Harvey Fierstein

Never liked him.

I like Harvey…out..proud…he has done a lot to pave the way for others to come out through his films….and I respect him for that.

OP is Harvey Fierstein

I like him a lot. Genuinely funny, a multi-talented man.

We don't usually iconify the morbidly obese. Sorry, Harvey.

He was perfect as Edna Turnblad. Will always love him for that.

I met him. He was out of this world like from another planet. Destined to be an entertainer. He takes zero shit from anyone. But he is genuine and kind to even normal people (I was just a tourist).

A New Yorker to the bone.

R3 what gave me away?

R7 {But he is genuine and kind to even normal people (I was just a tourist}

My goodness…I hope your not referring to heterosexuals as normal…most of them are a mess

I think he meant civilians, r10.

When he was younger and not fat, he was gorgeous.

R12

dear…you mean ‘overweight’ don’t you?

He specializes in drag queens. Non-trans gays aren't in his repertoire. Maybe he's playing to the straight audience that like their gays flaming as possible.

Has he been a guest judge on drag race yet?

Hey dipshit R14...you say he specializes in playing drag queens and then say non-trans gays are not in his repertoire.

Drag queens and trans are NOT interchangeable.

His act is from a time when people thought all gays wanted to dress and act like women. There really wasn't a distinction in popular culture between a cross dresser, a trans, a drag queen, or a gay. It doesn't make any sense to say he doesn't do "non trans gays," you really need to try understand language and the culture of the 1970s through 1990s to understand what Harvey really does. He plays gay as it was understood to be, decades ago.

I like him, I always have. I really respected hearing him say back in the 1990s as the culture was changing that there's always been an argument between whether gays should play stereotypes or not, and he said he understood where others were coming from, but for him it was more important just to have gays on the screen in the first place, being seen and visible, even if they were stereotypes.

Harvey is a good egg. Like R2 said, he’s done a lot to pave the way for a lot of people, including me. He’s done a lot for us all.

Self-hating doesn’t look good on you honey R17. We’ve all heard your type of nonsense before and that’s all it is. You hate yourself for being gay and you despise any gay person that (in your paranoid mind) paints all gay people in that same light.

Lighten up and realize that there’s room for a vast array of gay stereotypes and stop caring what people think about you based on your peers.

He might not have been the greatest Tevye, r14, but he was credible and acquitted himself well.

I don't get R19's point as it relates to R17.

He thanked his boyfriend when he won the Tony for Torch Song. That was unheard of back then. I’ve loved him ever since.

Major talent, NICE man! He does not run around all the time being a campy-vampy drag queen in pants. What he said is so .... not so much whether or not gays should play stereotypes, it's important that gays are on screens in the first place, being seen. It reminds me of Arthur Evans, one of the early fighters. He was on television to discuss Pride back in the early days. Arthur was intelligent, and appeared very straight, but the panel also hwas a butch dyke, a drag, a 99-pound flamer. I asked him why "them" and he told me unless there is freedom for all, there is no freedom for any of us. Point taken.

I gave him a lot of credit for outshining Santa As Mrs Claus after Macy’s stabbed him in the back during the Thanksgiving Day parade kerfluffle.

Spent a fair amount of time with him years ago -A very nice man, and fun to be around.

R21, R19 must have typed the wrong number, I'm r17 and nothing he said has a thing to do with my reply. I didn't say I hated anyone, I said I loved Harvey and always have.

I love Torch Song Trilogy. It's one of those movies I can watch again and again.

He’s cool. And I agree that yes, he’s done a lot for representation and visibility. He flamed/flames but there was still some real talent and complexity to it.

How many people remember that Torch Song Trilogy made Estelle Getty a star on Broadway and led to her getting the Golden Girls part?

Harvey is a ...hobo?

And today, Harvey donates $2.5M to the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts to create an educational hub. Sounds good to me.

You forgot his marvelous turn as a gay man in Garbo Talks.

The film of TTT was OK but it cut half the material and was imperfectly cast. It wasn't nearly as affecting as it was on the stage.

I forgot all about Garbo Talks. What a gem and, sadly, forgotten. And, yes, Harvey was wonderful.

You forgot about Karl, Homer Simpson's blonde guardian angel.

"my mother taught me never kiss a fool"

.....

He started out great with TORCH SONG, but as far as I'm concerned, it has been all downhill from there for him -- at least, as a writer. His adaptations of LA CAGE, A CATERED AFFAIR, KINKY BOOTS, and more recently FUNNY GIRL are all very inferior to the originals, and none of the other plays he has written are any good.

I just wanna be loved. Is that so wronnnng?

I have never "got" him, is his schtick that he is always Harvey Fierstein? He is very funny.

R39, you have never got him.....but you think he's very funny?

I've never been a big fan of La Cage, but I loved A Catered Affair and Kinky Boots. His place in the theater pantheon is assured. More to the point, I have known him socially for years and he is genuinely a nice man, as well as intelligent and talented.

I have no doubt that he's a nice man on a social basis, but he seems like an egomaniac in that he keeps taking on assignments that he's not talented enough to handle. Of course you're entitled to your opinion of A CATERED AFFAIR, but you must feel pretty lonely in that, as it was a tremendous flop and, as I recall, it received very bad reviews pretty much across the board -- deservedly, in my opinion.

I liked the way he minced around worrying about his mother in Independence Day.