| The Pridelets for June 22
by
Thomas Allen Heald
On this day in 1969, gay icon Judy Garland dies from an "accidental"
overdose of sleeping pills in the bathroom of her London apartment.
Police find her body fully dressed sitting on the toilet with her head
flopped forward.
BIRTHGAYS (and the occasional straights)
* 1910 - English tenor Pete Pears, companion of composer Benjamin Britten
* 1953 - supportive Diva of the summer, Ms. Cyndi Lauper
* 1961 - Bronski Beat singer Jimmy Somerville
* 1979 - actor / "Queer Eye For The Straight Guy's" "Culture Vulture"
Jai Rodriguez
* 1910 - Vocalist Peter Pears
Q.UOTE / UNQ.UOTE
A reporter: "I understand you have a very large gay following, Miss
Garland?"
Judy Garland: "I sing to people!"
THE BEDSIDE TABLE
Under the Rainbow: An Intimate Memoir of Judy Garland, Rock Hudson and My Life in Old Hollywood by John Carlyle
Actor John Carlyle got his big break in 1954. New to Hollywood, the
twenty-three-year-old Carlyle was cast as the assistant director of the
movie-within-a movie in George Cukor’s "A Star is Born." Although
Carlyle’s scene was later cut from the film -- and his star status
subsequently never materialized -- the job brought him in touch with
Judy Garland, who up until her death fifteen years later was Carlyle’s
friend and sometime lover.
"Under the Rainbow:" tells the story of this rocky but beloved
relationship. No longer the great star who first enthralled Carlyle as
an adolescent, Garland -- like many former headliners in the 1960s --
lived an often desperate, hand-to-mouth existence that was eased only by
pills and liquor. She turned to Carlyle for support, even with the hope
of marrying the openly gay actor. He politely declined the opportunity
of matrimony, but remained constant in his adoration of the star for the
rest of his life.
The author takes us on a rare, behind-the-scenes tour of gay Hollywood,
with an intimate, often hilarious, star-studded memoir of the decline
and end of old Hollywood.
This work is copyright© 2007 Thomas Allen Heald, all rights reserved.
Additional material provided by publishers. Contact the author at
tom@idontgetit.org. Archives, and the latest column, are always
available at www.Pridelets.com.
|
Originally published on Friday June 22, 2007.
|
