Gay icon Own Kind of Music" and "Different") and free love. Her music was later featured in the acclaimed gay film "Beautiful Thing" (1996), adapted from the play of the same name. Singer and actress Bette Midler became recognized as a gay icon in the 1970s. After performing on Broadway, Midler began performing at the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse in the city, where she became close to her piano accompanist Barry Manilow, who produced her first major album "The Divine Miss M" (1973). "Despite the way things turned out [with the AIDS crisis], I'm still proud of those days [singing at
Bette Midler same year, Midler had a supporting role in "Get Shorty". Her 1997 HBO special "Diva Las Vegas" earned her a third Emmy Award, for Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Music Program. Midler's other 1990s films include "The First Wives Club" (1996). In 1997, Midler, along with her co-stars from "The First Wives Club", Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton, was a recipient of the Women in Film Crystal Award, which honors "outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry." Midler starred in her own