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!).
Martha E. Stark
Martha E. Stark is the first African-American woman to serve as New York City Finance Commissioner. The Commission is a 2,300-person agency that handles the $22 billion in taxes and fees that the city collects from residents and businesses every year. After her appointment by Mayor Bloomberg in 2002, she worked to streamline the agency by administering tax rebates and coaxing banks into underserved neighborhoods. Her career in public service includes positions in the Dinkins administration, the Manhattan Borough President’s office, and as a White House Fellow in 1993 at the State Department. “I’m a born and bred Brooklyn girl,” says Stark of her Big Apple origins. “I grew up in the public housing projects in Brownsville and went to Brooklyn Tech High School…When David Dinkins was elected Mayor in 1989 it inspired me to take an opportunity to give back to the city that has given so much to me…government work gives you that chance.” –KL
In no particular order…
