A great bitch

"I adore clothes, I adore drinking. I just don't have the time..."

Cheers!!! It's many happy returns to one of our favourite comedic character actresses Miss Christine Baranski - star of stage, Cybill and several of our beloved movies [as well as (erm) Mamma Mia] - who celebrates her 60th birthday today!

I have of course offered birthday salutations to Miss Baranski before. However, here at Dolores Delargo Towers we really cannot get enough of this magnificent lady. So here is another fitting tribute...

The Best of Christine Baranski

Facts about Christine Baranski:

• She apparently doesn't allow her children to watch television because she thinks there's too much sex and violence.
• The surname Baranski derives from the Polish city of Baranow, located on the Vistula River near Cracow in the region known as Malopolska ("Little Poland").
• Her Broadway debut was in 1980's Hide and Seek, which closed after only five previews and eight performances.
• She has no concerns about typecasting. Of "Maryann" (her famous part in Cybill) she says: "I’d much rather be famous for being a fabulous bitch than being, 'Oh gosh, she’s such a nice mom. She does that nice wife really well.' I’d rather it be, 'Wow, she’s really a great bitch!'"

And she certainly is a great bitch!

Maryann vs Doctor Dick again

Christine Baranski on IMDB

I'll always be there for you, Dr Dick

"Look at these clothes! So this is where the 70's came to die."

Happy birthday to the lovely Christine Baranski - star of Broadway, screen and TV.

Although most queens love her for her portrayal of the uncompromising bitch Maryann in Cybill (and more recently in the film Mamma Mia, which I haven't seen and am unlikely to), Miss Baranski has many more strings to her bow - she is a classically trained singer as well as a versatile actress. She has starred in such diverse productions as Tom Stoppard's deadly serious The Real Thing, Jerry Herman's Mame and Sondheim's Follies.

One of my favourite screen appearances of hers was as the MC of the ludicrous "Hoe-down for AIDS" in the classic gay comedy Jeffrey:

Hoe Down dream sequence from Jeffrey

Here she is singing a fab number from the ill-fated Laurents/Strouse musical based on The Thin Man films, Nick and Nora:

Christine Baranski - Everybody Wants to Do a Musical

And despite the rumours that she and her co-star Cybill Shepherd really didn't get on at all, they certainly managed some cracking harmonies:

Christine Baranski and Cybill Shepherd singing

Christine Baranski on IMDB

Cybill Rights

To celebrate the 58th birthday of Cybill Shepherd yesterday, what better than the lovely lady's rendition of The Menopause Blues?

Cybill Shepherd - Menopause Blues

Cybill has always been a favourite of mine - not least from her eponymous show that was a huge success in the 90s. With her wry, knowing humour and skill at put-downs, she was also the perfect sparring partner for Bruce Willis in Moonlighting. During her long film career Cybill was personally chosen by a number of top directors to appear in their films, notably Peter Bogdanovitch (The Last Picture Show) - with whom she had a personal as well as business relationship - Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver) and Woody Allen (Alice).

She deserves particular kudos for her active and vocal support for issues such as gay rights and abortion rights, and was present at the opening of the National Civil Rights Museum in her home-town of Memphis. In a recent interview she was quoted as saying:

I marched on Washington in a major gay and lesbian march. The Human Rights Campaign sponsored me, and when I got there I said, "I want to be in that first row and carry the banner" and they said, "I'm sorry, unless you're gay or lesbian, we're not going to let you carry it. Because the people who've worked so hard, they deserve to carry it." I took issue with that.

I said, "I don't know why you'd have to be gay and lesbian to lead the march and carry the banner. It is an equal investment for anyone, regardless of what their orientation is or whatever you want to call it." I said, "Would Martin Luther King not have let me march with him because my skin was white? I don't see any difference in the issue." It's about bigotry and hatred.

She ended up carrying the banner.

Her wonderful attitude to gay issues continues to this day, with with a regular role in the TV show The L-Word, and she has even confessed to having a long-time crush on Salma Hayek... What a woman!

Cybill Shepherd official website

The L-Word website