|
WINDY CITY TIMES
|
|
|
Entertainer Bea Arthur dies at 86
News update April 25, 2009
by Richard Knight, Jr. 2009-04-22
|
|
This article shared 3567 times since Wed Apr 22, 2009
|
|
Goodbye, Sweet Bea: Bea Arthur, star of the long-running hit TV sitcoms "Maude" and "Golden Girls" and award winning Broadway stage actress passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 25, at the age of 86. Arthur, a longtime friend of the gay community, was beloved for her acidic way with a wisecrack, her spot-on comedic timing, ribald sense of humor and one-of-a-kind baritone singing voice. Arthur's breakthrough came in 1955 when she played the role of Lucy in the legendary production of Bertolt Brecht's "Threepenny Opera" on Broadway opposite Lotte Lenya. Just over a decade later she essayed the memorable role of Vera Charles, the drunken hambone sidekick to Angela Lansbury's Mame, winning a Tony and introducing her signature song ( "The Man in the Moon" ) in the process. Arthur went on to recreate the role in the 1974 film version alongside Lucille Ball. But it is Maude ( 1972-1977 ) and Golden Girls ( 1985-1992 ) that brought Arthur lasting fame. Both shows continue to be extremely popular with LGBT audiences, something acknowledged by Arthur, and both television shows tackled gay subject matter with storylines that argued for equality for gay people.
In 2001, Arthur toured with her one-woman Tony-nominated show, Bea Arthur: Just Between Friends. She was overwhelmed by the reception the show received in front of a largely gay audience in Provincetown, Mass. "Oh my God, it was like I was visiting royalty. Truly, truly, I've never felt so loved and wanted and needed in my life," she told Instinct magazine. In 2003 she appeared in out director Rick McKay's documentary Broadway The Golden Age, reminiscing about the early days of her career on Broadway. Arthur also made a memorable cameo appearance along with Patrick Stewart in Out There, a television special produced by Comedy Central in 1993 that was one of the first television showcases of gay and lesbian comedians. "Everybody Today Is Turning On," a song from her 1979 CBS variety special, was dedicated to the pleasures of getting high and sung with another gay icon, Rock Hudson; the video has become a YouTube favorite. Locally, a reunion duet of "Bosom Buddies" with her Mame co-star Angela Lansbury from the 1987 Tony Awards has been a weekly staple at Sidetrack, 3349 N. Halsted, for years.
"There is still so much intolerance," Arthur told Instinct magazine, referring to the attitudes the gay community faces. "We need to change that." Arthur, who was married and divorced twice, is survived by two sons and two granddaughters. |
|
|
|
This article shared 3567 times since Wed Apr 22, 2009
|
ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE |
---|
|
| | The importance of becoming Ernest: Out actor Christopher Sieber dishes about the Death Becomes Her musical 2024-04-20 Out and proud actor Christopher Sieber is part of the team bringing Death Becomes Her to life as a stage musical in the Windy City this spring. Sieber plays Ernest Menville, who was originally portrayed by ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Jerrod Carmichael, '9-1-1' actor, Kayne the Lovechild, STARZ shows, Cynthia Erivo 2024-04-12 Gay comedian/filmmaker Jerrod Carmichael criticized Dave Chappelle, opening up about the pair's ongoing feud and calling out Chappelle's opinions on the LGBTQ+ community, PinkNews noted, citing an Esquire article. Carmichael ...
|
| | LGBTQ Catholic group mourns the passing of Bishop Thomas Gumbleton 2024-04-05 --From a press release - April 5, 2024. DignityUSA joins members of the Archdiocese of Detroit and millions of people around our country and the world in mourning the death of Detroit Bishop Thomas Gumbleton. Bishop Gumbleton received DignityUSA's Risk Taker/Justice ...
|
| | Ella Matthes, award-winning publisher, editor of Lesbian News Magazine, dies at 81 2024-04-05 --From an ILDKMedia press release - Los Angeles, CA - Ella Matthes, longtime publisher and editor of Lesbian News Magazine, passed away from a heart attack on March 16, 2024 at The Little Company of Mary hospital in Norwalk, California. She was ...
|
| | WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21 It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Queer musicians, Marvel situation, Elliot Page, Nicole Kidman 2024-03-21 Queer musician Joy Oladokun released the single "I Wished on the Moon," from Jack Antonoff's official soundtrack for the new Apple TV+ series The New Look, per a press release. The soundtrack, ...
|
| | RuPaul finds 'Hidden Meanings' in new memoir 2024-03-18 RuPaul Andre Charles made a rare Chicago appearance for a book tour on March 12 at The Vic Theatre, 3145 N. Sheffield Ave. Presented by National Public Radio station WBEZ 91.5 FM, the talk coincided with ...
|
| | Oprah, Niecy Nash-Betts honored at GLAAD Media Awards 2024-03-15 Oprah Winfrey and Niecy Nash-Betts were honored at the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards that took place in Los Angeles at The Beverly Hilton on March 14. Winfrey received the Vanguard Award, introduced by iconic Chicago ...
|
| | PASSAGES Dorothy Elizabeth McGroarty 2024-03-14 Dorothy Elizabeth McGroarty, 82, of The Breakers at Edgewater Beach, and a former resident of Andersonville, passed away Feb. 16 surrounded by her loving family. Born in Dearborn, Michigan, Dorothy was raised on Chicago's South and ...
|
| | PASSAGES Bryan Dean Wilson 2024-03-14 Bryan Dean Wilson, 64, of Chicago, passed away March 11. Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Bryan graduated from Washington High school in Cedar Rapids before earning his B.S. in Biology from Mount Mercy University, also in ...
|
| | House-music festival on Aug. 30-Sept. 1; icons, Idris Elba to be part of it 2024-03-13 The ARC Music Festivalan event celebrating house musicwill take place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 at Chicago's Union Park, per WGN-TV. This will mark the fourth year that the festival will celebrate the genre at Union Parkless than ...
|
| | PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13 LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...
|
| | Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12 On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixnerknown for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...
|
| | LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner 2024-03-12 --From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...
|
| | SHOWBIZ Jinkx Monsoon, Xavier Dolan, 'Frida,' Lena Waithe, out singer 2024-03-08 Two-time RuPaul's Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon is headed back to the New York stage, joining off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors as Audrey beginning April 2, according to Playbill. The casting makes Monsoon the first drag ...
| |
|
|
|
|