Wayland Flowers

American actor, comedian and puppeteer, best known for the comedy act he created with his puppet Madame. His performances as "Wayland Flowers and Madame" were a major national success on stage and on screen in the 1970s and 1980s. Flowers was one of the first mainstream entertainers who was openly gay. Flowers created Madame in the mid-1960s. Flowers' first big break was an appearance on the The Andy Williams Show. The character of Madame is an "outrageous old broad" who entertains with double entendres and witty comebacks. Bedecked in fabulous evening wear and "summer diamonds" ("Some are diamonds; some are not"), Madame's look is based on movie stars such as Gloria Swanson. Madame is rumored to be based on a Washington, DC gay icon, waitress and restaurant hostess Margo MacGregor. Madame's many TV appearances included Laugh-In; a long run on the game show Hollywood Squares (replacing Paul Lynde in The Center Square); a recurring comedy skit on Solid Gold; a regular on ABC's short-lived summer replacement show called Keep on Truckin', TV guest spots; and as the star of her own syndicated 1982 sitcom, Madame's Place. During his stint on Solid Gold, Flowers was diagnosed with HIV and eventually developed Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-related cancer. Flowers died in Los Angeles on 11 October 1988, aged 48. Link to Wikipedia biography