Tag Archives: the 70s

Gay Actor Ron “Horshack” Palillo Dies

Openly gay actor Ron Palillo died of a heart attack today at the age of 63. Some of you will remember him as Horshack on the hit 70s sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter. TMZ has the story: We’re told Palillo was found by his partner of many years Joseph Gramm around 4:00 AM. Gramm called an ambulance and Palillo was rushed …

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Norman Lear Turns 90 Today

Today is legendary television producer Norman Lear’s 90th birthday so I thought I’d note the occasion with the below 1971 clip from All In The Family, which is considered by some to have been the first sitcom to realistically grapple with gay issues. I was eleven years old when this episode aired and I distinctly recall wondering if I was …

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Chad Everett Dies At Age 75

Celebrities are falling fast this week. Seventies television icon Chad Everett died today at the age of 75. Everett’s daughter told the Associated Press that he died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles after a year-and-a-half-long battle with lung cancer. Perhaps best known for his role as surgeon Dr. Joe Gannon, the actor was twice nominated for a Golden …

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Sherman Hemsley Dies At Age 74

Actor Sherman Hemsley was found dead in his home today at the age of 74. Although the cause of Hemsley’s death is unclear, TMZ reports that the actor passed away at his El Paso, Texas, home. Hemsley made a name for himself as George Jefferson, carrying the iconic sitcom for a decade and earning a 1984 Emmy nomination for his …

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A 70s “Ex-Gay” Flashback

This clip was just posted to YouTube today but judging by the clothes and hair, it was made sometime in the late 70s, maybe the early 80s. Acting!Source.

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Debby “You Light Up My Life” Boone’s Husband Performs Gay Marriages

In early 1978 schlock-popper Debby Boone infuriated Grammy watchers when she won Best New Artist on the heels of the treacly You Light Up My Life, which had spent an insane ten weeks atop the Billboard singles chart the previous summer. Especially galling to the rockers who’d expected Foreigner to take Best New Artist was Boone’s revelation that her song …

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#1 This Week In 1976

Thirty-six years ago today, Donna Summer’s Try Me, I Know We Can Make It was in its third and final week atop Record World’s disco chart. (Billboard did not launch its own national Disco Action chart until later in 1976.) Clocking in at an epic eighteen minutes, this three-song medley from the aptly named Love Trilogy album was used as …

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#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

Thirty-five years later the song (arguably) still most closely associated with Grace Jones is her first chart smash, I Need A Man, which spent two May 1977 weeks atop Billboard’s disco report before being shoved aside by Marvin Gaye’s epic, Got To Give It Up. An early version of the track was first released in 1975, reaching a limp #83 …

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#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

Recorded in the summer of 1975, ABBA’s only U.S. chart-topper didn’t achieve its lone week at the summit until the spring of 1977. Dancing Queen’s glory as ABBA’s biggest and most enduring American hit was besmirched last year when it the media learned it was Newt Gingrich’s ringtone. TRIVIA 1: Dancing Queen was written just months after ABBA won Eurovision …

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Sold For Scrap

The actual Love Boat has been sold for scrap. Turkish demolition company Cemsan reportedly bought the ship for just over 2.5 million euro, or about $3.3 million. Built in 1971 for $25 million for Flagship Cruises as the Sea Venture, the ship was originally built for New York to Bermuda cruise service, reports Maritime Matters. It sailed between Bermuda and …

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#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

RELATED: Trammps lead singer Jimmy Ellis died yesterday at the age of 74. The New York Times has the obit. Mr. Ellis’s melodious voice overlaid the funky guitar riffs and driving bass and drums of the Trammps’s dance music. He sang lead on most of the group’s songs, backed by the bass singer Earl Young, and later harmonized with Robert …

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#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

It won Babs an Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Song Of The Year. And I vaguely recall that it may have been the theme song for my senior prom.

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#1 Thirty-Five Years Ago Today

A favorite of 1977, but I still prefer the original.

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Funk/Disco Legend Jimmy Castor Dies

Funk and disco legend Jimmy Castor has died of heart disease at the age of 71. Castor scored half a dozen pop and disco chart smashes, including his 1972 classic Troglodyte, the first five seconds of which is arguably the most-sampled line in the history of rap and house music. Troglodyte also introduced the recurring character of Bertha Butt, the …

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Did Nixon Have A Gay Affair?

According to a new biography of Richard Nixon, Tricky Dick had a long-running gay affair with Mafia-insider Bebe Robozo, who was investigated for acting as a money-carrying middleman between Howard Hughes and Nixon. Fulsom uses recently revealed documents and eyewitness interviews — including with FBI agents — to shed new light on long-standing suspicions among White House insiders that Nixon …

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FLASHBACK: Make A Wish

If, like me, you were a barely-pubescent homosexual in the early 70s, perhaps you too spent your Saturday mornings wracked by bewildering lust for Make A Wish host and Grammy winner Tom Chapin. My mother was pleased that I was such an avid fan of an educational program. Heh. I still know this theme song by heart. “If you want …

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Betty Ford Dies At 93

The New York Times has posted a wonderful tribute. An excerpt: Few first ladies have been as popular as Betty Ford, and it was her frankness and lack of pretense that made her so. She spoke often in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, endorsed legalized abortion, discussed premarital sex and revealed that she intended to share a bed with …

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Phoebe Snow Dies At Age 58

Another 70’s pop icon has passed. Legendary vocalist Phoebe Snow died this morning of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 58 after several months in a coma. The 1975 best new artist Grammy nominee had famously dropped out of the music business at the peak of her fame in order to care for her severely handicapped daughter. Snow did …

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Betty Garrett Dies At Age 90

Broadway star and Golden Globes-winning television character actress Betty Garrett has died at the age of 90. Most of you will probably best remember Garrett as Irene Lorenzo, the wise-cracking feminist plumber next door on All In The Family or as landlady Enda Babish on Laverne & Shirley. In the 1940s Garrett had been a popular Broadway performer, but her …

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Gerry Rafferty Dead At 63

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