Tom Hopper is a 29-year-old English actor who has appeared in several television programs and films including Merlin, Doctor Who, Casualty and Tormented.
His current screen role is in the Neil Marshall drama series Black Sails.
I was not previously aware of Tom but from what I read, the handsome and very well-built actor is well-aware of his big gay fan base and welcomes it.
He is best known for playing Sir Percival in the BBC series Merlin in which he co-starred with yesterday’s Morning Man Eoin Macken.
These two really are the picture of happiness.
They are Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin and his new husband, Sean Arian, who got married over the weekend.
The ceremony took place on Saturday in San Pedro and was officiated by LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.
Mike is a Greg In Hollywood Morning Man alum and one of three LGBT elected officials in Los Angeles City government.
Mike and Sean met at City Hall in 2009, when Sean was Director of Economic Development for then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
At the time, Mike was chief of staff to Councilmember Bill Rosendahl and a same sex marriage activist with the Courage Campaign.
Sean is now founder and president of Eos Consulting and Vice President for Innovation and Emerging Technologies at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.
Supercouple Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black were among the 286 passengers on a Virgin Atlantic that made an emergency landing in Russia on earlier today.
The couple were flying to London from Shanghai and updated their followers on social media as the plane began dumping fuel then landed at Irkutsk Airport in Russia.
After the landing, Black tweeted that fire engines abounded and that passengers were ‘locked in the broken plane. No word on what’s happening.’
His most recent tweet, sent more than six hours later stated: ‘Happy to be alive. @VirginAtlantic have been very helpful. Now we just need to get out of Siberia. Bit scary.’
Virgin Atlantic has released a statement explaining that the plane (VS251) was diverted as a precautionary measure due to a technical issue detected inflight.
‘As standard procedure the aircraft disposed of excess fuel ahead of landing and the flight was met at the airport by the local emergency services,’ they stated.
The airline apologized for any inconvenience and said its priority was to make sure that passengers could resume their journey as soon as possible.
Since his series Prison Break went off the air in 2009, Wentworth Miller has rarely been seen on television screens except for in reruns.
The now openly gay actor is returning to the TV spotlight with a guest role on The CW’s newest superhero series The Flash.
Wentworth will first appear in the fourth episode of the show which premieres this fall.
His role is that of Leonard Snart (aka Captain Cold). The freeze-gun-touting villain is one of Barry Allen/The Flash’s biggest adversaries in the DC Comics, and is the leader of the Rogues – a group of his enemies.
It’s not clear how many subsequent episodes Miller will appear in during the season.
The series stars Glee alum Grant Gustin (he played the gay Warbler who wanted to break up Kurt and Blaine). He is an assistant police forensic investigator who through a freak accident is transformed into the fastest man alive.
Outfest wrapped up its 11-day run last night and now the next SoCal-area film festival has just released its schedule.
It is the 2014 Long Beach Qfilm Festival which will take place September 12th-14th at the
historic Art Theatre (located at 2025 East 4th St.) and the neighboring LGBTQ Center of Long Beach.
I usually attend this every year and last year conducted one of the post-movie Q&As so this event most definitely has the Greg In Hollywood seal of approval.
The festival will open at the Art Theatre with Appropriate Behavior, an NYC-based comedy about the romantic misadventures of a bisexual Iranian-American woman, and the Los Angeles area premiere of My Straight Son (Azul y No Tan Rosa), an award-winning Venezuelan drama in which a gay man struggles to connect with his teenage son from a previous relationship.
An Opening Night party will take place between screenings at the LGBTQ Center of Greater Long Beach, located directly next door to the Art Theatre.
The only movies that I’ve already seen are the wonderful comedy-musical Cupcakes by gay Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox (Yossi & Jagger) and the powerful drama Blackbird, starring Academy Award winner Mo’Nique and Isaiah Washington in a poignant look at a young gay man’s coming of age in the deep South.
Other narrative and documentary features are: the U.S. premiere of Happy End?!, a German drama-comedy about two women who connect while one is sentenced to community service; Letter to Anita, Andrea Meyerson’s eye-opening documentary about prominent lesbian educator and activist Dr. Ronni Sanlo; Out in the Night, which explores the harrowing true story of seven African-American lesbian women confronting racial and sexual injustice; Boy Meets Girl, the charming tale of a love triangle with a trans woman at its heart; Transvisible: The Bamby Salcedo Story, an examination of the unique experiences of trans immigrant women; and Tru Love, a sweet May-December romance between two women fighting their families and the odds to be together.
Additional features as well as a variety of men’s, women’s and queer short films will be announced in early August.
Last year’s event was the most successful yet with over 1,500 attendees and featured several
West Coast, Southern California and area premieres as well some of the most acclaimed features on the 2013 film festival circuit.
Passes and tickets will be available for purchase beginning in August through the Qfilm Festival page at www.qfilmslongbeach.com.
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Documentary Short
Families Are Forever, Directed by Vivian Kleiman
Dramatic Short
Alone With People, Directed by Drew Van Steenbergen
Documentary Feature
Back on Board: Greg Louganis, Directed by Cheryl Furjanic
Dramatic Feature
The Way He Looks, Directed by Daniel Ribeiro
First US Dramatic Feature
Drunktown’s Finest, Directed by Sydney Freeland
GRAND JURY AWARDS
Documentary Feature Special Recognition
Dior and I, Directed by Frédéric Tcheng
Documentary Feature Winner
The Circle, Directed by Stefan Haupt
Actor in a U.S. Dramatic Feature
Mark Strano in Tiger Orange (pictured)
Actress in a U.S. Dramatic Feature
Gaby Hoffmann in Lyle
Screenwriting in a U.S. Dramatic Feature
Desiree Akhavan for Appropriate Behavior
U.S. Dramatic Feature Film
Drunktown’s Finest, Directed by Sydney Freeland
International Dramatic Feature Special Recognition
Lilting, Directed by Hong Khaou
International Dramatic Feature
Something Must Break, Directed by Ester Martin Bergsmark
Documentary Short Film
Flying Solo: A Transgender Widow Fights Discrimination, Directed by Leslie Von Pless
Experimental Short Film
Get Ripped, Directed by Leonardo Van Dijl
Dramatic Short Film
Jellyfish, Directed by Rosie Haber
It takes a lot of guts to share a stage with the legendary Broadway star Ethel Merman who had as powerful a set of pipes as anyone who has ever graced the stage.
But Judy Garland dared to do so and Merman describes them in the first clip as “the last of the big belters.”
She also did a medley with her pal Mary Martin in a 1950s television special then a really fun number with Fred Astaire on Hollywood Palace in the 60s.
I think you’ll enjoy all three,
James Garner died last night at the age of 86.
I cannot tell you how many episodes of The Rockford Files I’ve watched with my dad since it is one of his all-time favorite shows along with Matlock and NCIS.
My dad just thought Garner was terrific as private investigator Jim Rockford from 1974-80 and in six TV movies in the mid-90s. He had been a fan since he played the gun-slinging Bret Maverick on TV’s Maverick from 1957-1960 and again in 1981-82.
My favorite Garner performances, however, came in the movies.
Who can forget him opposite Steve McQueen in The Great Escape and I loved him with Doris Day in Move Over Darling. An then there was the only movie performance he ever earned an Oscar nomination for: the 1985′s Murphy’s Romance opposite Sally Field – I think it’s my most favorite of all.
While he didn’t win the Oscar, he did win a pair of Emmys, three Golden Globes, two Peoples Choice Awards and the 2005 SAG Lifetime Achievement Award.
The handsome Garner easily segued between movies and TV, comedy and drama and leading and supporting roles throughout his career. It’s no wonder he had nearly 100 credits.
Other feature films included The Children’s Hour, The Americanization of Emily, Support Your Local Gunfighter, The Fan, My Fellow Americans, Space Cowboys and The Notebook.
Notables TV films were Emmy nominated performances in Barbarians at the Gate, My Name is Bill W, The Promise, Decoration Day and my favorite, Heartsounds with Mary Tyler Moore.
Garner stepped in as the family patriarch on the ABC comedy 8 Simple Rules after John Ritter’s death and appeared in two-and-a-half seasons and also starred in the following short-lived series that lasted a season or less: First Monday, Man of the People and Nichols.
Suddenly, I’m very interested in checking out the new NBC series Running Wild with Bear Grylls.
The first guest is that hunky guy named Zac Efron who, naturally, takes his shirt off.
The show with Efron airs on NBC on July 28.
The lights on Broadway were dimmed last night in honor of the legendary Elaine Stritch who died on Thursday.
While there may be some people who know her best from playing Alec Baldwin’s mom on 30 Rock, she is one of the greatest stage stars of all time and was still going strong at 85 in a revival of the musical A Little Night Music.
In this episode of Theater Talk in 2011, she has a relaxed, interesting and fun conversation about the theater with the hosts.
I love this!
Glad to see a new sitcom with a lead character who is gay/
It’s called The McCarthys and it premieres on CBS this fall.
Here’s the premise and cast: When the gay son of a sports-crazed Boston clan decides to fly the coop, his loving family has other plans.
Tyler Ritter, Laurie Metcalf, Jack McGee and Joey McIntyre star.
The show was created by a real Bostonian, Brian Gallivan (Happy Endings), and is loosely based on his life.
It’s no secret that Star Trek alums George Takei (Hikaru Sulu) and William Shatner (Cpt. James T. Kirk) can’t stand each other in real life.
When Takei this week was asked about it during an appearance on Real Time With Bill Maher, he didn’t mince words.
“Canadians have a certain image of being even-tempered and friendly and all that,” Takei said. “Well, he is a person who is that way with himself. He is very self-centered.”
He added: “We work together. We’re professionals. We get the work done, but, it’s with a lot of difficulty.”
Takei also joked with Maher that the temptation is sometimes there to just “drive the starship into a death star” just to spite Shatner.
The feud came up again when Takei talked about how his cast-mates all knew was gay except for one. “It went right over his head.” The obvious answer: William Shatner.
I dunno, once you’ve shot someone in the head, it’s kinda hard to take the moral high ground on something.
And yet, here is our Will Horton doing just that as he pays a visit to his stepdad EJ in jail.
Sami has gone so over-the-top with her revenge that she’s a cartoon now. I love that Kate has moved in to the mansion to rain a bit on her revenge parade.
Andrew Rannells has just posted this on Facebook and says: I am beyond thrilled to be joining HEDWIG on Broadway
He takes over for Tony Award winning Neil Patrick Harris next month!
Look forward to the reviews to see how this talented gay man who follow in the footsteps of another talented gay man.
It will be mighty interesting – and, I’m sure, mighty entertaining!
Now here is the definition of a handsome couple.
It’s Michael Sam and his boyfriend, Vito Cammisano, at the ESPYs in LA earlier this week.
Michael, who received the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, gave a moving speech which you can see HERE. He said to Cammisano from the stage: ‘People tell me that I’m their inspiration, you’re my inspiration.’
Well this sounds bizarre since neither Ashton Kutcher or Jon Cryer’s character on TV’s Two and a Half Men are gay.
The roommates are apparently going to get married.
“Walden (Kutcher) has a near-death experience,” CBS entertainment chief Nina Tassler tells TheWrap. “It forces him into sort of this existential quandary and to evaluate the meaning of his life, the quality of his life, which prompts him to say, ‘I need to put down deeper roots.’ And he wants to adopt a child.”
Walden believes it will be easier to adopt as part of a couple than it would be as a single man.
“You know [showrunner] Chuck Lorre,” Tassler said. “There is no topic that he won’t dive into and make a part of the public conversation.”
Will there be controversy?
“It’s going to engage people who perhaps have not wanted to be part of this conversation before,” Tassler said. “The reality is it is legal, same-sex marriage, and it is legal for you to adopt a child and that’s what they’re doing. And they’re doing it in a very public forum. It’s a ruse, but the reality is it is legal and it may engage viewers who haven’t necessarily wanted to talk about it before and people will be talking about it.”
Harvey Fierstein @HarveyFierstein · All hail a true American original- ELAINE STRITCH! A giant talent. A giant pain in the ass. But when she cooked she cooked w/atomic power!
I’ve been following doctor’s orders and getting lots of rest and recovering from a virus and am confident I’ll be returning to Outfest Saturday morning.
It’ll be good to see the documentary Greg Louganis: Back on Board about the life and legacy of Olympic champion diver Greg Louganis.
It’s an intimate portrait of this American legend that tells the life story of this four-time Olympic gold medalist as he returns to diving after a long period of absence.
It has already screened in Washington DC and San Francisco to tremendous reception.
‘I’ve never experienced this – at Castro at Frameline, it was a five minute standing ovation, just amazing,’ Greg told me last week during Outfest opening night.
‘It’s really empowering and a little embarrassing at times for me but it’s a true documentary. It’s really kind of baring it all.’
Greg’s husband, Johnny Chaillot, said: ‘I lived the story with him for the last few years. I saw it being filmed and the director did a remarkable job. I didn’t know what the finished product was going to be. And it was shocking and hopeful and lovely – it’s a roller coaster ride with a very happy ending.’
Twitter
Facebook
Spent the weekend recovering from an illness and had some time to finally catch some episodes of NBC’s The Night Shift.
Audra McDonald @AudraEqualityMc 
Chris Colfer @chriscolfer 
Jane Lynch @janemarielynch 
Jesse Tyler Ferguson @jessetyler 
Happy Friday!
