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March 27, 2013

Lily Tomlin was offered a “Yep, I’m Gay” TIME magazine cover decades before Ellen

In 1975, she says 'it probably would have been tsunami-like'

It was in 1997 that Ellen DeGeneres caused a national wave of publicity and debate when she was featured on the cover of TIME magazine with this headline: 'Yep, I'm Gay.'

Twenty-two years earlier, that cover could have been Lily Tomlin's.

Now 73, one of the stars of new movie Admission a cast member of the ABC sitcom Malibu Country, Tomlin did not publicly discuss being a lesbian until 2001 although it had long been an open secret.

'TIME magazine offered me the cover in 1975 if I would come out,' Tomlin tells Entertainment Weekly.

August 21, 2012

Gays mourn the passing of legendary comic Phyllis Diller at age of 95

Diller: 'My first audience were gay people because they have a great sense of humor'

Just a month after her 95th birthday, legendary comic Phyllis Diller died on Monday (20 August) at home in Los Angeles surrounded by her family.

Diller began working as a stand-up comic in the 1950s and is credited with paving the way for the likes of Joan Rivers, Roseanne Barr and Margaret Cho, among others.

Diller had a gay following from the beginning.

'My first audience were gay people because they have a great sense of humor,' she once said. 'They love comedy and they love to laugh. How do you think they got the word gay put on them?'

August 10, 2012

Lily Tomlin heads to Malibu Country

Legendary star plays Reba McEntire's outspoken mom on new ABC sitcom

It was more than 40 years ago that Lily Tomlin came to fame as a cast member of TV's Laugh-In where the world was introduced to such characters as condescending telephone operator Ernestine and a precocious five-and-a-half year old named Edith Ann.

In the new ABC sitcom Malibu Country, the legendary performer unveils a new character to audiences: an outspoken Southern woman named Lillie Mae whose daughter is played by Reba McEntire.