Happy National Coming Out Day! Coming out may be a political act but it's also a personal one, and life-saving for most because who wants to live a lie? It also shifts the world like nothing else when it comes to civil rights for LGBT people. If you had told us in the 1980s how many celebrities would be "out" by 2016 we'd have cried tears of joy. Thanks to everyone who has been brave enough to change the larger world by changing their own. Ripple effects, people. One of my favorite annual events in this regard is Towleroad's "Most Powerful Coming Out" lists for each year. Here's 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012. The most recent celebrity to publicly out themselves is Sara Ramirez of Grey's Anatomy and Spamalot! fame who is bisexual.
We don't watch Grey's Anatomy but any excuse to share Sara singing "Whatever Happened to My Part?" we'll take it.
IT'S THE UNOFFICIAL ANTHEM OF (SUPPORTING) ACTRESSING
But that's not the only thing to celebrate today, not even within Supporting Actressing. On this day in history as it relates to showbiz after the jump...
1884 Eleanor Roosevelt is born in New York City becomes America's longest running First Lady during the FDR years. She's been played by several major actresses including Cherry Jones, Cynthia Nixon, Marian Seldes, Jane Alexander, Eileen Heckart (2 Emmy nominations for playing her), Jean Stapleton (Emmy nomination), and Greer Garson (Oscar nomination)
1918 Dance legend Jerome Robbins is born in New York City. In his career he won 5 Tonys and 2 Emmys for his directing and choreography of classics like Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story
1925 Novelist Elmore Leonard is born. Many films have been made from his work including classics like Hombre, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight
1944 Laura premieres
1951 Charles Shyer is born in Los Angeles. Becomes a prominent Hollywood power player producing, directing and writing. Credits include Private Benjamin (Oscar nomination for Screenplay), Baby Boom, and the remakes of Father of the Bride and Parent Trap. A fun trivia note: In The Parent Trap (1998) which he co-wrote and which was directed by his then wife Nancy Meyers, they gave Lindsay Lohan's character his birthday!
1957 Comedienne Dawn French is born in Wales. On this day we must celebrate her hilarious Supporting Actress winning spoofs of Renée Zellweger (Cold Mountain) and Anna Paquin (The Piano)
French and Saunders Cold Turkey by wes12345daily
French and Saunders - The Piano by MignonMuniz
1961 Hany Abu-Assad is born in Nazareth, Israel. He's currently the most celebrated Palestinian filmmaker with 2 Oscar nominated films: Paradise Now and Omar. His latest film The Idol, available for rent on Amazon, is Palestine's submission to this year's Oscar race.
1963 French diva Edith Piaf dies at the age of 47. Marion Cotillard wins an Oscar playing her 44 years later in La Vie en Rose
1973 Takeshi Kaneshiro is born in Taipei. Goes on to silver screen glory in Chungking Express, Red Cliff, The House of Flying Daggers and more. Where's he been lately?
1975 Saturday Night Live debuts on NBC. George Carlin was the first host. It's still running 41 years later
1986 Janet Jackson's "When I Think of You" goes to #1. The video directed by Julian Temple who had just released the movie musical Absolute Beginners is something of a homage to old movie musical production numbers
1987 The AIDS Quilt gets its first public display on the National Mall in DC during a huge gay march for civil rights in Washington. Have you ever seen the great documentary Common Threads?
1997 Elton John's rewrite of his Marilyn Monroe hit "Candle in the Wind" for Princess Diana after her death goes to #1 and becomes the biggest selling single of all time
2002 White Oleander opens in movie theaters. Somehow it does not procure Michelle Pfeiffer her 4th Oscar nomination even though she should have won the statue.
2006 30 Rock premieres on NBC. It wins 16 Emmys over the years but shamefully none of them are for Jane Krakowski's utterly genius portrayal of Jenna Maroney.
2013 Captain Phillips opens in movie theaters. Somehow it does not procure a 6th Oscar nomination for Tom Hanks