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!).
Ann Bancroft
As the first woman ever to have crossed the ice caps to both the North and South Poles, explorer Ann Bancroft is one of world’s foremost polar explorers. In 1992, she led the first group of American women ever to ski across Greenland, and in 2001, she and explorer Liv Arnesen became the first women to trek 1,717 miles across Antarctica. Bancroft created The Ann Bancroft Foundation, which supports the aspirations of women and girls, and Bancroft Arnesen Explore, through which she and co-founder Arnesen give talks and provide workshops designed to promote peaceful conflict resolution and inspire people. Bancroft has authored three books, including No Horizon is So Far: Two Women and Their Extraordinary Journey Across Antarctica, which she co-wrote with Arnesen. “It’s really a magnificent experience to be in these huge, remote places,” she says. That sense of space is such a privilege.” –CL
In no particular order…
