Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940) is an American
singer and anti-gay rights activist. She scored four Top 40 hits in the United
States in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including "Paper Roses"
which reached No. 5 on the charts. She was also a former Miss Oklahoma beauty
pageant winner, and was a brand ambassador from 1969 to 1980 for the Florida
Citrus Commission
Although her family lived in Oklahoma City, entertainer
Anita Bryant was born at her
grandparents' house in Barnsdall, Oklahoma. She lived in Velma-Alma,
Tishomingo, Midwest City, and Tulsa. Her musical career began at a very early
age. She first performed on-stage at the age of six, and three years later she
won her first talent show. It was after this victory that she won a spot on
Arthur Godfrey's talent show on television. From there her musical career
blossomed, and the singer -- known as Oklahoma's "Red Feather Girl"
-- made her recording debut in 1956 with the single "Sinful to
Flirt."
In 1958, she was crowned Miss Oklahoma and moved on to
the Miss America pageant, where she came in third thanks to her musical
talents. "'Till There Was You" from The Music Man was Bryant's first
chart-topping hit in 1959. She released three albums on the Carlton label
(Anita Bryant, In Your Home Tonight, and In My Little Corner of the World), and
hit number one again in 1960 with Bert Kaempfert's "Wonderland of
Night."
servicemen at many U.S. military
bases in different parts of the world, including 3 in Vietnam in 1964, 1965 and
1966.In 1968 she performed at both the Democratic and Republican presidential conventions. She has entertained several times at the White House, and she sang at former Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson's 1973 funeral. From 1968 to 1980, she appeared in 76 television commercials as a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission.
In the 1970s she became a spokesperson for several products,
including Florida orange juice, Coca-Cola, and Kraft Foods. She also authored a
series of books. She also recorded several albums for the religious label Word,
though the transition never lacked the boisterous singing style that had
already been associated with her.
By the late 70’s, following her highly publicized
anti-gay campaigning, gay activists in the country had ensured a boycott on
Florida Citrus Commission due to their use of Bryant as their spokesman. The
ban was supported by many celebrities, including Barbra Streisand , Bette
Midler, Liza Minnelli, Bea Arthur, Paul Williams, John Waters, Carroll
O'Connor, Mary Tyler Moore, and Jane Fonda. Anita’s outspoken position on the
subject and the launch of the Anita Bryant Ministries eroded her commercial
success.
Emboldened by her success in Florida, Bryant and her
husband went national with their anti-gay message, but on October 14, 1977
while in Des Moines, Iowa,, a gay rights activist pushed a whipped cream pie
into Anita Bryant’s face during a press conference. Her reaction was to say
“Well, at least it’s a fruit pie.”
Good Housekeeping magazine named her the most admired
woman in America in 1978, 1979 and 1980.She was also inducted into the Florida
Citrus Hall of Fame in 1988. In 1980 Bryant and husband Bob Green divorced. In
1986 she was the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honour by the Statue of
Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation..
In 1990 she married Oklahoma native Charlie Dry, a former
NASA test crewman. She opened and headlined music theaters in Eureka Springs,
Arkansas, Branson, Missouri, and finally in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. She
continued to sing in numerous performances throughout the season at the Anita
Bryant Theater in Branson, Missouri, and later at her own theater in Pigeon
Forge, Tennessee. The Pigeon Forge venue filed for bankruptcy in 2001.
As of 2008 Anita still lives in Edmond, Oklahoma, and is
doing charity work for various youth organizations while heading Anita Bryant
Ministries International. (Edited from IMD,
AllMusic & Encyclopedia of Oklahoma, History and Culture)
