Person
Anita Bryant
Barnsdall, Oklahoma, USA
Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and political activist, known for anti-gay activism. She had three Top 20 hits in the United States i…
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Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and political activist, known for anti-gay activism. She had three Top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ambassador from 1969 to 1980 for the Florida Citrus Commission. In the 1970s, Bryant became known as an outspoken opponent of gay rights in the U.S. In 1977, she ran the "Save Our Children" campaign to repeal a local ordinance in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Her involvement with the campaign was condemned by gay rights activists. They were assisted by many other prominent figures in music, film, and television, and retaliated by boycotting the orange juice that she promoted. Though the campaign ended successfully with a 69% majority vote to repeal the ordinance on June 7, 1977 (Dade County restored the ordinance in 1998), it permanently damaged her public image, and her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission was terminated three years later. This, as well as her later divorce from Bob Green, damaged her financially. Bryant never regained her former prominence and filed for bankruptcy twice. She lives in her home state of Oklahoma, runs the Oklahoma City-based Anita Bryant Ministries International, and works with a host of charities and non-profits.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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2026
Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2024
Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution
Movie Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
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2015
Reel in the Closet
Movie Self
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2015
The Seventies
TV show Self (archive footage)
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2009
Sex in '69: The Sexual Revolution in America
Movie Self (archive footage)
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2008
Milk
Movie Self (archive footage)
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1989
Roger & Me
Movie Self
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1982
Oops, Those Hollywood Bloopers!
Movie Self (archive footage)
- 1980
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1979
Army of Lovers or Revolt of the Perverts
Movie Self
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1969
Drugs Are Like That
Movie Narrator (voice) (as Miss Anita Bryant)
- 1963
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1962
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
TV show Self
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1962
The Merv Griffin Show
TV show Self
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1961
The Mike Douglas Show
TV show Self
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1959
The Bell Telephone Hour
TV show Self
More credits
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1959
The Wonderful World of Tupperware
Movie Herself
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1958
Kraft Music Hall
TV show Self
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1957
Tonight Starring Jack Paar
TV show Self
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1954
The George Gobel Show
TV show Self
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1954
Miss America
TV show Miss Oklahoma 1958
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Conventions: The Land Around Us
Movie Self (archive footage)
