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This spotlight is the
second in a special two part series.
Click here to view American
Television Part 1. |
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Actress
and Singer Ethel Waters |
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Michael Jeter
(1952-2003) was a versatile character actor who played a wide
variety of roles on stage, in movies, and on television. His
television career included roles on Evening Shade, Sesame Street,
and the PBS mini-series Tales of the City, which was based on
the stories of
Armistead Maupin. |
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Cherry Jones
(b.1956) is a versatile actress who became the first out lesbian to win
a Tony Award when she was chosen as Best Actress in 1995. |
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Frank Kameny
(b. 1925) was a founding father of the gay rights movement. Film
footage that showed him and several other activists picketing in
front of the White House and in other locations was shown in "The
Homosexuals," a pathbreaking
1967 edition of CBS Reports hosted by Mike Wallace. |
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Nathan Lane
(b. 1956) is a highly-acclaimed openly gay actor who has portrayed gay
characters on stage and in films. He has also frequently performed in a
variety of television shows. |
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Liberace
(1919-1987) steadfastly refused to acknowledge his homosexuality even
though he was an icon of flamboyant camp. The Liberace Show
was one of the most popular television shows of the mid-1950s
and helped him develop a huge fan base. |
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Paul Lynde
(1926-1982), most famous for being the crucial "center square" on the
1970s television game show Hollywood Squares, created a campy
bitch comic image but was fiercely closeted. |
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Novelist
Armistead Maupin
(b. 1944) places his gay characters within a large framework of
humanity, creating a social history of San Francisco during the
tumultuous decades of the 1970s and 1980s. PBS has aired several
movies based on his Tales of the City. |
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Rosie O'Donnell
(b. 1962) is a comedian, actress, television talk show host, and openly
gay mom who has achieved remarkable success in her relatively short
career. |
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RuPaul
is a six-foot
five-inch tall African-American drag queen who usually performs in a
blonde wig. He has given drag a new visibility by infusing it with
gentleness and warmth. The RuPaul Show aired from 1996 until
September 1998. |
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Composer
Marc Shaiman
(b. 1959) and lyricist
Scott Wittman (b. 1955) are partners in
life and collaborators in theater, film, and television projects with a
long list of entertainment credits. |
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Lily Tomlin is
a comedienne best known for the personages she "becomes" during her
performances. She first gained national fame as Ernestine, a goofily
caustic telephone operator, on the television show Laugh In. |
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Ethel Waters
(1896-1977) is perhaps best remembered for her award-winning
performances as a film and television actress, though she was also a
renowned Blues singer. |
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Paul Winfield
(1941-2004) was happiest when acting on the stage, but often acted in
films and on television. His television credits include a
role as boxing promoter Lucius Sweet on The Simpsons and a stint
as narrator of City Confidential.. |
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B. D. Wong (b.
1960) came to prominence with his extraordinary performance in M.
Butterfly and has since established himself as a talented character
actor in film and television. He co-starred with
Margaret Cho in
the short lived television series All-American Girl. |
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