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
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Hats off to the 100 Women We Love, class of 2008 (in no particular order, ’cause we love ’em all!).
Suzanne Westenhoefer
“I could have been in the closet and had my own TV show,” admits comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer. “I’m glad I was out from the start.” Westenhoefer first came to national attention when she appeared on a 1991 episode of Sally Jessy Raphael entitled “Lesbians Who Don’t Look Like Lesbians,” which led to subsequent appearances on Comedy Central and HBO. Since then, she has performed gay material for straight audiences in mainstream clubs with tremendous success. As part of her current tour, Westenhoefer recently emceed Human Rights Campaign’s annual gala dinner in New Orleans. Her much-anticipated new DVD, A Bottom on Top, dropped in May and will air on LOGO this June 28. –LM
In no particular order…
