So how perfect is it that it will be Miss Streep, who won her third Oscar this year, has been chosen to present the prestigious American Film Institute Life Achievement Award to Miss MacLaine.

The private black tie gala will be held at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City on June 7 and will air on TV Land on June 24.

MacLaine is a six-time Academy Award nominee and won the Oscar in 1984 for Terms of Endearment.

Streep has already received the AFI Award as has MacLaine’s younger brother, Warren Beatty.

It was in 1979 when Donna Summer and Barbra Streisand - both at the very height of their legendary recording careers – joined forces on the number one hit No More Tears (Enough is Enough).

Streisand has released a statement expressing her shock over the death of Summer who had died earlier in the day from cancer at the age of 63.

‘I was shocked to hear about Donna,’ Streisand said. ‘She was so vital the last time I saw her a few months ago. I loved doing the duet with her. She had an amazing voice and was so talented. .. It’s so sad.’

Another music icon, Dolly Parton, also weighed in with her sorrow: ”I can’t believe we’ve lost another wonderful singer. Donna, like Whitney (Houston), had one of the greatest voices ever. I loved her records. She was the disco queen, and will remain so. I knew her and found her to be one of the most likable and fun people ever. She will be missed and remembered.’

Go to Gay Star News to read other celebrity tributes to Donna Summer from Aretha Franklin, Ellen DeGeneres, Gloria Gaynor, Liza Minnelli and more.

I posted some videos earlier today but just read this awesome feature over on AfterElton.com by Louis Virtel in which he lists 70 things he loves about Barbra.

It inspired me to do my own list!

Here goes – in no particular order:

1. Her stupendous rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone at the 2001 Emmy Awards – just a short time after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

2. The gorgeous Love Comes From the Most Unexpected Places from her Superman album.

3. My Man from Funny Girl.

4. The fabulous surprise cameo at the end of the Madonna/Rosanne Coffee Talk sketch on Saturday Night Live in 1992.

5. The dramatic Grammy Awards duet of You Don’t Bring Me Flowers with Neil Diamond.

6. Woman in the Moon in one of the concert scenes of A Star is Born.

7. Coming in and Out of Your Life from the early-80s Memories album.

8. I’m the Greatest Star from Funny Girl.

9. Her opening number from her comeback 1994 concert tour: It’s As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Boulevard.

10. The Broadway Album.

11. Back to Broadway.

12. Stoney End.

13. The dance in the street with Jeff Bridges at the end of The Mirror Has Two Faces.

14. Walking in the beach scene with Robert Redford in The Way We Were and Streisand’s Katie falls down laughing over baby names.

15. Papa Can You Hear Me from Yentl.

16. The No More Tears (Enough is Enough) duet with Donna Summer.

17. The 1986 concert she had in her backyard in Malibu and made into album One Voice.

18. Guilty with Barry Gibb.

19. The Way We Were – the movie.

20. The Way We Were – the song.

21. What’s Up Doc? opposite Ryan O’Neal.

22. Every moment of the Don’t Rain on My Parade number from Funny Girl.

23. The first words of her Oscar speech when she won for Funny Girl: ‘Hello, gorgeous!’

24. Evergreen.

25. The With One More Look at You/Watch Closely Now medley at the end of A Star is Born.

26. Somewhere from The Broadway Album.

27. The Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy duet with Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show.

28. The lunch scene with Brenda Vacarro from The Mirror Has Two Faces and they split the salad and the hamburger in a nod to one of them no longer being heavy.

30. The “Your girl is lovely Hubbel” line from the final scene in The Way We Were.

31. The performance of People in Funny Girl.

32. The Higher Ground album.

33.  2004 Inside the Actors Studio appearance.

34,  The scene in A Star is Born when she tells Kris Kristofferson’s character who she has just caught cheating: “You can trash your life but you’re not going to trash mine.”

35. The afro hairstyle from the 1976-80 period.

36. Her fingernails in The Prince of Tides.

37. The Tell Him duet with Celine Dion.

38. Smile from The Movie Album.

39. The morning scene with Lauren Bacall in The Mirror Has Two Faces when Streisand’s character asks her mother: ‘What was it like? To be beautiful.’ Bacall’s character admits: ‘It was wonderful.’

40. The Woman in Love single from Guilty album.

41. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes from the Love is the Answer album.

42. The crazy scenes with Dustin Hoffman in Meet the Fockers.

43. All I Ask of You from Till I Loved you album.

44. Everything from A Star is Born album.

45. The Oscar-nominated I Finally Found Someone duet with Bryan Adams from The Mirror Has Two Faces.

46. If I Could from Higher Ground album.

47. 1967′s A Christmas Album.

48. The dramatic courtroom scene in the movie Nuts.

49. The break-up scene with Robert Redford in The Way We Were.

50. The title song of the album Songbird.

51. New York State of Mind from Superman album.

52. I Believe in Love from concert scene in A Star is Born.

53. Queen Bee number from A Star is Born.

54.  The Way He Makes Me Feel from Yentl.

55. Don’t Believe What You Read from Superman album.

56. 2010 appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

57. Prince of Tides.

58. The moment at the end of The Way We Were when Streisand’s Katie fixes Hubbel’s hair.

59. Second Hand Rose from Funny Girl.

60. The title song of The Main Event.

61. Moon River from The Movie Album.

62. The ‘Till  Loved You duet with then-boyfriend Don Johnson.

63. The scene in Yentl when Mandy Patikin’s character discovers that his male friend Anshel is really a woman named Yentl.

64. What’s Up Doc?

65. Appearance on The Rosie O’Donnell Show in 1997 that had Rosie in tears.

66. The infamous 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace during which he makes her cry.

67. Joining Judy Garland and Ethel Merman to perform There’s No Business Like Show Business on The Judy Garland Show.

68. Lost Inside of You duet with Kris Kristofferson from A Star is Born.

69. The see-though pantsuit she wore to the Oscars the year she won for Funny Girl.

70. Somewhere from The Broadway Album.

BONUS FIVE:

71. Her dramatic performance in Up the Sandbox.

72. Performance of America the Beautiful from I Love Liberty television special.

73. The love scene when she gets into bed with Robert Redford in The Way We Were.

74. What Kind of Fool duet with Barry Gibb from Guilty album.

75. My Heart Belongs to Me from Superman album.

Okay, there’s my list! While I love so much of her work, this exercise has made me realize that I’m not very familiar with her early albums or TV specials and that I’m indifferent about some of her movies including Hello! Dolly, The Main Event, All Night Long and even Funny Lady.

Would love to hear from some of you! What are your favorite Barbra moments?

The two-time Tony Award winner has appeared in such Sondheim works as Sunday in the Park with George, Sweeney Todd, Gypsy and in last year’s filmed version of Company.

Rather than just bask in the tributes, LuPone performed Sondheim’s classic Anyone Can Whistle as well as Kurt Weill’s September Song.

“I shouldn’t be singing for my supper,” LuPone told guests. “However, I had a little too much to drink; the wine’s been flowing. I’m not as young as I used to be, so the voice. . . we’ll see what happens. What the hell.”

LuPone won her first Tony for Evita in 1980 and was nominated again for Anything Goes.

Prior to the tribute, Sondheim said in a statement: “There are few performers who can play both Mrs. Lovett and Fosca, Evita and Reno Sweeney, Nancy in Oliver! and Cora Hoover Hooper in Anyone Can Whistle, and still create roles for David Mamet.  In fact, there’s only one. Versatility of such a high caliber is rare indeed, and therefore it couldn’t be more appropriate that the recipient of this year’s Signature Theatre Sondheim Award is going to the best tuba player on Broadway: Patti LuPone.”

It’s been more than 35 years since Doris Day retired from showbiz after making scores of classic films, recording hit songs and a five-season run of her popular sitcom.

She never really retired though, she just moved on to another phase of her life living in Carmel, CA and dedicating her energies to animal causes.

Although Miss Day showed up to accept the Cecil B. Demille Award at the 1989 Golden Globe Awards looking glamorous and youthful, in more recent years she has declined such honors at the Kennedy Center Honors and the lifetime achievement award from the American Film Institute. In 2004, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom but did not show up to accept the honor.

But leaving the spotlight behind certainly seems to have agreed with her. Still healthy and robust, she turns 88 today. She recently re-emerged recently doing a series of interview promoting the release of My Heart, a compilation of previously unreleased recordings produced by Day’s son, Terry Melcher, prior to his death in 2004.

Seeing her in concert just last week, it is so wonderful to know that her gifts are still very much intact and let’s hope she does some more albums and some more touring.

She is such a part of our history and how lucky we are to have this mother of five and new grandmother still going so strong.

To celebrate her birthday, here are some Diana Ross performances starting with the energetic video for I Will Survive shot in the streets of West Hollywood in the mid-90s. It’s a gem:

BONUS VIDEO: This is the first time I’ve ever come across video online of the disastrous 1983 reunion of Diana Ross and the Supremes which took place on a very memorable television special celebrating the 25th anniversary of Motown. What should have been a beautiful coming together of Diana, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong was cut short by some onstage jostling between Diana and Mary (it was edited out of the footage, of course). They almost reunited again in 2000 for a tour but the Mary-Diana bad blood surfaced again. It will likely never, ever happen now which is a pity. So here is what is almost certainly the one and only reunion of Diana Ross and the Supremes.
BONUS 2: Diama looking terrific on The View about eight years ago. The hair!

Meant to post this a few days ago but better late than never!

The great Lily Tomlin and her lovely partner of more than four decades, Jane Wagner, received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Fame last week.

Can’t think of two people who deserve it more!

Said Lily at the ceremony: “Jane and I are so honored that the Palm Springs Walk of Stars has chosen to bestow this terrific honor upon us. We both have a real affinity for the Palm Springs community, and this is just one more way to connect with the wonderful people who live in and visit this beautiful part of the world.”

Tomlin and Wagner co-wrote six comedy television specials in which Tomlin starred. They also co-wrote and produced the Grammy Award-winning album, Edith Ann: And That’s the Truth, and Grammy-nominated albums Modern Scream and On Stage.

Among those present at the ceremony was the legendary Carol Channing, 91, who is pictured with Miss Tomlin, below.

“I was thrilled for her,” said Ms. Channing. “Lily is such a great artist.  Oh, I just love her and Jane.”

A month ago, Lily hosted the premiere of Dori Berinstein’s Carol Channing: Larger Than Life premiere at The Paley Center in Beverly Hills.

On Thursday, March 22, Miss Ross returns to the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

She is headlining A Night of Divas which benefits the Herbalife Family Foundation.

The foundation helps provide good nutrition to at-risk and low income children around the world.

All proceeds will go to this worthy cause.

Here is a LINK for more information and tickets!

I first saw Miss Ross at the Pacific Ampitheatre in 1989 during the Working Overtime tour then again two years later at the Universal Ampitheatre during The Force Behind the Power Tour.

It was then a five year break before returning to the Universal Ampitheatre for the Take Me Higher Tour.

Had tickets in the summer of 2000 for the Anaheim stop of the Return to Love tour with the Supremes which was canceled before it got to our stop. I was devastated!

It would be eight more years before I’d see Miss Ross live again and it was a spectacular concert at Hollywood Bowl in support of her first album in forever, I Love You.

Then in 2010, I got tickets to see the superstar at the Nokia for a wonderful concert of her many hits from Baby Love to Endless Love, from Where Did Our Love Go? to Why Do Fools Fall in Love? and from Reach Out and Touch to Touch Me in the Morning.

And let’s not forget Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Upside Down, Love Hangover, Missing You, I’m Coming Out, Reflections, Stop! In the Name of Love, Where Did Our Love Go, Love Child and Do You Know Where You’re Going To?

Can’t wait to see what she has in store for us this time!

Streep later publicly thanked Fonda for her encouragement during the shooting of that 1977 film and for spreading the word around Hollywood about this terrific young actress with a bright future.

So Fonda, a two-time Oscar winner herself for Klute and Coming Home, was thrilled to see Streep win her third Academy Award on Sunday as she watched the ceremony from the Vanity Fair party (she is pictured, above, at the party with son Troy Garity).

Fonda blogged about the evening and here are her thoughts on Streep’s popular win:

The evening was really fun Highlights for me: the biggie for me was Meryl’s winning. I stood up and cheered and wasn’t the only on. I adore Viola [Davis]…as a human and as an actor but Meryl—that performance! Breathtaking…besides the fact that she’s given about a dozen Oscar-worthy performances since “Sophie’s Choice.” I can tell you that as an actor, she (and Annette Benning) raise the bar and inspire me to go farther, reach higher. I also loved Billy Crystal and a whole lot else about the show.

It was at The Hollywood Bowl and marked the third time I’d seen Cher in concert.

It was a magical night and it just didn’t seem right that Cher wouldn’t be doing in anymore since she still sounded great and looked great.

Of course, after a few years of rest, Cher returned to live performing with a multi-year gig at Caesar’s Palace.

But now, the 65-year-old legend is going back on the road!

The tour will kick off in September and Cher tweeted last night:

“OH MY GOD !!!! JUST SAW THE SETS 4 THE SHOW !!! I CANT SHOW U CAUSE YOUD NEVER 4GIVE ME ! THERES SO MUCH MAGIC I AM BREATHLESS !”

A full schedule of dates and venues have yet to be unveiled. I will keep you posted!

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.