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"Don't Say Gay" (II)

 I remain irritated by "Don't Say Gay," so I'll use the anger for something constructive, and I'll spotlight the history of gays at the Academy Awards.

 
Here are the LGBT performer-winners I can think of: Angelina Jolie, John Gielgud, Marlon Brando, Jodie Foster, Joel Grey, Ariana DeBose.

Way back in the seventies, we might have had another winner: Leonard Frey.

Frey had been nominated for "Fiddler on the Roof"; he did "Miracle of Miracles," a perfect song. (The writers--Bock and Harnick--are titans of the theater, idols of Stephen Sondheim. In a musical, you have an "I WANT" song, and you have an "I AM" song, and "Miracle of Miracles" is the latter. It's a simple declaration of happiness. Being a devout person, the singer uses biblical language to describe his joy; we hear of "manna in the wilderness," "the Promised Land," Daniel in the lion's den, David and Goliath, the waters of the Red Sea, a wall in Jericho, the softening of Pharaoh's heart.)

Leonard Frey grew up in Brooklyn; he studied to become an artist, but, of course, God had other plans. Frey died in the late eighties, having made "The Boys in the Band," "Fiddler," and a few other movies.

It's strange to think he was gone at the age of 49.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvVeJJ-TnK4

P.S. I'll omit Kevin Spacey from this discussion -- because I'm not a fan!
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