It’s just been reported that the Oscar-Tony-Emmy winner has dropped out of a scheduled guest starring role on TV Land’s Hot In Cleveland due to a health issue.

Liza with a Z was to play Wendie Malick’s agent in the episode. TVGuide.com reports that another actress will be cast in the role.

But who? If you are looking for another larger-than-life performer then what about Patti LuPone? Or Carrie Fisher? Or Joy Behar?

Liza turns 66 next month and has been advised not to travel because of an ankle injury. Her rep says she is hoping to make a future appearance on the show.

It would have been Liza’s first sitcom appearance since her recurring role on Arrested Development.

Since her husband Harry Kullijian passed away on December 27, Carol Channing hasn’t been available for personal appearances or interview opportunities to promote the documentary about her life.

But she did agree this week to provide a few questions about the documentary for the PR company promoting the film and the have passed along the Q&A:

Q: What do you think of “Carol Channing: Larger Than Life?” Did you enjoy the filmmaking process?

A: Oh, it’s wonderful.  There have been many who have approached me over the years, asking to do a documentary.  However, they discovered how much work it was going to be and it never happened.  Oh, Dori Berinstein was so patient with me as the director.  Sometimes my schedule would change at a moment’s notice and I’m sure it would completely mess up her plans.  I don’t think most actors think in terms of looking at what we’ve already done, rather than what can I still do now.  They don’t write their memoir until someone pushes them and it takes a very special person to go through all the archives … or junk, and I have a lot … to weed out the important things that the audience will want to know.  I’ve always relied on those around me, knowing and caring about what they are doing to make me look good.  It’s a team effort.  You don’t take those people for granted.  The really good ones truly love what they’re doing and believe in it.  I was just lucky enough to have someone like Dori, who believed enough in me, to do it.  And do it so well.  There were times when I thought, isn’t it done yet?  But, Dori wanted it to be perfect and I think she accomplished it … even if I wasn’t wearing my eyelashes in that one scene.

Q: Are there any roles you would have liked to have played, in either a recent or a classic musical or play? What are they, and why?

A: I don’t know that I’ve ever had time to think about what or whom I would like to have played.  I would, of course, dearly loved to play Dolly in the movie version.  I remember thinking, Oh Jerry’sMame would have been fun.  But how could you top Angela’s performance?  Although she and I did switch roles ever so briefly… oh years ago, during a tribute to Jerry when she came out as Dolly and I as Mame.  Oh, that was fun!

Q: Which performers today do you particularly admire, and why?

A: I wish I could answer that with more knowledge.  So many times I’m introduced to someone whose work I know I should know and I don’t.  I’m always so embarrassed that I haven’t kept up better.  I’m awfully impressed with Catherine Zeta Jones.  It’s pronounced Zeeeeeta, you know … Oh, and Kristin Chenoweth.  I’m impressed with her.   There is also a young man I met from a show called “Glee”.  I’ve never seen him on the show, but have worked with him on stage.  Oh, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I remember his name.  Anyway, him.

Q:  Had you not become a performer, what field would have interested you?

A: Oh!  Ahhhhhh, I don’t know.  I’ve wanted to be a performer since I was 7. I imagine if I hadn’t, I’d have found something associated with the industry.

Q: You’ve led an extraordinary life, on stage and off – what continues to inspire and motivate you?

A: Others.  When I see someone who’s passionately working on something, whether on stage or for the community, it inspires me.  My motivation is always that next show, that next character or that next appearance.  I’m always so sure that it will be my best performance or my greatest accomplishment.

Q: Imagine if they were real people who met each other, what would Lorelei Lee have thought of Dolly Gallagher Levi, and vice versa?

A: Isn’t that odd, no one has ever asked me that before.  I imagine they would have gotten along wonderfully.   They were both and are such strong personalities that I think off stage they would have been tremendous friends, but on stage …well, the poor audience would have difficulty focusing on just one of them.  They would overpower each other.

Liza with a Z talks about that and a host of other topics in a new interview with Huffington Post.

What caught my attention was the section of the interview where she talks about her legendary mother, Judy Garland:

“The biggest misconception people have about my mother is that she was so unhappy. I think people enjoy thinking that — some of them, anyway. They see the tragedy as opposed to the fact that she understood how to play tragedy.”

“I remember somebody at school once said something really mean about her: “Oh, Judy does too much of this or that, she drinks too much.” And I came home from school crying; my mother asked me what was wrong and I told her. And then she said, “You know what? You let everybody say what they’re gonna say, and we’ll go get a hamburger.”

She is a force of nature and I hope she knows how many people appreciate her for sharing her great talent and energy with us for all these years and for all the work she and the love of her life, Harry Kullijian, have done to keep the arts in schools.

Harry died on the eve of his 92nd birthday just a little over a month ago and my sources tell me Miss Channing is determined to carry on with their work.

They were junior high school sweethearts, didn’t see each other for more than 60 years, then reunited and married in 2003. They radiated happiness as you can see in the documentary Carol Channing: Larger Than Life, currently in theaters.

Below is a trailer for this fabulous movie as well as Miss Channing performing the wonderful ballad Before the Parade Passes By from her biggest hit show Hello Dolly.

It has often been joked that in the aftermath of a nuclear war, only two things would survive: cockroaches and Cher.

But plenty of folks – including Kim Kardashian – believed a death rumor on Twitter Thursday night about the 65-year-old gay icon. Cher is quite active on Twitter but has not posted any tweets since Jan. 22.

Helping to propel the hoax was when Kardashian sent out this tweet to her 12.8 million followers on Twitter: ‘Did I just hear Cher has passed away? Is this real? OMG.’

Read about how the hoax got started and what Cher herself has to say about it over at Gay Star News.

I’m in Pasadena for NBC day of the TV Critics Association Winter Press Tour so I’m attending panels, doing interviews, filing stuff for Gay Star News and trying to remember my name!

Anyway, things kicked off nicely this morning during a breakfast session with the one and only Betty White who was here to gab about her new NBC show Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.

This is a woman who is about to turn 90 and I can assure you, she is as bright and charming and clever and sassy as ever.

She referred to 85-year-old Tony Bennett as “just a kid” and is thrilled to be saying yes to as many things as she does because offers might dry up “by the time I’m 100.”

She says there’s several octogenarians out there right now still thriving on stage and screen “because they love what they do. That keeps you energized. You’ve got to celebrate that.”

Miss White, of course, is also currently starring in her third season of the hit TV Land sitcom Hot In Cleveland, her most successful series since The Golden Girls. She is nominated for a 2012 Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance on the show after winning last year.

When asked about her longevity on television – her first series was Life With Elizabeth in the 1950s and she won two Emmys for The Mary Tyler Moore Show – Miss White said: “People have gotten so used to me they can’t get rid of me. … It’s a legacy and I appreciate it with all my heart.”

In addition to Channing and her husband, the film includes interviews with Jerry Herman, Lily Tomlin, Chita Rivera, Barbara Walters, Tommy Tune, Tyne Daly, Debbie Reynolds, Phyllis Diller, Loni Anderson, JoAnne Worley and Bruce Vilanch.

Says Tomlin in the film: “When someone is so alive and in the moment, it takes your breath away.”

The film is written and edited by Adam Zucker. Director of Photography is Rob Vanalkemade and music is by Craig Sharmat. The film was co-produced by B. Harlan Boll.

The great Meryl Streep, also profiled on 60 Minutes on Sunday, is hotter than ever at the age of 62.

Her performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is getting raves and all kinds of major award nominations including Golden Globes and SAG. A 17th Oscar nomination seems a certainty and, let’s hope, a third win.

Of Thatcher, Streep says in the Newsweek story: “I did suspect that there was a weird special rage about her because she was a woman. From all sides. The policies that she pursued were the same policies that Geoffrey Howe pursued, although he’s not loathed and detested with the same intensity. And I think that it is a discomfort with, and a confusion about, women in leadership roles. For feminists it’s a betrayal because she doesn’t do the right thing, and so you hate her more than you’d hate a man who stood for the same things.”

Below are more of Miss Streep’s most famous magazine covers from over the years:

I’m going to a screening of The Iron Lady tomorrow morning. If I end up being as crazy about Meryl Streep’s performance as former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as I think I might be, then prepare for the Greg In Hollywood full-court press to get Meryl that elusive third Oscar.

Not that my efforts were successful in getting Miss Streep Academy Awards for Doubt or Julie & Julia!

Anyway, it’s just glorious to see this great actress and star on the cover of the January issue of Vogue. At the age of 62, she’s the oldest star to ever grace the magazine’s cover which goes on sale Dec. 20.

Bette Midler, the great star of stage and screen who got her start performing in gay bathhouses, turns 66 today and she is still going strong!

Whether she’s taking Vegas by storm, winning Grammys, Golden Globes and Emmys, or starring in memorable films like The Rose, For the Boys, The First Wives Club, and the television version of Gypsy, Bette Midler has never failed to entertain us.

She’s has remained vibrant and interesting and outspoken through more than four decades of stardom and has used her fame for various LGBT and environmental causes including doing her best to rid New York of all its trash!

Happy birthday to the greatest showgirl of them all!

The No H8 Campaign has posted a beautiful tribute to this pioneering LGBT activist and I want to share parts of it with you. (Pictured below in NoH8 portraits are Milk’s close friend Cleve Jones and his nephew, Stuart Milk)

Whether you experienced his legacy in real time or learned about him for the first time through MILK, the 2008 Oscar-Award-Winning biopic of Harvey’s life, many of you have been affected by Harvey Milk’s story. Harvey Milk made it his mission to fight for the gay community and achieve equal rights and treatment for all people, and he often spoke about how important visibility was to changing the climate and humanizing the gay community.

Harvey Milk lived his life openly and honestly for the sake of the greater good so that someday, others didn’t have to live in fear. That visibility, according to Harvey, would directly lead an opposing vote to realize that they knew at least one gay or lesbian person who would be affected by discriminatory legislation.

Harvey Milk became the man who was willing to risk everything for his rights and the rights of his community, and his story continues to inspire us while giving hope to new generations of LGBT youth.

Throughout the 40s, 50s and 60s, Miss Day starred in scores of hit films that included drama (Love Me or Leave Me, Young Man With a Horn,  , romantic comedy (Pillow Talk, Send Me No Flowers, Move Over Darling), and musicals (By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Tea for Two, The Pajama Game). She even starred as the title character in the westerns Calamity Jane and The Ballad of Josie and in the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Miss Day, now 87, retired from showbiz in the mid-70s and has rarely re-emerged. It would be quite something if she were to actually show up the the association’s awards dinner in January.

Let’s hope so. Then maybe she can go on to receive a much-deserved Honorary Oscar and Kennedy Center Honor.

In celebration  of the  100-year anniversary of Lucille Ball’s birth and the 60th anniversary of the first “I LOVE LUCY” television show, an online auction, through Ebay, will be held by CONNECTIBLES at www.LucyDesiSale.com.

Beginning October 30th, 2011, CONNECTIBLES will be offering over 125 pieces of never-before-released Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz memorabilia to Lucy, Desi and “I LOVE LUCY” fans worldwide.

These family heirlooms are being made available for purchase to the general public from the personal collection of Lucy and Desi’s daughter, Lucie Arnaz.

Handpicked by Lucie, each item will come with a signed letter of authenticity from Ms. Arnaz  guaranteeing provenance and signatures. This event is a rare and unique opportunity for anyone who appreciated the legacy of Lucy and Desi to participate in the online auctions and add a bit of rare television history to their collections.

The weeklong auctions will begin Sunday, October 30th with more items added daily until the entire collection is online for bidding.

According to Ms. Arnaz,  after her father Desi died in 1986 and Lucille Ball in 1989, the family sorted through all the treasured memorabilia.  Some was kept by family or given away to close friends, much of the rest went into two Universal Studios Tributes in Hollywood and Florida or was donated or loaned to the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, N.Y.. Now, more than 20+ years later, Ms. Arnaz decided the dual anniversary year of 2011 was the perfect time to celebrate her parents’ legacy by finally giving their many fans an opportunity to own a  little bit of  “LUCY” history.

CONNECTIBLES will be offering a wide range of memorabilia at all price levels, for the beginning or advanced collector. The rarest item may be a one-of-a-kind “lost manuscript” for Lucille Ball’s autobiography, LOVE LUCY. Typed with handwritten notes from Ball on every page, manuscript was packed away in the 1960’s and didn’t re-surface until the mid-1990’s after her death.

Other items of interest include Academy Award winner Elois Jenssen original costume sketches, personal signed notes and letters from Lucy and Desi, bracelets and furs, original American Character RICKY, Jr and I LOVE LUCY Baby dolls, signed checks and postcards, and even a set of fingerprints.

Sure to be something for every collector.  In the past these one-of-a-kind auctions have attracted fans from all parts of the world; be sure to be registered on Ebay in order to bid early!

You can also reach the auction site by going to www.CONNECTIBLES.net

She talked about her trepidation in the documentary Becoming Chaz and the strain in their relationship has been discussed by both. But Chaz’s participation in the Dancing With the Stars competition – and Cher’s very public support of child – has shown the world that they now appear to be in a good place.

Cher, who attended a taping of the show two weeks ago, reacted strongly tonight to her son’s elimination via Twitter: I Have Got 2Hold my TEMPER ! MY Tears R OK ! Congratulations Chaz I’m SO PROUD OF U ! This was YOUR Quest…& u Followed your Star

Watching Chaz Bono blossom on Dancing With the Stars these days, it’s hard to believe that this man was once a little girl named Chastity who appeared with her parents, Sonny and Cher, on their television variety show.

Mom Cher showed up two weeks ago to cheer Chaz on and one would think Sonny Bono would have been there too (he was killed in a skiing accident in 1998).

Sonny and Cher, who were big pop stars in the 60s before making it big in television, famously divorced after 10 years of marriage in 1974.

Cher, a prolific tweeter these days, took questions from her followers over the weekend. The first one asked: What way is@Chaz most like U In what way is most like Sonny?

Wrote Cher: Son was little devil Funny! Im little devil perfectionist. … We’ve Never Talked About SON! Maybe some of u r 2 young 2 know Him! He was ONE OF A KIND ! He could Make me laugh till i couldn’t STOP!

She added: I could Never stay Mad at Him! Our Divorce was Huge Deal back in the day ! knock down Drag out FIGHT! He said all kinda shit about me. … We fought like cats & Dogs ! He said I was unfit mom 4 taking Chaz 2 Hef’s He wanted custody! He Lost but got Big bucks !

Cher tweeted that during the divorce proceedings, “we’ve been yell’n F this F that ! On last day…We walk 2 newsman 2say it’s over & b4 I realize it he grabs me bends me back kiss’s me ON MY LIPS &&& Sticks his Tongue down my throat! All my anger disappeared &we both laughed till we cried.”

Another follower asked Cher is Sonny cheated on her. She replied: Well, lets just say he got an F on his Fidelity Final!

Two years after their divorce, Sonny and Cher reunited on television for two more years of their variety show. Much had changed, including Cher being married to Gregg Allman and pregnant with son Elijah Blue Allman during part of show’s run.

Sonny would go into politics and become mayor of Palm Springs then a United States Congressman while Cher would go on to win an Academy Award and become an even bigger musical star.

Their last public appearance together came in 1987 on Late Night With David Letterman when they sang a wonderful duet of I Got You Babe.

As Sonny became more and more Republican, there were some potshots in the press from Cher and vice-versa and his relationship with their only child was strained at the time of Sonny’s death because of a disagreement over politics.

But as you can see in this video of Cher’s emotional eulogy at Sonny’s memorial, the love never died.

BONUS VIDEOS: The 1987 Letterman appearance and with Chastity on their variety show.

Chaz Bono has made it to the fourth week of Dancing With the Stars and next week, he’ll have someone very famous in the audience rooting him on: his mother Cher!

The icon has been very supportive via Twitter of Chaz’s efforts on the dance floor these past few weeks with partner Lacey Schwimmer and after her son survived elimination this week Cher tweeted: “Yeah CHAZ. Looks like I’ll b in the Audience next Week.” She also thanked her many loyal followers who she calls “lovelies.”

Cher has publicly admitted her struggles with accepting her child with the late Sonny Bono – first as a lesbian – then as a transgender male. But mother and child seem to be bonding over the DWTS experience.

Next week, with Cher in the audience, it will be quite a scene and there’s no way Chaz won’t get enough votes to make it through to week five.

“Throughout my career, I’ve always portrayed characters that were humorous, but also weren’t afraid to speak their minds, especially when it came to racy or controversial topics. I think this struck a cord with the LGBT community. We both also share a strong love of animals. When you combine the two, it’s a very strong match.”

There are few artists that I would just flat out do a free commercial for but if your first name is Bette, Cher, Barbra, Patti or Diana, you can pretty much count on it!

Today is Bette Midler’s freebie.

Image Entertainment presents the Divine Miss M’s triumphant return to Las Vegas with BETTE MIDLER: THE SHOWGIRL MUST GO ON, available on Blu-ray and DVD today.

The $10 million extravaganza played over 300 performances in a nearly three-year run at the famed Colosseum at Caesar’s Palace.  The Blu-ray is SRP at $24.98, with the DVD’s SRP at $19.98.

Taped before thousands in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the 70-minute cavalcade feaures many of Ms. Midler’s colorful and classic stage and screen characters.  Joining her on the gargantuan stage is an energetic corps of talented performers, including the staggering Harlettes, twenty dazzling dancers she calls The Caesar Salad Girls and a 13-piece band.  Ms. Midler’s superstar power shines in renditions of her immortal songs including “The Rose,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “From a Distance,” “Hello in There” and “Wind Beneath My Wings.”  The production was nominated for a 2011 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special.

The show was produced by Midler and Seanne Farmer; directed by Midler; executive produced by Midler; choreographed by Toni Basil with original stage production conceived and directed by Midler.

Here are some promotional clips:

Whenever I’m asked what my most memorable or favorite celebrity interview has been it’s always an easy answer: Lauren Bacall.

Hands down.

I profiled her for Orange Coast Magazine back in 2004 and called her in London where she was filming These Foolish Things. The hotel operator screwed things up and didn’t patch me through until 10 minutes past our appointed time (I was calling from Los Angeles where it was about 3 a.m.).

Miss Bacall’s first words to me were: “You’re late!”

But it was all uphill from there and we had the most enchanting conversation. It helped that I knew her career like the back of her hand.

This movie and Broadway legend has had a remarkably lengthy career that began at the top when she starred opposite future husband Humphrey Bogart in 1944′s To Have and Have Not.

She hasn’t stopped since with the upcoming film Carmel completed and starring last year in Wide Blue Yonder.

In between there have been such memorable films as Key Largo, The Big Sleep, How to Marry a Millionaire, Designing Woman, Blood Alley, Young Man With a Horn, Murder on the Orient Express, The Shootist and her Oscar-nominated performance in The Mirror Has Two Faces.

She conquered the Broadway stage winning Tony Awards for the musicals Applause and Woman of the Year, starred in the original productions of Goodbye Charlie, Cactus Flower and Waiting in the Wings and starred on the London stage in Sweet Bird of Youth.

Miss Bacall is someone I greatly admire because it was never enough for her to just be a movie star or a film legend. She wanted to be a respected actress and has worked for nearly 70 years being just that!

She received an honorary Academy Award a few years back, was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1997 and won the National Book Award for her incredible memoir By Myself.

At 87, she is still going strong and is a terrific role model for anyone in the acting profession.

He may have turned 85 last month, but the great Tony Bennett is still as current as anyone in the music business. His latest album, Duets II, will be released on Sept. 20.

Bennett recently sat down with AARP magazine at his art studio overlooking Central Park in New York to talk about, among other things his recording with Lady Gaga and the late Amy Winehouse.

Here are some excerpts:

On his desire to share his own experiences with Amy Winehouse: “I wanted to tell Amy, I wanted to talk to her and her dad about what happened to me, and how I stopped and how it helped. Everybody loved her so much. Her fans really loved her. They were all rooting for her. And she was such a sweet child. And it was so tragic that she died so young.”

On Lady Gaga: “I think if she keeps going the way she’s going now, that she will become bigger than Elvis Presley. She will become the main rage of the entertainment world. I’ve never met anybody, I don’t care what age, who is more intelligent about what to do as a performer than Lady Gaga.”

“She did ‘The Lady Is a Tramp’ with me. It was so fantastic. She showed up in the most gorgeous dress I’ve ever seen. On Elizabeth Taylor or Marilyn Monroe — the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen on a human being! And she had a wild green wig on. But when she went into it, ‘Bam!’ The song just took off. So she’s absolutely brilliant with what she does. She’s a very, very magnificent performer and she does know how to sing, and she does know how to play the piano. I see great things for her. She has no boundaries and she knows what she’s doing. You know, I’ve performed with everybody, being 85 years old. I’ve seen it all. And I’ll tell you, I’ve never seen anybody that intelligent when it comes to knowing how to perform properly.”

On how his singing and painting interrelate: “My father died when I was 9 and I couldn’t believe it as a young boy. All my aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces, they would come over every Sunday and make a circle around my brother, my sister and myself. And then they saw the way I painted. They said, ‘Look at his painting. He paints these beautiful flowers.’ So it gave me a passion, not realizing as of today, that my passion is even stronger than it was then. But my whole life has been about painting and singing. Music and art. Truth and beauty. Those are the things that I work on. That’s all I know, and I keep studying it.”

On his retirement plans: “When somebody says, ‘Are you going to retire?’ I say, ‘Retire to what?’ Because I’m not going to stop learning. There’s so much to learn! And I’ve had a beautiful life thinking that way.”