18), originally a hit for Bert Kaempfert. 10), and " Wonderland by Night" (1961, US No. 5, and covered by Marie Osmond 13 years later), " In My Little Corner of the World" (1960, US No. She also had three hits that reached the Top 20 in the U.S.: " Paper Roses" (1960, US No. 30), from the Broadway production The Music Man. īryant had a moderate pop hit with the song " Till There Was You" (1959, US No. Bryant was given the Silver Medallion Award from the National Guard for "outstanding service by an entertainer", and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Leadership Gold Medallion. She again traveled with Hope for televised shows during the Vietnam War. įrom 1961 until 1968, Bryant frequently joined Bob Hope on holiday tours for the United Service Organizations. She appeared early in her career on the NBC interview program Here's Hollywood and on the same network's The Ford Show, starring Tennessee Ernie Ford.īetween 19, Bryant performed at multiple White House functions, including both the Democratic Convention in Chicago and the Miami Republican Convention in 1968. She divorced him in 1980, attracting allegations of hypocrisy from the Christian right, who cited the indissolubility of Christian marriage. (Bobby), Gloria, and twins Billy and Barbara. In 1960, Bryant married Bob Green (1931–2012), a Miami disc jockey, with whom she eventually raised four children: Robert Jr. Īnita Bryant with a sailor during a Bob Hope USO show on the USS Ticonderoga in 1965 She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town.īryant became Miss Oklahoma in 1958, and was second runner-up in the 1959 Miss America pageant (held September 6, 1958) at age 18, right after graduating from Tulsa's Will Rogers High School. She was singing onstage at the age of six, at local fairgrounds in Oklahoma. When Bryant was two years old, her grandfather taught her to sing " Jesus Loves Me". Army and her mother went to work as a clerk for Tinker Air Force Base, taking her children to live with their grandparents temporarily. After her parents divorced, her father went into the U.S. Early life and career īryant was born in Barnsdall, Oklahoma, the daughter of Lenora A. 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. Bryant never regained her former prominence and filed for bankruptcy twice. This, as well as her later divorce from Bob Green, damaged her financially. Though the campaign ended successfully with a 69% majority vote to repeal the ordinance on J(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. They were assisted by many other prominent figures in music, film, and television, and retaliated by boycotting the orange juice that she promoted. Her involvement with the campaign was condemned by gay rights activists. 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. In the 1970s, Bryant became known as an outspoken opponent of gay rights in the U.S. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ambassador from 1969 to 1980 for the Florida Citrus Commission. She scored three Top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940) is an American singer and political activist, known for anti-gay activism.
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