LOCAL – Since 10 or so years ago, all sorts of divas on the local showbiz scene emerged.
Think Divine Diva (ZsaZsa Padilla), Pop Diva (Kuh Ledesma), Sentimental Diva (Imelda Papin), Inspirational Diva (Jamie Rivera).
There’s even one billed Charity Diva (Token Lizares) for her civic activities.
And then those who like to think they are diva – as in diva – divahan. But no names now.
By the way, the lovely Pilita Corrales may well be called Ageless or Forever Diva, still in top form after all these years.
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HOLLYWOOD – There are, of course Hollywood divas… and Highspeed dwells on them, courtesy of the dependable book by BozeHadleigh, “Hollywood Babble On.”
Maria Callas is a diva. Anna Magnani is a great actress and star. My mother was a goddess. As to saints, most of them were mythical. – Luchino Visconti.
And now from Maria Callas herself: I never attempted to be a film star in any way. I resisted it with all my might…
Opera and film don’t mix, and I can cite a remarkable fact which illustrates this. Only one operatic actress ever became a star in films – Geraldine Farrar. She did it in silent films.
To be a diva, a woman has to maintain a distance from her public. First of all, there’s no such thing as a TV diva, forget it. Lucy was a comic genius but not a diva. Judy Garland – a great movie star but not a diva. Not the personality of a diva. Too familiar and too accessible – and a waif to be a diva. A diva also needs a little arrogance, or a lot, depending. I think the last divas are Barbra Streisand and Elizabeth Taylor. I doubt there’ll be any younger ones. Anyone can be a movie star now; you don’t need special looks or a special talent, and nowadays everyone lets everything hang out, even actresses – no distance and very little dignity. – Robert Preston.
The diva thing is about strong, exciting women, and it’s also decided by gay men. The statement came from Estelle Getty of “Golden Girls,” who said she and co-star Bea Arthur have many gay fans.. “Bea and I both have that diva thing; I don’t no why it is. Betty White and Rue McClanahan don’t have it.”
I am not a diva or a legend.To be either, I think you have to be dead, or at least as old as Marlene Dietrich or Lillian Gish. – Catherine Deneuve.
