Isn't that divine?

The magnificent Agnes Moorehead - still formidable at 115.

Agnes Robertson Moorehead (6th December 1900 – 30th April 1974)

Read my previous tributes here, here and here.

A simpering, whimpering child again

Many happy returns to one of the great survivors, Mr Vic Damone.

Celebrating his 84th birthday today, Vito Rocco Farinola was for many decades the mainstay of the Vegas crooner circuit, and in his heyday he was one of the biggest names in American pop.

With a catalogue of over 2,000 songs including An Affair to Remember, On The Street Where You Live, Gigi, Ebb Tide, Why Was I Born and You're Breaking My Heart, the man remained (and remains) wildly popular. He only (reluctantly) retired from performing ten years ago...

Here he is duetting with the much-missed Elizabeth Montgomery on Hollywood Palace in 1966, with a most appropriate number, given the lady's most famous role - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered:

Elizabeth Montgomery and Vic Damone - Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

Magical!

Vic Damone official website

A magical lady

It would have been the 75th birthday of the lovely Elizabeth Montgomery today.

Although she made many attempts to widen her repertoire in films and made-for-TV movies, Elizabeth will always be inextricably identified with her portrayal of Samantha in Bewitched. Although her many fans loved her for it - and it still has a cult following today - when she left the show in the 70s, Elizabeth refused point blank to talk about it or to twitch her nose for her fans. She felt typecast by the role.

Always a an outspoken champion of women's rights and gay rights throughout her life, in June 1992 Elizabeth and her former Bewitched co-star Dick Sargent were Grand Marshals at the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade. After she died in 1995, her fan base and the cult of Bewitched carried on, and a big screen tribute starring Nicole Kidman was released. Finally, on 4th January 2008 her work was recognised by the industry with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bewitched

Bewitched and Elizabeth Montgomery website

The original Lavender Lady

Yesterday, 107 years ago(!), the wonderful Agnes Moorehead was born. Although she appeared in more than 70 films (including Citizen Kane, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte and a miscellany of character roles in melodramas and horror films) and on dozens of television shows during a career that spanned more than 30 years, she is probably most widely known to modern audiences for her role as the imperious diva witch Endora, Samantha's mother, in the television series Bewitched.

Rumours abounded about Agnes's lesbian affairs - not least that with Debbie Reynolds during filming of How The West Was Won - and indeed there is anecdotal evidence to back up the "alternative" lifestyle she liked to keep away from the public gaze. However, all that is irrelevant compared to the brilliance of the unique style she brought to every part she played on the big and small screen, and in her one-woman shows with which she toured theatres and universities across America in the 1960s - a recording of one of which, The Lavender Lady, is a treasured part of my our collection of camp icons. A true star!

Agnes Moorehead's career outlined on IMDB

Agnes Moorehead in the GLBTQ online encyclopedia