Happy 87th Birthday Patricia Routledge

Beloved veteran British actress Patricia Routledge celebrates her 87th Birthday this week which is still very hard to believe.  Most people in the US know her as the hilarious pretentious Hyacinth Bucket (it's pronounced bouquet) in the smash hit TV series 'Keeping Up The Appearances', back across the Pond though we are aware that is a lot more than that in her long and highly successful career.

Patricia Routledge made her Broadway debut exactly 50 years ago, and two years later won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in 'Darling of the Day'.  She was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in the UK for years ; starred in Joseph Papps 'The Pirates of Penzanze' with Kevin Kline in NY's Central Park; won a Lawrence Oliver Award for her role in Bernstein's Candide in London etc  etc.  Before she started her most famous role as the biggest snob in surburbia, Patricia earned her place as a fully bona-fide gay icon with a series of monologues she did as 'Kitty' for The Victoria Wood TV Show.  They are quintessential English gems .... she talks fast though and you may have to play it a couple of time to get all the words if you are not a Brit ..... but trust me, you will soon get hooked.

Happy Birthday Patricia Routledge CBE and we hope you are not too upset that Hyacinth's precious Sheridan didn't even bother to send you a card!

Happy Birthday to 2 Friends of Friends of Dorothy

Carol Channing 95 today

Justin Timberlake 35 today

Happy 70th Birthday Dolly : we will always love you ....

It's only Tuesday and its already turning to be a week of Dolly's and Divas. Yesterday we were celebrating that announcement that the Divine Miss M is going to be playing Dolly Levi on Broadway this year, and today we are breaking open the bubbly as it is the 70th Birthday of our favorite sparkly country and western superstar Miss Dolly Parton.

It's not hard to see why this effervescent pint-sized larger-than-life singer/songwriter/actress with her rags to riches story is such a popular gay icon. With her outrageous dress sense that glorifies her magnificent breasts, she has a style that would make her a perfect drag queen. If truth were known, in the past she actually entered a Dolly Lookalike Drag Competiton and lost!  When talking about her own appearance she once said  'it takes a lot of money to look this cheap". 

On a serious note however, she has not just been a big ally of LGBT rights but she has put herself and hosted very successful Gay Days at Dollywood even though the drew the ire of the local Klu Klux Klan.

Dolly is the most honored female country singer of all time, but that is not why we love her. It's the fact (amongst other things) that she starred in both" 9-5," and "Steel Magnolias" plus she wrote the ultimate gay 'grab-your-kleenex' anthem of all time with 'I Will Always Love You' which she was such a massive hit for both her and Whitney Houston.

Handsome L.A. based identical gay twins Gary and Larry Lane loved Dolly so much they wrote her a screenplay for a movie based on her life and then went all the way to Dollywood to present it to her personally.  They even made a documentary of the their journey "Hollywood to Dollywood" (available at Amazon).  Like all good fairy tales it had a happy ending and whilst Dolly never made their movie, the boys did get to hang out with their idol.

11 year old Elizabeth Alison Gray is not gay BUT she knows how to fantasize like one. When she discovered that she had been adopted she decides on a whim that her birth mother was in fact Dolly and she sets off across country to be 'reunited' with her in a delightfully quirky comedy called "The Year That Dolly Parton Was My Mum" (available from Amazon). 

We may not all go to quite the extremes as this but we do want to at least wish you a very happy 70th birthday, and tell you that we will always love you too.

Happy 94th Birthday Betty White

Today is 'Golden Girl' Betty Whites 94th Birthday and guess what, she is still working.  Earlier this week the star of TV's "Hot in Cleveland" was on James Corden's Late Late Show 

This much loved legendary gay icon and everyone's favorite  ex St. Olaf native has plans for yet another new Show.  Long may she keep making us laugh. 

Happy 69th Birthday Marianne Faithfull

                                                                                                               photo by Hedi Slimane

This irrepressible and gravelly-voiced British singer, songwriter and actress burst on to the music scene at the tender age of 18 years old after Rolling Stone's Mick Jagger took an immediate shine to her.  Along with fellow band member Keith Richards, he wrote "As Tears Go Bye' which was a big hit for Marianne and set her off on the road to stardom.

                                                                                                                        photo David Bailey

It turned out to be quite a rocky road for Marianne, the daughter of a member of a British Secret Service Agent and an Austrian Baroness, but even from the very low points when she touched rock bottom with  long battle with her drug addiction she bounced back and was inspired to write one of her very best songs ever "Sister Morphine". From affairs with Jagger to headlining tours all over Europe and throughout all the chaos of those years when she was both penniless and homeless, her heart-tugging life story profiled in the documentary "Marianne Faithfull : Dreaming My Dreams", only makes you appreciate her remarkable talent even more.

Our two favorite albums are "Broken English" and "Vagabond Ways" which we can never get enough, and like the lady herself, they both stand up well after all this time.  

In 2014, Marianne recorded her 20th album "Give My Love to London" of all new and original songs and embarked on a 50th Anniversary Tour.

Happy 69th Birthday Marianne Faithfull, Baroness Sacher-Masoch

Happy (81st) Birthday Dame Maggie Smith CH DBE

Happy (81st) Birthday Dame Maggie Smith CH DBE who, with 6 Oscar Nominations and 2 Wins and countless other awards (don't lets forget the 5 BAFTAS), is one of THE leading actresses of her generation, and one of our favorite gay icons of all time.

From "Desdemona"  with Sir Lawrence Olivier  (Oscar Nomination 1965)

to "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" ( Best Actress Oscar 1969)

and "Travels With My Aunt" ( Oscar Nomination 1972) 

then" California Suite" (Best Supporting Actress Oscar 1978)

plus "A Room With A View" (Oscar Nomination 1985)

leading to "Gosford Park" (Oscar Nomination 2001)

and of course "Downton Abbey"  ( A Golden Globe, 2 Emmys,  & 2 SAG Awards).

and now "The Lady in A Van" which so deserves another Oscar for her stunning performance.

Happy Birthday Alain Delon

French movie star ALAIN DELON celebrates his 80th Birthday today.  

Delon was one of most prominent actors and screen "heart throbs" in the 1960s. He achieved critical acclaim for roles in films such as Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Purple Noon (the original Talented Mr Ripley in 1960), L'Eclisse (1962), The Leopard (1963), Lost Command (1966) and Le Samouraï (1967). Over the course of his career Delon worked with many well-known directors, including Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Michelangelo Antonioni and Louis Malle.

His attempts at making it big in Hollywood failed every time but in Europe he was a major box office star.  Married twice and known to have had countless affairs, this handsome matinee idol always had a big gay following, partly because he was never afraid to strip off and show all his assets.

Delon announced his decision to give up acting in 1997, although he still occasionally accepts roles, and he now lives in Switzerland with 2 of his 4 children and focuses on his business activities. 

Happy 80th Birthday Alain.

Happy Birthday Hello Kitty

Today one of our favorite female (feline) stars is celebrating her 41st Birthday.  Unlike all the instant celebrities from Reality TV, Hello Kitty never ever stops working AND as she doesn't technically have a mouth shut, she keeps all her opinions to herself. Happy Birthday Hello Kitty.