Huge Fire In Provincetown Devastates Commercial Street

The LGBT mecca was packed for the Memorial Day holiday weekend
From: NewNowNext

 A three-alarm fire broke out in downtown Provincetown early Saturday evening, destroying a beloved local business.

Cape Wide News reports that the fire started at The Red Shack in busy Lopes Square on Commercial Street near MacMillan Wharf. The flames severely damaged the restaurant, as well as adjoining restaurants Surf Club and Tatiana’s.

Although there were apartments on the building’s second floor, everyone was safely evacuated, and only one person was treated at the scene for burns.

With the popular gay vacation spot particularly crowded for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, firefighters worked hard to get the fire under control within two hours. They used newly acquired equipment called a “blitz gun,” which kept the fire from spreading to other neighboring buildings like the Lobster Pot restaurant. No firefighter injuries were reported.

The fire is still ablaze. I hope everyone is okay. #provincetown #fire #capecod pic.twitter.com/XIaFQ8Ubqt

— Hannah Segal (@HannahSegal16) May 27, 2017

The cause of the blaze is still under investigation, but Cape Cod Times reports that it is believed to have originated in Red Shack’s ventilation system.

See drone footage of the aftermath below.

History's 125 Hottest Gay-Porn Stars

From:  Boy Culture

Needed help with names

55

 Johnny Harden 

aka 

Johnny Hardin 

aka 

Johnny Hardon 

aka

Ricky Bradley 

aka

Gene Carrier 

 1956—

 

As a kid, I got in trouble once when my mom found doodles I'd done of enormously hung men and enormously chesty women. Thank God my perverted pencil was bisexual, or I might've outed myself at age 10 instead of the far more manageable 18. But the kind of crazy, out-of-proportion members I was drawing were no match for what Johnny Harden had swinging between his legs. Yes, he called himself Harden. Get it? Get it? Still, that was a sight better than his queasy-making Playgirl nom de rod—Gene Carrier. Sounds about as sexy as Huntington's Chorea.

Still, we're not talking about the name, but the guy behind it, and again, it was hard to beat his big one. (I'm sure for him, as well!) He always seemed so tickled to have it, and cultivated a great bush, too.

Loved him in Cruisin' the Castro (1981). He was also the first guy I ever saw swallow himself, let alone the first who could penetrate himself. Himself!

Kushner’s alleged Russia back-channel attempt would be serious break from protocol

Former national security officials say such communications are common for presidents, but highly suspect for transition teams

From: Politico

The allegation that Jared Kushner discussed setting up clandestine communications
with Russian officials during the transition marks one of the most damaging accusations to date.
Getty

Jared Kushner’s alleged discussions with Russia’s ambassador about potentially establishing back-channel communications during the transition would have been viewed as not only highly improper but also possibly even illegal, according to former national security officials.

Donald Trump’s team on Saturday tried to downplay reports from The Washington Post and others that Ambassador Sergey Kislyak told his superiors that Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser, made the proposal during an early December meeting and suggested using Russian diplomatic facilities for the clandestine communications. It appears the back channel was never set up.

“We have back-channel communications with a number of countries,” Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, told American reporters traveling with Trump at the G-7 summit in Sicily. “What that allows you to do is communicate in a discreet manner, so I’m not concerned.”

Former national security officials who spoke with POLITICO on Saturday were not so dismissive.

Many said that while presidents often set up back-channel communications with various countries, it’s neither wise nor normal for a president-elect to set up such continuing contact before the inauguration, despite likely pressure from foreign countries.

Also, the idea of using the equipment of a foreign country, especially an adversary such as Russia, would be acutely alarming.

“If candidate Trump, a private citizen, had a back channel, that would be very serious,” said Bill Smullen, who served as chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell in the administration of George W. Bush. “He had no business.”

A former senior State Department official said there’s a high likelihood that the Russians pushed Trump’s transition team to set up clandestine communications — and that Trump’s aides should have said no.

“Invariably, foreign governments will try to establish a continuing contact with a new president-elect as soon as the November election result is in,” said the official, who asked not to be named because of the official’s past communications with Trump’s team. “My advice has been to respond, ‘Thanks a lot, we look forward to being in touch with you after January 20th.’”

The new allegations add to the deepening scandal regarding Trump and ties between his campaign and Russian leaders, who have been accused by U.S. intelligence officials of trying to tip the election Trump’s way.

While much of the attention has been on former national security adviser Michael Flynn, increased scrutiny is being placed on Kushner, who reportedly failed to disclose the extent of his contacts with Russian officials during and after the campaign.

But the allegation that Kushner — with Flynn in the room — discussed setting up clandestine communications with Russian officials during the transition marks one of the most potentially damaging accusations to date.

National security officials who worked in the administration of President Barack Obama were particularly concerned by the reports, which suggest Trump’s aides were trying to avoid having Obama officials overhear their conversations with the Russians.

“What could the Trump transition team not have the U.S. government hear them saying?” said Ned Price, a former CIA officer and National Security Council spokesman in the Obama administration. “Obviously, this is improper and may have been illegal. … You don’t have an innocuous explanation for this. You can’t attribute this to carelessness.”

Evelyn Farkas, deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Obama administration, said: “The fact that they would want to hide it not just from the U.S. public but the U.S. government is unusual, and then they would want to embed the channel inside the Russian intelligence apparatus, if true, is entirely shocking and unprecedented. It’s beyond improper.”

It’s unclear what the consequences could be for Kushner and others if the reports are proved true. At a minimum, the allegations pose a major political problem that could endanger Kushner’s White House role and could fuel impeachment talk for Trump.

On the more severe side, such communications could test the Logan Act, a largely dormant statute that bans private citizens from interfering with U.S. diplomatic relations.

In general, back-channel communication between heads of state and their surrogates has a long history, but what sets this situation apart is that the discussions allegedly took place before Trump took office and were meant to circumvent the official channels of the administration that remained in power.

“Back channels are a tried-and-true form of secret diplomacy,” according to Peter Kornbluh, a researcher at the National Security Archive at George Washington University and co-author of the recent book "Back Channel to Cuba."

For example, “Bobby Kennedy became personal and trusted emissary of his brother President Kennedy probably at the most critical and dangerous time in modern history,” during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis with the Soviet Union, he said. “President Nixon used one in the opening to China. There were back channels to [Communist leader] Ho Chi Minh during the Vietnam War. Every president from Eisenhower to Obama used a back channel to approach Fidel Castro in Cuba and his brother Raul.”

But the key question in this case is when Trump or his aides may have discussed such communications with President Vladimir Putin and other Russian leaders, Kornbluh and others said — and for what purpose.

“What distinguishes Trump is he wasn’t president when they tried to set it up,” Kornbluh said. “With the cloud of the Russian scandal hanging over his head, it is not clear why he would want to cut everybody out. The question that is not being posed much by the press so far is whether Kushner and Flynn were acting alone. Usually the president has known about these back channels because he initiated them.”

Smullen, Powell’s former chief of staff, agreed with that analysis.

“Back channels are very common. People have used them all the time. They can be a safety valve for things that can be explosive,” said Smullen, who recalled such efforts with the Soviets when he was an aide to Adm. William Crowe, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, during the Cold War.

Smullen added that President Trump has every right to have a back channel, but President-elect Trump would not.

Others urged caution, saying this latest controversy could be part of a more advanced Russian plot, especially because The Washington Post report cited intelligence reports in which Kislyak talked with his superiors about Kushner’s alleged proposal.

“Typically, the Russian clandestine subversion specialists, being the best in the world in this demonical art form, operate in double, triple and sometimes multiple tactical plot lines,” said the former State Department official. “For example, in the media report … that the U.S. has intercepted a message from Kislyak to the Kremlin saying that Kushner had proposed a back-channel connection during the transition period, it has to be understood that Kislyak knows perfectly well that all his communications are being intercepted by the U.S.”

The Darker the Berry, The Sweeter the Juice, 2013 V E N F I E L D 8

Glenn Close Stops "Sunset Boulevard" Mid-Show Due to Photo-Taking Audience Member

From: Broadway.Com

Glenn Close, who is currently reprising her Tony-winning performance as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, stopped performing the number "With One Look" during the May 24 matinee to ask an audience member to stop taking photos.

Representatives for the production confirmed the incident, stating, "She politely asked them to stop, saying it was distracting and disrespectful, adding, 'Now we can have a show or we can have a photo shoot.' She quickly started from the top of the song after her point was made." 

The presence of cell phones in theaters has been an issue disrupting performers and audience members since as early as 2003, when potential bills were introduced to prevent their usage.

25th Anniversary of The Crying Game

From: BosGuy

The current issue of OUT Magazine has a great article “Pride on the Screen” which looks back at queer cinema. One of the movies featured – a movie that was definitely ahead of its time – is the Oscar winning, The Crying Game.

For many Millennials this may not be a movie they are familiar with since it was released 25 years ago in 1992. It may seem somewhat dated now, after all the idea of terrorism rarely brings to mind Ireland and England, Catholic and Protestant, but 25 years ago the conflict was still very much a reality and more often than not what came to mind when one talked of bombings and terrorism.

‘Straight up disrespectful!’ Nyle DiMarco slams Jamie Foxx for making fun of sign language

From: Queerty

Nyle DiMarco did not appreciate a recent promo by Jimmy Fallon and Jamie Foxx, which he says was disrespectful of hearing impaired people.

The spot aired last week and depicted Foxx pretending to translate Fallon’s comments into sign language. But here’s the thing: Foxx wasn’t actually using sign language. He was just nonsensically moving his fingers around.

28-year-old DiMarco is deaf. He is also the founder of the Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which works to improve language and literacy development for hearing impaired youth across the country. He immediately took to Twitter to call out Foxx for his failed attempt at a joke, tweeting:

.@iamjamiefoxx, It is straight up disrespectful to make up sign language. 

Everything is in gibberish. pic.twitter.com/X5AHkusq3o

— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) May 27, 2017

In a followup tweet, DiMarco wrote: “How was this allowed? Where’s the cultural sensitivity. Not comedy when you make fun of others.”

He followed that followup with a longer tweet, in which he didn’t mince any words:

My response to Jamie Foxx making up sign language on Fallon Tonight with @jimmyfallon. pic.twitter.com/GpDN8iB9xL

— Nyle DiMarco (@NyleDiMarco) May 27, 2017

34 Mouthwatering Photos From Broadway Bares

From: NewNowNext

Broadway Bares 24: Rock Hard!

1927 News Report: Donald Trump's Dad Arrested In KKK Brawl With Cops

From: Boing Boing

According to a New York Times article published in June 1927, a man with the name and address of Donald Trump's father was arraigned after Klan members attacked cops in Queens, N.Y.

In an article subtitled "Klan assails policeman", Fred Trump is named in among those taken in during a late May "battle" in which "1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen staged a free-for-all." At least two officers were hurt during the event, after which the Klan's activities were denounced by the city's Police Commissioner, Joseph A. Warren.

“The Klan not only wore gowns, but had hoods over their faces almost completely hiding their identity,” Warren was quoted as saying in the article, which goes on to identify seven men “arrested in the near-riot of the parade.”

Named alongside Trump are John E Kapp and John Marcy (charged with felonious assault in the attack on Patrolman William O'Neill and Sgt. William Lockyear), Fred Lyons, Thomas Caroll, Thomas Erwin, and Harry J Free. They were arraigned in Jamaica, N.Y. All seven were represented by the same lawyers, according to the article.

The final entry on the list reads: 

“Fred Trump of 175-24 Devonshire Road, Jamaica, was discharged.”

In 1927, Donald Trump's father would have been 21 years old, and not yet a well-known figure. Multiple sources report his residence at the time—and throughout his life—at the same address.

To be clear, this is not proof that Trump senior—who would later go on to become a millionaire real estate developer—was a member of the Ku Klux Klan or even in attendance at the event. Despite sharing lawyers with the other men, it's conceivable that he may have been an innocent bystander, falsely named, or otherwise the victim of mistaken identity during or following a chaotic event.

The name of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Drumpf, was anglicized to Frederick Trump, but he died several years before the report.

A person answering calls at the N.Y.C. Police Department's Records Section said that arrest reports dating that far back were not available in any form. We've sent a formal request in writing and will update if and when we receive a response. We've also left a message with the Trump Campaign requesting a callback.

The article, published on June 1, 1927, describes police frustration at rowdy parades, the Klan's use of masks, and its growing presence in New York City. The Klan, originally founded in the 19th century, was reborn in 1915 as a violent supremacist organization associated with lynchings, white nationalism, and the distinctive white robes and hoods used by Klansmen to conceal their identity at parades and other events. At its mid-1920s peak, it had up to 6 million members, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Fred Trump, who died in 1999, was a New York real estate developer and the father of mogul and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Born in the Bronx to German immigrants, Fred became a real estate developer in his teens; at about the time of his apparent arrest, he was constructing single-family houses in Queens, according to his obituary in the Times. At his death, his net worth was estimated at between $250m and $300m. A savvy businessman and real estate developer, his wealth enabled the junior Trump to start big.

If the man arrested at the riotous Klan parade was indeed Donald's father, it would not be his last tangle with the law over issues concerning minorities. A 1979 article, published by Village Voice, reported on a civil rights suit that alleged that the Trumps refused to rent to black home-seekers, and quotes a rental agent who said Fred Trump instructed him not to rent to blacks and to encourage existing black tenants to leave. The case was settled in a 1975 consent degree described as "one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated," but the Justice Department subsequently complained that continuing "racially discriminatory conduct by Trump agents has occurred with such frequency that it has created a substantial impediment to the full enjoyment of equal opportunity."

Donald Trump has made nativism a pillar of his campaign, describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and two Boston men who beat a homeless immigrant as "passionate" fans.

The events described in the Times' article took place 22 years before Donald Trump was even born, and he’s not responsible for any youthful sins his father may have committed. But given the racially-charged tone of the younger Trump's campaign, it raises questions about the values he was taught by the man whose fortune he inherited.

11 LGBT Nights at MLB games during this June’s Pride Month

More than half the league has a Pride Night this season
From: OutSports

The Washington Nationals host one of the largest LGBT Pride Nights in MLB.
Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

 This year over a third of the teams in Major League Baseball will host an LGBT community night at one of their home games during Pride month, and over the season more than half will do so.

LGBT Pride Nights have been taking place at MLB games for almost two decades, with some events drawing thousands.

Check and see when your favorite team is embracing PRIDE!

Tuesday, June 6

Detroit Tigers 

The 3rd annual event is a Detroit Regional LGBT Chamber fundraiser

8 LGBT Service Members Who Shaped American History

From: Gay Pop Buzz

6. 

Oliver “Billy” Sipple

Sipple was a decorated war veteran. He served in the United States Marine Corps and fought in Vietnam. Shrapnel wounds suffered in December 1968 caused him to finish out his tour of duty in a Philadelphia veterans hospital, from which he was released in March 1970.

He also saved a President’s life.

On September 22, 1975 in a crowd of about 3,000 people who had gathered President Ford, Sipple noticed a woman next to him had drawn and leveled a .38-caliber pistol.

Reacting instinctively, Sipple lunged at the woman, Sara Jane Moore, just as her finger squeezed the trigger. While the gun did go off, his contact was just enough to deflect her aim and cause the bullet to miss. 

'Facts of Life' star Charlotte Rae, 91, has bone cancer

From: LA Times

Charlotte Rae, the actress who played matriarch Edna Garrett on "Diff'rent Strokes" and "The Facts of Life," has bone cancer.

The 91-year-old sitcom star, who beat pancreatic cancer seven years ago, was diagnosed last month, according to People.

“So now, at the age of 91, I have to make up my mind. I’m not in any pain right now. I’m feeling so terrific and so glad to be above ground,” Rae told the magazine. “Now I have to figure out whether I want to go have treatment again to opt for life. I love life. I’ve had a wonderful one already. I have this decision to make.”

The actress’ mother, sister and uncle died from pancreatic cancer, she said. Rae, who said she was cancer-free after six months of chemotherapy when she fought pancreatic cancer, was supposed to start chemo again Thursday, but held off to “think about it first.”

The first time around, nobody knew about her treatment, she said, noting that she had “great wigs.”

“I think I’m going to go for it,” said the TV veteran, who celebrated her birthday over the weekend. “The side effects were not too bad when I did it originally. I’ve had a great life, but I have so many wonderful things happening. I’d like to [choose] life. I’m grateful for the life I’ve already had.”

Rae was born in Milwaukee in 1926 and got her start in theater at Northwestern University. She perfected her comedy in clubs “to showcase myself for Broadway,” she told The Times in 2006 when her impish album “Songs I Taught My Mother” was rereleased.

Rae, who was wed to the late Emmy- and Grammy-winning composer John Strauss, most recently appeared alongside Meryl Streep in 2015’s “Ricki and the Flash,” on Disney Channel’s “Girl Meets World” and ABC Family’s “Pretty Little Liars.”

Is “Coming Out On Top” the hottest gay-themed video game you’ll ever play?

From: Queerty

 An immutable law of nature: Most gay erotica is alarmingly unsexy.

Perhaps the vast majority of erotica is just too poorly written to elicit anything but a chuckle. As a reader, you’re jerked out of the material at every mention of a “man-scabbard” or “throbbing flesh-sheath.” (Why deal with that when you can just watch adult clips all day?)

 An anomaly in every way, the online game Coming Out On Top achieves the impossible: It gives gay erotica a good name.

Sharp, well-written, and peppered with witty Joss Whedon-like dialogue, the game features characters that are well-rounded and believably goofy — and that somehow winds up making their sex scenes that much more, erm, engrossing once they finally materialize.

Cue the sex sandwich with two horny firefighters as the luncheon meat.

 The game is basically a “Choose Your Own Adventure”-type novel in video game form. You assume the role of a handsome college senior (who looks a bit like Colton Haynes) as he tries negotiating the complicated process of coming out — which he does, admirably, by having as much gay sex as possible.

Can you successfully seduce your handsome, ostensibly straight roommate and best friend? If you play your cards right, the answer is yes.

 Although the game has been out since 2012, it continues to be updated with a range of hot, hilarious dates that you can find on a virtual social app that apes Grindr.

Can you bed the closeted pop star? The beefy construction worker who came out later in life? The bullying, oddly attractive police officer who’s trying to entrap you?

The answer, again, is yes — but choose wisely.

We caught up with Obscura, the preferred pseudonym of the game’s author and illustrator, and asked her how the project came to be, what led her to drawing a bunch of handsome gay men having hot sex, and what developments we can expect from the game in the future.

What made you decide to create Coming Out on Top?

Five years ago, when there were far fewer indie games around, I found myself searching for a dating sim, but was unable to find the one I wanted. Surely, somebody had made a fun little dating sim where you could date lots of hot guys and have all sorts of crazy adventures, right?

Well, not exactly. I checked out a few Japanese visual novels. At the time, the few that had been translated were pretty dark. The others were point-and-click pornographic games. They all looked interesting and cool, but I specifically wanted something lighthearted, with lots of zany humor and engaging dialogue.

I had especially enjoyed the dialogue in Dragon Age: Origins, which had been released around that time, but I was bummed because I couldn’t romance the main male love interest with my male character. My character needed Alistair, and couldn’t have him!

 Around that time, I’d been studying screenwriting. I also had several years of drawing under my belt, and had made a few of these little text-based adventure games when I was younger. It occurred to me I could put my medley of skills and proclivities to some use.

The idea of a game where you played a guy coming out to his college roommates seemed like a great starting point for a dating sim. I hashed together a demo—a romance where you went after your hot professor. It was very bare bones, very short, and extremely PG-13.

It became immediately apparent that I wasn’t the only one looking for something like this. Lots of people started writing to me saying they’d been wanting a gay dating sim for a really long time, along with suggestions on how to improve and expand it.

One of the more popular suggestions was to make it a raunchy, racy adult game, which I thought would be fun.

I worked on my drawing skills to improve the character sprites and hired an amazing artist named Doubleleaf to do the full-scene illustrations. I wound up doing a Kickstarter a few months later to help complete the rest of the game. It seems like a completely bizarre sequence of events in retrospect, but it felt like things worked out perfectly in the end.

 What challenges did you face conceiving and selling the game?

The biggest challenge by far was finishing the leviathan that was the game itself. Not only were there 5 main love interests, but I promised a ton of Kickstarter content for every new chunk of funding it received.

By the time the Kickstarter ended, I would need to add a full-fledged bonus route with 10 additional, unique dates on top of that, the scenarios suggested by my Kickstarter backers. So the game ballooned to 16 scenarios, 18 dudes total, all with different endings and a ton of choices. The add-ons wound-up nearly doubling the size of the script!

 So finishing everything was a bit of a marathon. I partnered up with an awesome writer for the extra content, but getting everything exactly right was still a huge undertaking. Today, the final script is over 180,000 words, roughly two or three novels’ worth, and it’s largely written with a very condensed, almost sitcom-like pacing. It was a huge challenge writing something of that length, yet keeping the story as fast-faced and snappy as possible.

Another challenge, of course, was all the raunchy sex in the game, making it a smidge more difficult to work with payment processors and vendors. Even though the cocks were just drawings of cocks, it took awhile to find an amenable seller. This year, I’m hoping to get a censored version of the game on Steam. It’s regrettable that adult content is still struggling for public and corporate acceptance, in spite of how popular porn is.

 Any more exclusive dates or follow-up projects?

I’d love to make some more content with the existing characters. There’s no end to the scenarios and fetishes people want to see… I might do a sequel at some point, or maybe use something like Patreon to provide one-off dates and new characters each month.

As for new projects, I have both a sci-fi and a fantasy-themed game I want to pursue! But before I tackle those, I need to recharge my writing batteries.

I may just doodle for a couple of other projects in the meantime while I let the ideas percolate in my head.

 As a woman, what made you gravitate towards gay male sex scenes rather than other pairings?

To give you a little background, originally COOT wasn’t even going to be a sex game. The original 2 hour long prototype (that JUST had the story with the professor) only featured some kissing and that was seriously as far as it went!

It wasn’t until it started gaining traction that I got those requests for sex scenes. I took a poll and about 96% or so of the 300 respondents at the time wanted a hardcore adult game. So I was happy to oblige. It seemed like a fun challenge. The awesome contributors who were part of Kickstarter forum also gave me a ton of feedback and advice.

 I also devoured a lot of erotica for the next 2 years — not only gay but whatever I thought was hot – -to figure out how I’d like to write the sexy parts.

Later on, I hired a writer (he goes by Iggy) to help me with the bonus dates. So the sex scenes were a combo of his writing and mine. (Iggy also wrote Amos’s route as well as Brad’s topping scene.)

And now, it’s time for you to download the (censored) demo of Coming Out On Top and see how it grabs you.

Do you know of other erotic games along these lines that you’d like to tip us off to — strictly in the name of research?

Sound off in the comments below.

Kylie Minogue’s 49 Best Songs, Ranked!

From: NewNowNext

48

“100 Degrees”

More sugary than a 10-foot candy cane, Kylie’s duet with sister Danni still makes the list—mainly because it finally gave us that sexy disco carol we’ve been missing. It’s a Christmas miracle!

Hunter Sky

Hunter tugs his fat swollen black dick!
From: Guys Love Guys

 Next Door Ebony says: He’s Hunter Sky and he wants to carry you away to the furthest reaches of the sexual atmosphere. Anyone can tell that tugging that fat, swollen black dick is one of Hunter’s biggest hobbies.

Jared Martin, Who Played Rodeo Cowboy Dusty Farlow on 'Dallas,' Dies at 75

The actor roomed with Brian De Palma in college and starred in the director's first movie
From: The Hollywood Reporter

Jared Martin on 'Dallas'

Jared Martin, the Dallas actor who portrayed Dusty Farlow, the rodeo cowboy and Sue Ellen Ewing seducer who perished in a plane crash, only to have producers resurrect his character by popular demand, has died. He was 75.

Martin died Wednesday of pancreatic cancer at his home in Philadelphia, his son, Christian Martin, told The Hollywood Reporter.

Martin roomed with Brian De Palma when they both attended Columbia University in New York and appeared in the first and third features of the director's career: Murder a la Mod (1968) and The Wedding Party (1969).

In De Palma's inaugural effort, Martin played "a mad photographer-murderer who liked to lick the blood off his victims' bodies," he recalled in a 1981 interview with People magazine. "Brian used Hershey syrup for blood and paid me $35."

Martin's career also included starring roles on two sci-fi TV series: 1977's The Fantastic Journey at NBC and a 1988-90 adaptation of War of the Worlds, which aired in syndication.

In 1979, the handsome actor signed a contract to appear as the cowpoke Steven "Dusty" Farlow — the adoptive son of Clayton Farrow (Howard Keel) — on three episodes of the third season of the smash CBS prime time soap Dallas.

"They brought Dusty Farlow on to make goo-goo eyes at Sue Ellen [Linda Gray], become moderately involved with her, tempt her and then she basically remembered who she was and went back to J.R. [Larry Hagman]," Martin said a few years ago in an interview for a Dallas fan site.

Dusty (fans nicknamed him "Lusty Dusty") was incinerated in a plane crash, but after J.R. was shot by an unseen assailant in that season's finale, viewer polls and Las Vegas odds makers made the character a favorite to be the answer to the burning question, "Who shot J.R.?"

So producers found a way to have him return.

"My agent said, 'Get ready, they are going to bring you back,'" Martin remembered. "I said, 'How? I'm dead.' My agent says, "Oh, this is Hollywood, they will think of something.'"

It turns out Dusty had survived, but his injuries rendered him impotent, paralyzed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair.

"He was being nursed back to health by an extremely beautiful woman. That was something America kind of wanted to see at the time; don't ask me why, but they did," Martin said. "So I came from being very much of an episodic television actor to being part of the most successful and fabulous series ever to have been known to humankind."

Dusty would make a miraculous recovery and even return to the rodeo circuit.

Born in Manhattan on Dec. 21, 1941, Jared Christopher Martin was the son of famed New Yorker artist and illustrator Charles E. Martin. He attended The Putney School in Vermont and Columbia, then followed De Palma to Hollywood.

The blue-eyed Martin also appeared in such movies as Westworld (1973), The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974) and Pia Zadora's The Lonely Lady (1983) and on TV's The Partridge Family, Dan August, Night Gallery, The Rookies, The Waltons, How the West Was Won, The Incredible Hulk, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, The Love Boat, Hunter and L.A. Law.

After retiring from acting, Martin co–founded and served as creative director of the Big Picture Alliance, a nonprofit group that introduces inner-city kids to the art of film making, and worked as a professional painter and photographer.

And just last year, Martin co-directed the feature film The Congressman, starring Treat Williams.

His son Christian is general manager for video at SiriusXM, and his wife is Liz Cole, an executive producer at Dateline NBC.

Martin's survivors also include his wife, Yu Wei, whom he married in 2000, and grandchildren Charlie and Emilia.

100 Hottest Out & Proud Celebs

From: OUT

Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Actor 

& 

Activist

"It was never an issue ... I never felt 'in' so it didn't feel like it was terribly difficult to be 'out.' Good actors come from a place of truth and to me it just felt like I needed to have my cards on the table. It wouldn't have felt comfortable for me to be hiding a piece of myself."-(Winnipeg Free Press)

Jesse Tyler Ferguson (born October 22, 1975) is an American actor best known for portraying Mitchell Pritchett on the ABC sitcom Modern Family, which has earned him five nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. Previously, he played the role of Richie Velch in the CBS sitcom The Class.

365 Groovy Books Worth Reading

From: Deep Dish

72

Lovely Me: The Life of Jacqueline Susann 

by 

Barbara Seaman

1987

This fascinating biography of the best-selling author (Valley of the Dolls) was adapted into a 1998 TV movie, Scandalous Me: The Jacqueline Susann Story, starring Michele Lee.

Gus Kenworthy strips to raise money for LGBTQ charity. He should do this more often.

From: Queerty

 With Pride Month mere days away, online underwear purveyors MeUndies is rolling out a campaign that goes above and beyond the pandering ads sure to be fettering the weeks to come.

Their new “Celebrate” briefs arrive with plenty of fanfare: a campaign starring Olympian Gus Kenworthy.

 With each pair sold, the company will give a $1 donation to the Los Angeles LGBT Center, in the hopes of helping expand its youth center.

Talking to Mic, MeUndies creative director Andrew Teague said:

“Our team is bursting with people who consider themselves part of the community, so we all felt compelled to get involved. That doesn’t happen by sitting in your office thinking you can just tell people how to feel and what to buy. It happens when you engage with the world.

We never saw this as a chance to tick the gay box. We’re certainly not walking away, patting ourselves on the back after Pride Month — we are already talking with the center about some more long-term ways in which we can support them.”