Cole Porter wrote a string of classic hits across many decades
Cole Porter was born on this day in 1891. He went on to compose many hit songs and musicals from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Born into a wealthy US family, he was able to follow his dream of making music. During the First World War, Porter moved from New York to France, where he reportedly served with the French Foreign Legion. After the war, he lived in an apartment in Paris, where he became known for hosting lavish parties.
Porter is widely understood by biographers to have been gay, but he married socialite Linda Lee Thomas. She was a divorcee and eight years his senior, and was aware of his sexuality. The marriage provided a socially acceptable front at a time when homosexuality was widely frowned upon.
After early success as a songwriter, his major breakthrough came with the musical Paris, which opened on Broadway in 1928. Among its songs was “Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love”, which later became a hit for Eartha Kitt and was featured in the 1990s cult classic film Tank Girl.
Over the next three decades, he wrote more than 40 musicals and revues, and a long list of hit songs including “Love for Sale”, “Night and Day”, “You’re the Top”, “After You, Who?”, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, “True Love”, “So In Love”, “Too Darn Hot”, “I Love Paris”, “Anything Goes”, “I Get a Kick Out of You” and “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”.
Among his most popular musicals were Silk Stockings, High Society, Rosalie, Anything Goes, Can-Can, You’ll Never Get Rich and Kiss Me, Kate. His music was recorded by artists including Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald and Oscar Peterson, and more recently by Robbie Williams, Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett.
In 1990, his music was used to highlight the fight against HIV and AIDS. The album Red Hot + Blue brought together a diverse range of artists to deliver fresh interpretations of his songs.
Neneh Cherry adapted “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” to deliver an AIDS awareness message. Other contributors included Annie Lennox, k.d. lang, U2, Sinead O’Connor, Erasure and Jimmy Somerville, while The Pogues re-teamed with Kirsty MacColl, and Iggy Pop recorded a duet with Debbie Harry. The accompanying video album included clips directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Wim Wenders, Jonathan Demme, Mathew Rolston and Mark Pellington.
Linda Lee Thomas died in 1954, and in 1956 Porter suffered a series of ulcers on his leg which led to an amputation. After this, he never wrote any more music. He lived largely in seclusion in his New York apartment, although he spent his summers in California.
He died in 1964, aged 73. The grand piano on which he wrote many of his songs sits in the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, where it is often played. His life was brought to the big screen in the 2004 film De-Lovely. Kevin Kline played Porter and Ashley Judd played his wife Linda.
In 2014, Laverne Cox became the first transgender person to be on the cover of TIME
In 2014, actor Laverne Cox made history when she became the first transgender person to be featured on the cover of TIME magazine.
Cox made her mark in the television series Orange Is the New Black, where she played inmate and hairdresser Sophie Burset. After appearing in all seven seasons of the show, Cox went on to appear in the series Doubt, The Blacklist, The Mindy Project and Dear White People.
She also played the character of Dr Frank-N-Furter in the television remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and has since explored singing, releasing several singles.
Cox also appeared in and served as a producer on the documentary Disclosure, which provided an in-depth look at the lives of transgender people on screen and how they have been represented in American culture.
More recently, Cox appeared in the Netflix series Inventing Anna, where she played personal trainer Kacy Duke. The casting was notable, as Cox was given the opportunity to portray a real-life person who is cisgender.
This post was first published in 2022.
