It was 12 years ago today that I launched the Greg in Hollywood blog after finding myself suddenly unemployed.
After creating the Out in Hollywood blog for the LA Daily News in 2006, I was addicted to blogging and did not want to stop after being a casualty of mass layoffs at the newspaper in 2009.
Greg in Hollywood has been my reliable companion through the pandemic, unemployment, underemployment, and, thankfully, full-time employment. It’s been a constant in my life and I have never taken more than a day or two away from posting fresh content.
Finally, I have decided to take a little break. It will likely be a period of 3-4 weeks as I think long and hard about what I want to do with my time. My day job as a writer-editor for the Los Angeles LGBT Center keeps me plenty busy!
But Greg in Hollywood isn’t going away for good. When I return, I will be looking to do fewer posts but those I do – recaps, reviews, interviews – will be more meaningful and satisfying to me. And hopefully to you too!
I am so grateful to you loyal readers who have appreciated my efforts over the years. I have never taken you for granted and never will!
Leslie Jordan told The Ellen DeGeneres Show guest host Howie Mandel about the time he ended up in jail at the same time as Robert Downey Jr. Plus, the Emmy-winning actor chatted about his Instagram videos going viral during the pandemic, and his new show, “Call Me Kat”!
Correspondent Nancy Giles goes up, up and away with two of The 5th Dimension’s founding members, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., whose music brought joyful harmonies to the tumultuous ‘60s and ‘70s, and who will soon release their first studio album in nearly three decades, “Blackbird: Lennon-McCartney Icons,” featuring classic Beatles love songs.
It’s hard to believe that ageless Broadway legend Bernadette Peters turns 73 years young today.
She is so sexy and talented and she has a Broadway resume that is beyond compare including revivals of Hello, Dolly!, Follies and A Little Night Music for which she got raves. Her other stage triumphs includes Sunday in the Park With George (Tony nomination), Annie Get Your Gun (Tony win), Gypsy (Tony nod), Song and Dance (Tony win), and Into the Woods(Drama Desk nomination). She was also Tony nominated for The Goodbye Girl, On the Town, and Mack & Mabel.
She’s also a beloved gay icon who I had the thrill of interviewing in the fall of 2008. I asked her why the gays have loved her for so much for so long.
“I always say they have great taste,” she joked. “They just recognize when something is going on, they recognize truth. Growing up feeling like an outsider, their souls and emotions are more developed. They have an ultra-sensitivity and that’s why they love show business.”
Here are some of my favorite Bernadette performances ever:
Elizabeth Taylor became a movie star as a child in National Velvet and went on to star in such classics as A Place in the Sun, Father of the Bride, Little Women, Giant, Raintree County, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? along with Cleopatra, Butterfield 8, The Taming of the Shrew, The Sandpiper, Reflections of a Golden Eye, A Little Night Music, The Mirror Crack’d, and many more films.
Once she reached her 50s, she turned to TV films and starred in Malice in Wonderland, Between Friends, North & South, Poker Alice, There Must Be a Pony, and a remake of Sweet Bird of Youth.
But by the mid-1980s, her focus shifted to AIDS activism and acting took a back seat, So by the time she was in her 60s, Miss Taylor’s greatest onscreen showcases were her perfume commercials. But she did the occasional fun role and I’ve posted them for you here to celebrate the 89th anniversary of her birth.
This week, The Endless Honeymoon Podcast hosts Moshe and Natasha are joined by Jon Lovett and Ronan Farrow! They discuss Jon and Ronan’s bookish proposal story, their understanding that work comes first, and Ted Cruz’s trip to Mexico. They give advice to one caller trying to make long distance work and another whose husband trolls her with right wing conspiracy theories.
Elizabeth Taylor, a star for the ages, was born 89 years ago today.
I’ll never forget flipping on the television to MSNBC in April 2011 and hearing anchor Thomas Roberts share the news that she had died. I felt suddenly so sad.
We knew she had been so ill but it still came as a shock much like when Lucille Ball died in 1989. Both women were in their late 70s and somehow we thought they would live forever.
And just as Lucy has, so has Elizabeth.
As a movie star crazy kid growing up in the 70s, I would devour every issue of People Magazine and Rona Barrett’s various magazines and was particularly fascinated with Miss Taylor.
My mom had always been a big fan of the actress so whenever her movies were on television, I’d watch them with her. I didn’t really understand Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Suddenly Last Summer or Butterfield 8 when I first saw them but I was mesmerized by Miss Taylor’s beauty and her talent.
But my real admiration for her came in the mid-80s when she decided to use to great fame to raise money and awareness in the fight against AIDS. She fought passionately, worked tirelessly and became one of the greatest humanitarians of our time. She began her work well before AIDS activism became fashionable and it became clear that her work as an activist had become far more important to her than her work as an actress.
Still, in addition to her earlier films, it was nice to see her do an occasional later movie like 1985′s Malice in Wonderland, 1987′s Poker Alice and a television version of Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Mark Harmon in 1989. Then there was her hilarious performance as Wilma’s mother Pearl Slaghoople in the 1994 feature film The Flintstones.
[My top five favorite Taylor films: 1. A Place in the Sun 2. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof 3. Who's Afraid if Virginia Woolf? 4. Suddenly Last Summer 5. Giant.]
I began covering Hollywood events in 2000 and since then, I’ve met just about every star I’ve ever wanted to meet. But never Elizabeth Taylor. I did get a pretty good look at her from my table at the Beverly Hilton when she took the stage to pay tribute to Barbra Streisand at the AFI Tribute in 2001.
My last chance came in 2008 at the Macy’s Passport benefit in Santa Monica. Miss Taylor was not doing interviews but she was slowly wheeled down the red carpet. Dripping with diamonds and wearing red lipstick, she smiled at us as she went by.
Now that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are settled into Southern California, James Corden thought it was time to show his friend Prince Harry the sights. From tea on an open top bus to visiting the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” mansion, Prince Harry gets the tour he never dreamed of.
Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, federal legislation that would expressly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity under existing civil rights laws.
“The Equality Act would provide clear federal civil rights protections to all LGBT people in the country,” said Christy Mallory, Legal Director at the Williams Institute. “It would be especially beneficial to those living in places without state-level protections and to LGBT people of color, who are particularly vulnerable to poverty, food insecurity, and homelessness.”
Key findings from the Williams Institute include
Demographics and Socioeconomic Characteristics
There are an estimated 13 million people ages 13 and older who identify as LGBT in the U.S.
Stigma and discrimination increase the risk for mental distress, mental health problems, suicide, and lower social well-being among LGB people compared to their non-LGB counterparts.
22% of LGBT adults live in poverty in the U.S. compared to 16% of non-LGBT people.
LGBTQ people of color are more likely to experience economic hardships.
Nearly 40% of LGBT people are people of color, including Latino/a (22%), Black (12%), Asian (2%), Native American/Alaskan Native (1%), Hawaiian Native/other Pacific Islander (1%).
Among the transgender population, 16% identify as Black, 21% identify as Latino, and 8% identify as another race or ethnicity.
LGBT people of color are more likely to live in poverty than white LGBT people: 37% of Latino/a LGBT people, 31% of Black LGBT people, 23% of Asian LGBT people, and 22% of multiracial LGBT people live in poverty, compared to 15% of white LGBT people.
Among LGBT people, 38% of multiracial people, 37% of Black people, and 32% of Latino/a people report not having enough money for food in the past year, compared to 22% of white LGBT people.
LGBT people of color have similar or higher rates of unemployment compared to white LGBT people: 11% of Black LGBT people, 9% of Latino/a LGBT people, and 7% of LGBT Asian LGBT people are unemployed, compared to 7% of white LGBT people.
An estimated 4.1 million of them live in states without statutes prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment.
9% of LGBT adults are unemployed compared to 5% of non-LGBT people.
An analysis of data collected by Gallup found that 60% of LGB people report being fired from or denied a job compared to 40% of heterosexual people.
Housing
There are approximately 11 million LGBT adults ages 18 and older in the U.S. An estimated 5.6 million of them live in states without statutes prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in housing.
An analysis of Gallup data found that 15% of LGB people report being prevented from moving into or buying a house compared to 6% of heterosexual people.
17% of LGB adults and 30% of transgender adults have experienced homelessness at some point in their lives, compared to 6% of the general population.
Education
There are over 3.5 million LGBT students ages 15 and older in the U.S. An estimated 2.1 million of them live in states without statutory protections against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination at school.
Public Accommodations
An estimated 6.9 million LGBT adults live in states without statutes prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in public accommodations.
LGBT people would also gain express protections under the Equality Act from sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in credit, jury service, and federally funded programs.
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It’s hard to believe that ageless Broadway legend Bernadette Peters turns 73 years young today.
Elizabeth Taylor, a star for the ages, was born 89 years ago today. 
