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Henry James & many others. In Empire (1987), Vidal set President Teddy Roosevelt & newspaper man William Randolph Hearst in a confrontation which becomes a reflection on the press’s power to make or break a politician.

In 1968 Vidal had a stunning success with Myra Breckenridge, a very funny spoof on the shattering of sexual barriers & a send-up of the porn industry so explicit that the book itself was labeled pornography. In his best known novel, Vidal managed to strike at young people, entertainment, writing, California, the decline of civilization & to rage about his particular concern- population control. He used sex-changed title character to repeat his vigorously held contention that only zero population growth can save the planet from starvation.

Vidal: “If the human race is to survive, population will have to be reduced drastically, if not by atomic war then by law, an unhappy prospect for civil liberties but better than starving... it may already be too late to save this ark of fools.”

Essays are my own favored written expression &Vidal’s collections are my favorites of his work: Sex, Death & Money (1968),  Reflections Upon A Sinking Ship (1969), Homage to Daniel Shays (1972), Matters of Fact & Fiction, & Armageddon (1987).

The Second American Revolution & Other Essays won the 1982 National Book Critics’ Circle Award for criticism. This collection  took on born-again Christians, politicians, universities, big business, the Churches & all those in authority, with awesome range & radical, renegade instinct to rail against established authority- clerical, academic, corporate & patriotic. Vidal observed that politics had become trivialized, with substance & debate replaced by talking heads allowed only seconds to make arguments about the future of the nation & the world.

In 1993 Vidal won the National Book Award for Non-Fiction for the collection United States: Essays 1952–1992. He followed this with a second collection of essays- The Last Empire, published in 2000.

Among my favorite books of all time are his pair of memoirs-  Palimpsest& Point to Point Navigation, in which he mentions his many sexual conquests as “ nothing special”,  compared to the pursuits of his pals John F. Kennedy & Tennessee Williams. Vidal was fond of drinking & alleged that he had sampled every major drug, once.

One of my favorite Vidal anecdotes:  During the casting of his 1959 play about a political convention- The Best Man, a talent agent proposed offering Ronald Reagan the lead. Vidal: “We all had a good laugh. He is by no means a bad actor, but he would hardly be convincing, I said with that eerie prescience which has earned me the title 'The American Nostradamus’, as a presidential candidate.”

He twice ran unsuccessfully for office. In 1960 he was a Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 29th district, and he ran for nomination as the Democratic senatorial candidate in 1982. Vidal would appear as himself in several cameo roles, including The Simpsons. In 2009 he was awarded the annual Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters by the National Book Foundation.

He was host for a time on the TV program Hot Line, & received the Edgar Allan Poe Award of the Mystery Writers of America in 1955. His novel of the ancient world- Creation, won the Prix Deauville in 1983.

Vidal lived in Beverly Hills, NYC, Rome & Ravello on Italy’s Adriatic coast, for more than half a century, with Howard Austen, a former advertising executive who died in 2003. Vidal & Austen chose cemetery plots in Washington DC, between Jimmie Trimble & one of Vidal's literary heroes, Henry Adams. At the end of his life, saddened by the death of Austen & many close friends, Vidal still looked to no existence beyond this one. "Because there is no cosmic point to the life that each of us perceives on this distant bit of dust at galaxy's edge, all the more reason for us to maintain in proper balance what we have here. Because there is nothing else. No thing. This is it, & quite enough, all in all."

I once played Gore Vidal, or rather I based a character, rather successfully, on the writer. The play was Tom Stoppard’s The Real Inspector Hound & my character was an acerbic, bitter theatre critic. Vidal did my homework for me. Vidal has been a major player in my rather insignificant life & I like to think that I am a bit similar to him, minus his intelligence, talent & nerve.

Born On This Day- July 11th... Tab Hunter

Arthur Andrew Kelm Gelien was an equestrian & figure skater before his agent, Henry Wilson turned him into Tab Hunter (the same agent that came up with the name Rock Hudson). Tab Hunter has appeared in over 40 films & has worked on stage & TV. My favortite Tab Hunter role is as Joe Hardy in the1958 film version of Damn Yankees. He was the only one in the film version who had not been in the original Broadway cast.

In the year of my birth-1954, Hunter, then 23, blond & blue eyed, the perfect product of a popular perceptibility, as free from cynicism & care as a sky can be cloudless & clear, was the #1 male star at the box office with the film- Battle Cry. By 1957 he was also #1 on the pop music charts with Young Love, topping Elvis Presley.

By 1959 his ride was ending. Troy Donahue was invented & he became the next Tab Hunter, & Hunter at 28 was more or less done. Hunter began a 46 year descent into actors’ hell: spaghetti westerns (Hunter describes them as - "short on the meat sauce"), TV guest shots, dinner theater, infomercials, & the film Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood.

Then, in the 1980s, after the long trip through the depths of drek & a heart attack, Hunter was rediscovered by Post Apocalyptic Bohemian- John Waters. In Polyester (1981), Waters used Hunter, who had starred opposite John Wayne as well as Natalie Wood, Sophia Loren & a bevy of beauties, to play opposite Divine as Francine Fishpaw.  His work in Polyester reinvented Hunter as an ironic illustration of his own Hollywood iconography.

Hunter said Hollywood in the 1950s had its version of "Don't ask, don't tell": "Don't complain, don't explain." Let the studio take care of the actors, & let the public draw its conclusions.

Hunter: "Hollywood will just take you, chew you up, spit you out, dump you on the side & go on to the next, & it's kind of tragic." In 2005, Hunter released a terrific & very readable memoir- Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of A Movie Star where he finally publicly came out of the closet. Hunter: "Life was difficult for me, because I was living 2 different lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. Then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft & succeed..." the word 'gay' wasn't even around in those days, & if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process. There was a lot written about my sexuality, & the press was pretty darn cruel."

Hunter enjoyed long term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins & champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down with his partner of 30 years, Allan Glaser, a producer. The couple live in Montecito, California.

He was one of my first crushes. I think Tab Hunter was & is a blond bombshell. I don't hate that he is a Republican… but I do hate his Republicanism.

Born On This Day- July 6th... Mervyn Edward Griffin, Jr.

When Merv Griffin died, he left behind: Wheel Of Fortune, Jeopardy & its theme song, hotels, real estate ventures, more than a billion dollars, & a great deal of speculation. According to Merv Griffin: A life in the Closet by his friend Darwin Porter, Griffin’s 1st crush was Errol Flynn, whom he saw passed out naked on a couch. He was a  roommate with Montgomery Clift for 2 years. He lived with Roddy McDowall at the famed Dakota in NYC, where he introduced Eddie Fisher to Elizabeth Taylor. He had an affair with Rock Hudson, whom he met through Henry Wilson, Rock's agent, & who advised him to keep his sexuality under wraps, & there was a young James Dean selling his sex for cash. He had a relationship with Judy Garland's Meet Me in St. Louis boy next door- Tom Drake. There was golden age stars Peter Lawford, & Robert Walker on his list of conquests, & a sexual tryst with Marlon Brando. He was famous in gay circles for his all-male pool parties with hired porn stars serving up goodies.




I used to come home from elementary school, & let myself into our house with my key, practice the piano & then settle in to watch the Merv Griffin Show. I was already zany for show biz & I was big on Merv’s guests including Moms Mabley, Mrs. Miller & Pamela Mason. Merv's secret gay life was widely known in showbiz, but not to his viewers.

The issue of his sexuality became an issue in 1991 when he was targeted in 2 lawsuits: by Dance Fever host Denny Terrio, alleging sexual harassment; & by his personal assistant- Brent Plott seeking $200 million in palimony. Both suits were eventually dismissed. Eva Gabor played his beard. Nothing was discussed in the media or in his own circles, particularly straight political circles. Though he quietly led a gay life, & had his pool parties filled with hot young men, & a parade of boyfriends, it was viewed as "private" information that was not discussed in mixed company.


In the last years of his life, Griffin deflected the gay questions with a quip, determining that his private life remain private. He felt that he needed explanation, but maybe he owed it to himself to open the secret he'd been forced to hide throughout his adult life. But, Griffin had a place in the Hollywood firmament at a time when being gay was unthinkable & the allegation alone would ruin a career.


I would think that the public would have been more tolerant about his being gay as he grew into old age? Even in Hollywood where homosexuality isn't exactly a rare phenomenon, being gay is rarely spoken of in an honest way. Griffin's brush with tabloid scandal probably only drove him deeper into the closet.


Griffin's closet kept him shockingly silent while he had access to the President of the United States as gay people were dying. He was close with the Reagans (Nancy Reagan in particular, they share a birthday today) during the height of the AIDS epidemic in 1980s, with few treatments available & fear-mongering having gripped the media. Griffin's friends, his lovers, gay men across America, & around the world suffered & met horrific deaths. Griffin was closeted, & it is highly unlikely he ever made the connection for the Reagans, pointed out the government negligence, or even talking openly as a gay person. They likely knew he was gay, but it was unspoken. Maybe the Reagans rationalized that Griffin was not like "those people", & that maybe it wasn't true anyway... maybe he was actually dating Eva Gabor. Griffin stayed silent about the epidemic in the media, ironic because he was at the center of the media industry & in shaping the TV industry, when his voice would have made a huge difference.

Griffin died in 2007, at 82 years of age. He left behind an immense fortune & many unanswered questions.

Born On This Day- June 25th... John Benjamin Hickey

Love him! John Benjamin Hickey has starred in some of the most beloved plays of the last decade & a half, beginning with a play I am crazy for, Terrence McNally's Love! Valour! Compassion!  & Broadway revivals of Cabaret, The Crucible, & The Normal Heart, where his performance as Felix Turner earned him the 2011 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play. In accepting his Tony Award, after listing a large number of people in his life, & after glancing at his notes, Hickey stated: “thank you to my wise, my wonderful, my exceedingly patient Jeffrey Richmond, my partner.”  Richmond is a writer on Modern Family.

Currently, Hickey plays Sean, the homeless brother of the main character, on the Showtime series, The Big C, which I am going to watch starting with episode #1 this summer. Why have I passed on this show when I just love Laura Linney & Hickey.

On film, he repeated his Broadway role in Love! Valour! Compassion! , a film I love. Hickey played gay American novelist & playwright Jack Dunphy in the 2006 Truman Capote biopic- Infamous, along with supporting roles in other films, including Post Apocalyptic favorites-The Ref & The Ice Storm, The Taking Of Pelham 123, Transformers 2, Flags Of Our Fathers & The Anniversary Party.  On TV Hickey played Philip Stoddard on ABC's short-lived gay-themed sitcom It's All Relative. Other TV appearances:  Alias, Law & Order, Brothers & Sisters, Stacked, Undercover History, Heartland, In Plain Sight, Law & Order: LA. He was terrific in Life with Judy Garland: Me & My Shadows.

I appreciate creative, interesting, engaging character actors that continue to work in all media.

Hickey lives with Richmond in NYC & LA. He turns 49 years old today.

Born On This Day- June 21st... Maureen Stapleton

I loved the film version of Bye, Bye Birdie as a child, & I still do. Maureen Stapleton played Dick Van Dykes mother, & was Oscar nominated, even though, at 36 years old, she was only half year older than Van Dyke. At the finish of filming there was a wrap party, & the director, producers & the cast including Van Dyke & Janet Leigh, gave speeches extolling the extraordinary talents of newcomer Ann-Margret.  When it was her turn, Stapleton announced: "I guess I'm the only person in the room who doesn't want to fuck Ann-Margret."

Stapleton had many great successes on Broadway, from Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo (Tony award), The Glass Menagerie & Orpheus Descending to Neil Simon's Plaza Suite. In 1971 she won another Tony Award for The Gingerbread Lady. Neil Simon reportedly used parts of Stapleton's own life in his play about an alcoholic actor in recovery.

I only saw Stapleton once on the stage, in Juno & The Paycock with Jack Lemmon & Walter Matthau at the Mark Taper in LA. A memorable night at the theatre. Jaw- dropping talent. I remain inspired by her work in that Sean O’ Casey play, proof that you don't have to be pretty to be a star.

My favorite Stapleton role on film is in Woody Allen's very unfunny Interiors, a fascinating but excruciating study of a very dysfunctional family in NYC, led by the humorless E.G. Marshall & Geraldine Page, both wearing various shades of beige. In saunters saucy Stapleton in a bright red dress to steal patriarch E.G. Marshall away, much to the horror the very beige daughters- Diane Keaton & Mary Beth Hurt.

She is heartbreaking in the 1975 TV film musical- Queen Of The Stardust Ballroom with Charles Durning.

When she won the Academy Award for her small but powerful role as Emma Goldman in Warren Beatty's Reds in 1981, she gave what I consider the best acceptance speech ever: "I want to thank everybody I ever met in my entire life."

Minutes after winning the Oscar, a reporter asked her how it felt to be recognized as one of the greatest actresses in the world. Stapleton: "Not nearly as exciting as it would be if I were acknowledged as one of the greatest lays in the world." When they asked her if she had expected to win, she answered: "Yes, because I'm old & tired & I lost 3 times before."

I cannot recall another actor with such a down-to-earth personality, completely devoid of pretension. When asked what was the key to good acting, Stapleton stated: "As far as I'm concerned…  the main thing is to keep the audience awake."

Born On This Day- June 20th... Peter Paige

Were you a fan of the American version of Queer As Folk? The show was controversial, even, or especially, in the gay community, but I found it engrossing, engaging, & groundbreaking. Tose trail blazing scenes scenes were included in every episode of Queer as Folk, beginning with the 1st, which contained the first simulated explicit sex scene between two men shown on American television,including: mutual masturbation, anal sex, & rimming, yet it was more tame than the UK version. Despite the frank portrayals of drug use & casual sex in the gay club scene, the expected conservative uproar never materialized.

Queer as Folk quickly became the #1 show on Showtime. The network's initial marketing of the show was primarily targeted at gay male audiences, yet a sizeable segment of the viewership turned out to be heterosexual women. A disclaimer ran before each episode: "Queer as Folk is a celebration of the lives and passions of a group of gay friends. It is not meant to reflect all of gay society"

Peter Paige, an out gay actor, played the gayest character on the gayest show on TV. His work as Emmett Honeycutt was my favorite through all 5 seasons. Peter’s other television credits include recurring & guest star roles on Will & Grace, Time of Your Life, Girlfriends, Caroline in the City, & Grey's Anatomy. His very first audition in Los Angeles nabbed him a guest-starring role on Suddenly Susan. An accomplished stage actor, Peter has appeared at major regional theatres throughout the country, including world premieres at La Jolla Playhouse, Portland Center Stage, & Playwrights Horizons. He has performed nearly every genre from the Greeks to Shakespeare to contemporary American work.


About his experience on Queer As Folk: “We knew that the show was going to be something very new & important for the gay community, & we knew that we carried a sort of responsibility for being one of the first multifaceted representations of the gay community on television. For me, the most important thing about the show was that it was real. Whenever I saw a new story, I would ask, Is this true? Is this real? Could this really happen? I'm proud to say I could always answer yes. I really think we never did a story that wasn't real. Of course, sometimes things were sensationalized, or components were dramatized, but basically everything that happened on the show either happened to me or someone in the cast or crew.”

I think Paige is an A+ talent. I admire his goodlooks & talent. Peter Paige lives with his boyfriend in L.A., & he turns 43 today.

Born On June 13th... Paul Lynde

My favorite Paul Lynde anecdote:

In the early 1960s, Lynde was on trans-continental flight. A child was not being supervised by her parents & was running up & down the aisle making noise & annoying the other passengers. The mother obviously thought this behavior was precious. When Lynde could take no more of the child's shenanigans, he rose from his seat & approached the mother & stated: "Madam. if you don't control your child this instant, I will have to fuck her."

Lynde was one of the first personalities that I identified as gay when I was a child. I thought his way with a salty one liner & his unique delivery was just too funny. I loved him in the film of Bye Bye Birdie, in a role he originated on Broadway. He was only just barely a closet case with his camp & snarky demeanor & delivery.In 1965, Lynde was involved in an accident in which his 24 year old lover, fell  8 stories to his death from the window of their hotel room in San Francisco's Sir Francis Drake Hotel after a night of drinking games. The event was witnessed by a pair of policemen, but the story was largely kept out of the press. In 1976, a People magazine article on Lynde featured him with Stan Finesmith, his “chauffeur/bodyguard.”  In 1978, Lynde was arrested outside of a gay bar in Salt Lake City. After the arrest, he lost his guest starring role on The Donny & Marie Show.

Peter Marshall: “Paul, why do Hell's Angels wear leather?”

Paul Lynde: “Because chiffon wrinkles too easily.”

Peter Marshall: “What's the one thing you should never do in bed?”

Paul Lynde: “Point & laugh!”

Peter Marshall: "In The Wizard Of Oz, the Tin Man wanted a heart, & the Lion wanted courage. What did the Straw Man want?”

Paul Lynde: “He wanted the Tin Man to notice him.”

Peter Marshall: “At a recent hearing, opponents of fluorinated water claim that when it is in in a person's system it can cause an uncontrollable desire for sex.”

Paul Lynde: “HEY, CULLIGAN MAN!”

Peter Marshall: “Paul, any good sailor knows that when a man falls off a ship you yell 'Man overboard!' What should you shout if a woman falls overboard?”

Paul Lynde: “Full speed ahead!”

Peter Marshall: “What is said to be wasted on the young?”

Paul Lynde: “A whipping.”

Lynde was club performer, director, recording artist, actor on Broadway, in films, TV, cartoons & summer stock, & one of Hollywood's finest chefs & hosts. Lynde: “I can't even get 3 weeks off to have cosmetic surgery!”

Lynde spent a lifetime engaged in ongoing personal struggles in private life, as the tabloids occasionally reported, but he remained appreciated by those in his profession, friends & fans. He was perhaps most famous just for being Paul Lynde.The enigmatic Lynde:  “I don't know who the hell Paul Lynde is, or why he's funny, & I prefer it to be a mystery to me. An actor shouldn't undergo psychoanalysis, because there are a lot of things you're better off not knowing.”

Lynde was found dead in his Beverly Hills home by his friend Paul Barresi on Monday, January 11, 1982. He was just 55 years old. Lynde enjoyed a precarious life of men, drinking & partying.

Born On This Day- June 6th... Sandra Bernhard

"Gayness is a non-issue."

I am just crazy about her. I have seen Sandra Bernhard perform live 6 times (that I remember), including a non-concert question & answer session at the University of Washington in the mid-1990s... & she never disappoints.

Bernhard: “My father was a proctologist & my mother was an abstract artist, so that's how I view the world."

Bernhard gives us her hysterical insight, outspoken & hilarious diatribes on the state of modern culture with her smart classic rock attitude. Sandra is fresh, crazy & real. She inspires & invigorates.

Bernhard has staying power. 28 years after she broke out with her off-Broadway show- Without You I'm Nothing, Bernhard stays with me. Mouthy, obnoxious & a rumored lover of Madonna, I have loved her from her stint as Nancy Bartletto on Roseanne.  The NY Times: "…a living, breathing bonfire." Critic Camille Paglia :" While many of her peers pander to the mainstream, Sandra Bernhard challenges fans and critics alike with her knife-edged satire, insightful observations of pop culture, & emotive performances.”

Her accomplishments include comedy, film, TV, music & books. Bernhard has crafted a unique agenda of social commentary, biting humor & satire, mixed with music.

Bernhard toured nationwide in her shows-Without You I'm Nothing & Giving Till It Hurts. She is also a bestselling author, May I Kiss You On The Lips Miss Sandra is her 3rd book.  I own all her books including a signed copy of Without You... She has also written articles for Vanity Fair, People, Rolling Stone, Elle, & Spin.

Bernhard received raves for her performance in my favorite Scorcese flick- King of Comedy. She has been seen in such films as Track 29, Hudson Hawk,& Unzipped, & on TV on Will & Grace, The Sopranos, & Ally McBeal. From 1991-1996 she played the fiercely independent & always outspoken Nancy on Roseanne.

Bernhard is touring this summer in her new show- Sandrology, a hybrid of vocals, cabaret, burlesque, political & social commentary, & stream of consciousness. Bernhard claims that Sandrology is a big old-school show with an amazing rock band & great songs about what is happening in society, politics, pop culture, & her life. Bernhard is playing 6 shows in Seattle during solstice weekend & I think I need to be there.

Fierce, tender,confrontational, yet vulnerable,  funny, philosophical & always controversial, I love her. I want Sandra & Harvey Fierstein to come for cocktails in the Boys’ Fort this summer. That would be a whole bunch of big Jewish fun!

Born On This Day- June 5th... Chad Allen

In the terrific & engaging 1980s TV series- St Elsewhere, one of the main characters has a young son who was autistic. In the series finale- The Last One, it is revealed that all the storylines occurred inside the head of the young autistic boy. That boy was played by Chad Allen Lazarri. As a child actor, Allen went on to work on TV series- Our House, My Two Dads, & Dr. Quinn- Medicine Woman, none of which I have ever seen, although My Two Dads is a title that might work well for my porn debut.

In 1996, at age 21, Allen was outed in The Globe which published photos (sold to the paper by his then boyfriend) of him kissing another man, in a hot tub at a party . Since that time he has been a leading & outspoken advocate of gay rights.

I was especially taken with his strong work in Save Me opposite Stephen Lange, Judith Light & Robert Gant. Developed & produced by Allen himself, Save Me explores the life of a young gay sex & drug addicted man who is forced into a Christian-run ministry in an attempt to cure him of his "gay affliction", where instead he is faced with the truth in his heart & spirit. The film does not take the easy way out & avoids clichés. Stephen Lang was excellent, & Judith Light gives an astonishing performance of understated depth & nuance. Gant & Allen play very moving & complicated characters & they have their shirts off in several scenes.

Since 2005's Third Man Out, Allen portrays lead character Donald Strachey, a gay private detective in a partnered relationship, in a series of TV movies based on novels by Richard Stevenson.

Allen is in a 4 year relationship with actor Jeremy Glazer, who he met on the set of Save Me.  Allen is the best friend of one of my most favorite bloggers, the delicious Philip of the fabulous Felix In Hollywood. Check out his little spot on the Internet & when you are in LA, take his tour. Felix Knows his Hollywood History! Allen turns 37 years old today. I admire his talent, activism & good looks.

Born On This Day- May 5th... Suze Orman

What were the chances that John Maynard Keynes & Susan Lynn Orman would share a birthday? Is there something about June 5th that is telling of people being smart about money? Do Geminis think a great deal about finances?


Suze Orman is a famous financial advisor, author, motivational speaker, TV host, & the anti-Stephen. I have a feeling that she just wouldn’t be that fun to shop with. What, with all that saving money philosophy.


Orman is the host of The Suze Orman Show on CNBC. She has written 7 consecutive NY Times Best Sellers; has written, co-produced, & hosted 6 PBS specials, & is the most successful fundraiser in the history of public TV.


In 2004 & 2006, Orman won 2 daytime Emmy Awards for her PBS specials. Over her television career, she has won 6 Gracie Allen Awards (rewarding the achievements of women in radio & television), more than anyone in the 34-year history of the awards.


In July 2009 Forbes named Orman 18th on their list of The Most Influential Women In Media. She was selected by Time magazine as one of the TIME 100: The World's Most Influential People. In 2009 she was honored by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation with the Vito Russo Media Award. In April 2008 Orman was presented with the Amelia Earhart Award for her message of financial empowerment for women. She is regularly spoofed on Saturday Night Live, the biggest compliment possible.


In 2007, Suze Orman revealed to the NY Times, that she is a lesbian & had been with her partner, Kathy Travis, for 7 years. During the interview, she was asked if she is married. Orman: "K.T. is my life partner. K.T. stands for Kathy Travis. We're going on 7 years. I have never been with a man in my whole life. I'm still a 55-year-old virgin. Both of us have millions of dollars in our name; it’s killing me that upon my death, K.T. is going to lose 50 percent of everything I have to estate taxes. Or vice versa."


Orman has a net worth of approximately $25 million (with $7 million more in real estate), she didn't start out wealthy. Orman grew up in Chicago 's South Side & worked part-time at her father's take-out store. After completing her B.A. in social work, she moved to Berkeley, Calif., & worked at the Buttercup Bakery for 7 years. Orman started working as an account executive at Merrill Lynch, where she remained for 3 years before becoming vice president of investments at Prudential Bache Securities. In 1987, Orman had founded her own business- the Suze Orman Financial Group.


To me, it is interesting is that since her announcement that she was gay, there has been little focus on Orman's sexual orientation. The focus is on why it makes good financial sense to get married, & her inability to do so because she is in a same-sex relationship. Suzy is looking good as she turns 61 today.

Born On This Day- June 3rd... Maurice Evans

How astonishingly gay was the cast of Bewitched: Paul Lynde, Dick Sargent, Agnes Moorehead, plus the star of the series- Elizabeth Montgomery, a supporter of gay rights before it was cool.

American TV audiences of the 1960s remember Maurice Evans as Samantha's father, Maurice (the character was originally named Victor when he was introduced), on Bewitched. I knew, of course, but most viewers were most likely unaware of Evans' stellar Shakespearean resume. Evans insisted that his first name was pronounced the same as the name 'Morris'. It was ironic then that his Bewitched character's stance that it be pronounced: 'Maw-REESE'.

Evans first appeared on the stage in 1926 and joined the Old Vic Company in 1934, playing Hamlet, Richard II & Iago. His first appearance on Broadway was in Romeo & Juliet opposite Katharine Cornell in 1936, but he made his biggest impact in Shakespeare's Richard II, a production whose unexpected success was the surprise of the 1937 theatre season & allowed Evans to play Hamlet in 1938, the first time that the play was performed in it’s entirety in NYC , Falstaff in Henry IV, Part I (1939), Macbeth (1941), & Malvolio in Twelfth Night (1942) opposite Helen Hayes as Viola.

During WW 2 arrived, he was in charge of an Army Entertainment Section in the Central Pacific & played his famous 'G.I. version' of Hamlet that cut the text of the play to make Prince Hamlet more appealing to the troops, an interpretation so popular that he took it to Broadway in 1945. Evans specialized in the works of Shaw, notably as John Tanner in Man & Superman & as King Magnus in The Apple Cart. He was also a successful Broadway producer of productions in which he did not appear.

As of 2006, Evans was a true pioneer, having appeared in more American TV productions of Shakespeare than any other actor. Evans brought his Shakespeare productions to Broadway many times, playing Hamlet in 4 separate productions for a total of 283 performances, a Broadway record.

My favorite Evans role is as Rosemary's friend Hutch in the 1968’s Rosemary's Baby.

In my research I was not able to find out much about his lovers. Possibly, like other British actors of his generation, he would have prefered working class blokes & rough trade.In his later years, Evans lived a great deal of his life in the USA. In his last years, he returned to Britain. It does seem that Evan's former lover & business manager- David 'Taffy' Barlow, made last days all the more comfortable by hiring young rent boys to strip down & lie in the bed with him. This quite shocked some of his deathbed visitors. Evans died of cancer in East Sussex, at 87 years old.

Born On This Day- May 28th... Chris Colfer

At just 19, Christopher Paul Colfer of Clovis, Calif., a small town near Fresno, rose to TV stardom playing Glee's Kurt Hummel, at the time, one of the rare, realistic gay characters in prime time… & he can really sing. With no professional training, Colfer so impressed Glee creator Ryan Murphy during initial auditions that the character was written specifically for him.

A graduate of Clovis East High School, Colfer was a 3 time speech & debate champion, president of the writer’s club, & wrote & directed a musical spoof of Sweeney Todd called “Shirley Todd.” His closest friends in school were the lunch room ladies because he preferred to stay home to write than to go out with friends. He also took care of his sister, Hannah, who suffers from epilepsy that has kept her in and out of hospitals all of her life.

Colfer: “I was made fun of a lot in high school because of the way I sound & the way I was. I was a lone duck in a swan filled pond who criticized everyone. So I think everyone might be going, ‘Oh, he’s playing the gay character. Figures.’ Just because that’s how they perceived me.” Between the ages of 9 &14, Colfer performed in local plays 4 nights a week. He landed a Hollywood agent & began traveling the 8 hours round trip to LA for auditions with his mother. He tried out for about 30 roles before he was cast on Glee.

I have remained fan of Glee through the end of the just concluded 3rd season, & I am encouraged by the range of gay characters portrayed on the show. On TV, at last, gays are not drawn in non-stereotypical fashion as strictly victims, tragedies, predators or sissies. We now have characters that embrace who they are & are in loving, fulfilling relationships In this way, Kurt Hummel is bound to become a role model for teens in the midst of discovering who they are & also for adults who have been in Kurt’s shoes.

On Glee this spring, a transgender character named Unique is competing in a sing-off. On Grey’s Anatomy, a show I have never viewed, a lesbian couple is adjusting to married life, having been pronounced “wife & wife” last season.

The cultural battlefield of TV has changed since the 1980s with the very neutered portrayal of Tony Randall’s Sidney Schorr on NBC’sLove, Sidney or in the 1990s, when the Religious Right objected to Ellen coming out & Will & Grace coming on.

Today, there is very little complaining about shows like Modern Family, the #1 sitcom or Post Apocalyptic Bohemia favorite- Smash, which has 5 openly gay characters, or the refreshing sitcom-Happy Endings, which, against stereotype, has a husky & lazy gay male character, possibly based on me. Mitt Romney is known to be a fan of Modern Family.

Next season NBC has a new show from Glee creator- Ryan Murphy that features a gay couple trying to have a child & their surrogate, titled The New Normal.

Vice President Biden stated that Will & Grace: “probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody’s ever done so far.” When that sitcom began on NBC, conservatives claimed that would make homosexuality seem desirable. They were correct.

On Ellen, Ellen DeGeneres, came out on the show & in real life in 1997. DeGeneres threatened to quit a year later when ABC preceded an episode that showed her jokingly kissing a friend with a message that warned: “Due to adult content, parental discretion is advised.” Can you imagine such a notice on Modern Family or Glee?

Smash aired a funny & sweet scene of a pair of men in bed, one a Republican, after an evening of bad sex. Now, that is realism.

Steven Levitan, a co-creator of Modern Family: “We thought that when the show started, the inclusion of Cameron & Mitchell would limit our success a bit, because it will perhaps alienate a certain segment of the population.In fact, it’s turned out to be quite the opposite.”

Media watchdogs like the Parents Television Council, one of the most active conservative media groups, do occasionally speak out against TV programming, & the religious fanatics have not been silent & Glee has been scrutinized. The Media Research Center stated: “Glee merely pretends to be a show for young people while actually serving as an assault on our traditional values.”

Colfer: “I don’t personally feel a responsibility to be a role model, but as the actor, I do.” On one of the most the powerful moments to ever air on TV, Glee’s Kurt Hummel came out to his father, played by the always excellent- Mike O’Malley, in a scene that  the show’s creator. Ryan Murphy took verbatim from his life.

Murphy: “The show is about making you feel good in the end. It’s about happy endings & optimism & the power of your personal journey & making you feel that the weird thing about me is the great thing about me. I’ve done other shows with gay characters, & I will say that in many of those cases, the gay characters didn’t have a happy ending, & I thought you know what? Enough.”

Last year Colfer was named to Time Magazine's list of The 100 Most Influential Americans.

This summer, Colfer will star in Struck by Lightning, for which he wrote the screenplay. The plot revolves around a character, who is struck & killed by a bolt of lightning, & looks back on his exploits as he blackmails his fellow senior classmates into contributing to a literary magazine he is publishing.

Colfer turns 22 years old today. Times have really changed, at 22 years old, I would never have dared to be an out & proud actor. Colfer & his creation of the character of Kurt on Glee make him a hero to me.

Born On This Day- May 21st- Actor Raymond Burr

Perry Mason reruns have been playing on a Portland TV station every day for the past 44 years. No another U.S. station has continuously broadcast Perry Mason as long as KPTV, where the show debuted 15 days after ending its 9 run on CBS. It's among the least expensive shows to buy, even as KPTV has moved from showing it on film reels to 1-inch tapes to digital tapes & now digital with closed captioning. Station Manager-Patrick McCreery: "Most markets don't want it; they figure that with high-definition sets & 5.1 stereo sound, what viewer is going to want to watch an old B&W show? We've found very loyal viewers. It's the linchpin of our daytime programming." 

A deeply closeted Hollywood lifestyle is not a unique club, but the back story of Raymond Burr’s career holds interest. Typecast as a “heavy” when he landed in Hollywood after World War II, his imposing presence & brooding manner made him a perfect choice for film noir & crime dramas. He played the chilling homicidal husband across the courtyard in Hitchcock’s classic Rear Window (1954) & the district attorney who took apart Montgomery Clift’s testimony in A Place in the Sun (1951).

Burr was never an A-list movie actor. He became a star in the brand new medium of television. As Perry Mason & the wheelchair bound detective on Ironside, he became one of TV’s best paid & best known faces. Burr returned to his most famous role in 1985 for the beginning of a decade long run of made-for-TV movies beginning with Perry Mason Returns. 

Throughout his life, Burr was unfailingly generous to charities & gave away much of his time, when he wasn’t keeping a grueling work schedule; he was known to be popular & kind to cast members & crew.

Knowledge of his homosexuality would have ruined Burr’s career. He remained intensely private to the very end. Burr invested an enormous amount of energy to remain closeted, & the efforts took their toll physically & psychologically. He believed he could ensure privacy by creating an imaginary world to hide his homosexuality & his 40 year relationship with fellow actor Robert Benevides, who he met on the set of Perry Mason in 1957. He invented 2 dead wives, a dead son, & false reports of his service during World War II to fill out the blank spaces in his life story. He repeated the stories so long & so often that they found their way into his obituaries.

 In the 1950s Burr was “romantically linked” to Natalie Wood. They were genuinely fond of each other & remained friends until her death in 1981. Burr & Benevides shared a passion & a business for orchids, which they bred on their private island in Fiji. Later they would own & run a successful vineyard in Sonoma. At their home in Palm Springs, the couple was known to throw all male pool parties along with their friend Rock Hudson. The couple were together 36 years, until Burr’s death in 1993.

Best Theme Song Ever?

Born On This Day- May 14th... TV's Richard Deacon

I know that Modern Family will join this list, but that show is only in the third season, & I am still in the first stages of love, all dizzy & blurry & unable to be objective:

Top 10 Sitcoms of All Time:
1. I Love Lucy
2. The Dick Van Dyke Show
3. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
4. Rosanne
5. Will & Grace
6. Friends
7. Frasier
8. Arrested Development
9. Newhart
10. The Bob Newhart Show


He appeared in hundreds of TV shows & films, but I loved him best as the dour Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show. At the start of his career, Richard Deacon was advised by Helen Hayes to abandon all hope for becoming a leading man. She encouraged him to chase a career as a character actor.

Big, bald, bespectacled & bass-voiced, Deacon heeded Hayes' advice, & was able to survive in show business far longer than most of the leading men. Usually cast as a sourpuss, Deacon was a valuable & highly regarded supporting cast commodity for films: Desiree (1954), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Spirit Of St. Louis (1957), The Young Philadelphians (1959) & The Birds (1963), among many others. Virtually every major star who worked with Deacon paid compliments to his skills. His biggest admirers were Lou Costello, Lucille Ball, Jack Benny & Cary Grant, no slouches in the comedy department.

He proved even better on TV. His resume his head-spinning. He guest starred on nearly every sitcom of the era. Deacon had the distinction of doing 2 sitcoms at the same time in the early 1960s: he was pompous suburbanite Fred Rutherford on Leave It to Beaver, & the long-suffering Mel Cooley on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Deacon also co-starred as Kaye Ballard's husband on the delicious- The Mothers-in-Law (1968) with Eve Arden, & enjoyed a rare leading role on the 1964 Twilight Zone installment The Brain Center at Whipples. In his last decade, Richard Deacon hosted a TV program on microwave cookery, & published a companion book on the subject.

Deacon appeared in the long-running Broadway production of Hello, Dolly! as Horace Vandergelder (a role I played to great acclaim in the late 1980s), opposite Phyllis Diller from 1968-1970. Deacon continued appearing on television & in the movies until his death from heart disease at 67 years old.

On The Dick Van Dyke Show, I always wanted him to have more air time, I thought him to be so funny. His work on this show had a certain influence on my comedy style. My favorite Deacon moments were as Tallulah Bankhead’s butler on an episode of I Love Lucy. He was born 90 years ago, on this day, May 14th.  Melvin Cooley, what a cool name, huh?

I would love to know your favorite sitcom of all time. Care to comment?