Before last Sunday’s Oscars, Idina Menzel was best known as a Tony Award-winning actress (Wicked) who played Rachel’s mother on Glee and in real-life is married to Taye Diggs.
Now, she’s a household name.
That’s all thanks to John Travolta’s now-classic mangling of her name when he introduced Idina’s performance of the song Let it Go from the animated film Frozen.
Travolta inexplicably introduced Menzel as Adele Dazeem and it was a gaffe that has taken on a life of its own with its own Twitter account, Letterman Top 10 List and unprecedented attention focused on the amazingly talented Miss Menzel.
I offer you three performances from Idina as examples of why she should have been a household name all along.
During his youth, Horst Buchholz was sometimes called “the German James Dean.”
It’s easy to see why.
During a 50-year career during which he appeared in more than sixty feature films, Buchholz was best known in English-speaking countries for his roles in The Magnificent Seven, in which he played Chico, Fanny, and the Billy Wilder comedy One, Two, Three.
Good roles were hard to come by by the mid-60sso he began to do a lot of mediocre TV work. But in a few of his late-career films, he was again given meatier roles in serious heavy dramas, such as in the bleak And the Violins Stopped Playing in 1988 and in Roberto Benigni’s Oscar-winning Life Is Beautiful in 1997.
Buchholz died unexpectedly in 2003 at the age of sixty-nine from pneumonia that developed after an operation for a hip fracture. Three years before his death, the married father of two publicly acknowledged that he was bisexual.
“Yes, I also love men. Ultimately, I’m bisexual,” he told the German magazine Bunte. “I have always lived my life the way I wanted.”
We know that Sex and the City’s Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte are the best female quartet ever – well, at least right up there with The Golden Girls and the Designing Women.
But within the quartet, my favorite relationship is the one between Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon). It’s funny, it’s moving, it’s genuinely close.
And like people who are close, they have had their fights but, thankfully, they work it out and hopefully we will get to see them together again on the big screen in a new SATC feature!
BONUS VIDEO: Sarah Jessica Parker appeared on The Ellen Showthis week and Ellen asked her about the possibility of a third Sex and the City movie. SJP says there have been no real conversations about it but that there is a story to be told. Okay, so have some real conversations already and start telling that story! Time is ticking!
The nominations for this year’s MTV Movie Awards came out this week.
I’ve attended this thing several times in the past and never failed to leave without a headache.
There is a lot of screaming involved.
I can’t even watch it on TV.
But I can talk about the category of ‘Best Shirtless Performance.’
First of all, Jennifer Aniston is nominated for We’re the Millers and is the only female in the group. Guess there were not enough other ‘Shirtless’ female performances to have a female category on its own.
The other nominees are: Sam Claflin – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire; Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street; Zac Efron – That Awkward Moment; Chris Hemsworth – Thor: The Dark World.
Okay, let’s just end the suspense right now. Chris Hemsworth for Thor! And if it wasn’t Chris for that movie then he’d have to win for Rush (see bottom photo).
The awards will be shown live on MTV on April 13 and hosted by Conan O’Brien.
Adam Lambert really got a chance to shine on this week’s episode of Glee on which he has the recurring role of Elliot, a member of Kurt’s musical group.
Kurt, Dani (Demi Lovato) and Elliot’s newly-formed trio takes on The Supremes classic, The Happening. Then Rachel and Elliot let it all out to Heart’sBarracuda.
Also, Elliot finds himself stuck in the middle between Rachel and Santana’s dueling diner performances of Gloria from Flashdance.
BONUS VIDEO: Blaine, Sam, Tina and Artie Hold On for one more day at McKinley.
Hung out with fellow gay journalist Jim Halterman at last night’s Outfest Fusion kickoff party and today he’s posted a chat he recently had with Looking star Jonathan Groff.
Here are some excerpts (Warning: Spoiler Alert below):
Were you confident through the whole thing about a second season or were you a little uneasy about it?
Jonathan Groff: We had been feeling anxious, nervous, excited, hopeful for a season two since the day we wrapped season one. There was always sort of a feeling, like a feeling that we might come back, but you never can tell, you know?
There are so many times when people say, oh, it’s a sure thing, it’s definitely going to happen, it’s definitely going to happen, but you never know until you get that official announcement. So we’re just so excited to go back to San Francisco.
What’s more challenging for you, standing in front of a mirror naked with no dialogue or doing a sex scene with Russell Tovey?
JG: Oh, good question. Definitely being alone because it’s way more fun to make out with Russell.
Is Russell a good kisser?
JG: Oh, Russell’s a great kisser, are you kidding?
I was watching you on “Watch What Happens Live” a couple weeks ago and Andy Cohen was asking if you’re single so I’m wondering if that comes up a lot these days and if you mind?
JG: It does come up a lot, and I don’t mind saying I’m single. Maybe I’ll, like, get a boyfriend from all the single talk. [laughs]
I hope you’re at least getting some dates out of this.
JG: I’m not, really, not that many. But yeah. Also, I just moved into a new apartment. I don’t really have furniture yet, so I’m still putting my own sort of life together. But yes, I’m single, and I don’t mind when people ask me about it.
Did not want to let the day go completely by without sending out birthday wishes to the splendid actor Darryl Stephens of Noah’s Arc and DTLA fame.
Darryl is as talented as he is handsome and always delivers whether in feature films (Boy Culture, Another Gay Movie, Circuit, Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom), television guest spots (2 Broke Girls, Private Practice, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives) or on the stage including his 2011 Ovation Award-nominated performance in the play The Interlopers.
I am so excited to see Darryl as the lead in Welcome, Sinners which was written and is being directed by his Noah’s Arc co-star Doug Spearman. Darryl was in Spearman’s previous film Hot Guys With Guns last year.
Love this story that Lance Bass shared this week on Access Hollywood.
During his days with the boy band NSync, he was not yet out to the public – or other members of the band.
Joey Fatone was the first to find out.
“Joey walked in on me with the guy I was dating just kind of sitting on my lap. Straight guys don’t do that,” Lance said, laughing. “He was like, ‘Dude, I don’t care.’ I’m like, ‘Surprise!’ Joey was just like, ‘Dude, I don’t care. I have so many gay friends – I don’t care.’
“It was a few months after that before I told the [rest of] the guys… I don’ t think anyone was surprised,” he added.
Today’s Morning Man caught my interest because he is Diana Nyad’s partner in the new season of Dancing With the Stars.
He’s Henry Byalikov and although he’s new to the ABC dance competition this year, he’s not new to televised dance shows.
Henry was just 18 when he appeared in his first Australian TV show, Strictly Dancing then four years later he competed in the first season of Channel 10’s hit show So You Think You Can Dance.
He then joined the Australian version of Dancing With The Stars.
Then he headed to the US as a guest partner on So You Think You Can Dance and now he’s landed the US version of DWTS.
Isaiah Washington will appear in the season finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy – his first appearance since being fired from the medical drama in 2007.
Washington is reprising his role of Dr. Preston Burke in an episode that will serve as the swan song for Sandra Oh’s character of Cristina Yang who was romantically involved with Burke in earlier seasons.
Creator Shonda Rhimes, who fired Washington after he used homophobic slurs, said Washington’s character is ‘vital’ to wrapping up Yang’s storyline.
‘It’s important to me that Cristina’s journey unfolds exactly as it should,’ Rhimes said in a statement. ‘Burke is vital to that journey – he gives her story that full-circle moment we need to properly say goodbye to our beloved Cristina Yang.’
Washington’s troubles began when he had an on-set scuffle in the fall of 2006 with co-star Patrick Dempsey during which Washington referred to co-star TR Knight as a ‘faggot.’
Knight, who is gay, was not yet out publicly but confirmed his sexuality in a statement as a result of the incident.
Then Washington made things worse by repeating the slur (during a denial) in front of the international press and all his castmates backstage at the Golden Globe Awards in early 2007 after the show had just won the best drama prize.
The actor underwent counseling to try and keep his job but was later fired anyway.
He was always bothered that the incidents led to people thinking he was a homophobe.
Washington had played gay roles in the past and posed for the NOH8 campaign in 2009 in a silent protest against California’s Proposition 8.
Last year, Washington played the role as the sympathetic dad of a gay teen in the film Blackbird from Patrik-Ian Polk of Noah’s Arc fame. Washington also produced the film with Polk and Carol Ann Shine.
Two days after talking fashion at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Johnny Weir was in a New Jersey courtroom facing a judge.
The reason?
Husband Victor Voronov had filed a police report accusing Weir of biting him during a domestic dispute last summer.
The couple, who married in December 2011, appeared in Lyndhurst Municipal Court and asked a judge to dismiss the case, according to RadarOnline.
The judge agreed to dismiss.
Johnny said on his way out of the courthouse: ‘It is a private matter I do not wish to discuss.’
Johnny has remained active on Twitter this week but did not mention the court appearance. In a tweet on the same day as the court appearance he wrote: ‘It’s so nice to be home, if only for a week. Amazing dinner with @Vweirvoronov.’
On the same day Voronov tweeted: ‘Life back to normal pace at least for today.’
Adam Lambert announced on Good Morning America today that he is going out on summer tour with Queen!
It’s 17 dates and they will be at the Forum in LA on July 3 and I might just have to be there!
Adam appeared in GMA with Roger Taylor and Brian May and called them ‘rock royalty.’ They in turn said there is nobody but Adam who could begin to fill the shoes of the late Freddie Mercury as lead singer.
You gotta wonder if her childhood friend and former singing partner “Diane Ross” will be calling up Mary Wilson today to wish her a happy 70th birthday.
Diane is, of course, Diana Ross, and these two fabulous women were original members of The Primettes who went on to become the Motown sensation known as The Supremes.
Mary and Diana have had a well-known feud over the years that began at the Motown 25th Anniversary TV special in 1983 (a little shove on the stage edited out of the TV broadcast) then really hit its peak with the publication of Mary’s revenge memoir Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme.
Then just when it seemed that they might patch it up for a 2000 reunion tour with fellow Supreme Cindy Birdsong, the bad blood spilled over again and there were dueling interviews on 20-20 and Diana went on an aborted tour with two other former Supremes who no one really remembers.
But the two divas were seen together in some photos as last year’s premiere of Motown: The Musical on Broadway. Not sure of they made up or were dissing each other through gritted teeth but it was nice to see them together!
I interviewed Mary five years ago and asked her about her 1986 book.
“I think a lot of people were (upset),” she said of reaction to the book. “They felt I was betraying them and telling things I shouldn’t be telling. I said, ‘Wait a minute. It’s better I write the truth and write it with love. We were all very young and people make mistakes. I kept diaries and wanted to say what happened but say it with love.”
She also wrote a follow-up called Supreme Faith: Someday We’ll Be Together about her life with the Supremes post-Ross who left the group in 1970. Wilson remained with other singers until it broke up in 1977.
“I didn’t want it to end,” she said. “My dreams were still coming true but it was just one of those things. After awhile, I realized what was the magic of the Supremes and what was the magic of Motown wasn’t there anymore.”
Relations between Mary and Diana seemed to have thawed a bit by 2009 when Mary told me: “There’s a card here and there and she gave me a shout-out at the BET (Awards). Even if there’s never a (reunion) tour, I still believe we are friends and sisters and will one day sit down and have Starbucks.”
Cheers to Canadian actor Tahmoh Penikett for not changing his name!
Unlike Rock Hudson, Cary Grant and a slew of others in the past, actors are keeping their names these days. But just imagine what John Travolta would do to Tahmoh’s name!
Tahmoh has not really been on my radar because he’s best-known for his roles in various sci-fi series and that is the genre I tend to watch the least.
He played the role of Karl “Helo” Agathon on the Sci Fi Channel’s television series Battlestar Galactica and played Paul Ballard in Joss Whedon’sDollhouse.
More recently, he appeared in The CW series Supernatural as a fallen angel named Gadreel and is getting a lot of buzz for being quite shirtless and sexy in a fight scene in this week’s episode of Star-Crossed. See video clip HERE.
On Twitter, he describes himself this way: Born & raised Yukon boy, who now calls BC & Cali home. Story telling is my profession. Life is my passion.. & books, movies, Muay Thai, food, music & napping.
Kathy Griffin jumps Into bed with Joan Rivers for the comedy legend’s web series.
In part one, they chat about what’s under Kathy’s pajamas, Bruce Jenner’s extensive plastic surgery (“What is the end game here?”), getting in trouble with the LGBT community, Walter Cronkite’s fetishes, and Kathy’s secret feud with Barbara Walters.
It’s clear from this video – in case it wasn’t clear already – that the first openly gay player in the history of Major League Soccer makes one helluva model.
Robbie Rogers is as much at ease in front of the camera as he is on the soccer field.
Here is video of Robbie doing a cover shoot for the British gay magazine Attitude.
So behind in my work today that I doubt I’ll be able to make this but wanted to spread the word because I love the Outfest screening series and attended it often when it was held downtown.
The screening series has moved to the West Hollywood Library and tonight at 7:30 pm there will be a retrospective screening of Capote starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Hoffman won the Academy Award for his portrayal of author Truman Capote.
The effete toast of New York high society, Capote shocked his peers by traveling to Kansas to investigate a horrifying local murder and writing what would become a groundbreaking “non-fiction novel,” the iconic In Cold Blood.
The film also stars Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr. and Chris Cooper.
Film critic Alonso Duralde will conduct a post-screening discussion on Philip Seymour Hoffman’s life and legacy with Amy Nicholson of LA Weekly and Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies: TCM.
The cost is $10 for general public and and $6 for Outfest members.
Okay, so here’s the thing: I’m two episodes behind on Glee and only just started to check out some of the music from the last two weeks. I still love this show and am constantly blown away by the mega-talented cast.
The video above is from last night’s Trio episode and I love anything that includes the bromance between straight boy Sam (Chord Overstreet) and gay dreamboat Blaine (Darren Criss). As graduation approaches, Tina, Blaine and Sam band together to hold their own senior ‘lock-in’ at school, singing Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds.
Below are some numbers from last week’s episode Frenemies and I am just blown away by Naya Rivera (Santana) belting out Don’t Rain on My Parade. And Adam Lambert and Chris Colfer are a smoking hot duo performing I Believe in a Thing Called Love.
I’m just catching up on all of the reviews of Sunday’s Academy Awards telecast and I guess I missed the part where the show was a mess – at least according to plenty of folks.
I thought it was such a good time and the fact that it was the highest-rated Oscars in 14 years doesn’t surprise me. And I love that there is so much buzz and energy about it days later – still news about the all-star selfie and Travolta’s name mangling and Ellen’s Liza joke.
So whatever.
I choose to love this Oscar show – I was so relaxed and happy watching it and never bored.
Ellen has posted this behind-the-scene video which shows her amazingly relaxed throughout the whole thing.
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Before last Sunday’s Oscars, Idina Menzel was best known as a Tony Award-winning actress (Wicked) who played Rachel’s mother on Glee and in real-life is married to Taye Diggs.
During his youth, Horst Buchholz was sometimes called “the German James Dean.”
We know that Sex and the City’s Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte are the best female quartet ever – well, at least right up there with The Golden Girls and the Designing Women.
The nominations for this year’s MTV Movie Awards came out this week.
Adam Lambert really got a chance to shine on this week’s episode of Glee on which he has the recurring role of Elliot, a member of Kurt’s musical group.
Hung out with fellow gay journalist Jim Halterman at last night’s Outfest Fusion kickoff party and today 
Did not want to let the day go completely by without sending out birthday wishes to the splendid actor Darryl Stephens of Noah’s Arc and DTLA fame.
The hilarious Wanda Sykes reaches an age milestone today: she’s 50!
Love this story that Lance Bass shared this week on 
Today’s Morning Man caught my interest because he is Diana Nyad’s partner in the new season of Dancing With the Stars.
Two days after talking fashion at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Johnny Weir was in a New Jersey courtroom facing a judge.
You gotta wonder if her childhood friend and former singing partner “Diane Ross” will be calling up Mary Wilson today to wish her a happy 70th birthday.
Cheers to Canadian actor Tahmoh Penikett for not changing his name!
Kathy Griffin jumps Into bed with Joan Rivers for the comedy legend’s web series.
It’s clear from this video – in case it wasn’t clear already – that the first openly gay player in the history of Major League Soccer makes one helluva model.
So behind in my work today that I doubt I’ll be able to make this but wanted to spread the word because I love the Outfest screening series and attended it often when it was held downtown.
