100 WOMEN WE LOVE 2008
Lily Tomlin’s extraordinary career as a funny lady bloomed on the TV show Laugh-In in 1969, the year of the Stonewall rebellion. Fittingly, she has woven feminism and LGBT life into her characters—the not-so-hardworking phone operator Ernestine, Violet Newstead in 9 to 5 and the numerous personas populating The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, the one-woman play written by Tomlin’s partner Jane Wagner, for which Tomlin won a Tony Award. She was also nominated for an Academy Award for her turn as Linnea Reese in Robert Altman’s Nashville, played recurring roles on TV shows from Murphy Brown to The West Wing, and has won six Emmys, a Grammy, and a Lifetime Achievement Tony Award in 1977. Tomlin, who has called Wagner the most influential person in her life and career, narrated 1995’s landmark LGBT documentary The Celluloid Closet. –KL
In no particular order…
Hats off to the 100 Women We Love, class of 2008 (in no particular order, ’cause we love ’em all!).
Leisha Hailey
We know Leisha Hailey as many things: the delightfully quirky Alice Pieszecki on The L Word, singer and guitarist (first in the Murmurs and now in Uh Huh Her) and the chick in the lavender bridesmaid dress on the Yoplait commercial. Along the way, Hailey played the girlfriend of main character in the beloved 1997 baby-dyke drama All Over Me. Now, she can add Olivia spokesperson to her list of accomplishments; the actress recently signed a deal to promote the lesbian-owned-and-operated travel company. The L Word will end its 6-season run next year, but with her enduring status as a lesbian icon who’s actually a lesbian, lovely Leisha’s here to stay. –KL
In no particular order…
