10 fabulous reasons to love Attitude Awards host Alan Cumming
By Will Stroude
The incomparable Alan Cumming will soon be jetting into London to host the fifth annual Attitude Awards next Monday (October 10), in association with Virgin Holidays, and we couldn’t think of a better host to help celebrate the best of everything LGBT.
The event is famed for its recognition of LGBT milestones and representation, with those honoured at last year’s Awards including Yoko Ono, Vivienne Westwood, Boy George, Holly Johnson, April Ashley, Lorraine Kelly, Newnight’s Evan Davis and many more.
From comedy to drama, from serious stage turns to wonderfully silly Hollywood comedies, Cumming’s been a magnetic performer throughout his career – here’s a few reasons we love the Tony Award-winning Scot…
1) His breakout US role as Sandy Frink in 1997 comedy classic Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion
Poor old Sandy Frink was a high school loser – shunned by his dream girl Michele, afflicted with an almost permanent erection that only the biggest notebook could hide. But he reemerged at film’s end triumphant, a billionaire after inventing a special kind of rubber (like, for condoms?). Just look at he, Romy and Michele’s magical dance routine to Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time:
2) He made for a fantastically crazy, but still oddly sexy Macbeth
3) His we-still-can’t-believe-this-happened perfume
What to do when you’ve been blessed with a double entendre of a surname? Why, release a perfume of the same name, of course. That’s right: Alan Cumming released a fragrance named ‘Cumming’. The accompanying advertising campaign left viewers in no doubt that Alan’s tongue was firmly planted in cheek:
4) Because he played the creepy villain in the Spy Kids franchise
5) Because he stands alongside Joel Grey as the DEFINITIVE EMCEE from Cabaret, playing the role in 1993, 1998 and 2014
No question.
6) It’s also the role that links him inextricably to Liza Minnelli, with whom he has performed many cabaret shows, including this one on the gay mecca, Fire Island
7) Because he’s also knocked out a New York Times bestseller, as you do
8) Because he’s devilishly handsome as Eli Gold in hit TV show The Good Wife
9) BECAUSE HE WAS IN SPICEWORLD: THE MOVIE
‘Nuff said. He’s since said that it’s the favourite experience he’s ever had working on a film!
10) He’s also a first class host, as evidenced when he led proceedings at this year’s Tony Awards, with the help of the lovely little Kristin Chenoweth
See you Monday, Alan!
More stories:
Watch the trailer for stunning new coming-of-age film ‘Moonlight’
These two newly-married grooms are serious first dance goals – WATCH