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 the PBS educational series "Vegetable Soup." In 1977, Midler's first television special, whose title, "Ol' Red Hair is Back", was a takeoff on Frank Sinatra's "Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back", premiered, featuring guest stars Dustin Hoffman and Emmett Kelly. It went on to win the "Emmy Award" for Outstanding Special — Comedy-Variety or Music. Midler made her first motion picture in 1979, starring in the 1960s-era rock and roll tragedy "The Rose", as a drug-addicted rock star modeled after Janis Joplin. That year, she also released her fifth studio album, "Thighs and Whispers." Midler's first foray into disco was a