All the News That Fits! Buddy B's Weekly News Report 4/16/14

Cheyenne Jackson

Fashion designer Tom Ford announced, at the start of the month, that he has gone to The Chapel of Love with journalist Richard Buckley and they are now legally betrothed. Of course, this means another one of my matrimonial dreams has been dashed but I shall manage somehow. Actually, Tom and Richard have been together for nearly three decades. 27 years to be exact. I'm lucky if my relationships last more than 27 minutes!

Ford and Buckley (aren't those two of the most white-bread names you ever heard?) met at a fashion show. Tres chic! "We had three dates. We were living together four weeks later. He gave me the keys to his apartment, and we have lived together ever since," Ford told Women's Wear Daily two years ago. The 52-year-old Texan is also the director of the brilliant, Oscar-nominated (for Best Picture) A Single Man. One of my absolute favorites! The film, told with minimal dialogue, stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.

But Ford is not a single man, it turns out, people, and came out of the conjugal closet at an interview conducted at the Regent Street Apple store in London. "[W]e're now married, which is nice," he said for the article that appeared in Vogue UK. "I know that it was just made legal in the U.K., which is great. We were married in The States."

Tall, dark and handsome Cheyenne Jackson is still on the market, however. The singer/actor/dancer of Broadway stage, cabaret, screen and television is currently a gay divorcee. I mean, it's not like he's advertising but, my dears! Shortly after an online sex tape leak, Manhunt magazine printed pictures of Jackson clad only in black leather straps. "A friend who’s a chorus boy in a Broadway show sent me this," a writer at Manhunt allowed. "He was going through his old phone and found this pic Cheyenne Jackson sent him a while ago."

Well, hubba-hubba, big boy! You look terrific in basic black. Really basic.  It's true the color is slimming and chic, and you wear it well if barely.

As you know, Jackson is no mere himbo. But he could be for the right chorus boy, apparently. The star has received numerous awards and is an out and proud gay man (perhaps not proud of these pics, albeit), a strong LGBT supporter and advocate, and an ambassador for AmFar and The Hetrick-Martin Institute.

There is nothing like a Dame, however. Angela Lansbury, at 88 and not dressed in leather fetish minimalist clothing, was honored at Windsor Castle on April 15, joining other acting grand Dames like Judi Dench and Maggie Smith.

"Venerated these days in much the same way that Julie Andrews is, both by children and by those who appreciate high kitsch, the British-born star has straddled genres and eras in the entertainment industry," UK's The Guardian stated.

Well, the Queen certainly looked happy bestowing the elevated honor of Dame Commander of the British Empire upon the internationally beloved actress. My only concern is that, once Jessica Fletcher sets foot at the Palace, isn't a royal likely to get murdered very soon?

Valerie Harper, meanwhile, was cancer-free and then she wasn't! Closer magazine insisted, on April 16, that Ms Harper stated she was absolutely "cancer free." Shortly thereafter, Variety reported that Ms Harper denied that report. “In response to a recent erroneous quote concerning my health, I am not ‘absolutely cancer-free,’” a statement from Harper [read]. The Emmy award winner clarified: “I wish I were. Right now what I am is cautiously optimistic about my present condition, and I have hope for the future.”

We wish Valerie lots of luck and congratulate her, as she was told she had only three months to live after a diagnosis of her brain cancer in 2013.

Until next week, then, this is all the news that fits and, as Edward R. Murrow used to say, "Good Night and Good Luck!"

Valerie Harper, "I, Rhoda" and I

"Words simply can not express how the overwhelming out pouring of love and good wishes has touched my heart," actress Valerie Harper wrote her fans on Facebook, March 9th. "To every single one of you who reached out to me expressing your concern through twitter, facebook, my website, via phone, text, email, cards, letters ... I want to thank YOU for your beautiful support! DESPITE this devastating diagnosis, I'm feeling well, living normally and am forging a positive path forward!" And we are all wishing this beloved performer the best!

Ironically, it was only days before Ms Harper's diagnosis with a terminal illness became public that I had finished reading her recent autobiography, I, Rhoda. It was a breezy, enjoyable book highlighting the actress' warm, positive outlook and fond recollections. Ms Harper started as a dancer, got her big break in the Broadway chorus of the musical, Li'l Abner, and only later became interested in acting after marrying Dick Schaal and training with Second City. (She has since divorced Schaal. Harper married Tony Cacciotti in 1987.) She writes of her work in the play, Storybook Theater, in which she performed simultaneously while in the first season of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. (I was fortunate enough to have caught this show, during its Broadway run, the following summer.)

There are many gossipy little anecdotes along the way about working with Jackie Gleason; Shelley Winters versus Celeste Holme; Lucille Ball in the Broadway musical Wildcat; director Michael Bennett. But even these are told with a sweet sense of humor and affection, and without vindictiveness. 

Ms Harper writes of her political convictions, particularly her long commitment to feminism and civil rights. And of snagging the role of  Rhoda Morgenstern on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, for which Ms Harper was a three-time Emmy Award winner, as well as a Best Actress Emmy winner for its popular spinoff sitcom, Rhoda. Valerie graciously praises her co-stars on both series, especially Ms Tyler Moore. She also cites  The Mary Tyler Moore Show's groundbreaking significance when she writes: "A show that focused on a woman's career, not her family or love life was a new concept." 

Valerie Harper's work on NBC's Valerie's Family was far less of a happy experience. In fact, she was ultimately fired from the show, an event that was traumatic for its star. She understandably described it as "painful and humiliating."

I last saw Valerie Harper back on Broadway in the tragicomedy, Looped, portraying Tallulah Bankhead at a time when that legend knew she had terminal cancer, ironically. Ms Harper was triumphant in the role. This past January, she was to revive her portrayal when the play went on the road. I planned to go to Connecticut to see it. She cancelled. "Due to illness," was all she said on Facebook at that time.

Here's Ms Harper's video message to fans on YouTube:



Dialogue Valerie Harper quotes from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, between Rhoda and Phyllis (Cloris Leachman):

Phyllis tells Rhoda, condescendingly, that she's ok with Rhoda marrying her brother, Ben.
Rhoda:  Phyllis, I'm not going to marry Ben.
Phyllis: Why not? My brother is successful. He's handsome. He's intelligent.
Rhoda (matter-of-factly): He's gay.
Phyllis: Oh, Rhoda, I'm so relieved!