Born April 14: John Gielgud, Angela

In 1991 John Gielgud became the fourth person in the universe to EGOT, having won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. Also the winner of multiple BAFTAs and Golden Globes and a special Olivier Award, Gielgud was and is still considered one of the world's finest actors. A consummate performer of Shakespeare on stage and screen, he was equally at home in historical dramas such as Brideshead Revisited (and Caligula), experimental works such as Beckett's Catastrophe, and contemporary comedies like Arthur. In 1953, he was arrested and convicted of cottaging in Chelsea Mews. Unlike today's finger-wagging moralists (see George Michael's career after his entrapment for cruising, thanks largely to homophobic record execs and radio programmers), the post-War public did not scorn him; rather, at his next appearance on stage he was given a standing ovation. Indeed, that same year he was knighted. Although Gielgud was out and discussed his homosexuality in his autobiography, when he died at ninety-six in 2000, many obituaries degayed his life and omitted his partner of almost four decades, Martin Hensler. When criticized, the Washington Post defended their decision saying he was known for being an actor, not for being gay. Their long tribute included the details that he loved to garden and enjoyed trashy commercial paperback novels. Read his books An Actor and His Time and Backward Glances.

My sister Angela is every kind of awesome, and more. At three, upon hearing she was going to get a baby brother, she urged our parents to name me Julia Child. From that summit of prescience, her insights have grown wiser every day. She and her partner of 22 years met by sitting next to each other at the SF lgbt film fest, Frameline. (See what happens when you support queer film!) They live in Berkeley.

Comments

[clt]

Is that Charlotte's web? Regardless, it's a nice touch.

[Sandy]

She called you Julia Child. You called her Hest. Even. Happy birthday, Angela.