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Who is Ray Fisher’s wife or girlfriend? The True Detective actor is rumored to be gay.
Fisher is an American actor who appeared in a cameo role as Victor Stone/Cyborg in 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. He continued the role in Justice League and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. He has a starring role on The New ABC Show Women of the Movement.
Ray began his career playing the title role of Macbeth in the 2009 theatrical production of Macbeth at the Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey. He has also worked with the New York Theater Workshop in their Fetch Clay, Make Man.
Meet Ray Fisher Wife Or Girlfriend: Is The Actor Gay?
Ray Fisher has no wife as he is not yet married. He has not yet announced the name of his girlfriend or partner to the public. He prefers to keep the details of his relationship and dating life away from media attention.
Because Fisher rarely talks about his girlfriend or partner, some fans think he might be gay. Several rumors about his sexuality have surfaced around the internet over the years.
However, the actor has yet to respond to the rumours. He has neither confirmed nor denied the rumors that he is gay.
Fans are curious to know who Ray is dating since he hasn’t posted her pictures to Instagram yet. You could soon learn more about his girlfriend or partner once he deces to share their pictures on Instagram.
Ray leads a very low key life and prefers to keep his private life away from the media.
Ray Fisher Net Worth Details Revealed
Ray Fisher’s net worth could be in the millions given his success as an actor.
Fisher appears in the lead role as Gene Mobley in the ABC historical drama Women of the Movement. The show will premiere on January 6, 2022 and is based on the book by Devery S. Anderson.
Ray played the role of Captain Edward Dwight on The Astronaut Wives Club. He portrayed the lead, Henry Hays, in the 2019 crime drama True Detective.
Is Ray Fisher On Instagram?
Ray Fisher is active on Instagram under the username @ray8fisher. He has more than 295,000 followers and over 179 posts on the social media platform.
Fisher’s Instagram bio says Not Broken and Never Alone. His first post was on May 21, 2020 where he covered Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Ray primarily posts his tweets and work on Instagram.
The actor also speaks out on social issues. Ray even posted a video of him getting the Cov-19 vaccine in March 2021.
Ray Fisher: The Truth Behind The Drama (Why #IStandWithRayFisher)
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Images related to the topicRay Fisher: The Truth Behind The Drama (Why #IStandWithRayFisher)
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Fans Wonder About Ray Fisher Wife Or Girlfriend Amid Gay …
Rumors are going around that the True Detective actor is gay. Fisher is an American actor who appeared in a cameo role as Victor Stone/Cyborg in …
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Date Published: 5/10/2022
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Is Ray Fisher Gay? Wife Or Girlfriend: Relationship And …
No, Ray Fisher is not gay. Various rumors about his sexuality might have surfaced on the internet. However, Fisher has not verified them as …
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Date Published: 9/22/2021
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Is Ray Fisher Gay? Wife Or Girlfriend: Relationship … – Dish De
Ray Fisher is a well-known actor. He is best known for his role in the Justice League as ‘Victor Stone/Cyborg.’ He’s also appeared in The …
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Date Published: 9/18/2022
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Stars who came out as LGBTQ – gay, lesbian, bisexual …
Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo opens up about being bisexual, plus more celebs who came out.
Source: www.wonderwall.com
Date Published: 4/4/2021
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Is Ray Fisher Gay Wife Or Girlfriend Relationship And Sexuality Explored
Is Ray Fisher a gay man or a straight man? You may learn more about his sexual orientation in the following article.
Ray Fisher is a well-known actor. He is best known for his role in Justice League as “Victor Stone/Cyborg.” He has also appeared in The Astronaut Wives Club, True Detective, Batman versus Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Good, the Bad, and the Confused, and appeared in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, among other films and television shows.
In addition to being a role model for many, Fisher also plays the role of a superhero on screen. Fisher has always been known for standing up for the truth and inspiring people.
Fisher will also star as Gene Mobley in the upcoming film Women of the Movement. The fans are excited for his performance and have already sent him their best wishes.
Let’s take a closer look at the actor.
Is Ray Fisher a lesbian?
Ray Fisher is not a gay man. Many suspicions regarding his sexuality may have surfaced on the internet. Fisher, on the other hand, has not confirmed it to this day.
We can assume Ray isn’t gay because he didn’t confirm the rumours.
Who is Ray Fisher’s girlfriend or wife?
Ray Fisher doesn’t have a wife because he hasn’t married yet. It is not yet known whether he is in a relationship. In reality, there isn’t a shred of evidence to back up his current relationship status.
Moving on, Ray’s admirers are interested in learning more about his personal life and look forward to visiting his partner.
Not much can be said about Fisher’s significant other as he hasn’t posted anything about her on social media. However, we will keep you informed.
You can also learn more about Ray by following him on Instagram. On social media, he goes by the username @ray8fisher.
Find out more about Ray Fisher’s sexuality and relationship.
Ray Fisher, who leads a quiet life, hasn’t revealed anything about his past relationships. However, we do know who his on-screen love interest is.
Fisher, who plays Henry Hays on the TV series True Detective, is married to Heather Hays (Sola Bamis).
Fisher is a straight man when it comes to his sexuality. Several rumors about his sexual orientation have been circulating on the internet.
Because Ray has never been publicly linked to a woman, rumors about his sexuality began to circulate. However, the rumors are false.
Stars who came out as LGBTQ – gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, nonbinary celebs
_ Wonderwall.com shares every way celebrities have told the world about their sexual or gender identity, starting with this star… Oscar-nominated English actress Cynthia Erivo made public in a cover story for British Vogue’s August 2022 issue of Pride talked about being bisexual. “[LGBTQ+ people] still feel the need to constantly justify why we deserve to be treated as equal beings when the only difference is that we love and express ourselves differently,” said the Grammy and Tony winner. “Instead of being chastised for being brave, we should be praised for being brave. That’s the most important thing: giving people the space to fully express themselves as they are.” Cynthia, whose relationship with Emmy-winning actress Lena Waithe had become increasingly public in the run-up to her Vogue cover release, added on Instagram: “Nerves and fear keep me from sharing everything I am and who I am with today #proud and with wonderful people by my side I share a little more. Thank you [British Vogue Editor] @edward_enninful for giving me the space and loving me…” Read on for more stars who have identified as members of the LGBTQIA+ community… RELATED: Stars with LGBTQ children
_ On June 28, 2022, the only child of “Sister Wives” stars Meri Brown and Kody Brown came out as transgender. “Someone recently told me that I don’t have to have all my s*** figured out to share with the world. So here I am, definitely I almost didn’t figure out any of my s*** to let you know that I’m trans. My name is Leon or Leo (I love both) and my pronouns are she/they,” wrote Leon Brown, who appeared on his parents’ reality show, on Instagram. “I remember the first time I knew I wasn’t a girl. I was quite young and unfortunately I grew up in a context that was incredibly gender biased and restrictive. So I continued to be socialized as a girl and later as a woman Here’s the thing, I’m finally ready to share my favorite self with the world. And that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans and uncompromising,” they continued. “Being queer and trans is definitely one of my favorite parts of myself. And yet there are so many things I’ve learned to love about myself through this process . Here is for me to know myself, to share myself and to continuously develop myself. Be the person I am, to be my favorite self in all contexts.” Leon concluded her post by saying, “I share that part of me to let people in and also to set some boundaries. If you choose not to use my real name or pronouns, you do not have to speak to me or about me. my name is leo or leon and my pronouns are she/they. Please only address me like that.” RELATED: The Strongest LGBTQIA+ Movies
_ Rebel Wilson took to Instagram on June 9, 2022 to confirm that she is now in a relationship with one woman — Ramona Agruma, a fashion and jewelry designer from Los Angeles. “I thought I was looking for a Disney prince… but maybe all this time I really needed a Disney princess #loveislove,” the comedy star commented on a selfie with her new love. It’s unknown how long they’ve been together, but they were spotted heading to the Super Bowl together in February 2022
_ Janelle Monae came out as pansexual in a Rolling Stone cover story in May 2018. And on an April 2022 episode of Red Table Talk, the singer-actress shared that she’s also non-binary. (Her rep confirmed that the artist still uses her/his pronouns.) “As a black queer woman in America, someone who has had relationships with both men and women, I consider myself a free mother. **” she told Rolling Stone. Janelle initially described herself as bisexual, the magazine reported, but later settled on the term pansexual, meaning an attraction to someone regardless of gender identity. “Later on, I read about pansexuality and I was like, ‘Oh, those are things I identify with too. I’m open to learning more about who I am,” she explained. Almost four years later, she opened up about her evolving gender identity. “I’m non-binary, so I just don’t see myself as just a woman,” she explained on Red Table Talk. “I feel all my energy. I feel like God is so much bigger than ‘he’ or ‘she’. If I come from God, I am everything. I am everything, but I will always, always stand by women. I will always stand by Black women. But I just see everything beyond binary.”
_ Stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael came out as gay in his HBO special “Rothaniel,” which premiered April 1, 2022. “I was left alone and felt like a liar because I had a secret. One, that I kept a secret from my father, my mother, my family, my friends and you. Professionally, personally. And the secret is that I’m gay.” he said, as reported by Variety. Later on the show, he said he had “rebelled” against his sexuality for years, explaining, “I thought I would never come out. At many points I thought I’d rather die than face the truth. Really tell people. Because I know it changes some people’s perception of me. I can’t control this.
_ A year after Demi Lovato revealed she/she was non-binary and started using she/them pronouns in May 2021, the pop star updated her pronouns again on her Instagram bio in May 2022, adding she/them next to her/them . In 2021, Demi explained in a podcast of her/her preference: “I feel like this best reflects the fluidity I feel in my gender expression and allows me to feel most authentic and true to the person.” who I know I am and still am discovering.” Demi has publicly shared her evolving sexuality and gender identity in recent years: In 2015, after the release of her song “Cool for the Summer “, which contained lyrics dealing with sexual fluidity, Demi hinted that in an interview with Chatty Man. They weren’t exactly. Then, in 2017, after previously only dating men publicly, they became romantic with one Woman connected. In 2018, Demi told InStyle, “I’m very mobile and I think love is love. You can find her in any gender. I like the freedom to be able to flirt with whoever I want.” In a 2020 interview on Radio Andy, Demi recalled coming out to her parents three years earlier. “Up until 2017, I didn’t officially tell my parents that I might end up with a woman,” they explained. “It was really emotional, but really beautiful. After everything was done, I was shaking and crying. I just felt overwhelmed. I have such incredible parents. They’ve been so supportive.” Demi added, “My mom was the one I was really nervous with, but she said, ‘I just want you to be happy.’ And that was so beautiful and amazing. I’m so grateful.” More recently, Demi confirmed they are pansexual in a March 2021 interview on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. “I really like everything,” they said. “I’ve heard that someone said the LGBTQIA+ community dubbed ‘the Alphabet Mafia’. … That’s it! That’s what I do. I’m part of the Alphabet Mafia and I’m proud.”
_ Actor Kal Penn has come out publicly as a gay man in an interview with People magazine that streamed online October 31, 2021, while promoting his book You Can’t Be Serious – which will be published on October 2. November appears – when he revealed he’s engaged to his boyfriend, 11-year-old Josh. The ‘House’, ‘Designated Survivor’ and ‘Harold and Kumar’ franchise star told the mag that he and Josh are in Washington D.C. met when he took time off from Hollywood to work for then-President Barack Obama’s administration. Although “I’ve always been very public with everyone I’ve personally interacted with,” Kal explained, his partner and family are very private people, so he wanted to respect that. Still, he added that he was “really excited to share our relationship with readers” of his memoir, which reveals, among other things, how they met and why Kal didn’t initially believe the relationship would work. “Compared to many other people, I discovered my own sexuality relatively late in life,” Kal told People. “There’s no timeline for this stuff. People find out their shit at different times in their lives, so I’m glad I did when I did.”
_ Months after Dance Moms grad JoJo Siwa debuted her romance with a woman in early 2021, another former Dance Moms star has done the same. Though Chloé Lukasiak hasn’t directly addressed her sexuality, photos she shared to social media in October 2021 served as her unofficial public coming out. She posted a slideshow of pictures of herself looking cozy with skateboarder Brooklinn Khoury to Instagram on Oct. 7, and Chloé’s rep confirmed to E! News that the reality star and athlete are dating. Chloe, according to a source, “is in a place where she’s comfortable sharing her relationship and where she is in her life [with the public]… She’s still growing and learning who she is, and she knows there are many others out there who are too. She knows there is power in sharing her story and that it could help others who look up to her or benefit from seeing someone like her living her truth and not hiding who or what makes her happy .”
_ On the October 12, 2021 episode of “Teen Mom OG,” Amber Portwood, who has two children with two male exes, revealed she’s not straight. “People are probably going to be a little shocked that I’m bisexual, that I was in a relationship with a woman eight months ago,” she said, as reported by Page Six, adding that the romance happened more than a decade earlier got when she was about 20. Amber said she decided to come out publicly because she wants her kids (Leah with ex Gary Shirley and James with ex Andrew Glennon) to know her truth. “Leah and James are actually a really, really big factor. I don’t want them ever to think it’s bad… Who am I to sit here and hide away forever, which was actually what I was planning to do anyway. I wanted to go to my grave with it.” Amber came out to her mother — who responded with support — in the same episode after she explained, “I’m very attracted to men, but I’m also very attracted to women.”
_ In her 2021 book, Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark, Elvira actress Cassandra Peterson revealed that she had been in a monogamous relationship with a woman for 19 years. During an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News in September 2021, the actress admitted she’s still attracted to men and said she considers herself sexually fluid. “I just met this particular person and I fell in love,” she said of her longtime partner and former trainer, Teresa Wierson. As for her decision to finally go public with their nearly two-decade relationship, “it doesn’t feel good to keep a secret,” she said. “I’m glad to have it out there. I mean it worries me. I have moments where I think, ‘Maybe people don’t like me anymore’ and ‘Maybe I won’t get a job anymore.’ It’s ridiculous to think that, but I have friends who are gay and are out of the closet married and it has impacted their work, their relationships and their lives. So it’s not so far-fetched to worry. But on the other side of it, it’s so exhausting to keep it a secret. It’s no good for you, it’s no good for us. It sucks the energy out of you.” Cassandra later told TooFab, “I still consider myself straight even though I was attracted to a woman … but now there’s so many different things, you can be gendered, just become too to be attracted to that person. I don’t think I was [to] 50 and all of a sudden I was like, ‘Hey, I’m gay. Oh shit, why have I waited so long?! I just met a person who was a very special person and I’m into fell in love. We were good friends and we fell in love with each other. I don’t know how it happened, it just happened.” She added that she waited so long to speak publicly about her relationship with Teresa because she felt she was “protecting Elvira’s character.” Cassandra explained, “Here’s Elvira, this tall, straight [funny person] who’s after boys all the time, and you suddenly go, ‘Oh, the person she’s playing is really dating a woman.’ It seems hypocritical and weird and I was trying to save my career and my character. I did not know, what I should do. It’s my livelihood and I didn’t want to throw that down the toilet and start over.” She also noted that when she first came out to the people in her life, some of her older friends had “a little trouble” with them had news.
_ Good Girls and Parenthood graduate Mae Whitman came out as pansexual in a tweet on Aug. 16 promoting her Disney Channel animated series The Owl House, which features LGBTQIA characters. “Just taking a moment to say I’m SO proud to be even a small part of a show like The Owl House,” she tweeted. “Being pansexual myself, I wish I had had incredible characters like Amity and Luz in my life growing up. Queer representation is so so so important 🙂 keep it up world! #TOH.” She followed that with the message, “I know people might not know what pansexual means; for me it means knowing that I can fall in love with people of all genders. That’s the word that suits me best and I’m proud +happy to be part of the Bi+ community 🙂 For more https://glaad.org/bisexual https://biresource.org.”
_ In an August 2021 interview with Sunday Times Style promoting her book Who Cares Wins: How to Protect the Planet You Love, British model author Lily Cole revealed that she identifies as queer. “I like that word for its openness, because I think all of those boundaries are pretty rigid. I have a lot of friends who identify as bisexual, lesbian or whatever, who also identify as queer,” she explained. “I’ve consciously always been quite private about my private life, and I want to continue to be, so I don’t feel the need to be explicit. At the same time, I feel the need to acknowledge that I’m not straight.”
_ Emma Corrin, who played Princess Diana on Season 4 of The Crown, came out as queer in April 2021 and later revealed a preference for the pronunciation “they/them.” In an interview with ITV’s Granada Reports in August 2021, Emma shared more. “I think visibility is key with these things. My journey has been long and still has a long way to go. I think we’re so used to defining ourselves,” they said, adding, “That’s how society works inside these binaries, and it took me a long time to realize that I exist somewhere in between, and I am still not sure where that is.” Emma later posted the interview to her Instagram Story, explaining, “The first time I brought up my queerness and my journey on TV it was scary! But visibility is key. RELATED: Stars with LGBTQ parents
_ ’13 Reasons Why’ star Tommy Dorfman – who played Ryan Shaver in the Netflix drama – reintroduced herself to the world as a trans woman in a July 2021 interview with Time magazine, stating, “For a year now I’ve been identifying myself privately and to live as a woman – a trans woman. It’s funny to think about coming out because I’m not going anywhere. I see myself reintroducing myself as a woman today after transitioning medically. Coming out is always seen as that big reveal, but I’ve never been out. Today is about clarity: I am a trans woman. My pronouns are she/they. My name is Tommy.”
_ Singer David Archuleta — the runner-up for ‘American Idol’ season 7 — came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in a lengthy and affectionate social media post on June 12, 2021, in which he attacked others with strong religious beliefs such as him, to be understanding and compassionate towards people like him. “I like to keep to myself but also found it important to share this because I know so many other people with religious upbringing feel the same way,” he began his post, which was continued in the comments. “I’ve been open about myself and my close family for a number of years as I’m unsure about my own sexuality. I came out as gay to my family in 2014. But then I had similar feelings for both genders, so maybe a spectrum of bisexual. Then I also learned that I don’t have as many sexual desires and urges as most people 💀 which works I think because I have an obligation to save myself until marriage 🤣. What people call asexual when not having sexual experiences There are people who feel the same way about being LGBTQIA+…struggling to follow their beliefs that are so important to them, just like me.” David explained that He “doesn’t have all the answers,” but pleaded with his followers, “Please consider creating space to be more understanding and compassionate for those who are LGBTQIA+ and for those who are part of this community and are trying to achieve that balance.” with their faith, which, like me, is a big part of their identity. I think we, as people of faith and Christians, including Latter-day Saints, can better listen to the struggle between LGBTQIA+ and a person of faith.” He explained that he hopes to let people in his same situation “know that you are not alone. You can be part of the LGBTQIA+ community and still believe in God and His gospel plan…” David explained, adding that he “was trying to change myself for almost 20 years until I realized that God made me who I am for a reason.”
_ ‘High School Musical: The Musical: The Series’ actor Joshua Bassett casually came out in May 2021 and cleared things up in June. In a chat with Clevver News, the singer-actor gushed about Harry Styles, calling the British heartthrob “cool” and “hot,” before adding, “I think that’s my coming out video too.” He then wrote in part on social media, “Love who you love shamelessly,” though he stopped labeling his own sexuality and added, “It’s okay to find out who you are.” Joshua clarified things in a June interview with GQ a little more and confirmed he’s not straight. “There are many letters in the alphabet… Why bother to come to one conclusion? Sometimes your letter changes, sometimes you try a different one, sometimes you find you are not what you thought you were, or maybe you always knew you were. All of that can be true,” he explained. “I’m excited to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community because it welcomes everyone. Don’t let anyone tell you love isn’t love. They’re the ones who probably love you the most to need.”
_ In May 2021, Dance Moms alum Zackery Torres took to TikTok to share some new pronouns: she/her. “I convert. That means I’m transgender if you didn’t know,” she explained in the post. The University of Southern California graduate later shared how she felt about the reaction to her big news. “I don’t really have many words to express how I’m feeling right now, other than grateful. Grateful to everyone who has supported me and continued to help me be myself. Grateful for the outpouring[ing] of love and support. Thank you to all the advocates who made this possible,” she wrote on Instagram. “As I sit here with my [mouth] open, it’s important to acknowledge the amount of LGBTQIA+ individuals who aren’t getting that loving response. There are Lots to do and I can’t wait to be a part of it. Love and HAPPY EARLY PRIDE MONTH!”
_ “The Bachelor” season 23 lead actor Colton Underwood, who rose to prominence as a virgin Bachelor during his tenure on the show, came out in an interview with Robin Roberts that aired on “Good Morning America” in April 2021 . “I ran. I hated myself for a long time. I hated myself for a long time. And I’m gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and processed it. And the next step in all of that was kind of letting people know,” explained Colton, who has had high-profile relationships with Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman and Bachelor Nation stars Tia Booth and Cassie Randolph in recent years. He revealed that he knew it was time to accept his truth and come out publicly, “because I’ve come to a place where… I would rather have died than say I’m gay,” he explained dark thoughts The former professional soccer player, who said he knew he was “different” when he was 6, told Robin that he is now “the happiest and healthiest” he’s ever been.
_ Singer Kehlani shared her revelation about her sexual identity in 2021. When she interacted with fans on Twitter in April 2018, she first spoke of identifying as queer. “I’m queer. Not bi, not straight. I’m attracted to women, men, REALLY queer men, nonbinary people, intersex people, trans people,” she wrote, adding, “Lil polypansexual dad hello good morning. Does that answer your questions?” She continued, “And while we’re at it… I’m the Least attracted to straight men, you guys are really gorgeous sometimes. Bisexual men are truly God’s little gifts.” When asked why she chose the word queer over gay when describing herself, she explained, “I felt like gay always insisted that there was still a line drawn , which ‘label’ of people I’m attracted to when I’m really just walking around thinking, ERRYBODY FINE .” She later deleted some of her comments, explaining, “I withdrew my queer tweet because I was concerned about the way how I listed the gender spectrum has been corrected, and I’m super super sensitive to being abusive, especially when I’m just trying to appreciate it. The point is, I love love, and that love resides in every gender that has it There.” Kehlani noted on Twitter in December 2020 that she uses she/her pronouns. Exactly three years after coming out as queer, the R&B singer took to TikTo on April 22, 2021 k to share that she now identifies as a lesbian. “I finally know I’m a lesbian,” she said. “I’m gay, g-gay, gay.” In a light-hearted tone, she said her friends and family told her they noticed before she did. “Everybody’s just like, ‘Duh. You’re the only one who didn’t fucking know. The damn closet was made of glass.'”
_ In April 2021, Celebrity Big Brother alum Courtney Stodden came out as non-binary. “You/they/their. I don’t identify as her or her,” the reality star and singer wrote on Instagram. “I never felt like I belonged anywhere. I was bullied terribly at school because I was different. The other girls never understood me. It got so bad my mom pulled me out of school. I don’t fit. I’ve never really connected with anyone my age.” They continued, “My mind is fluid with a kaleidoscope of colors,” adding the hashtags #bekind, #beopen, and #loveyourself. Courtney added in a statement to People magazine: “When I look at myself in the mirror, I see a person who is so far removed from norms, misogyny and labels. I live by my own rules now. I look forward to showing the world all sides of who I am on this new journey in music.”
_ Inspired by his character in 9-1-1: Lone Star – who is gay – actor Ronen Rubinstein came out publicly in April 2021. “I fully identify as bisexual,” he told Variety. “I literally got goosebumps saying that. It feels so good to talk about it, it feels so good to finally be comfortable with it.” The Orange Is the New Black alum, who immigrated to New York from Israel as a child, explained, that “where I’m from … people who have identified as bisexual or gay or as part of the [LGBTQIA+] community, you’re just not welcome.” It’s as brutally honest as that. You were either met with insane amounts of profanity like the F-word was being thrown around all the time, or you’d kick your ass for being gay. So it was definitely a fear of embracing my feelings. I was definitely more aware of that in high school. I was aware of my feelings and how I was starting to look at men, but I couldn’t talk to anyone about it. He credited his character’s same-sex relationship on Lonestar, as well as his girlfriend Jessica Parker Kennedy, with giving him the courage to come out. “She definitely encouraged me to speak up about it just to live my truth,” Ronen explained. “She says, ‘I love you for who you are, for who you are and people will love you for who you are and for who you are.'”
_ In January 2021, after days of hinting, social media star, singer and actress JoJo Siwa confirmed that she is a member of the LGBTQ+ community. “I’ve never been happier before and it feels really amazing,” she told fans in a lengthy Instagram Live video posted a day after sharing a photo of herself in a t-shirt with the Inscription “Best. Gay. Cousin. Always.” alongside the caption, “My cousin got me a new shirt.” The Dance Moms alum, who also recently shared a TikTok video of herself singing to Lady Gaga’s LGBTQ anthem, “Born This Way,” she told fans she wasn’t ready to pick any particular label for herself “because I don’t.” I don’t really know that answer.” She added that her parents knew she wasn’t straight and supported her. “About two years ago [my mom] said, ‘I don’t think you only like boys, that’s totally fine.’ … My family is amazing.” A few weeks later, JoJo revealed that she had a friend who encouraged her to come out, Kylie Prew. In an April 2021 People magazine cover story, JoJo revealed that she was more concerned had made about how she would describe herself.”I still don’t know what I am. It’s like, I want to find out. And I have this joke. Her name is Kylie. And that’s why I’m saying I’m Kylie -sexual,” she quipped. “But like, I don’t know, bisexual, pansexual, queer, lesbian, gay, straight. I always just say gay because it kind of masks that, or queer because I think the keyword is cool. “ Sie fügte jedoch hinzu: „Ich mag Queer. Technisch gesehen würde ich sagen, dass ich pansexuell bin, weil ich mein ganzes Leben lang so war, mein Mensch ist mein Mensch.“
_ T.J. Osborne – der Frontmann des Duos Brothers Osborne – kam in einem Interview mit dem TIME-Magazin heraus, das am 3. Februar 2021 veröffentlicht wurde. Der Musiker sagte, er sei seit Jahren mit seiner Familie und seinen Freunden unterwegs, aber die Coronavirus-Pandemie habe ihn dazu inspiriert, sein Leben zu teilen Wahrheit mit Fans. „Ich bin sehr stolz darauf, das hier zu veröffentlichen“, sagte T.J. sagte in einem Video, das er auf Instagram gepostet hat. „Ich möchte, dass du weißt … die Person, die du über die Jahre kennengelernt hast, bin ich. Jetzt hast du gerade mehr über mich erfahren.“ T.J. – der jetzt der erste und einzige offen schwule Mann ist, der bei einem großen Musiklabel im Country-Genre unterschrieben hat – wurde von der Country-Musik-Community in den sozialen Medien tonnenweise unterstützt.
_ Im Februar 2021 outete sich der ehemalige WWE-Superstar Gabbi Tuft – der von 2007 bis 2014 unter dem Namen Tyler Reks rang – als Transgender-Frau. „Ich weiß, dass es Tausende von Transgender-Frauen und Transgender-Männern gibt, die denselben Prozess durchlaufen wie ich, und sie haben nicht die Unterstützung wie ich“, sagte Gabbi gegenüber „Extra“-Moderator Billy Bush und lobte seine Frau Priscilla dafür, dass sie ihr Fels ist. „Und hier ist, was ich verspreche: Ich verspreche, dass ich meine Geschichte teilen und zu 100 % transparent sein werde, denn zu wissen, dass es ein Licht am Ende des Tunnels gibt, kann nur dieser Hoffnungsschimmer sein, der jemanden bei uns hält, der hält ihn am Leben und lässt sie wissen: ‘Ja, das kann ich auch.'”
_ „The Real Housewives of Orange County“-Star Braunwyn Windham-Burke outete sich im Dezember 2020 öffentlich als schwule Frau. Sie teilte die Neuigkeiten über ihre Sexualität in einem Videointerview mit GLAAD und erklärte: „Ich fühle mich endlich wohl genug, um das zu sagen Ich mag Frauen. Ich bin schwul. Ich bin Mitglied der LGBTQ+-Community. Ich bin lesbisch. Ich habe 42 Jahre gebraucht, um das zu sagen, aber ich bin so stolz darauf, wo ich jetzt bin. Ich bin so glücklich, wo ich bin. Sich nach so langer Zeit wieder wohl in meiner Haut zu fühlen, ist einfach so schön.“ Sie teilte weiter mit, dass sie eine neue Freundin hatte (sie trennten sich Anfang 2021), plante aber, mit Sean Burke verheiratet zu bleiben, ihrem Ehemann von mehr als 20 Jahren, mit dem sie sieben Kinder hat. „Ich liebe Sean. Ich liebe ihn sehr, er ist meine Person, er ist meine Familie“, sagte sie. „Aber ich fühle mich nicht zu Männern hingezogen und war es nie.“ Sean ging zu seiner Instagram-Story, um seine Frau öffentlich zu unterstützen. „Ich liebe dich. Ich bin stolz auf dich. Und ich unterstütze dich. Immer“, schrieb er.
_ Im Dezember 2020 ging Elliot Page – die zuvor als Ellen Page bekannt war – in die sozialen Medien, um sich öffentlich als Transgender zu outen. Der „Juno“- und „Umbrella Academy“-Schauspieler verwendet die Pronomen er/sie. „Ich fühle mich glücklich, dies zu schreiben. Hier zu sein. An diesem Ort in meinem Leben angekommen zu sein“, schrieb er teilweise in einem langen Beitrag. „Ich kann gar nicht ausdrücken, wie bemerkenswert es sich anfühlt, endlich zu lieben, wer ich bin, genug, um mein authentisches Selbst zu verfolgen. … Ich liebe es, dass ich trans bin. Und ich liebe es, dass ich queer bin.“ Die Ankündigung erfolgte sechs Jahre, nachdem Elliot sich während der Time to Thrive-Konferenz der Menschenrechtskampagne 2014, die LGBT-Jugendlichen in Las Vegas zugute kam, öffentlich als schwul geoutet hatte. „Ich fühle mich persönlich verpflichtet und gesellschaftlich verantwortlich“, sagten sie damals. „Ich bin es leid, mich zu verstecken, und ich bin es leid, durch Unterlassung zu lügen … Ich habe jahrelang gelitten, weil ich Angst hatte, draußen zu sein. Mein Geist hat gelitten, meine geistige Gesundheit hat gelitten und meine Beziehungen haben gelitten. Und ich stehe heute hier, mit allem von dir, auf der anderen Seite all dieses Schmerzes.” Im Januar 2018 gab Elliot seine Ehe mit der Tänzerin und Choreografin Emma Portner bekannt. Im Januar 2021 bestätigten sie Scheidungspläne. Im März 2021 erschien Elliot als erster Transgender-Mann auf dem Cover des Time Magazine. In der Titelgeschichte enthüllte der „Umbrella Academy“-Star, dass sie sich einer Top-Operation unterzogen haben, um Brustgewebe zu entfernen. „Es hat mein Leben komplett verändert“, sagte er Time und fügte hinzu, dass es „nicht nur lebensverändernd, sondern auch lebensrettend“ war.
_ Im Oktober 2020 sagte die Gründerin von Big Cat Rescue, Carole Baskin, die durch die Netflix-Dokumentarserie „Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness“ berühmt wurde, gegenüber Pink News: „Ich habe mich immer als bisexuell betrachtet. Ich hatte noch nie eine Frau, ich könnte genauso gut eine Frau wie einen Ehemann haben”, sagte sie. Die Kandidatin von „Dancing With the Stars“, die verheiratete Männer ist, erklärte, dass sie vor Jahrzehnten begann, ihre Sexualität zu erforschen, als sie mit einem Psychologen verlobt war, der mit der LGBTQ-Community zusammenarbeitete. „Ich war immer sehr männlich orientiert in den Dingen, die ich tat … Ich hatte nie einen Mutterinstinkt oder so etwas, weißt du, ich habe nie mit Puppen gespielt. Und so dachte ich immer, dass da etwas dran ist, das ich nicht ganz konnte Leg meinen Finger drauf”, sagte sie über ihre Kindheit. „Aber erst in den 80ern entdeckte ich, dass ich durch den Umgang mit der LGBT+-Community [realisierte], dass ich für Frauen genauso empfinde wie für Männer.“ Laut Carole: „Ich denke, wir sind alle eins und ich sehe uns einfach nicht als unterschiedliche Geschlechter oder unterschiedliche Hautfarben oder so.“
_ Im Jahr 2016 präzisierte „Teen Wolf“-Absolvent Tyler Posey Kommentare, die er gemacht hatte, um anzudeuten, dass er schwul sei, und erklärte auf Twitter: „Ich bin nicht schwul, [aber] ich unterstütze die LGBTQ-Community voll und ganz.“ Aber im August 2020 enthüllte er auf seinem OnlyFans-Konto: „Ja, ich war schon einmal mit Männern zusammen.“ Im selben Monat sagte er in einer Instagram-Story, dass er auch mit Transfrauen intim gewesen sei. A few months later in October 2020, the actor addressed those comments, telling SiriusXM’s “The Jason Ellis Show” that he was so upset after reading about trans women who were being beaten and harassed, he felt he had to speak out. “I was hit with wanting just to come out myself with that whole thing and be honest about it,” he said. “I know there’s a lot of kids that look up to me and I just want to f****** get rid of that stigma [and show] you can be whoever you want to be, get with whoever you want to get with, and it doesn’t affect you and it doesn’t affect them. The world’s f****** weird and it should be. And there’s too much stigma on everything and sexuality, especially.”
_ When “Reno 911!” alum Niecy Nash announced that she’d married musician Jessica Betts in August 2020, it signaled that she wasn’t straight, though she’s declined to put a label on her sexuality. The “Selma” and “Claws” actress, who was previously twice wed to men, later told People magazine her marriage to Jessica wasn’t an official coming out moment. She described it as “going into myself and being honest about who I love,” explaining, “I’m not limiting myself on what that love is supposed to look like.” According to Niecy, her marriage to a woman “has absolutely nothing to do with gender and it has everything to do with her soul,” adding, “I was not suppressing my sexuality my whole life. I love who I love. At one point in my life, I married twice and I love those people. And today I love this person. I’ve done everything I wanted to do on my own terms and my own way. So my choice now in a partner has nothing to do with who I’ve always been. It’s a matter of who I am in this moment.”
_ Four years after publicly coming out as bisexual, “Grey’s Anatomy” alum Sara Ramirez came out as nonbinary. In an August 2020 Instagram post in which they used the hashtag #nonbinary, Sara wrote that they have the capacity to be a “Girlish boy,” “Boyish girl,” “Boyish boy,” “Girlish girl,” “All” and “Neither.” Sara also indicated in their Instagram bio that they will use both she/her and they/them pronouns.
_ In June 2020, actress Lili Reinhart publicly came out as bisexual. The “Riverdale” star made the announcement on her Instagram Story while encouraging her followers to attend an LGBTQ+ for Black Lives Matter protest in the Los Angeles area. “Although I’ve never announced it publicly before, I am a proud bisexual woman,” she wrote. “I will be joining this protest today. Come join.”
_ Golden Globe-nominated “Hairspray” star Nikki Blonsky, who played Tracy Turnblad in the 2007 film, came out as a gay woman in June 2020 via social media. She posted a TikTok video in which she sang along and danced to Diana’s Ross’s hit “I’m Coming Out,” captioning it, “Hi, it’s Nikki Blonsky from the movie I’m Gay! #pride #imcomingout #hairspray.” She shared the news on Instagram the same day, captioning a rainbow-filled image that read “I’M GAY!” with a similar sentiment: “I’m coming out! 🌈🌈🌈 #pride.”
_ Over Pride weekend in June 2020, “Orange Is the New Black” star Taylor Schilling took to Instagram to reveal that she was romantically involved with musical and visual artist Emily Ritz. The move was seen as a public coming out for Taylor, who played a bisexual character, Piper Chapman, on the hit Netflix series and had long been loathe to discuss her dating life in interviews. “I’ve had very serious relationships with lots of people, and I’m a very expansive human. There’s no part of me that can be put under a label. I really don’t fit into a box — that’s too reductive,” she told ES Magazine in 2017.
_ “Supergirl” star Chyler Leigh came out as a member of the LGBTQ community in an essay published on Creating Change, a site she co-founded, in May 2020. In the piece titled “Wear Your Pride,” she explained how much the scene where her “Supergirl” character, Alex Danvers, comes out as a lesbian resonated with her. “When I was told that my character was to come out in season 2, a flurry of thoughts and emotions flew through and around me because of the responsibility I felt to authentically represent Alex’s journey. What I didn’t realize was how the scene where she finally confessed her truth would leap off the pages of the script and genuinely become a variation of my own. IRL.” Chyler, who came to fame on “Grey’s Anatomy” — and has been married to actor-musician Nathan West, the father of her three kids, since 2002 — didn’t specify in her post how she self-identifies but did go on to explain that though her character’s words didn’t “exactly match my personal dialogue, the heart behind it surely did.” Chyler further explained, “It’s been a long and lonely road for both my husband and myself but I can wholeheartedly say that after all these years, he and I are still discovering the depths of ourselves and each other, but throughout our journey, we’ve learned to be proud of who we are, no matter the cost.”
_ “Moana” star Auli’i Cravalho used social media to come out as bisexual in April 2020 after a fan tweeted her asking if she likes girls. Auli’i responded, “If I may escort you to my TikTok…” and directed fans to her account. There, she’d posted a video of herself captioned “5:53a thirst trap” in which she lip-synced parts of Eminem’s “Those Kinda Nights.” The lyrics? “‘Seriously though, jokes aside, how you doin’? You straight?’/ She said, ‘No, I’m bi / She said, ‘Are you drunk?,’ I said, ‘No, I’m high’/ ‘I’m checkin’ out the chick,’ she said, ‘So am I.'”
_ “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” and “Detective Pikachu” actor Justice Smith publicly came out as queer in a June 2020 Instagram post while voicing his support for queer and trans people against the backdrop of a Black Lives Matter protest. He shared that he and his boyfriend, “Queen Sugar” actor Nicholas Ashe — who also reportedly publicly came out via the post — were protesting in New Orleans early in the month. “We chanted ‘Black Trans Lives Matter’ ‘Black Queer Lives Matter’ ‘All Black Lives Matter.’ As a black queer man myself, I was disappointed to see certain people eager to say Black Lives Matter, but hold their tongue when Trans/Queer was added,” Justice wrote in part alongside a slideshow of photos from the event as well as with his love, Nicholas. Justice later wrote on Twitter, “yo tf i didn’t come out, y’all came in.”
_ In 2015, model-actress Cara Delevingne came out as bisexual in a story in Vogue. At the time, she was dating music star St. Vincent. In 2018, she discussed her gender identity, confirming that she is gender fluid. Then in a June 2020 interview with Variety to celebrate Pride Month, she gave fans an update on her sexual identity. “I always will remain, I think, pansexual,” the British star said of her attraction to a person regardless of their sexual or gender identities. “However one defines themselves, whether it’s ‘they’ or ‘he’ or ‘she,’ I fall in love with the person — and that’s that. I’m attracted to the person.”
_ “What Not To Wear” star Stacy London rang in 2020 by coming out publicly with her girlfriend on Instagram. The star revealed that she and Cat Yezbak had been dating for a year.
_ “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” star J. August Richards came out as a gay man during an April 2020 Instagram Live. While speaking about his new role on “Council of Dads,” he said, “I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I am a gay man myself.” The following day, the actor, who previously starred as Charles Gunn on “Angel,” said he experienced a “crushing avalanche of LOVE” after publicly coming out. “Who knew that something I once thought of as terrifying had within it something so beautiful,” he said. “For every comment, like, emoji, repost, phone call, text message, everything. I felt it ALL… Thank you!!!”
_ YouTuber and singer Rebecca Black — who found fame in 2011 when the music video for her song “Friday” went viral — came out as queer in an April 2020 interview on the “Dating Straight” podcast. “I made a conscious decision to not like, ‘come out,’ but just to like, I don’t know, people started asking and I just stopped responding. I’m still in the process it feels like,” she explained to hosts Jack Dodge and Amy Ordman. “To me, the word ‘queer’ feels really nice,” she added before explaining that she’d recently gotten out of a long relationship with a woman. “I have dated a lot of different types of people. I don’t really know what the future holds.”
_ In March 2020, Grammy-nominated rapper Da Brat came out on Instagram and also introduced her girlfriend, Jesseca “BB Judy” Dupart, the CEO of Kaleidoscope Hair Products. “Never have I EVER. Needless to say… I’ve always been a kind of private person until I met my heart’s match who handles some things differently than I do,” Da Brat wrote as she showed off an early birthday gift from her love — a new Bentley. BB Judy added, “I’ve never been SOOOO happy and honestly think that it’s not only because of our connection but also because we really been to ourselves.”
_ Jameela Jamil came out as queer in February 2020. The star of “The Good Place” took to to social media with her personal reveal after HBO Max announced that she’d be a judge on the voguing competition series “Legendary” — news that irked some members of the LGBTQ community who felt the show should feature its own. “Twitter is brutal. This is why I never officially came out as queer,” Jameela wrote. “I added a rainbow to my name when I felt ready a few years ago, as it’s not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted, and I always answered honestly if ever straight-up asked about it on Twitter. But I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear and turmoil when I was a kid.” She continued, “I didn’t come from a family with *anyone* openly out. It’s also scary as an actor to openly admit your sexuality, especially when you’re a brown female in your thirties. This is absolutely not how I wanted it to come out. I’m jumping off this hell app for a while because I don’t want to read mean comments dismissing this. You can keep your thoughts.” She went on to explain that she’s long been an ally of the community and urged people to focus on the show’s contestants instead of her.
_ “The Flash” star Rick Cosnett took to Instagram in February 2020, to tell fans that he’s gay, though he suspected it wasn’t exactly news to many. “Hi, everyone. Dramatic pause … I’m gay,” he said in his video post. “I just wanted everyone to know because I’ve made a promise to myself to, uh, live my truth every day, and sometimes that is a really hard thing to do when you have all these subconscious things you don’t even know about from childhood, and from society, and from … just life.” He added, “So, there you go. I’m sure most of you probably knew anyway. And, yeah, that’s actually all I wanted to say.”
_ DJ Qualls, who initially found fame in the 2000 comedy “Road Trip,” took to Twitter in January 2020 to publicly come out as a gay man after first sharing his news during a comedy show. The star of “The New Guy” and “The Core” wrote: “It is 11:20pm. I just came out on stage at a @jimjefferies show in San Diego. Yep, I’m gay. Been gay this whole time. Tired of worrying about what people would think of me. Tired of worrying about what it would do to my career.”
_ While chatting with Fader magazine in 2014 about debut album “In the Lonely Hour,” Sam Smith revealed that it was “about a guy that I fell in love with last year, and he didn’t love me back.” The Grammy winner later spoke openly about being a “gay man.” Then, in a March 2019 interview with Jameela Jamil’s “I Weigh Interviews” Instagram-based series, Sam explained a further identity evolution. “When I saw the word ‘non-binary/genderqueer’ and I read into it and I heard these people speaking, I was like, ‘F***, that is me,'” said Sam, who at the time still used male pronouns. “Non-binary/genderqueer is that you do not identify in a gender. You are a mixture of all different things. You are your own special creation. That’s how I take it — I am not male or female. I think I float somewhere in between — it’s all on the spectrum.” Six months later in September 2019, Sam announced a further identity progression. “I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM,” Sam wrote on Instagram. “After a lifetime of being at war with my gender I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out. I’m so excited and privileged to be surrounded by people that support me in this decision but I’ve been very nervous about announcing this because I care too much about what people think but f*** it! I understand there will be many mistakes and mis gendering but all I ask is you please please try. I hope you can see me like I see myself now. Thank you.”
_ Former “The Bachelor” contestant Demi Burnett added some much needed diversity to Bachelor Nation when she came out in a teaser for the sixth season premiere of “Bachelor in Paradise” in 2019. In the promo for the show, she was heard saying, “I don’t care who sees this. I know that I love this girl. I’m just so happy that I found her, and I can definitely picture being with her for the rest of my life.” The woman she was talking about, Kristian Haggerty, was someone Demi had been dating off-camera who soon joined her in Mexico — and later became Demi’s fiancée (they’ve since split). Demi made things crystal clear in a tweet that followed the promo: “Spoiler alert: I’m a queer queen,” she wrote. In August 2019, Demi explained that she came out to her family, who were supportive, right before she came out to America on television. “There’s not been a single gay person in any of my family,” she said on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast. “So coming out to millions all at once? It was overwhelming and it was scary, but my heart knew that that’s what it wanted.”
_ NFL free agent Ryan Russell surprised the sports world with his honesty when he publicly came out as bisexual in August 2019. “My truth is that I’m a talented football player, a damn good writer, a loving son, an overbearing brother, a caring friend, a loyal lover and a bisexual man,” Ryan wrote in a first-person story for ESPN.
_ Julianne Hough made headlines when she opened up about her sexual identity in a September 2019 cover story for Women’s Health. The former “Dancing With the Stars” pro and “America’s Got Talent” judge explained that as she went through a personal evolution following her 2017 marriage to former pro hockey player Brooks Laich (from whom she’s since split), “I [told him], ‘You know I’m not straight, right?’ And he was like, ‘I’m sorry what?'” she told the mag. “I was like, ‘I’m not. But I choose to be with you.'” Brooks took to social media to praise his wife for her honesty. “So proud of my wife @juleshough for the woman she is, and her courage to share her journey of trials and triumphs!” he captioned a pic of her Women’s Health cover.
_ Amid the wild success of his massive hit song “Old Town Road,” rapper Lil Nas X came out as a gay man at the end of Pride Month in June 2019. While posting a link to his new song “C7osure,” the rapper tweeted, “Some of y’all already know, some of y’all don’t care, some of y’all not [going to f*** with me] no more. But before this month ends I want y’all to listen closely to c7osure.” He added a rainbow emoji. In the song, Lil Nas X sings of living a “more authentic life.” He later shared a video of his EP’s artwork, zooming in on a rainbow projected on a building. “I thought I made it obvious,” he later tweeted.
_ Back in August 2016, the Disney Channel “Shake It Up” alum Bella Thorne used social media to publicly discuss her sexual fluidity. When a fan tweeted Bella to ask if she was bisexual, the teen star replied, “Yes.” She followed it up in another tweet that read, “Aww thank you for all the accepting tweets from everyone. I love you guys #pride.” Nearly three years later in a July 2019 interview with “Good Morning America,” Bella revealed that her sexual identity had evolved. “I’m actually a pansexual, and I didn’t know that,” she said, explaining that to her, that means “you like what you like… Doesn’t have to be a girl, or a guy, or… you know, a he, a she, a this or that. It’s literally, you like personality, like you just like a being.”
_ In February 2019, Tony Award winner Ben Platt opened up about his sexual identity publicly in both the video for his song “Ease My Mind” and in an interview with People magazine. “I’ve been out since I was 12 years old to my family and anyone in my life,” the Broadway and “Pitch Perfect” star said. “I’ve never sort of hidden that or been ashamed by it. It’s just part of me.”
_ Josie Totah, who stars on the rebooted Peacock version of “Saved By the Bell” and found fame on the Disney Channel’s “Jessie,” came out as a transgender female in an essay for Time magazine at 17 in August 2018. She shared her new name and explained that she had always been pegged as “J.J. Totah, gay boy… People kept assuming my identity.” But she finally felt ready to speak her truth publicly after making the decision to start hormone replacement therapy at 14, which helped her, slowly but surely, grow more confident. “My pronouns are she, her and hers,” she wrote. “I identify as female, specifically as a transgender female. And my name is Josie Totah.”
_ In April 2019, pop icon Ariana Grande seemingly confirmed her bisexuality in her hit song “Monopoly.” The Grammy-winning singer declared in her lyrics, “I like women and men,” causing many of her fans to assume she was coming out. Following the brouhaha, a fan tweeted, “Ariana ain’t gotta label herself, but she said what she said,” which led the singer to tweet back, “I haven’t before and still don’t feel the need to now which is okay.”
_ In May 2019, Nickelodeon actor Michael D. Cohen revealed that he’s transgender. The “Henry Danger” star told Time magazine, “I was misgendered at birth. I identify as male, and I am proud that I have had a transgender experience — a transgender journey.” Michael actually played female roles in his native Toronto in the ’90s then began transitioning in 2000. Explaining why he waited to open up publicly, the actor said, “This crazy backlash and oppression of rights is happening right in front of me. I can’t stay silent. The level of — let’s be polite — misunderstanding around trans issues is so profound and so destructive. When you disempower one population, you disempower everybody.”
_ “Andi Mack” actor Joshua Rush made history when he played the Disney Channel’s first openly gay teen character. In August 2019, the “Where’s Waldo” voice actor used social media to publicly come out himself as “an out and proud bisexual man,” he tweeted as part of a lengthy thread explaining his decision to speak about his identity.
_ “Fuller House” star Juan Pablo Di Pace publicly revealed that he’s gay during a TEDx Talk in March 2019 given to students at United World College in the Netherlands that made headlines after it was uploaded to YouTube in June 2019. The Argentinean actor, who competed on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2018, explained to People magazine that though he’d been out to friends and family for 20 years, “In the work life, public life, it just felt like I was still omitting a piece of information because there was some kind of shame or fear there, and so, I saw [speaking about it publicly] as an opportunity to also heal myself,” he said.
_ YouTube star and late night television host Lilly Singh confirmed her sexuality in February 2019 when she tweeted out that she was “female, coloured, bisexual.” The Canadian star followed up by saying, “Throughout my life these have proven to be obstacles from time to time. But now I’m fully embracing them as my superpowers. No matter how many ‘boxes’ you check, I encourage you to do the same x.”
_ In an April 2019 interview with The Advocate, “Roswell, New Mexico” star and ‘Pretty Little Liars” alum Tyler Blackburn opened up about his sexuality publicly. “I’m queer. I’ve identified as bisexual since [I was] a teenager,” he said. “I heard so many things from within the queer community about bisexuality being a cop-out or bulls*** or the easy way out or something, and that always stuck with me because I felt the pressure from all sides to have [my sexuality] figured out and I think for the longest time, I suppressed more of my attraction to men.” He said it wasn’t until he was in his late 20s toward the end of his “PLL” run “that I really allowed myself to go there and not just wonder about it or lust over it, but experience that vulnerability and experience the emotional aspect of what it is to be bisexual.”
_ In November 2018, Michael C. Hall revealed that he takes a very fluid approach to his sexuality. While he’s currently married to a woman, Morgan Macgregor, the “Dexter” and “Six Feet Under” actor feels that he’s not 100% straight. “I think there’s a spectrum,” he said in an interview with the Daily Beast. “I am on it. I’m heterosexual. But if there was a percentage, I would say I was not all the way heterosexual.” Still, Michael said that he’s never had an “intimate relationship” with a man. Rather, he just maintains an open mind when it comes to his thoughts on intimacy. “I think I have always leaned into any fluidity in terms of my sexuality,” he added. Michael has been married — to women — three times.
_ In April 2018, “Broad City” actress Abbi Jacobson told Vanity Fair, “I kind of go both ways; I date men and women. They have to be funny, doing something they love. I don’t know — I’ve never really been interviewed about this before.”
_ Daya celebrated her first National Coming Out Day in October 2018 with a very special Instagram post. “All i gotta say is follow your gut and don’t feel like you owe any sort of explanation to anyone. your sexuality is yours only so build with it at a pace that works for you. i’m proud to be a bisexual member of the LGBTQ community with a girl i love who makes me feel more like me every day,” the “Hide Away” singer wrote. “The support has been beyond and though it wasn’t always easy i also recognize how privileged i am to have had so much of it, so i especially wanna be there for those of u who aren’t surrounded by the most accepting family/friends/communities.”
_ In May 2018, Rita Ora released a song with Charlie XCX, Cardi B and Bebe Rexha called “Girls” that features the line “Sometimes, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls.” After getting backlash, the British pop star defended herself, tweeting, “‘Girls’ was written to represent my truth and is an accurate account of a very real and honest experience in my life. I have had romantic relationships with women and men throughout my life and this is my personal journey.”
_ Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow might be best known for publicly exposing disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and fueling the #MeToo movement, but the star — whose parents are Mia Farrow and Woody Allen — made headlines for a different reason in April 2018. Though he’d previously kept his sexual orientation private, Ronan came out as a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in a speech while accepting a Courage Award from the Point Foundation.
_ During a July 2018 Q&A with fans on her Instagram Story, Paris Jackson was asked, “Are you bi?” The daughter of the late Michael Jackson responded, “that’s what you guys call it so i guess but who needs labels.” A few days later, she addressed widespread media reports about her post, revealing that she came out at 14 and considers herself to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Paris also reiterated that she doesn’t want to identify herself with any specific word. “I’m not ‘bisexual.’ I just love people for people,” she wrote. “I don’t label myself so please don’t label me. Thank you!”
_ Fans speculated that singer-songwriter Jason Mraz might be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community after he wrote a poem celebrating Pride Month for Billboard.com in June 2018 that ended with the line “I am bi your side.” In an interview with Billboard that was published the following month, he opened up about it — and publicly revealed that he’s sexually attracted to men as well as women. “Honestly, I didn’t realize it was going to be so telling,” he told Billboard. “But I’ve had experiences with men, even while I was dating the woman who became my wife. It was like, ‘Wow, does that mean I am gay?’ And my wife laid it out for me. She calls it ‘two spirit,’ which is what the Native Americans call someone who can love both man and woman. I really like that.”
_ Actor Garrett Clayton — who’s most famous for his work on the Disney Channel’s “Teen Beach Movie” and Freeform’s “The Fosters” — publicly came out as a gay man in an August 2018 Instagram post. He brought up his sexuality while writing about his movie “Reach” — a high school dramedy that explores topics including suicide and bullying — and in the process revealed he was in a long-term relationship with another man. “I thought it was important to explain why I took on this project in the first place,” Garrett wrote. “REACH deals with some very serious and timely topics that have affected me personally, and have likely influenced many of your lives as well.” He explained that he wanted to be a part of the film because he and “the man I’ve been in a relationship with for a long time” had dealt with some of the themes in their personal lives. Garrett tagged his partner, writer Blake Knight, in his post. They announced their engagement in 2019.
_ “Westworld” actress Tessa Thompson publicly came out in an interview with Net-a-Porter published in June 2018. “I’m attracted to men and also to women. If I bring a woman home [to my family], [or] a man, we don’t even have to have the discussion,” she explained. Tessa, who played bisexual Valkyrie in Marvel’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” also addressed rumors than she was romantically involved with Janelle Monae, who came out as pansexual in 2018. “It’s tricky, because Janelle and I are just really private people and we’re both trying to navigate how you reconcile wanting to have that privacy and space, and also wanting to use your platform and influence,” she said, though stopped short of saying they were involved. “Janelle and I love each other deeply. We’re so close, we vibrate on the same frequency. If people want to speculate about what we are, it doesn’t bother me.”
_ Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendon Urie came out as pansexual in an interview with Paper magazine published in July 2018. “I’m married to a woman and I’m very much in love with her but I’m not opposed to a man because to me, I like a person. Yeah, I guess you could qualify me as pansexual because I really don’t care,” he said. “If a person is great, then a person is great. I just like good people, if your heart’s in the right place. I’m definitely attracted to men. It’s just people that I am attracted to… I guess this is me coming out as pansexual.”
_ “Hunger Games” actress Amandla Stenberg publicly came out as a gay woman in June 2018. “OUT & PROUD. So happy to say the words Yep, I’m Gay in official print,” she captioned an Instagram photo of herself wearing a rainbow-plaid jacket and sporting rainbow-colored hair. Amandla, who previously came out as bisexual on Snapchat in 2016, went on to explain that she spoke about her sexual identity with the new issue of Wonderland magazine and urged fans to read it.
_ “Glee” alum Kevin McHale came out as a gay man in April 2018 — and used an Ariana Grande song to share his truth. “#NoTearsLeftToCry is gayer than me and I ACCEPT. Ty @ArianaGrande,” he tweeted, marking the first time he’d publicly labeled his sexual identity. The tweets followed several weeks of speculation that Kevin, who played wheelchair-bound Artie Abrams on the hit FOX show for years, was coming out as he’d recently posted photos of himself holding hands with a guy and snuggling with actor Austin P. McKenzie.
_ Joey Pollari, who’s appeared on “American Crime” and in the 2018 coming of age comedy-drama “Love, Simon,” publicly revealed that he’s gay in March 2018. While being interviewed by The Advocate, Joey shared that he came out to friends and family back when he was 18.
_ Sasha Lane, best known for her roles in films like “American Honey,” came out in January 2018 during a Sundance Film Festival press conference promoting her film “The Miseducation of Cameron Post.” The actress revealed that she’s gay while talking about her home life, explaining that she grew up with a brother who’s also gay.
_ Actor Lee Pace of “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The Hobbit” franchise fame publicly came out as “a member of the queer community” in a series of tweets in March 2018. The “Halt and Catch Fire” star spoke out following an interview with W that left him irked after the reporter questioned him about his sexuality. “I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say — I find your question intrusive,” he told the mag. Lee then took to Twitter to explain his reaction: “In a recent phone interview, I was asked questions that I wasn’t expecting and found myself momentarily at a loss for the right words. My privacy is important to me, so I protect it. When interviewed by the media, I keep the focus on my work. As a member of the queer community, I understand the importance of living openly, being counted, and happily owning who I am. That’s how I’ve always lived my life… just as it’s been important to me to portray queer characters with dignity for my entire career: A Soldier’s Girl (Showtime. 2003). The Normal Heart (Broadway. 2011). Halt and Catch Fire (AMC. 2014-2017). Angels in America. (Broadway. NOW.) Onward, with Pride.”
_ Former child star Aaron Carter endured many struggles in 2017, but one positive step he took, he explained, was to be honest about his sexual identity. In August 2017, the pop star revealed on Twitter that he’s bisexual. He also revealed he’d dated one of his male backup dancers when he was 17. “This doesn’t bring me shame, just a weight and burden I have held onto for a long time that I would like lifted off of me,” Aaron wrote. In March 2018, Aaron drew criticism when he seemingly backpedaled, telling the “HollywoodLife” podcast, “It was more so just a story that happened when I was like 17 with somebody. And I can find men and women attractive, but when it comes down to it, I think it was a little misconstrued. I see myself being with a woman and having kids. I want to have a family.”
_ Everyone loves Barb, and she loves everyone! In April 2017, “Stranger Things” star Shannon Purser announced via Twitter, “I don’t normally do this, but I figure now is as good a time as any to get personal. I’ve only just recently come out as bisexual to my family and friends.”
_ In a May 2017 interview with Out Magazine, “Arrested Development” star Alia Shawkat announced her bisexuality. She told the mag, “I was a tomboy growing up, and I remember my mom asking me when I was 10, ‘Are you attracted to boys or girls?’ I said I don’t know. Now I consider myself bisexual, and I think balancing my male and female energies has been a big part of me growing as an actor.”
_ Gordon Thomson, who portrayed the homophobic villain Adam Carrington on “Dynasty,” announced in September 2017 that he is a gay man. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Gordon said, “I’m assuming that people know, and now that I’m my age, that’s fine. I don’t go out of my way because it’s my generation, I think. I’m probably as homophobic as any gay man alive because of my background.”
_ CMT host Cody Alan made the big decision to come out in January 2017. “As we start a new year, there is something I want to share with you. You see, I’m gay,” he shared on Instagram. “This is not a choice I made, but something I’ve known about myself my whole life. Through life’s twists and turns, marriage, divorce, fatherhood, successes, failures — I’ve landed on this day, a day when I’m happier and healthier than I’ve ever been. And I’m finally comfortable enough for everyone to know this truth about me. Thanks for following me and supporting me over the years. As we continue our journey, I hope this news won’t change how you see me. I’m still the same Cody I always was. You just know a little more about me now. My hope for the future is to live the most honest, authentic, loving, and open life possible. Here’s to being happy with yourself, no matter who you are, who you love, where you come from, or what cards life has dealt you.”
_ In March 2018, former Disney Channel star Alyson Stoner, who’s also known for appearing in “Step Up,” penned an essay for Teen Vogue in which she revealed, “I, Alyson, am attracted to men, women and people who identify in other ways. I can love people of every gender identity and expression. It is the soul that captivates me,” she wrote. The former “Suite Life of Zack and Cody” actress, who’s also lent her voice to “Phineas and Ferb,” asked fans “to accept me as I accept myself.”
_ Rapper iLoveMakonnen made headlines in January 2017 when he tweeted, “As a fashion icon, I can’t tell u about everybody else’s closet, I can only tell u about mine, and it’s time [I] come out.”
_ In an interview with Vulture published in June 2017, “Orphan Black” star Jordan Gavaris announced his sexuality to the world. The actor told the publication, “Oh, I’m gay. Nobody ever asks me. I’ve never been asked. Like, the whole course of the series.”
_ “13 Reasons Why” actor Brandon Flynn proudly publicly revealed his sexual identity on Instagram in September 2017 in a lengthy post urging Australians to support marriage equality. The actor wrote, “We’ve fought, we’ve come out bravely even in our fear, and you wrote a message in the sky because you’re scared. Equality takes courage, it worries me that too many people in this world lack the balls to stand up for what is right.” He also showed the world by packing on the PDA with singer Sam Smith in early October.
_ Former “Heroes” actor Thomas Dekker wasn’t planning on coming out, but his hand was kind of forced when director Bryan Fuller gave a speech indirectly outing the actor. Thomas followed up by proudly posting on Instagram, “While it is an odd situation, I thank him because it presents a prime opportunity for me to publicly say that I am indeed a man who proudly loves other men. In fact, this April, I married my husband and I could not be happier.”
_ In an open letter published on Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls website in June 2017, “Parks and Recreation” star Natalie Morales opened up about who she is. She wrote, “I don’t like labeling myself, or anyone else, but if it’s easier for you to understand me, what I’m saying is that I’m queer.”
_ “The Walking Dead” star Daniel Newman took to social media in March 2017 to announce that he’s gay and proud. He followed up in an interview with People magazine, telling the mag, “I don’t want to be hidden and have to dodge the question. I’m proud of who I am.”
_ Sarah Paulson came out unexpectedly by kissing her then-partner Cherry Jones as Cherry went to accept her Tony Award in 2005. Sarah later explained the moment to No Tofu magazine, stating, “She won a Tony Award, I kissed her, and all of a sudden I was outed. I didn’t really think about it in that way at the time — I was just doing what one would do when a person they love has just won a big fat acting prize. What am I gonna do, pat her on the back and say ‘good job, dude?’ It didn’t occur to me to do anything but what I did.” Since then, Sarah has been out and proud. She publicly confessed her love for girlfriend Holland Taylor in March 2016 after the two had been dating for five months. Sarah also gushed about Holland at the 2016 Emmys, finishing her acceptance speech by saying, “and Holland Taylor, I love you. Thank you.”
_ Speaking of Sarah Paulson’s girlfriend, Holland Taylor came out in November 2015. She was speaking with WNYC when she revealed she was in a serious relationship with a woman. When asked if she wanted to elaborate on her sexuality, she responded, “I haven’t come out because I am out. I live out.”
_ “Arrow” star Colton Haynes chose to come out on social media, taking to his Tumblr and coyly addressing a user who commented on his “secret gay past.” Colton responded, “Was it a secret?” which landed him in the headlines. His normally private life became very public, but the actor told Entertainment Weekly, “I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and healthier than I’ve ever been, and that’s what I care about.” In 2017, Colton married celebrity floral designer Jeff Leatham. They split six months later, reconciled, then split again.
_ Kristen Stewart came out to ELLE U.K., finally opening up about then-girlfriend Alicia Cargile in the mag’s September 2016 issue. “When I was dating a guy I was hiding everything that I did because everything personal felt like it was immediately trivialized, so I didn’t like it. We were turned into these characters and placed into this ridiculous comic book,” she said about her relationship with ex Robert Pattinson. “But then it changed when I started dating a girl. I was like, ‘Actually, to hide this provides the implication that I’m not down with it or I’m ashamed of it, so I had to alter how I approached being in public. It opened my life up and I’m so much happier.'”
_ In the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, Mara Wilson took to Twitter to come out of the closet in June 2016. The “Matilda” star confirmed to fans in a series of tweets that she’s bisexual, and after receiving a flurry of responses signed off the site, saying, “Thank you so much to everybody who has sent me words of support. I support you all, too. ❤️”
_ In 2012, actor Matt Bomer was awarded at the Desert AIDS Project’s Steve Chase Humanitarian Awards in Palm Springs and during his acceptance speech he thanked a few special people in his life — including husband Simon Halls, a Hollywood publicist, and their three kids. “I’d really especially like to thank my beautiful family: Simon, Kit, Walker, Henry,” he said. “Thank you for teaching me what unconditional love is. You will always be my proudest accomplishment. God bless you.”
_ “Modern Family” star Reid Ewing publicly revealed he’s gay in November 2015 on Twitter. When a fan asked if he “just came out” on the social media site after Reid called a male actor “hot af,” Reid responded “I was never in,” confirming his sexuality.
_ In 2012, it wasn’t Jim Parsons who publicly announced that he was gay, per se. It was a profile in the New York Times that subtly revealed his sexual identity, which at the time also aligned with his Broadway role as Tommy Boatwright in “The Normal Heart.” According to the Times, “‘The Normal Heart’ resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said.” The play centers around gay men suffering from AIDS in the Big Apple during the ’80s. The “Big Bang Theory” star married his boyfriend of 15 years, graphic designer Todd Spiewak, in 2017.
_ In April 1997, Ellen DeGeneres came out by writing it into her sitcom in a highly rated episode of “Ellen” — a very meta outing, which she followed up with a Time magazine interview. “I never wanted to be ‘the lesbian actress.’ I never wanted to be the spokesperson for the gay community. Ever. I did it for my own truth,” she said.
_ In March 2010, “Will & Grace” star Sean Hayes publicly came out in an interview with the Advocate. “I never have had a problem saying who I am. … I am who I am. I was never in, as they say. Never,” he said.
_ Singer Ryan Beatty came out on Instagram in June 2016. He explained why he decided to reveal his sexual orientation with a photo of a couple holding onto each other behind a pink balloon that read, “Gay Power.” In the caption, he wrote, “proud to be a raging homosexual. it’s taken 20 years of suffocating in the closet for me to become comfortable enough to say it, but now I can finally breathe. i did it!”
_ “Kyle XY” star Matt Dallas kicked off the New Year in 2013 with a big announcement: He’s gay and happily engaged! The actor used Twitter to deliver the news, posting a photo of fiancé Blue Hamilton and their pup with the tweet, “Starting off the year with a new fiancé, @bluehamilton. A great way to kick off 2013!”
_ Musician Frank Ocean took to Tumblr to post about his sexuality in July 2012, and though he didn’t explicitly say the words “gay” or “bisexual,” he shared a story that explained that at 19, he found his first love — who was a man.
_ Maria Bello wrote an essay for The New York Times in 2013 in which she explained her relationship with her close friend Clare and how their relationship had turned into something more romantic. “She was one of the most beautiful, charming, brilliant and funny people I had ever met, but it didn’t occur to me, until that soul-searching moment in my garden, that we could perhaps choose to love each other romantically,” Maria wrote of Clare in her essay. The pair’s split made headlines in early 2016.
_ After an appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres” in which he didn’t directly come out of the closet, “Empire” star Jussie Smollett spoke to the talk show host backstage and confirmed his sexual identity in March 2015. While talking to Ellen on camera for the backstage segment, Jussie shared, “It was really important to me to make sure that it got across that there is no closet. There’s never been a closet. That I’ve been in. I don’t own a closet, I got a dresser, but I don’t have a closet, but I have a home and that is my responsibility to protect that home.”
_ To mark the 100th day of recovery from her battle with cancer in 2013, “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts came out on Facebook in a touching post. “At this moment I am at peace and filled with joy and gratitude,” she shared. “I am grateful to God, my doctors and nurses for my restored good health. I am grateful for my sister, Sally-Ann, for being my donor and giving me the gift of life. I am grateful for my entire family, my long time girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together. I am grateful for the many prayers and well wishes for my recovery. I return every one of them to you 100 fold. On this last Sunday of 2013 I encourage you to reflect on what you are grateful for too.”
_ YouTuber Shane Dawson surprised his millions of fans in July 2015 when, after being in a longtime relationship with fellow YouTube star Lisa Schwartz, he came out as bisexual in a video posted to his channel.
_ The pages of Sports Illustrated is not a conventional place to come out, but NBA star Jason Collins decided to share his truth in the magazine in April 2013. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand,” Jason explained.
_ The pages of Sports Illustrated is not a conventional place to come out, but NBA star Jason Collins decided to share his truth in the magazine in April 2013. “I didn’t set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I’m happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn’t the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, ‘I’m different.’ If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I’m raising my hand,” Jason explained.
_ Following years of speculation, TV journalist Anderson Cooper outed himself in an email to political blogger Andrew Sullivan in 2012. The CNN star wrote, “The fact is, I’m gay, always have been, always will be, and I couldn’t be any more happy, comfortable with myself, and proud.”
_ After years of speculation about his sexuality, music star Ricky Martin came out in a statement on his website in March 2010, writing, “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids were born with. These years in silence and reflection made me stronger and reminded me that acceptance has to come from within and that this kind of truth gives me the power to conquer emotions I didn’t even know existed.”
_ Elton John came out as bisexual in in October 1976 issue of Rolling Stone. In 1984, he married a woman, recording engineer Renate Blauel. They divorced in 1988 — the same year Elton told Rolling Stone he was “comfortable being gay.”
_ YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen came out to her millions of fans via — what else — a YouTube video in June 2015. In her heartfelt reveal, Ingrid shared, “I guess I am just going to get right to it. There’s something that I want you to know, and that something is: I’m gay.”
_ After his former girlfriend, pop star Tiffany, accidentally revealed his sexual orientation in an interview, New Kids on the Block singer Jonathan Knight released the following statement in 2011: “I have never been outed by anyone but myself! I did so almost 20 years ago. I never knew that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with NKOTB! I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I am gay! Apparently the prerequisite to being a gay public figure is to appear on the cover of a magazine with the caption ‘I am gay.’ I apologize for not doing so if this is what was expected!”
_ “Star Trek” and “Heroes” actor Zachary Quinto didn’t speak publicly about his sexual orientation until October 2011 when, in an interview with New York Magazine, the actor opened up for the first time about life as “a gay man.”
_ How did Rosie O’Donnell come out? The comedian guest starred as a gay woman on “Will & Grace” and followed it up by announcing it officially in a stand-up gig at a 2002 benefit. “I’m a dy**! I don’t know why people make such a big deal about the gay thing. … People are confused, they’re shocked, like this is a big revelation to somebody,” she said.
_ In a 2006 interview with People magazine, “How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris revealed: “I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest and feel most fortunate to be working with wonderful people in the business I love.”
_ Music star Barry Manilow never addressed his sexuality publicly until he came out by quietly marrying his partner of more than 30 years, Garry Kief. The two married in a private ceremony in 2014 at Barry’s Palm Springs, California, home.
_ Cynthia Nixon never made an official coming out announcement. She was outed once she started living with her now-wife, Christine Marinoni, in 2004. “In terms of sexual orientation I don’t really feel I’ve changed… I’d been with men all my life, and I’d never fallen in love with a woman. But when I did, it didn’t seem so strange. I’m just a woman in love with another woman,” the “Sex and the City” star told The Telegraph in 2008.
_ *NSYNC singer Lance Bass revealed that he’s gay in a People magazine cover story in July 2006. “I don’t think it’s wrong, I’m not devastated going through this. I’m more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole life. I’m just happy,” he said.
_ Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” co-star Kelly McGillis came out in 2009 in an interview for the website SheWired.com. “I think that was an ongoing process from the time I was probably 12. It was a long arduous journey for me,” she said.
_ In a June 2009 Rolling Stone interview, singer Adam Lambert — who came to fame on “American Idol” — revealed that he couldn’t wait to openly discuss his sexual orientation, which he long wanted to do so with the music mag. “I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me. … Right after the [‘Idol’] finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, ‘I’m going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler,'” he said.
_ Wentworth Miller came out as a gay man in a letter in August 2013. The “Prison Break” star sent it to the director of the St. Petersburg International Film Festival to decline his invitation to speak as a special guest. “Thank you for your kind invitation. As someone who has enjoyed visiting Russia in the past and can also claim a degree of Russian ancestry, it would make me happy to say yes,” he said in the letter, which was posted on GLAAD’s website. “However, as a gay man, I must decline. I am deeply troubled by the current attitude toward and treatment of gay men and women by the Russian government. The situation is in no way acceptable, and I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly. Perhaps, when and if circumstances improve, I’ll be free to make a different choice.”
_ Comedian Wanda Sykes took to the stage at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas in 2008 and addressed her sexuality. “I felt like I was being attacked, personally attacked — our community was attacked. Now I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a Black woman. And I’m proud to be gay,” she said.
_ Actor T.R. Knight told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres he found the courage to come out publicly in a 2006 statement to People magazine after “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star Isaiah Washington used an anti-gay slur on the set. “I was under no delusions,” T.R. sagte. “My friends on the set knew. We talked about it. Publicly it’s not my thing to call up People magazine and be like, ‘Hey, you want to know something about me?’ … I could’ve just let it slide and not said anything, but it became important. It became important to make the statement.” In his statement to People, T.R. said, “I guess there have been a few questions about my sexuality, and I’d like to quiet any unnecessary rumors that may be out there. While I prefer to keep my personal life private, I hope the fact that I’m gay isn’t the most interesting part of me.”
_ Actor Victor Garber acknowledged his partner in an interview with Canada’s Forever Young News in 2012. “My companion Rainer Andreesen and I have been together almost 13 years in Greenwich Village. We both love New York,” he said. He also spoke about his sexuality to the website Greg in Hollywood in 2013. “I don’t really talk about it but everybody knows,” he said before bringing up Rainer, whom he married in 2015. “He’s going to be out here with me for the SAG Awards.”
_ While sitting down with Matt Lauer on the “Today” show in December 2009, “Family Ties” star Meredith Baxter revealed, “I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition. Some people would say, ‘Well, you’re living a lie,’ and, you know, the truth is — not at all. This has only been for the past seven years.”
_ Shortly after George Michael was arrested after being caught engaging in a sexual act by an undercover police officer in a public bathroom in Beverly Hills in 1998, he appeared on CNN to address his sexual orientation. “I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way, but I don’t feel any shame whatsoever,” the late pop star, who was gay, explained. “I don’t think I ever wanted to address [my sexuality] and certainly not quite this way.”
_ Although she had mentioned then-partner Cydney Bernard in 2007, actress-director Jodie Foster used her 2013 Golden Globes acceptance speech time to publicly come out. “I already did my coming out about a thousand years ago, back in the stone age. In those very quaint days when a fragile young girl would open up to trusted friends and family, coworkers and then gradually, proudly, to everyone who knew her. To everyone she actually met. But now, apparently I’m told, that every celebrity is expected to honor the details of their private life with a press conference, a fragrance and a primetime reality show,” said Jodie, who married photographer Alexandra Hedison in 2014.
_ In August 2013, actress Raven-Symone came out on Twitter. “I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you,” she tweeted.
_ In the February 1999 issue of The Advocate, Broadway star Nathan Lane publicly confirmed that he’s gay. “I just assume a lot of people know,” he told the mag. “It’s never been something I kept a secret.”
_ Country music singer Ty Herndon shared his truth with People magazine in November 2014. “During an Anthony Robbins seminar, I realized I had an incredible story that could possibly help someone’s son or daughter or grandchild’s life not be as difficult as mine has been,” he told the mag. “Maybe they wouldn’t have to go through as much pain and suffering. It’s time to tell my truth. I’m an out, proud and happy gay man.”
_ Singer Billy Gilman announced that he’s gay on the same day country music singer Ty Herndon came out. In November 2014, Billy posted a video on YouTube and explained how Ty inspired him to follow suit. “It’s taken me a good many weeks to figure out how I was to approach this video that you’re watching right now,” Billy said. “But today, actually, a fellow country artist and friend made it easier for me to make this video. And I wanted my fans, who have stuck by me for many, many years, to know.” Billy further shared, “I took a long time to grow in country music, and I took a while to grow up, and recently released some new music. We filmed a video for the single ‘Say You Will’ in Rhode Island and was getting ready to do an interview with a reporter, locally. And coincidentally I ran into this reporter at a local fall festival with my partner, someone who I am happily now sharing my life with. This reporter took a picture of us and it was in that moment that I knew that I’d rather it be from me, than you reading it somewhere else, and probably filled with not truth.”
Brief Descriptions and Expanded Essays of National Film Registry Titles
Brief descriptions of each registry title can be found here, and extended essays are available for select titles. The authors of these essays are experts in film history, and their work has appeared in books, newspapers, magazines and on the internet. Some of these essays are from other publications and are reprinted here with the permission of the author. Other essays have been written specifically for this site. The views expressed in these articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Library of Congress.
In most cases, the images linked to the register titles listed below have been selected from the library’s online catalog of prints and photographs, but some are from other library collections.
View a list of all advanced essays
7th Heaven (1927)
“Seventh Heaven” (also referred to as “7th Heaven”) directed by Frank Borzage and based on the play by Austin Strong tells the story of Chico (Charles Farrell), the Parisian sewer worker-turned-street cleaner, and his fellow wife Diane (Janet Gaynor), who are separated during World War I, but whose love manages to keep them connected. Seventh Heaven was originally released as a silent film, but proved so popular with audiences that it was re-released later that same year with a dubbed soundtrack. The film’s popularity led to it becoming one of the highest-grossing silent films and one of the first films to be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. Janet Gaynor, Frank Borzage, and Benjamin Glazer won Academy Awards for their work on the film, specifically awards for Best Actress, Best Director (Dramatic Film), and Best Screenplay (Adaptation). “Seventh Heaven” also marked the first time that often-paired stars Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell worked together.
Extended essay by Aubrey Solomon (PDF, 694KB)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Special effects master Ray Harryhausen joins the hero (Kerwin Mathews) with a villainous mage (Torin Thatcher) and fantastical antagonists including a genie, giant cyclopes, fire-breathing dragons and a sword-wielding animated skeleton, all in glorious Technicolor. And of course, no mythological story would be complete without the rescue of a damsel in distress, here a princess (Kathryn Grant), who the evil wizard shrinks to just a few inches. Harryhausen’s stunning Dynamation process, which blended stop-motion animation and live-action sequences, and a rousing score by Bernard Herrmann (“Psycho”, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”) make this one of the best fantasy movies films of all time.
Extended essay by Tony Dalton (PDF, 900 KB)
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Regarded as one of the best westerns of the 1950s, 3:10 to Yuma has gained traction since its initial release as audiences have recognized the progressive insights the film offers into the psychology of its two main characters, all of which come alive in a vivid way Scenes of heightened tension are revealed. Frankie Laine sang the film’s popular theme song entitled “3:10 to Yuma”. Often compared favorably to High Noon, this innovative western from director Delmer Daves starred Glenn Ford and Van Heflin in opposite roles and was based on a short story by Elmore Leonard.
12 Angry Men (1957)
During the 1950s, several television dramas aired live received such critical acclaim that they were made into motion pictures. among those already recognized by the National Film Registry is “Marty” (1955). Reginald Rose had adapted his original stage play 12 Angry Men for Studio One in 1954, and Henry Fonda decided to produce a screen version, took the lead role and hired director Sidney Lumet, who had directed for television since 1950. The result is a classic. Filmed in a sparse, claustrophobic style—mostly set in a jury room—the play details a lone juror’s refusal to conform to peer pressure in a murder trial and follows his conversion of juror after juror to his point of view. The story is often viewed as a commentary on McCarthyism, Fascism, or Communism.
Extended essay by Joanna E. Rapf (PDF, 258KB)
13 Lakes (2004)
James Benning’s feature film can be viewed as a series of moving landscape paintings of a skill and scope comparable to Claude Monet’s series of water lilies. Benning embraced the concept of “landscape as a function of time” and shot his film on 13 different American lakes in identical 10-minute takes. Each is a static composition: a balance of sky and water in each frame with only a very brief hint of human existence. At each lake, Benning prepared a single shot, choosing a single camera position and a specific moment. Despite its unique composition, the climate, the weather and the season give the film a level of variation, a unique play of light. The curators of the Rotterdam Film Festival remarked: “The power of film lies in the filmmaker teaching the viewer to look better and learn to discern the great diversity in the landscape next to them. [The list of lakes] alone suffices to comprise a treatise on America and its history. A treatise that the film certainly encourages, but explicitly doesn’t partake in.” Benning, who studied mathematics and then film at the University of Wisconsin, is currently an associate professor at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).
Extended essay by Scott MacDonald (PDF, 316 KB)
42nd Street (1933)
At a little under 90 minutes, “42nd Street” is a fast-moving picture, sizzling with great dialogue and bitingly playing on Busby Berkeley’s dance routines and lively Al Dubin Harry Warren songs, including the irrepressibly upbeat “Young and Healthy” (featuring the adorable Toby Wing), “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and the track number. A famous Broadway director (Warner Baxter) takes on a new show despite his poor health and then faces disasters at every turn, including losing his leading lady on premiere night. The film stars Bebe Daniels as the star of the show, and Berkeley regulars Guy Kibbee, Ginger Rogers, Dick Powell, and Ruby Keeler, who implore Baxter, “You go out a youngster, but you gotta come back a star!”
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick’s seminal epic pushed the boundaries of narrative and special effects to offer an introspective look at technology and humanity. Arthur C. Clarke adapted his story “The Sentinel” for the screen version, and his odyssey follows two astronauts, played by Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, on a journey to Jupiter, accompanied by HAL 9000, an unnervingly human computer that controls the entire ship . With the help of special effects expert Douglas Trumbull, Kubrick spent more than two years creating his vision of outer space. Despite some initial critical concerns, 2001 became one of the most popular films of 1968. Touted as “the ultimate journey,” the film quickly found favor with counterculture audiences who embraced the contemplative experience that many older viewers found boring and insubstantial found .
Extended essay by James Verniere (PDF, 691KB)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
Directed by Stuart Paton, the film has been touted as “the first submarine photo game.” Freely investing on location, Universal shot and built life-size props, including the submarine, in the Bahamas and took two years to film. J.E. Williamson’s “photosphere,” an underwater chamber connected to an iron pipe on the water’s surface, enabled Paton to film underwater scenes to a depth of 150 feet. The film is based on Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and, to a lesser extent, The Mysterious Island. The real star of the film is its special effects. Although they may seem primitive by today’s standards, 100 years ago they dazzled contemporary audiences. It was the first time the public could see reefs, different types of marine life and people mixing with sharks. It was also World War I and submarine warfare was in high public awareness, so the life-size submarine added an extra dimension of reality to the film. The film enjoyed great popularity among audiences and critics.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Cargo handlers Bud Abbott and Lou Costello encounter Dracula and Frankenstein’s monsters when they arrive from Europe for an exhibition at the House of Secrets. After the monsters outwit the hapless duo and escape, Dracula returns to Costello, whose brain he intends to transplant into the monster. Lon Chaney Jr. as the lycanthropic Lawrence Talbot, Bela Lugosi in his final appearance as Dracula, and Glenn Strange as the monster all play their roles perfectly as Bud and Lou stumble around them. Throughout the film, Dracula and the monster cavort before the eyes of a trembling Costello, who fails to convince the ever-insecure and dubious Abbott that the monsters exist. up to its wild climax in Dracula’s Castle, where the duo is pursued by all three of the film’s monstrosities.
Extended Essay by Ron Palumbo (PDF, 424KB)
Ace in the Hole (aka Big Carnival) (1951)
Based on the infamous 1925 case of Kentucky caver Floyd Collins who was trapped underground and whose gripping saga caused a national sensation two weeks before Collins’ death. A deeply cynical take on journalism, “Ace in the Hole” sees Kirk Douglas as a once-famous New York reporter who’s now a downcast in Albuquerque. Douglas plans a return to national prominence by milking the story of a man trapped in a Native American cave dwelling as a compelling tale of human interest, complete with a touristy carnival vibe outside of the rescue scene. The ailing miner’s callous indifferent wife no longer shows sympathy: “I don’t go to church. A rare moral contrast is provided by Porter Hall, who plays Douglas’ ethical editor, who is appalled by his reporter’s actions. Such a devastating history of media manipulation could have helped make this brilliant film a critical and commercial failure, which later led to Paramount reissuing the film with a new title, The Big Carnival.
Adam’s Rib (1949)
From an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, Adam’s Rib pokes fun at gender double standards. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play attorneys for a husband and wife who are both drawn to the same attempted murder case. Judy Holliday, defending the sanctity of her marriage and family, only intends to scare her unfaithful husband (Tom Ewell) and his mistress (Jean Hagen) but ends in tears by shooting and injuring the husband. Tracy argues that the case is open and closed, but Hepburn maintains that if the defendant were a man, he would be released on the basis of “the unwritten law.” As the trial turns into a media circus, the couple’s relationship is put to the test. Holliday’s first screen success propelled her to larger roles, including Born Yesterday, for which she won an Oscar. The film also marks the debut of Ewell, best known for his role opposite Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch, and Hagen, best known as the dizzying, shrill-voiced blonde movie star in Singin’ In That The rain amazed the audience.”
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
When Richard the Lionheart is captured and held for ransom, the evil Prince John (Claude Rains) declares himself ruler of England and makes no attempt to ensure Richard’s safe return. A lone knight, Robin Hood (Errol Flynn), sets out to raise Richard’s ransom by kidnapping wealthy caravans traveling through Sherwood Forest. Aided by his mistress Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland) and a band of merry men (including Alan Hale and Eugene Pallette), Robin battles usurper John and the evil Sheriff of Nottingham to restore the throne to its rightful owner. Dashing, athletic and witty, Flynn is everything Robin Hood should be, and his opponents are unforgettably villainous, most notably Basil Rathbone, with whom Flynn crosses swords in the crucial duel. One of the most spectacular adventure films of all time with a terrific portrayal of the perfectly cast Flynn. Only a spirited and extravagant staging could do justice to the Robin Hood myth; This film is more than up to the task. The film music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold was awarded an Oscar, as were editing and art direction.
The African Queen (1951)
Based on a novel by C.S. Forester, the film stars Humphrey Bogart in an Oscar-winning performance as a slovenly, gin-gulping captain on the African Queen, a tramp steamer transporting supplies to small African villages during WWI. Katharine Hepburn plays a primitive spinster as a missionary stranded when the Germans invade her settlement. Bogart agrees to transport Hepburn back to civilization despite their contrasting temperaments. Their tense animosity soon turns to love, and together they navigate treacherous rapids and invent a cunning way to destroy a German gunboat. The difficulties of filming on location in Africa have been documented in numerous books, including those by Hepburn.
Airplane! (1980)
“Airplane!” emerged as a perceptive parody of the big-budget disaster films that dominated Hollywood in the 1970s. Written and directed by David Zucker, Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, the film features a libertine style and defied Hollywood’s tendency to push successful formulaic film conventions beyond the point of logic. One of the film’s most notable accomplishments was casting actors known for their dramatic careers, such as Leslie Nielsen, Robert Stack, and Lloyd Bridges, and giving them an opportunity to showcase their comic talents. The central premise is a huge cliché: a pilot (Robert Hays) who has developed a fear of flying tries to win back his stewardess girlfriend (Julie Hagerty) by boarding her plane so he can talk her into it. Food poisoning forces Hays to land the plane with the help of a glue-sniffing air traffic controller (Bridges) and his tyrannical former captain (Stack). The stars are joined by a zany cast of standard characters from every disaster movie ever made.
Extended essay by Michael Schlesinger (PDF, 477 KB)
Alien (1979)
The appeal of this film may lie in its reputation as a “haunted house film in space.” While not particularly original, Alien is notable for director Ridley Scott’s innovative ability to squeeze every ounce of tension out of the B-movie staples he employs in the film’s hi-tech setting. The art designer H.R. Giger creates one of cinema’s scariest monsters: a nightmarish hybrid humanoid insect machine that Scott makes even more effective by hiding from view for much of the film. The cast, including Tom Skerritt and John Hurt, bring an appealing quality to their characters, and one character in particular, Sigourney Weaver’s Warrant Officer Ripley, became the role model for the next generation of hardened heroines, solidifying the prototype in subsequent sequels. Cinematographer Derek Vanlint and composer Jerry Goldsmith round out the cast and crew, relentlessly driving the emotions from one visual horror to the next.
All About Eve (1950)
The scheming Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) ingratiates herself with aging Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis), who moves in with her acting roles, her friends, and her stage director, Beau. The dialogue, with its sarcastic barbs and clever comebacks, is often too snarky to perfection, but it’s still entertaining and quotable. The film won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Joseph L. Mankiewicz), Best Screenplay (Mankiewicz), and Best Costume Design (Edith Head and Charles Le Maire). George Sanders won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the sharp-tongued theater critic Addison DeWitt. Thelma Ritter as Margo’s maid, Celeste Holm as Margo’s best friend and Marilyn Monroe in a small role as an aspiring actress give unforgettable performances.
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All My Babies (1953)
Written and directed by George Stoney, this landmark educational film was used to educate midwives throughout the South. Produced by the Georgia Department of Public Health, follows the life and work of “Miss Mary” Coley, an African American midwife living in rural Georgia. By documenting the preparation and birth of healthy babies in rural conditions ranging from the decent to the wretched, the filmmakers inadvertently captured a revealing snapshot of the socio-economic conditions of that era that would prove fascinating for generations to come.
Extended essay by Joshua Glick (PDF, 391KB)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
This faithful adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic pacifist novel is among the greatest anti-war films ever made and, thanks to Lewis Milestone’s inventive direction, remains awe-inspiring more than 80 years later. Told from the perspective of a sensitive young German soldier (Lew Ayres) during World War I, recruited by a hawkish professor who advocates “Glory to the Fatherland”. The young soldier comes under the protective wing of an old veteran (Louis Wolheim) who teaches him how to survive the horrors of war. The film is emotionally draining and so realistic that it will be burned into the memory of every viewer forever. Milestone’s direction is often inspired, especially during the fight scenes. In such a scene, the camera acts as a kind of machine gun, shooting down the approaching troops as it slides through the trenches. Universal spared no expense during production, turning more than 20 acres of a large California ranch into battlefields occupied by more than 2,000 ex-soldiers. After its initial release, some foreign countries refused to screen the film. Poland banned it because it was pro-German, while the Nazis called it anti-German. The later Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels publicly denounced the film. It received an Oscar for best picture and Milestone was honored for best director.
Extended essay by Garry Wills (PDF, 713 KB)
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All Heaven Allows (1955)
Rich visual texture with gorgeous technicolor and a soaring emotional score lend a sort of epic tension to an essentially thin story. A film unheralded by critics and largely ignored by the public at the time of its release, All That Heaven Allows is now considered Douglas Sirk’s masterpiece. The story centers on a romance between a middle-class, middle-aged widow (Jane Wyman) and a burly young gardener (Rock Hudson) – the stuff of an ordinary weepie, one might think, until Sirk’s camera begins a deeply disturbing, deeply compassionate portrait of a woman who is trapped by stifling moral and social codes. Sirk’s importance is conveyed almost entirely through his mise-en-scène – a world of glittering, treacherous surfaces, of objects developing a terrifying life of their own; He’s one of those rare filmmakers who insists you read the picture.
Extended essay by John Wills (PDF, 187KB)
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All That Jazz (1979)
Director/choreographer Bob Fosse takes a Felliniesque look at the life of a passionate entertainer. Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider, Channeling Fosse) is the ultimate work (and play) aholic as he downs a daily dose of amphetamines to juggle a new Broadway production while editing his new film, An Ex-Wife Audrey , girlfriend Kate, young daughter and various conquests. Reminiscent of Fellini’s 8 1/2, Fosse moves from realistic dance numbers to extravagant flights of cinematic fantasy as Joe reflects on his life, women and death. Fosse shows the steep price that entertainment demands of entertainers (among other things he graphically intersects open-heart surgery with a song and a dance) and ruthlessly reverses the feel-good vibes of classic film musicals.
All the King’s Men (1949)
Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Robert Penn Warren and directed by Robert Rossen, All the King’s Men is inspired by the career of Louisiana Governor Huey Long. Broderick Crawford won an Oscar for his portrayal of Willie Stark, a Southern lawyer who wins the hearts of his constituents by defying the corrupt government. Basically, the thesis is that power corrupts, with Stark portrayed as a man who begins with a burning purpose and a defiant honesty. Rossen, however, introduces a touch of ambiguity early on (a scene in which Willie impatiently shakes off his wife’s dream of the great and good things he is about to achieve); and the doubt as to what he is really up to is beautifully orchestrated, filtering through the eyes of the press agent (Ireland) who acts as the film’s narrator, whose admiration for Stark is gradually tempered by understanding. In addition to the Oscars for Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge, the film won the award for best picture.
All the President’s Men (1976)
Based on Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s memoir about the Watergate burglary exposure and cover-up, All the President’s Men is a rare example of a best-selling best-selling movie turned hit and cultural phenomenon for themselves. Directed by Alan J. Pakula, the film stars Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein, and wins an Academy Award for Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee. The award-nominated film won an Academy Award for Best Screenplay by William Goldman (previously known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then The Princess Bride). Pakula’s tight direction plays the emotional rollercoaster of exhilaration, paranoia, self-doubt and courage, without ignoring the boredom and tireless digging, elevating it to noble determination.
Extended essay by Mike Canning (PDF, 72KB)
Temptations (1961)
Described as a master of “cosmic cinema,” Jordan Belson excelled at creating abstract images with a spiritual dimension, featuring dazzling displays of color, light, and ever-moving patterns and objects. Trained as a painter and influenced by the films of Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren and Hans Richter, Belson collaborated with electronic music composer Henry Jacobs in the late 1950s to create lavish sound and light shows at the San Francisco Morrison Planetarium, an experience that informed his later films. The film, according to Belson, “was probably the most expansive film that had been made up to that point. Inspired by Eastern spiritual thought, Allures (which took a year and a half to produce) is, according to Belson, a “mathematically precise” work intended to express the process of becoming that the philosopher Teilhard de Chardin called “cosmogenesis”.
Amadeus (1984)
Milos Forman directed this deeply compelling, visually rich film based on the life and rivalry of two great classical composers – the brash, youthful Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the fine, if not exceptional, Antonio Salieri. Based on Peter Shaffer’s hugely successful play, which Shaffer personally rewrote for the screen, while ostensibly about classical music, “Amadeus” shines instead as a remarkable exploration of the concept of genius (Mozart) and the jealous obsession of the less talented Competitors (Salieri). In an Oscar-winning performance, F. Murray Abraham skillfully reveals the tormented emotions (admiration and envy) Salieri feels for Mozart’s work: “It was the music I had never heard… It seemed to me that I would hear voice of God. Why would God choose an obscene child as his instrument?”
America, America (1963)
“My name is Elia Kazan. I am Greek by blood, Turkish by birth, American because my uncle went on a journey.” Thus begins the film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan, who he frequently cites as his personal favourite. Loosely based on Kazan’s uncle, Stavros dreams of going to America in the late 1890s. Kazan, who often hired locals as extras, cast the lead in Stathis Giallelis, a total novice he spotted sweeping the floor of a Greek producer’s office. Haskell Wexler’s cinematography, shot almost entirely in Greece and Turkey, evokes scale and authenticity, which combines with Gene Callahan’s Oscar-winning artistic direction to give the film a distinctly European feel. Intended as the first chapter in a trilogy, the epically ambitious America, America also received Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Picture.
American Graffiti (1973)
Fresh off the success of The Godfather, producer Francis Ford Coppola gathered the clout to tackle a project his friend George Lucas had suggested. The film captured the flair of the 1950s with ironic candor and a latent foreboding that helped ignite a nostalgia craze. Despite technical obstacles and the need to shoot at night, cinematographer Haskell Wexler gave the film a neon glow to match its rock-n-roll soundscape. Lucas’s period details, the realistic dialogue of co-writers Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz, and the film’s nostalgia for pre-Vietnam simplicity spoke to audiences in the midst of cultural upheaval. The film also established the reputation of Lucas (whose next film would be Star Wars) and its young cast, and encouraged the emergence of soundtrack-driven, youth-oriented films.
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An American in Paris (1951)
Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Georges Guetary (The film was supposed to make Guetary the “new Chevalier”. It didn’t.) The thin plot is held together by superlative production numbers and by recycling several old George Gershwin tunes, including “I Got Rhythm”, “‘S Wonderful” and “Our Love Is Here to Stay”. Highlights include Guetary’s rendition of “Stairway to Paradise”; Oscar Levant’s fantasy of conducting and performing Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” (Levant also performs as each member of the orchestra). An American in Paris, directed by Vincente Minnelli, won the Academy Awards, with Oscars for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Score, Best Cinematography, Best Set Design and even a Special Award for Choreography of the 18- minute film, final ballet, in which Kelly and Caron dance in front of lavish backdrops reminiscent of French masterpieces.
Interview with Leslie Caron (PDF, 1.36 MB)
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Director Otto Preminger brought a new cinematic openness to the film with this compelling crime and trial film, shot on location in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where the incident occurred. Based on the best-selling novel by Robert Traver, Preminger brings bold dialogue and offbeat pacing to his film. Zu seiner Zeit wegen seiner unverblümten Sprache und seiner Bereitschaft, Themen für Erwachsene offen zu diskutieren, umstritten, bleibt „Anatomy“ heute wegen seiner erstklassigen Dramatik und Spannung und seiner fundierten Perspektive auf das Rechtssystem bestehen. Mit James Stewart, Ben Gazzara und Lee Remick in den Hauptrollen bietet er auch starke Nebendarsteller von George C. Scott als Staatsanwalt sowie Eve Arden und Arthur O’Connell. Der Film enthält eine innovative Jazzmusik von Duke Ellington und eine der denkwürdigsten Eröffnungssequenzen von Saul Bass.
Tierhaus (1978)
(siehe “Das Tierhaus von National Lampoon”)
Annie Halle (1977)
Alvy Singer (Woody Allen) und Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) schlendern über die Bürgersteige von New York. Sammlung der Kongressbibliothek.
Woody Allens romantische Komödie des Me Decade folgt dem Auf und Ab der Beziehung zweier ungleicher New Yorker Neurotiker. „Annie Hall“ mischte den Slapstick und die Fantasie aus früheren Allen-Filmen wie „Sleeper“ und „Bananas“ mit den eher autobiografischen Überlegungen seiner Stand-up- und schriftlichen Komödie, wobei er eine Reihe von Filmtechniken wie Talking Heads, Splitscreens und Untertitel. In diesen fröhlichen formalen Experimenten und Gags haben Allen und Co-Autor Marshall Brickman den Solipsismus der 1970er aufgespießt und die glückliche Ehe der Gegensätze umgekehrt, die in klassischen Screwball-Komödien zu finden ist. Als Allens reifster und persönlichster Film gefeiert, schlug „Annie Hall“ „Star Wars“ als bester Film und gewann auch Oscars für Allen als Regisseur und Autor und für Keaton als beste Schauspielerin; Das Publikum reagierte begeistert auf Allens Interpretation zeitgenössischer Liebe und verwandelte Keatons zerknitterte Herrenmode in einen Modetrend.
Erweiterter Aufsatz von Jay Carr (PDF, 302 KB)
Antonia: Ein Porträt der Frau (1974)
Die Musikerin und Dirigentin Antonia Brico ist das Thema dieses Dokumentarfilms. Sammlung der Kongressbibliothek.
Unter der Regie von Jill Godmilow und Judy Collins erzählt dieser Oscar-nominierte Dokumentarfilm das Leben der Musikerin und Dirigentin Antonia Brico und ihren Kampf, trotz ihres Geschlechts Orchesterdirektorin zu werden. Von vielen gesagt, es sei lächerlich für eine Frau, ans Dirigieren zu denken, gibt sie zu: „Ich hatte das Gefühl, ich würde es mir nie verzeihen, wenn ich es nicht versuchte.“ Und der Schmerz und die Entbehrungen, die sie ihr ganzes Leben lang kennt, werden in diesem Film von ihrer überschäumenden, unverblümten Wärme überschattet. Die Erzählung ihres Lebens wechselt mit Einblicken in ihre Arbeit – beim Proben oder Unterrichten. Sie reflektiert auch die emotionale Erfahrung des Dirigierens – einschließlich der akuten Trennungsschmerze nach einem Konzert.
Erweiterter Essay von Diane Worthey (PDF, 458 KB)
Die Wohnung (1960)
CC Baxter (Jack Lemmon) in einem Meer von Zahlenjongleuren, bevor er seinen großen Durchbruch und einen Schlüssel zum Waschraum der Chefetage bekommt. Sammlung der Kongressbibliothek.
Billy Wilder soll in seinem Büro ein Schild mit der Aufschrift „How would Lubitsch Do It“ aufgehängt haben. Hier scheint dieser Lubitsch-Touch über jeder Szene zu schweben und verleiht selbst den schändlichsten Taten eine Leichtigkeit. Eine der Eröffnungsaufnahmen des Films zeigt Baxter als Teil einer riesigen Horde von Lohnsklaven, die in einem Raum arbeiten, in dem die Schreibtische fast bis zum Fluchtpunkt in parallelen Reihen aufgereiht sind. Diese Einstellung ist aus King Vidors Stummfilm „The Crowd“ (1928) zitiert, in dem es ebenfalls um einen gesichtslosen Angestellten in einem herzlosen Konzern geht. Kabinen wären als revolutionärer Fortschritt in diese Welt gekommen. Als er diesen Film drehte, war Wilder ein Meister einer Art sardonischer, satirischer Komödie geworden, in deren Mittelpunkt die Traurigkeit stand. Wilder war frisch von dem enormen Hit „Some Like it Hot“, seiner ersten Zusammenarbeit mit Lemmon, und mit „The Apartment“ zeigte Lemmon, dass er vom leichten Komiker zum tragischen Jedermann werden konnte. Dieser Film war die Zusammenfassung dessen, was Wilder bisher getan hatte, und der entscheidende Übergang in Lemmons Karriere. Es war auch ein Schlüsselfilm für Shirley MacLaine, die seit fünf Jahren in leichten Komödien unterwegs war, aber hier als ernsthafte Schauspielerin auftauchte, die in den 1960er Jahren aufblühte.
Erweiterter Essay von Kyle Westphal (PDF, 428 KB)
Apokalypse jetzt (1979)
Die chaotische Produktion wurde auch stillgelegt, als ein Taifun das Set zerstörte und Star Sheen einen Herzinfarkt erlitt; das Budget explodierte und Coppola deckte die Überschreitungen selbst. Diese Produktionsprobleme, die Coppola als den Vietnamkrieg selbst bezeichnete, wurden in der Dokumentation Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse hervorragend eingefangen. Despite the studio’s fears and mixed reviews of the film’s ending, Apocalypse Now became a substantial hit and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor for Duvall’s psychotic Kilgore, and Best Screenplay. It won Oscars for sound and for Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography. This hallucinatory, Wagnerian project has produced admirers and detractors of equal ardor; it resembles no other film ever made, and its nightmarish aura and polarized reception aptly reflect the tensions and confusions of the Vietnam era.
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Applause (1929)
This early sound-era masterpiece was the first film of both stage/director Rouben Mamoulian and cabaret/star Helen Morgan. Many have compared Mamoulian’s debut to that of Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” because of his flamboyant use of cinematic innovation to test technical boundaries. The tear-jerking plot boasts top performances from Morgan as the fading burlesque queen, Fuller Mellish Jr. as her slimy paramour and Joan Peters as her cultured daughter. However, the film is remembered today chiefly for Mamoulian’s audacious style. While most films of the era were static and stage-bound, Mamoulian’s camera reinvigorated the melodramatic plot by prowling relentlessly through sordid backstage life.
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Corrupt attorney Louis Calhern embraces Marilyn Monroe, whom he introduces to his associates as his “niece.” Library of Congress Collection.
John Huston’s brilliant crime drama contains the recipe for a meticulously planned robbery, but the cast of criminal characters features one too many bad apples. Sam Jaffe, as the twisted mastermind, uses cash from corrupt attorney Emmerich (Louis Calhern) to assemble a group of skilled thugs to pull off a jewel heist. All goes as planned — until an alert night watchman and a corrupt cop enter the picture. Marilyn Monroe has a memorable bit part as Emmerich’s “niece.”
Atlantic City (1980)
Aided by a taut script from playwright John Guare, director Louis Malle celebrates his wounded characters even as he mercilessly reveals their dreams for the hopeless illusions they really are. Malle reveals the rich portraits he paints of wasted American lives, through the filter of his European sensibilities. He is exceptionally well served by his cast and his location–a seedy resort town supported, like the principal characters, by memories of glories past. Burt Lancaster, in a masterful performance, plays an aging small-time criminal who hangs around Atlantic City doing odd jobs and taking care of the broken-down moll of the deceased gangster for whom Lou was a gofer. Living in an invented past, Lou identifies with yesteryear’s notorious gangsters and gets involved with sexy would-be croupier (Susan Sarandon) and her drug-dealing estranged husband.
The Atomic Café (1982)
Produced and directed by Kevin Rafferty, Jayne Loader and Pierce Rafferty, the influential film compilation “The Atomic Cafe” provocatively documents the post-World War II threat of nuclear war as depicted in a wide assortment of archival footage from the period (newsreels, statements from politicians, advertisements, training, civil defense and military films). This vast, yet entertaining, collage of clips serves as a unique document of the 1940s-1960s era and illustrates how these films—some of which today seem propagandistic or even patently absurd (“The House in the Middle”)—were used to inform the public on how to cope in the nuclear age.
Expanded essay by John Willis (PDF, 45KB)
The Augustas (1930s-1950s)
Amateur filmmaker and traveling salesman Scott Nixon at the Grand Canyon. Courtesy Moving Image Research Collections Digital Video Repository (MIRC-DVR), University of South Carolina External
Scott Nixon, a traveling salesman based in Augusta, Ga., was an avid member of the Amateur Cinema League who enjoyed recording his travels on film. In this 16-minute silent film, Nixon documents some 38 streets, storefronts and cities named Augusta in such far-flung locales as Montana and Maine. Arranged with no apparent rhyme or reason, the film strings together brief snapshots of these Augustas, many of which are indicated at pencil-point on a train timetable or roadmap. Nixon photographed his odyssey using both 8mm and 16mm cameras loaded with black-and-white and color film, amassing 26,000 feet of film that now resides at the University of South Carolina. While Nixon’s film does not illuminate the historical or present-day significance of these towns, it binds them together under the umbrella of Americana. Whether intentionally or coincidentally, this amateur auteur seems to juxtapose the name’s lofty origin—’august,’ meaning great or venerable—with the unspectacular nature of everyday life in small-town America.
View this film at Moving Image Research Collections, University of South Carolina External
The Awful Truth (1937)
Leo McCarey’s largely improvised film is one of the funniest of the screwball comedies, and also one of the most serious at heart. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne are a pair of world-weary socialites who each believe the other has been unfaithful, and consequently enter into a trial divorce. The story began life as a 1922 stage hit and was filmed twice previously. McCarey maintained the basic premise of the play but improved it greatly, adding sophisticated dialogue and encouraging his actors to improvise around anything they thought funny. “The Awful Truth” was in the can in six weeks, and was such a success that Grant and Dunne were teamed again in another comedy, “My Favorite Wife” and in a touching tearjerker, “Penny Serenade.” The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.
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Baby Face (1933)
Smart and sultry Barbara Stanwyck uses her feminine wiles to scale the corporate ladder, amassing male admirers who are only too willing to help a poor working girl. One of the more notorious melodramas of the pre-Code era, a period when the movie industry relaxed its censorship standards, films such as this one led to the imposition of the Production Code in 1934. This relative freedom resulted in a cycle of gritty, audacious films that resonated with Depression-battered audiences.
Expanded essay by Gwendolyn Audrey Foster (PDF, 819KB)
Back to the Future (1985)
Writer/director Robert Zemeckis explored the possibilities of special effects with the 1985 box-office smash “Back to the Future.” With his writing partner Bob Gale, Zemeckis tells the tale of accidental time-tourist Marty McFly. Stranded in the year 1955, Marty (Michael J. Fox)—with the help of his friend eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett Brown (played masterfully over-the-top by Christopher Lloyd)—must not only find a way home, but also teach his father (Crispin Glover) how to become a man, repair the space/time continuum and save his family from being erased from existence. All this, while fighting off the advances of his then-teenaged mother (Lea Thompson). The film generated a popular soundtrack and two enjoyable sequels.
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Vincente Minnelli directed this captivating Hollywood story of an ambitious producer (Kirk Douglas)as told in flashback by those whose lives he’s impacted: an actress (Lana Turner), a writer (Dick Powell) and a director (Barry Sullivan). Insightful and liberally sprinkled with characters modeled after various Hollywood royalty from David O. Selznick to Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, witty, with one of Turner’s best performances. Five Oscars include Supporting Actress (Gloria Grahame), Screenplay (Charles Schnee). David Raksin’s score is another asset.
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Bad Day at Black Rock (1955)
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Though only 81 minutes in length, “Bad Day” packs a punch. Spencer Tracy stars as Macreedy, a one-armed man who arrives unexpectedly one day at the sleepy desert town of Black Rock. He is just as tight-lipped at first about the reason for his visit as the residents of Black Rock are about the details of their town. However, when Macreedy announces that he is looking for a former Japanese-American Black Rock resident named Komoko, town skeletons suddenly burst into the open. In addition to Tracy, the standout cast includes Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Dean Jagger. Director John Sturges displays the western landscape to great advantage in this CinemaScope production.
Badlands (1973)
Stark, brutal story based on the Charles Starkweather-Carol Fugate murder spree through the Midwest in 1958, with Martin Sheen as the killer lashing out against a society that ignores his existence and Sissy Spacek as his naive teenage consort. Sheen is forceful and properly weird as the mass murderer, strutting around pretending to be James Dean, while Spacek doesn’t quite understand what he’s all about, but goes along anyway. Director Terrence Malick neither romanticizes nor condemns his subjects, maintaining a low-key approach to the story that results in a fascinating character study. The film did scant box office business, but it remains one of the most impressive of directorial debuts.
Ball of Fire (1941)
In this Howard Hawks-directed screwball comedy, showgirl and gangster’s moll Sugarpuss O’Shea (Barbara Stanwyck) hides from the law among a group of scholars compiling an encyclopedia. Cooling her heels until the heat lets up, Sugarpuss charms the elderly academics and bewitches the young professor in charge (Gary Cooper). Hawks deftly shapes an effervescent, innuendo-packed Billy Wilder-Charles Brackett script into a swing-era version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or “squirrely cherubs,” as Sugarpuss christens them. Filled with colorful period slang and boogie-woogie tunes and highlighted by an energetic performance from legendary drummer Gene Krupa, the film captures a pre-World War II lightheartedness.
Bambi (1942)
One of Walt Disney’s timeless classics (and his own personal favorite), this animated coming-of-age tale of a wide-eyed fawn’s life in the forest has enchanted generations since its debut nearly 70 years ago. Filled with iconic characters and moments, the film features beautiful images that were the result of extensive nature studies by Disney’s animators. Its realistic characters capture human and animal qualities in the time-honored tradition of folklore and fable, which enhance the movie’s resonating, emotional power. Treasured as one of film’s most heart-rending stories of parental love, “Bambi” also has come to be recognized for its eloquent message of nature conservation.
Expanded essay by John Wills (PDF, 360KB)
Original drawing of Bambi
The Band Wagon (1953)
Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray and Jack Buchanan star in this sophisticated backstage toe-tapper directed by Vincente Minnelli, widely considered one of the greatest movie musicals of all time. Astaire plays a washed-up movie star (in reality he’d been a succesful performer for nearly 30 years) who tries his luck on Broadway, under the direction of irrepressible mad genius Buchanan. Musical highlights include “Dancing in the Dark” and “That’s Entertainment” (written for the film by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz) and Astaire’s sexy Mickey Spillane spoof “The Girl Hunt” danced to perfection by Charisse. Fred Astaire would only make three more musicals after “The Band Wagon,” before turning to a film and television career that included the occasional turn as a dramatic actor.
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Additional artwork
The Bank Dick (1940)
Bank guard W.C. Fields is outwitted by would-be robbers Al Hill and Dick Purcell. Library of Congress Collection.
Perhaps more than any other film comedian in the early days of movies, W.C. Fields is an acquired taste. His absurdist brand of humor, at once dry and surreal, endures for the simple reason that the movies bear up under repeated viewings; in fact, it’s almost a necessity to watch them over and over, if only to figure out why they’re so funny. In his second-to-last feature, The Bank Dick (which he wrote under the moniker “Mahatma Kane Jeeves”), Fields as unemployed layabout Egbert Souse — Soosay, if you don’t mind — replaces drunk movie director A. Pismo Clam on a location shoot in his hometown of Lompoc, California before chance lands him in the job of bank detective — after which the movie becomes a riff on the comic possibilities of his new-found notoriety. The stellar comic supporting cast includes future Stooge Shemp Howard as the bartender at Fields’ regular haunt, The Black Pussy, and Preston Sturges regular Franklin Pangborn as bank examiner J. Pinkerton Snoopington.
Expanded essay by Randy Skretvedt (PDF, 401KB)
The Bargain (1914)
After beginning his career on the stage (where he originated the role of Messala in “Ben-Hur” in 1899), William S. Hart found his greatest fame as the silent screen’s most popular cowboy. His 1914 “The Bargain,” directed by Reginald Barker, was Hart’s first film and made him a star. The second Hart Western to be named to the National Film Registry, the film was selected because of Hart’s charisma, the film’s authenticity and realistic portrayal of the Western genre and the star’s good/bad man role as an outlaw attempting to go straight.
Expanded essay by Brian Taves (PDF, 1692KB)
The Battle of the Century (1927)
“Battle of the Century” is a classic Laurel and Hardy silent short comedy (2 reels, ca. 20 minutes) unseen in its entirety since its original release. The comic bits include a renowned pie-fighting sequence where the principle of “reciprocal destruction” escalates to epic proportions. “Battle” offers a stark illustration of the detective work (and luck) required to locate and preserve films from the silent era. Only excerpts from reel two of the film had survived for many years. Critic Leonard Maltin discovered a mostly complete nitrate copy of reel one at the Museum of Modern Art in the 1970s. Then in 2015, film collector and silent film accompanist Jon Mirsalis located a complete version of reel two as part of a film collection he purchased from the Estate of Gordon Berkow. The film still lacks brief scenes from reel one, but the film is now almost complete, comprising elements from MoMA, the Library of Congress, UCLA and other sources. It was restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive in conjunction with Jeff Joseph/SabuCat. The nearly complete film was preserved from one reel of 35mm nitrate print, one reel of a 35mm acetate dupe negative and a 16mm acetate print. Laboratory Services: The Stanford Theatre Film Laboratory, Deluxe Entertainment Services Group, Cineaste Restoration/Thad Komorowksi, Point 360/Joe Alloy. Special Thanks: Jon Mirsalis, Paramount Pictures Archives, Richard W. Bann, Ray Faiola, David Gerstein.
The Battle of San Pietro (1945)
John Huston’s documentary about the WW II Battle of San Pietro Infine was considered too controversial by the U.S. military to be seen in its original form, and was cut from five reels to its released 33 minute-length. powerful viewing, vivid and gritty. Some 1,100 men died in the battle. scenes of grateful Italian peasants serve as a fascinating ethnographic time capsule. Filmed by Jules Buck. Unlike many other military documentaries, Huston’s cameramen filmed alongside the Army’s 143rd regiment, 36th division infantrymen, placing themselves within feet of mortar and shell fire. The film is unflinching in its realism and was held up from being shown to the public by the United States Army. Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot. Because it showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers, some officers tried to prevent troopers in training from seeing it, for fear of morale. General George Marshall came to the film’s defense, stating that because of the film’s gritty realism, it would make a good training film. The depiction of death would inspire them to take their training seriously. Subsequently the film was used for that purpose. Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and made an honorary major.
Expanded essay by Ed Carter (PDF, 423KB)
View this film at National Film Preservation Foundation External
The Beau Brummels (1928)
Al Shaw and Sam Lee were an eccentrically popular vaudeville act of the 1920s. In 1928 they made this eight-minute Vitaphone short for Warner Bros. The duo later appeared in more than a dozen other films, though none possessed the wacky charm of “The Beau Brummels.” As Jim Knipfel has observed: “If Samuel Beckett had written a vaudeville routine, he would have created Shaw and Lee.” Often considered one of the quintessential vaudeville comedy shorts, the film has a simple set-up—Shaw and Lee stand side by side with deadpan expressions in non-tailored suits and bowler hats as they deliver their comic routine of corny nonsense songs and gags with a bit of soft shoe and their renowned hat-swapping routine. Shaw’s and Lee’s reputation has enjoyed a recent renaissance and their brand of dry, offbeat humor is seen by some as well ahead of its time. The film has been preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is an animated, musical retelling of the fairy tale by Jeanne-Marie Leprince du Beaumont. The film follows Belle (voiced by Paige O’Hara), an intelligent and rebellious young French woman, who is forced to live with a hideous monster, the Beast (voiced by Robby Benson), after offering to take her father’s place as the Beast’s prisoner. Unaware that the Beast is actually an enchanted prince, Belle falls in love with him. “Beauty and the Beast” was the first animated film nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Picture category. Alan Menken won an Oscar for his original score, and he and lyricist Howard Ashman (posthumously) earned Oscars for the film’s theme song “Beauty and the Beast.”
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Becky Sharp (1935)
Actress Miriam Hopkins had a long and successful movie career, appearing in many classics, including “Trouble in Paradise” and “Design for Living.” However, it is as this film’s titular heroine that she received her only Academy Award best-actress nomination. Based upon Thackeray’s novel “Vanity Fair,” “Becky” is the story of a socially ambitious woman and her destructive climb up the class system. “Becky Sharp” merits historical note as the first feature-length film to utilize the three-strip Technicolor process, which, even today, gives the film a shimmering visual appeal. The lengthy, complicated restoration process of “Becky Sharp” by the UCLA Film and Television Archive marked one of the earliest archival restorations to garner widespread public attention. Partners in this painstaking effort included the National Telefilm Associates Inc., Fondazione Scuola Nazionale di Cinema, Cineteca Nazionale (Rome), British Film Institute, The Film Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Paramount and YCM Laboratories. More information can be found at https://cinema.ucla.edu/restoration/becky-sharp-restoration External.
Before Stonewall (1984)
In 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. After years of harassment, this infamous act proved a tipping point and led to three days of riots. The Stonewall riots are credited with launching the modern gay civil rights movement in the U.S. Narrated by Rita Mae Brown, “Before Stonewall” provides a detailed look at the history and making of the LGBTQ community in 20th-century America through archival footage and interviews with those who felt compelled to live secret lives during that period. Elements, prints and a new 2016 digital cinema package are held in the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Being There (1979)
Peter Sellers as Chance, the gardener, tending his shrubbery. Library of Congress Collection.
Chance, a simple-minded gardener (Peter Sellers) whose only contact with the outside world is through television, becomes the toast of the town following a series of misunderstandings. Forced outside his protected environment by the death of his wealthy boss, Chance subsumes his late employer’s persona, including the man’s cultured walk, talk and even his expensive clothes, and is mistaken as “Chauncey Gardner,” whose simple adages are interpreted as profound insights. He becomes the confidant of a dying billionaire industrialist (Melvyn Douglas, in an Academy Award-winning performance) who happens to be a close adviser to the U.S. president (Jack Warden). Chance’s gardening advice is interpreted as metaphors for political policy and life in general. Jerzy Kosinski, assisted by award-winning screenwriter Robert C. Jones, adapted his 1971 novel for the screenplay which Hal Ashby directed with an understatement to match the subtlety and precision of Sellers’ Academy Award-nominated performance. Shirley MacLaine also stars as Douglas’s wife, then widow, who sees Chauncey as a romantic prospect. Film critic Robert Ebert said he admired the film for “having the guts to take this totally weird conceit and push it to its ultimate comic conclusion.” That conclusion is a philosophically complex film that has remained fresh and relevant.
Expanded essay by Jerry Dean Roberts (PDF, 118KB)
Ben-Hur (1925)
Adapted from General Lew Wallace’s popular novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ” published in 1880, this epic featured one of the most exciting spectacles in silent film: the chariot race that was shot with 40 cameras on a Circus Maximus set costing a staggering (for the day) $300,000. In addition to the grandeur of the chariot scene, a number of sequences shot in Technicolor also contributed to the epic status of “Ben-Hur,” which was directed by Fred Niblo and starred Ramon Novarro as Judah Ben-Hur and Francis X. Bushman as Messala. While the film did not initially recoup its investment, it did help to establish its studio, MGM, as one of the major players in the industry.
Expanded essay by Fritzi Kramer (PDF, 254KB)
Lobby card
Ben-Hur (1959)
This epic blockbuster stars Charlton Heston in the title role of a rebellious Israelite who takes on the Roman Empire during the time of Christ. Featuring one of the most famous action sequences of all time — the breathtaking chariot race — the film was a remake of the impressive silent version released in 1925. Co-starring Stephen Boyd as Judah Ben-Hur’s onetime best friend and later rival, it also featured notable performances by Hugh Griffith and Jack Hawkins. Directed by Oscar-winner William Wyler, who found success with “Mrs. Miniver” “The Best Years of Our Lives” and others, “Ben-Hur” broke awards records, winning 11 Oscars, including best picture, director, actor, supporting actor, and score. Famed stuntman Yakima Canutt was brought in to coordinate all the chariot race stunt work and train the driver The race scene alone cost is reported to have cost about $4 million, or about a fourth of the entire budget, and took 10 weeks to shoot.
Expanded essay by Gabriel Miller (PDF, 499KB)
Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913)
In 1913, a stellar cast of African-American performers gathered in the Bronx, New York, to make a feature-length motion picture. The troupe starred vaudevillian Bert Williams, the first African-American to headline on Broadway and the most popular recording artist prior to 1920. After considerable footage was shot, the film was abandoned. One hundred years later, the seven reels of untitled and unassembled footage were discovered in the film vaults of the Museum of Modern Art, and are now believed to constitute the earliest surviving feature film starring black actors. Modeled after a popular collection of stories known as “Brother Gardener’s Lime Kiln Club,” the plot features three suitors vying to win the hand of the local beauty, portrayed by Odessa Warren Grey. The production also included members of the Harlem stage show known as J. Leubrie Hill’s “Darktown Follies.” Providing insight into early silent-film production (Williams can be seen applying his blackface makeup), these outtakes or rushes show white and black cast and crew working together, enjoying themselves in unguarded moments. Even in fragments of footage, Williams proves himself among the most gifted of screen comedians.
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
A moving and personal story directed by real-life veteran William Wyler, the film depicts the return to civilian life by three World War II servicemen, portrayed by Dana Andrews, Fredric March and Harold Russell. Adapted by Robert Sherwood from MacKinlay Kantor’s novel “Glory for Me,” Gregg Toland’s deep-focus cinematography is memorable for emotionally evokative long dolly shots. It also starred Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Cathy O’Donnell, and Virginia Mayo. The film won nine Oscars including Best Picture, as well as two awards for Russell, who lost his hands in the war.
Expanded essay by Gabriel Miller (PDF, 319KB)
Big Business (1929)
As gifted in their repartee as they were in their physical antics, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were the perfect team for the transition from silent film comedy to sound. Their legendary career spanned from 1921 to 1951 and included more than 100 films. This two-reeler finds the duo attempting to sell Christmas trees in sunny California. Their run-in with an unsatisfied customer (played by James Finlayson) lays the groundwork for a slapstick melee eventually involving a dismantled car, a wrecked house and an exploding cigar. The film was produced by the team’s long-time collaborator, Hal Roach, the king of no-holds-barred comedy.
Expanded essay by Randy Skretvedt (PDF, 308KB)
The Big Heat (1953)
One of the great post-war noir films, “The Big Heat” stars Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and Gloria Grahame. Set in a fictional American town, the film tells the story of a tough cop (Ford) who takes on a local crime syndicate, exposing tensions within his own corrupt police department as well as insecurities and hypocrisies of domestic life in the 1950s. Filled with atmosphere, fascinating female characters, and a jolting—yet not gratuitous—degree of violence, “The Big Heat,” through its subtly expressive technique and resistance to formulaic denouement, manages to be both stylized and brutally realistic, a signature of its director Fritz Lang.
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The Big Lebowski (1998)
From the unconventional visionaries Joel and Ethan Coen (the filmmakers behind “Fargo” and “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) came this 1998 tale of kidnapping, mistaken identity and bowling. As they would again in the 2008 “Burn After Reading,” the Coens explore themes of alienation, inequality and class structure via a group of hard-luck, off-beat characters suddenly drawn into each other’s orbits. Jeff Bridges, in a career-defining role, stars as “The Dude,” an LA-based slacker who shares a last name with a rich man whose arm-candy wife is indebted to shady figures. Joining Bridges are John Goodman, Tara Reid, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Steve Buscemi and, in a now-legendary cameo, John Turturro. Stuffed with vignettes—each staged through the Coens’ trademark absurdist, innovative visual style—that are alternately funny and disturbing, “Lebowski” was only middling successful at the box office during its initial release. However, television, the Internet, home video and considerable word-of-mouth have made the film a highly quoted cult classic.
Expanded essay by J.M. Tyree & Ben Walters (PDF, 354KB)
The Big Parade (1925)
One of the first films to deglamorize war with its startling realism, “The Big Parade” became the largest grossing film of the silent era. From a story by Laurence Stallings, director King Vidor crafted what “New York Times” critic Mordaunt Hall called “an eloquent pictorial epic.” The film, which Hall said displayed “all the artistry of which the camera is capable,” depicts a privileged young man (John Gilbert) who goes to war seeking adventure and finds camaraderie, love, humility and maturity amid the horrors of war. Along the way he befriends two amiable doughboys (Karl Dane and Tom O’Brien) and falls for a beautiful French farm girl (Renée Adorée). Vidor tempered the film’s serious subject matter with a kind of simple, light humor that flows naturally from new friendships and new loves. A five-time nominee for Best Director, Vidor was eventually recognized by the Academy in 1979 with an honorary lifetime achievement award. Both stars continued to reign until the transition to talking pictures, which neither Gilbert nor Adorée weathered successfully. Their careers plummeted and both died prematurely.
The Big Sleep (1946)
Howard Hawks directed this Raymond Chandler story featuring private eye Philip Marlowe, played by Humphrey Bogart. Appearing opposite him in only her second film was a former model named Lauren Bacall, with whom Bogart had fallen in love (and vice versa) during filming of “To Have and Have Not” earlier that year. Hawks and his writers attempted to untangle the threads of Chandler’s complicated plot which caused frequent production delays. More than a month behind schedule and about $50,000 over budget, the film was ready in mid-summer1945, and that version was distributed to servicemen overseas. Shortly thereafter “To Have and Have Not” was released, and audiences loved the Bogart-Bacall chemistry, so the wide release of “The Big Sleep” was further delayed the wide release by rewriting scenes to heighten the chemistry and bring out Bacall’s “insolent” quality that audiences found so appealing the pair’s earlier film. The pre-release cut is only two minutes longer, but contains 18 minutes of scenes missing from the final picture. The first “draft” was discovered at the UCLA Film and Television Archive where both versions have since been preserved.
The Big Trail (1930)
This taming of the Oregon Trail saga comes alive thanks to the majestic sweep afforded by the experimental Grandeur wide-screen process developed by the Fox Film Corporation. Audiences marveled at the sheer scope of the panoramic scenes before them and delighted in the beauty of the vast landscapes. Hollywood legend has it that director Raoul Walsh was seeking a male lead for a new Western and asked his friend John Ford for advice. Ford recommended an unknown actor named John Wayne because he “liked the looks of this new kid with a funny walk — like he owned the world.” When Wayne professed inexperience, Walsh told him to just “sit good on a horse and point.”Wayne’s starring role in “The Big Trail” did not catapult him to stardom, and he languished in low-budget pictures until John Ford cast him in the 1939 classic “Stagecoach.”
Expanded essay by Marilyn Ann Moss (PDF, 375KB)
The Birds (1963)
“The Birds” was the fourth suspense hit by Alfred Hitchcock—following “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest” and “Psycho”—revealing his mastery of his craft. Hitchcock transfixed both critics and mass audiences by deftly moving from anxiety-inducing horror to glossy entertainment and suspense, with bold forays into psychological terrain. Marked by a foreboding sense of an unending terror no one can escape, the film concludes with its famous, final scene, which only adds to the emotional impact of “The Birds.”
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
This landmark of American motion pictures is the story of two families during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Director D.W. Griffith’s depiction of the Ku Klux Klan as heroes stirred controversy that continues to the present day. But the director’s groundbreaking camera technique and narrative style advanced the art of filmmaking by leaps and bounds. Profoundly impacted by the novel “The Clansman: An Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan,” Griffith hired its author Thomas F. Dixon Jr. to adapt it as a screenplay. At the heart of the story are two pairs of star-crossed lovers on either side of the conflict: Southerner Henry B. Walthall courts Northerner Lillian Gish, and the couple’s siblings, played by Elmer Clifton and Miriam Cooper, are also in love. The ravages of war and the chaos of reconstruction take their toll on both families. The racist and simplistic depictions of blacks in the film is difficult to overlook, but underneath the distasteful sentiment lies visual genius.
Expanded essay by Dave Kehr (PDF, 599KB)
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Black and Tan (1929)
In one of the first short musical films to showcase African-American jazz musicians, Duke Ellington portrays a struggling musician whose dancer wife (Fredi Washington in her film debut) secures him a gig for his orchestra at the famous Cotton Club where she’s been hired to perform, at a risk to her health. Directed by Dudley Murphy, who earned his reputation with “Ballet mécanique,” which is considered a masterpiece of early experimental filmmaking, the film reflects the cultural, social and artistic explosion of the 1920s that became known as the Harlem Renaissance. Ellington and Washington personify that movement, and Murphy—who also directed registry titles “St. Louis Blues” (1929), another musical short, and the feature “The Emperor Jones” (1933) starring Paul Robeson—cements it in celluloid to inspire future generations. Washington, who appeared with Robeson in “Emperor Jones,” is best known as “Peola” in the 1934 version of “Imitation of Life.”
The Black Pirate (1926)
This swashbuckling tour-de-force by Douglas Fairbanks, king of silent action adventure pictures, is most significant for having been filmed entirely in two-strip Technicolor, a process still being perfected at the time, and the precursor to Technicolor processes that would become commonplace by the 1950s. Fairbanks plays a nobleman who has vowed to avenge the death of his father at the hands of pirates, and once upon the pirates’ vessel, protects a damsel in distress (Bessie Love)taken hostage by the band of thieves. Fairbanks wrote the original story under a pseudonym, and Albert Parker directed.
Expanded essay by Tracey Goessel (PDF, 356 KB)
The Black Stallion (1979)
When a ship carrying young Alec Ramsey (Kelly Reno) and a black Arabian stallion sinks off the coast of Africa, Alec and the horse find themselves stranded on a deserted island. Upon their rescue, Alec and horse trainer/former jockey Henry Dailey (Mickey Rooney) begin training the horse to become a formidable racer. Directed by Carroll Ballard and based on the Walter Farley novel of the same name, the film was executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola who finally persuaded United Artists to release the film after shelving it for two years. The film’s supervising sound editor, Alan Splet, received a Special Achievement Award for his innovations including affixing microphones around the horse’s midsection to pick up the sound of its hoof beats and breathing during race sequences. “The Black Stallion” was nominated for two Academy Awards, one for Best Supporting Actor for Mickey Rooney and one for Best Film Editing for Robert Dalva.
Expanded essay by Keith Phipps (PDF, 375 KB)
Blackboard Jungle (1955)
In a 1983 interview, writer-director Richard Brooks claimed that hearing Bill Haley and the Comets’ “Rock Around the Clock” in 1954 inspired him to make a rock & roll-themed picture. The result was “Blackboard Jungle,” an adaptation of the controversial novel by Evan Hunter about an inner-city schoolteacher (played in the film by Glenn Ford) tackling juvenile delinquency and the lamentable state of public education— common bugaboos of the Eisenhower era. Retaining much of the novel’s gritty realism, the film effectively dramatizes the social issues at hand, and features outstanding early performances by Sidney Poitier and Vic Morrow. The film, however, packs its biggest wallop even before a word of dialog is spoken. As the opening credits roll, Brooks’ original inspiration for the film – the pulsating strains of “Rock Around the Clock” – blasts across theater speakers, bringing the devil’s music to Main Street and epitomizing American culture worldwide.
Blacksmith Scene (1893)
Not blacksmiths but employees of the Edison Manufacturing Company, Charles Kayser, John Ott and another unidentified man are likely the first screen actors in history, and “Blacksmith Scene” is thought to be the first film of more than a few feet to be publicly exhibited. The 30-second film was photographed in late April 1893 by Edison’s key employee, W.K.L. Dickson, at the new Edison studio in New Jersey. On May 9, audiences lined up single file at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences to peer through a viewing machine called a kinetoscope where glowed images of a blacksmith and two helpers forging a piece of iron, but only after they’d first passed around a bottle of beer. A Brooklyn newspaper reported the next day, “It shows living subjects portrayed in a manner to excite wonderment.”
National Film Preservation Foundation – Blacksmithing Scene External
Blade Runner (1982)
A blend of science fiction and film noir, “Blade Runner” was a box office and critical flop when first released, but its unique postmodern production design became hugely influential within the sci-fi genre, and the film gained a significant cult following that increased its stature. Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard, a retired cop in Los Angeles circa 2019. L.A. has become a pan-cultural dystopia of corporate advertising, pollution and flying automobiles, as well as replicants, human-like androids with short life spans built for use in dangerous off-world colonization. Deckard, a onetime blade runner – a detective that hunts down rogue replicants – is forced back into active duty to assassinate a band of rogues out to attack earth. Along the way he encounters Sean Young, a replicant who’s unaware of her true identity, and faces a violent confrontation atop a skyscraper high above the city.
Expanded essay by David Morgan (PDF, 358 KB)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
This riotously funny, raunchy, no-holds-barred Western spoof by Mel Brooks is universally considered one of the funniest American films of all time. The movie features a civil-rights theme (the man in the white hat (Cleavon Little ) turns out to be an African-American who has to defend a bigoted town), and its furiously paced gags and rapid-fire dialogue were scripted by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg and Alan Unger. Little as the sheriff and Gene Wilder as his recovering alcoholic deputy have great chemistry, and the delightful supporting cast includes Harvey Korman, Slim Pickens, and Madeline Kahn as a chanteuse modelled on Marlene Dietrich. As in “Young Frankenstein,” “Silent Movie,” and “High Anxiety,” director/writer Brooks gives a burlesque spin to a classic Hollywood movie genre.
Expanded essay by Michael Schlesinger (PDF, 662 KB)
Bless Their Little Hearts (1984)
Part of the vibrant New Wave of independent African-American filmmakers to emerge in the 1970s and 1980s, Billy Woodberry became a key figure in the movement known as the L.A. Rebellion. Woodberry crafted his UCLA thesis film, “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was theatrically released in 1984. The film features a script and cinematography by Charles Burnett. This spare, emotionally resonant portrait of family life during times of struggle blends grinding, daily-life sadness with scenes of deft humor. Jim Ridley of the “Village Voice” aptly summed up the film’s understated-but- real virtues: “Its poetry lies in the exaltation of ordinary detail.”
The Blood of Jesus (1941)
Also known as “The Glory Road,” this was among the approximately 500 “race movies” produced between 1915 and 1950 for African-American audiences and featuring all-black casts. In this film, a deeply devout woman (Cathryn Caviness) faces a spiritual crossroads after being accidentally shot, and is forced to choose between heaven and hell. Spencer Williams, who wrote, directed and starred in the film, produced the film in response to a need for spiritually-based films that spoke directly to black audiences. Long thought lost, prints were discovered in a warehouse in Tyler, Texas, in the mid-1980s.
Expanded essay by Mark S. Giles (PDF, 256 KB)
View this film at Southern Methodist University Central University Libraries External
The Blue Bird (1918)
Maurice Tourneur’s beautiful expressionist adaptation of Maurice Maeterlink’s play remains one of the most aesthetically pleasing films. The film is a sumptuously composed pictorial entrance into a fantasy world, which tries to teach us not to overlook the beauty of what is close and familiar.
Expanded essay by Kaveh Askari (PDF, 445 KB)
The Blues Brothers (1980)
Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, then both best known for their star-turns as part of the “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players” troupe on TV’s “Saturday Night Live,” took their recurring “Blues Brothers” SNL sketch to the big screen in this loving and madcap musical misadventures of Jake and Elwood Blues on a mission from God. An homage of sorts to various classic movie genres — from screwball comedy to road movie — “The Blues Brothers” serves as a tribute to the lead duo’s favorite city (Chicago) as well as a lovely paean to great soul and R&B music. In musical cameos, such legends as Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and John Lee Hooker all ignite the screen.
Body and Soul (1925)
One of the truly unique pioneers of cinema, African-American producer/director/writer/distributor Oscar Micheaux somehow managed to get nearly 40 films made and seen despite facing racism, lack of funding, the capricious whims of local film censors and the independent nature of his work. Most of Micheaux’s films are lost to time or available only in incomplete versions, with the only extant copies of some having been located in foreign archives. Nevertheless, what remains shows a fearless director with an original, daring and creative vision. Film historian Jacqueline Stewart says Micheaux’s films, though sometimes unpolished and rough in terms of acting, pacing and editing, brought relevant issues to the black community including “the politics of skin color within the black community, gender differences, class differences, regional differences especially during this period of the Great Migration.” For “Body and Soul,” renaissance man Paul Robeson, who had gained some fame on the stage, makes his film debut displaying a blazing screen presence in dual roles as a charismatic escaped convict masquerading as a preacher and his pious brother. The George Eastman Museum has restored the film from a nitrate print, producing black-and-white-preservation elements and later restoring color tinting using the Desmet method.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Setting filmmaking and style trends that linger today, “Bonnie and Clyde” veered from comedy to social commentary to melodrama and caught audiences unaware, especially with its graphic ending. The violence spawned many detractors, but others saw the artistry beyond the blood and it earned not only critical succes which eventually showed at thebox office. Arthur Penn deftly directs David Newman and Robert Benton’s script, aided by the film’s star and producer Warren Beatty, who was always eager to push the envelope. Faye Dunaway captures the Depression-era yearning for glamour and escape from poverty and hopelessness.
Expanded essay by Richard Schickel (PDF, 530KB)
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Born Yesterday (1950)
Judy Holliday’s sparkling lead performance as not-so-dumb “dumb blonde” Billie Dawn anchors this comedy classic based on Garson Kanin’s play and directed for the screen by George Cukor. Kanin’s satire on corruption in Washington, D.C., adapted for the screen by Albert Mannheimer, is full of charm and wit while subtly addressing issues of class, gender, social standing and American politics. Holliday’s work in the film (a role she had previously played on Broadway) was honored with the Academy Award for Best Actress and has endured as one of the era’s most finely realized comedy performances.
Expanded essay by Ariel Schudson (PDF, 394KB)
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Boulevard Nights (1979)
“Boulevard Nights” had its genesis in a screenplay by UCLA student Desmond Nakano about Mexican-American youth and the lowrider culture. Director Michael Pressman and cinematographer John Bailey shot the film in the barrios of East Los Angeles with the active participation of the local community (including car clubs and gang members). This street-level strategy using mostly non-professional actors produced a documentary-style depiction of the tough choices faced by Chicano youth as they come of age and try to escape or navigate gang life (“Two brothers…the street was their playground and their battleground”). In addition to “Boulevard Nights,” this era featured several films chronicling youth gangs and rebellion — “The Warriors” (1979), “Over the Edge” (1979), “Walk Proud” (1979) and “The Outsiders” (1983). The film faced protests and criticism from some Latinos who saw outsider filmmakers, albeit well-intentioned, adopting an anthropological perspective with an excessive focus on gangs and violent neighborhoods. Nevertheless, “Boulevard Nights” stands out as a pioneering snapshot of East L.A. and enjoys semi-cult status in the lowrider community.
Boys Don’t Cry (1999)
Director Kimberly Peirce made a stunning debut with this searing docudrama based on the infamous 1993 case of a young Nebraska transgender man who is brutally raped and murdered (along with two other people) in a small Nebraska town. Released a year after the killing of Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, the film brought the issue of hate crimes clearly into the American public spotlight. Sometimes compared to Theodore Dreiser’s “An American Tragedy,” “Boys” raised issues that are still relevant 20 years later: intolerance, prejudice, the lack of opportunity in small towns, conceptions of self, sexual identity, diversity and cultural, sexual and social mores. New York Times’ critic Janet Maslin lauded the film for not taking the usual plot routes: “Unlike most films about mind-numbing tragedy, this one manages to be full of hope.” Several things helped create that result, particularly the performance of 22-year-old Hilary Swank, who won an Oscar as Brandon.
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
In his film debut, John Singleton wrote and directed this thought-provoking look at South Central L.A.’s black community. A divorced father (Larry Fishburne) struggles to raise his son, Tre (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) in a world where violence is a fact of life. Tre is torn by his desire to live up to his father’s expectations and pressure from friends pushing him toward the gang culture. Roger Ebert praised the film for its “maturity and emotional depth,” calling it “an American film of enormous importance.” The lead players are backed by strong supporting performances from Ice Cube, Morris Chestnut, Tyre Ferrell, Angela Bassett and Nia Long.
Brandy in the Wilderness (1969)
This introspective “contrived diary” film by Stanton Kaye features vignettes from the relationship of a real-life couple, in this case the director and his girlfriend. An evocative 1960s time capsule—reminiscent of Jim McBride’s “David Holzman’s Diary”—this simulated autobiography, as in many experimental films, often blurs the lines between reality and illusion, moving in non-linear arcs through the ever-evolving and unpredictable interactions of relationships, time and place. As Paul Schrader notes, “it is probably quite impossible (and useless) to make a distinction between the point at which the film reflects their lives, and the point at which their lives reflect the film.” “Brandy in the Wilderness” remains a little-known yet key work of American indie filmmaking.
This article by director Paul Schrader originally appeared in the Fall 1971 issue of “Cinema Magazine.” (PDF, 1764KB)
Bread (1918)
Billed as a “sociological photodrama, “Bread” tells the story of a naïve young woman in a narrow-minded town who journeys to New York to become a star but faces disillusionment when she learns that sex is demanded as the price for fame. Ida May Park, director and scenarist of “Bread,” was among more than a half-dozen prolific women directors working at the Universal Film Manufacturing Company during the period in which Los Angeles became the home of America’s movie industry. Park directed 14 feature-length films between 1917 and 1920, and her career as a scenarist lasted until 1931. She reasoned that because the majority of movie fans were women, “it follows that a member of the sex is best able to gauge their wants in the form of stories and plays.” In an essay Park contributed to the book “Careers for Women,” she stated that women were advantaged as motion picture directors because of “the superiority of their emotional and imaginative faculties.” In the two surviving reels of “Bread,” one of only three films Park directed that are currently known to exist, she displays an accomplished ability to knowingly vivify her protagonist’s plight as she fends off an attacker and places her frail hopes in a misshapen loaf of bread that has come to symbolize for her the good things in life.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Truman Capote’s acclaimed novella—the bitter story of self-invented Manhattan call girl Holly Golightly—arrived on the big screen purged of its risqué dialogue and unhappy ending. George Axelrod’s screenplay excised explicit references to Holly’s livelihood and added an emotionally moving romance, resulting, in Capote’s view, in “a mawkish valentine to New York City.” Capote believed that Marilyn Monroe would have been perfect for the film and judged Audrey Hepburn, who landed the lead, “just wrong for the part.” Critics and audiences, however, have disagreed. The Los Angeles Times stated, “Miss Hepburn makes the complex Holly a vivid, intriguing figure.” Feminist critics in recent times have valued Hepburn’s portrayals of the period as providing a welcome alternative female role model to the dominant sultry siren of the 1950s. Hepburn conveyed intelligent curiosity, exuberant impetuosity, delicacy combined with strength, and authenticity that often emerged behind a knowingly false facade. Critics also have lauded the movie’s director Blake Edwards for his creative visual gags and facility at navigating the film’s abrupt changes in tone. Composer Henry Mancini’s classic “Moon River,” featuring lyrics by Johnny Mercer, also received critical acclaim. Mancini considered Hepburn’s wistful rendition of the song on guitar the best he had heard.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
John Hughes, who had previously given gravitas to the angst of adolescence in his 1984 film, “Sixteen Candles,” further explored the social politics of high school in this comedy/character study produced one year later. Set in a day-long Saturday detention hall, the film offers an assortment of American teen-age archetypes such as the “nerd,” “jock,” and “weirdo.” Over the course of the day, labels and default personas slip away as members of this motley group actually talk to each other and learn about each other and themselves. “The Breakfast Club” is a comedy that delivers a message with laughs. Thirty years later, the movie’s message is still vivid. Written and directed by Hughes, the film’s cast includes Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez and Ally Sheedy.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Director James Whale took his success with “Frankenstein,” added humor and thus created a cinematic hybrid that perplexed audiences at first glance but captivated them by picture’s end. Joined eventually by a mate (Elsa Lanchester), the Frankenstein monster (Boris Karloff reprising his role and investing the character with emotional subtlety) evolves into a touchingly sympathetic character as he gradually becomes more human. Ernest Thesiger as Dr. Pretorious is captivatingly bizarre. Many film historians consider “Bride,” with its surreal visuals, superior to the original.
Expanded essay by Richard T. Jameson, (PDF, 672KB) examines “Frankenstein” and “Bride of Frankenstein” in a single entry.
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The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
At the heart of David Lean’s antiheroic war epic about a band of British POWs forced to build a bridge in the wilds of Burma is the notion of men clinging to their sanity by clinging to military tradition. The film’s cast, which reflects a broad spectrum of acting styles, includes Alec Guinness as the British commanding officer and Sessue Hayakawa as his Japanese counterpart, and William Holden as an American soldier who escapes from the camp and Jack Hawkins as the British major who convinces him to return and help blow up the bridge. Lean elects to keep the musical score to a minimum and instead plays up tension with nature sounds punctuating the action. For many film critics and historians, “Bridge on the River Kwai” signals a shift in Lean’s directorial style from simpler storytelling toward the more bloated epics that characterized his later career.
Sessue Hayakawa and Alec Guinness in a scene from “The Bridge On The River Kwai”
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
In this fast-paced screwball comedy from director Howard Hawks, Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), an eccentric heiress with a pet leopard named Baby, proves a constant irritant to paleontologist David Huxley (Cary Grant), who is trying to raise $1 million to complete his dinosaur skeleton reconstruction project. Based on a short story by Hagar Wilde, Hawks worked closely with Wilde and screenwriter Dudley Nichols to perfect the script, in which the role of Susan Vance was written specifically with Hepburn in mind. Although now considered a cinematic classic, “Bringing Up Baby” received mixed critical reviews upon release and performed well in only certain areas of the United States, thus reaffirming the film industry’s then-current view of Hepburn as “box office poison.” Significantly, “Bringing Up Baby” is possibly the first American film to use the term “gay” as a reference to homosexuality.
Expanded essay by Michael Schlesinger (PDF, 25KB)
Broadcast News (1987)
Courtesy of 20th Century-Fox
James L. Brooks wrote, produced and directed this comedy set in the fast-paced, tumultuous world of television news. Shot mostly in dozens of locations around the Washington, D.C. area, the film stars Holly Hunter, William Hurt and Albert Brooks. Brooks makes the most of his everyman persona serving as Holly Hunter’s romantic back-up plan while she pursues the handsome but vacuous Hurt. Against the backdrop of broadcast journalism (and various debates about journalist ethics), a grown-up romantic comedy plays out in a smart, savvy and fluff-free story whose humor is matched only by its honesty.
Expanded essay by Brian Scott Mednick (PDF, 432KB)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Courtesy of River Road / Focus Features/NBCUniversal
“Brokeback Mountain,” a contemporary Western drama that won the Academy Award for best screenplay (by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana) and Golden Globe awards for best drama, director (Ang Lee) and screenplay, depicts a secret and tragic love affair between two closeted gay ranch hands. They furtively pursue a 20-year relationship despite marriages and parenthood until one of them dies violently, reportedly by accident, but possibly, as the surviving lover fears, in a brutal attack. Annie Proulx, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the short story upon which the film was based, described it as “a story of destructive rural homophobia.” Haunting in its unsentimental depiction of longing, lonesomeness, pretense, sexual repression and ultimately love, “Brokeback Mountain” features Heath Ledger’s remarkable performance that conveys a lifetime of self-torment through a pained demeanor, near inarticulate speech and constricted, lugubrious movements. In his review, Newsweek’s David Ansen wrotes that the film was “a watershed in mainstream movies, the first gay love story with A-list Hollywood stars.” “Brokeback Mountain” has become an enduring classic.
Broken Blossoms (1919)
Most associated with epics such as “Intolerance” and “The Birth of a Nation,” D.W. Griffith also helmed smaller films that struck a chord with silent era audiences. “Broken Blossoms,” Griffith’s first title for his newly formed United Artists, is one example. Set in the slums of London, it concerns an abused 15-year-old girl, Lucy, portrayed by Lillian Gish and the former missionary turned shopkeeper Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess) who rescues her from her brutal father. More than a tender but chaste love story, “Broken Blossoms” entreats audiences to denounce racism and poverty.
Expanded essay by Ed Gonzalez (PDF, 495KB)
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A Bronx Morning (1931)
Part documentary and part avant-garde, this renowned city symphony was filmed by Jay Leyda when he was 21. It features sensational and stylish use of European filmmaking styles The images movingly show the resilience of people persevering with style and enthusiasm during the early years of the depression. “A Bronx Morning” won Leyda a scholarship to study with the renowned Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein.
Expanded essay by Scott Simmon for the National Film Preservation Foundation (NFPF) (PDF, 284KB)
Buena Vista Social Club (1999)
“The best Wim Wenders documentary to date and an uncommonly self-effacing one, this 1999 concert movie about performance and lifestyle is comparable in some ways to “Latcho Drom,” the great Gypsy documentary/musical. In 1996, musician Ry Cooder traveled to Havana to reunite some of the greatest stars of Cuban pop music from the Batista era (who were virtually forgotten after Castro came to power) with the aim of making a record, a highly successful venture that led to concerts in Amsterdam and New York. The players and their stories are as wonderful as the music, and the filmmaking is uncommonly sensitive and alert,” wrote film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum.
The Buffalo Creek Flood: An Act of Man (1975)
This powerful documentary by the Kentucky-based arts and education center Appalshop represents the finest in regional filmmaking, providing important understanding of the environmental and cultural history of the Appalachian region. The 1972 Buffalo Creek Flood Disaster, caused by the failure of a coal waste dam, killed more than 100 people and left thousands in West Virginia homeless. Local citizens invited Appalshop to come to the area and to film a historical record, fearing that the Pittston Coal Co.’s powerful influence in the state would lead to a whitewash investigation and absolve it of any corporate culpability. Newsweek hailed the film as “a devastating expose of the collusion between state officials and coal executives.”
Expanded essay by the film’s director Mimi Pickering (PDF, 793KB)
Bullitt (1968)
The winding streets and stunning vistas of San Francisco, backed by a superb Lalo Schifrin score, play a central role in British director Peter Yates’ film renowned for its exhilarating 11-minute car chase, arguably the finest in cinema history. In one of his most famous roles, Steve McQueen stars as tough-guy police detective Frank Bullitt. The story, based on Robert L. Pike’s crime novel “Mute Witness,” begins with Bullitt assigned to a seemingly routine detail, protecting mafia informant Johnny Ross (Pat Renella), who is scheduled to testify against his cronies before a Senate subcommittee. But when two hitmen ambush their secret location, fatally wounding Ross, things don’t add up for Bullitt, so he decides to investigate the case on his own. Unfortunately for him, ambitious senator Walter Chalmers (Robert Vaughn), the head of the aforementioned subcommittee, wants to shut his investigation down, interfering with Bullitt’s plan to bring the killers to justice but discover who’s behind the ambush.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Directed by George Roy Hill and written by William Goldman, this highly popular film features critically acclaimed performances by Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross as the real-life outlaws of the American West and their female companion. The music by Burt Bacharach adds to the film’s nostalgic appeal as well as its alternatingly melancholy and humorous mood. While the film and director Hill were denied Academy Awards, Goldman and cinematographer Conrad L. Hall did take home trophies, as did Bacharach for his score and for the song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” co-written with Hal David. Having already established a reputation for themselves, Butch and Sundance rob the same train twice, incurring the wrath of the railroad which hires the best trackers in the business to bring them in. Pursued over steep cliffs and rocky gorges, the pair decides it’s time to go to Bolivia to try their luck, but it soon runs out as scores of soldiers wait for them to make one last run for it.
Cabaret (1972)
Bob Fosse, who earned a Best Director Oscar, translated a highly successful Broadway musical into a film that maintains the vivacity of the stage version while creating an intimacy seldom found in such stage-to-cinema adaptations. Liza Minnelli won an Oscar as Best Actress for her portrayal of the unabashedly amoral, disarmingly mercurial cabaret performer Sally Boles living it up in 1930s Berlin. Her co-star Joel Grey, who played the worldwise Emcee, took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The film was also recognized for its score, cinematography and art direction.
Expanded essay by Stephen Tropiano (PDF, 424KB)
Cabin in the Sky (1943)
“Cabin” tells the story of a man (Eddie “Rochester” Anderson) trying to make it into heaven and who is sent back to earth for one last shot at redemption. Released the same year as Fox’s “Stormy Weather,” this film adaptation of the 1940 Broadway musical marked the directing debut of renowned director Vincente Minnelli (“Meet Me in St. Louis,” “An American in Paris,” “Bad and the Beautiful,” “The Band Wagon,” and “Gigi”). Minnelli’s gift for ingeniously blending in dazzling musical numbers is on full display throughout. Lauded at the time for showcasing an all-Black cast in a major Hollywood film when many theaters in the U.S. were still segregated, the film also sadly demonstrates the limited film opportunities and acting compromises African Americans had to make during the Hollywood classic era. These notable concerns aside, “Cabin” remains a glittering cultural record of outstanding African American artistic talent of the era (Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong, Rex Ingram, and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson.)
The Cameraman (1928)
This film marked the last of Buster Keaton’s silent comedy classics. Here Keaton is an aspiring newsreel cameraman out to win the heart of studio secretary Marceline Day. Ostensibly directed by Edward Sedgwick, the film is all Keaton and includes some of the best treatises on the techniques and psychology of shooting motion pictures. Keaton is at his most deft in responding to the most outrageous situations with matter-of-fact naturalism and wearing his great stone face. A seamless, ingenious blend of comedy and pathos, featuring countless creative gags involving fantastical double exposures, swimming pool changing rooms, and an organ grinder’s monkey.
Carmen Jones (1954)
In 1943, Oscar Hammerstein Jr. took Georges Bizet’s opera “Carmen,” rewrote the lyrics, changed the characters from 19th century Spaniards to World War II-era African-Americans, switched the locale to a Southern military base, and the result was “Carmen Jones.” Otto Preminger directed this Cinemascope retelling starring Dorothy Dandridge as the temptress Carmen, a worker in a war plant, and Harry Belafonte as her soldier lover. Although both Dandridge and Belafonte were singers, their opera voices were dubbed by Marilyn Horne and LeVern Hutcherson. Otto Preminger’s realist sensibility often seems contradictory to the whimsical nature of a musical, but some strong elements survive the segregationist context. Exceptionally liberal in its time, Dorothy Dandridge’s performance in the lead is a reminder of the kind of African American films that might have emerged if given the chance.
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Casablanca (1942)
One of the most beloved of American films, this captivating romantic adventure directed by Michael Curtiz is the story of a world-weary ex-freedom fighter (Humphrey Bogart) who runs a nightclub in Casablanca during the early part of WWII. Despite pressure from the local authorities, led by the wily Capt. Renault (Claude Rains), Rick’s cafe has become a haven for refugees. One of those refugees is Rick’s true love who deserted him when the Nazis invaded Paris (Ingrid Bergman) and her Resistance leader husband (Paul Henreid). How the triangle would resolve itself wasn’t known even to cast members until the last days of filming. Though often lacking logical cohesion, the film’s dialog and the timeliness of world events swirling around Casablanca made the eventual Best Picture winner a favorite with wartime audiences.
Expanded essay by Jay Carr (PDF, 565KB)
Castro Street (The Coming of Consciousness) (1966)
This non-narrative 10-minute experimental example of poetic cinema by Bruce Baillie was filmed on the streets of Richmond, California — most notably Castro Street — near the Standard Oil Refinery. Its bright, primary colors and lateral tracking shots illustrate Baillie’s fascinaton for opposites, as he described, “that are one, both in conflict and harmony, opposing each other and abiding together and requiring each other.” Upon a retrospective of his work, the “New York Times” wrote that Baillie “makes avant-garde films with the gifts of a painter and the objectives of a sign painter.”
Expanded essay by Scott MacDonald (PDF, 238KB)
Cat People (1942)
Val Lewton achieved the almost miraculous when he produced “Cat People.” He and his team, which included director Jacques Tourneur, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca, editor Mark Robson, and composer Roy Webb among others, created a spine-tingling horror movie with no monster, no special effects and virtually no budget, yet it netted RKO, almost 20 times its cost. The film’s tension outweighs its thin story about a woman (Simone Simon) who believes she’s the subject of a curse that will turn her into a panther. Kent Smith and Jane Randolph are the other two sides of the love triangle that forms the plot.
Expanded essay by Chuck Bowen (PDF, 580KB)
Mark Robson, Robert Wise, and Val Lewton in conversation during the production of “Cat People.”
Chan Is Missing (1982)
Considered a seminal work of Asian-America cinema, director Wayne Wang’s film is a tale of two San Francisco cab drivers hunting down the elusive Chan of the title who has absconded with $4,000 of their money. A wry comedy, the film is also a heart-felt travelogue of San Francisco’s Chinatown and an important statement on the Asian-American experience far removed from the “Fu Manchu” and “Charlie Chan” stereotypes of motion pictures past.
The Cheat (1915)
Before he became known as the king of spectacle, Cecil B. DeMille honed his craft on a series of silent melodramas like this story about a woman embezzler (Fannie Ward), her husband (Jack Dean), and the Faustian bargain she enters into with a mysterious Burmese businessman, played by Sessue Hayakawa. Employing some of the silent era’s most potent plot twists and elaborate production design, “The Cheat” has endured thanks to Hayakawa’s performance, a subtle yet menacing mix which made him a cinema star.
The Chechahcos (1924)
The title of this independent, regional film is Inuit for tenderfoot or newcomer. (Traditionally spelled “Cheechakos” the film’s title was changed by Associated Exhibitors only after it was no longer controlled by Alaskans.) The first feature film produced in Alaska, it is renowned for its spectacular location footage of the lonely and unfathomable Alaskan wilderness, frenzied dogsled pursuits and life-and-death struggles on the glaciers.
Expanded essay by Chris Beheim (PDF, 316KB)
View this film at National Film Preservation Foundation External
Chicana (1979)
Courtesy: UCLA Film and Television Archive and Sylvia Morales
Producer/director Sylvia Morales created “Chicana,” a 22-minute collage of artworks, stills, documentary footage, narration and testimonies, to provide a counterpart to earlier film accounts of Mexican and Mexican-American history that all but erased women’s lives from their narratives. Centering on successive struggles by women from the pre-Columbian era to the present to combat exploitation, break out of cultural stereotypes, and organize for national indep
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