Liza Minnelli Makes Rare Appearance During RuPaul’s Drag Race Finale
It’s Liza Minnelli with a new award.
The famed EGOT winner made a rare public appearance during the season 17 finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race on April 18—during which she was awarded with the show’s Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor, which has been presented every year since 2023, recognizes those who’ve made an impact on the world of drag and fashion.
Liza made her grand appearance by reclining on a regal throne while her 1972 song "Ring Them Bells" played. Wearing a glittering black top and dark trousers, she accessorized the look with a black cap, loafers and gold bangles.
After receiving applause from the contestants, the 79-year-old told the chanting crowd, "I love you!"
After RuPaul quipped that his look took six hours to put together, Liza responded, "I know! Seven for me—I'm older than you."
The singer—whose parents were Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli—went on to share rare memories of her childhood, including watching behind-the-scenes at MGM Studios.
"Everybody would rush to see whatever my mother was doing, and my father, especially, because he was making people do magic," she shared. "Oh, he was the best."
Liza also thanked RuPaul and the show for recognizing her work, adding, "I don't know what else to say, except, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be me. You made me."
RuPaul responded, "Well, you made us, actually."
And with such Hollywood mainstays having won previously, it only fits that industry powerhouse Liza is joining their ranks.
After finding success in the Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward in 1963, Liza—whose dad was a film director—found herself solo touring like her mother and achieving on-screen success in films like 1969’s The Sterile Cuckoo and 1970’s Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.
Still, the film that cemented her status as a household name was 1972's Cabaret, where she won her first Academy Award for her portrayal of the vivacious Sally Bowles.
“It’s the kind of film that I was just so pleased to be in,” Liza told the BBC’s Nationwide in 1973. “I think that Bob Fosse found a new way of making a musical film. You know, it wasn’t like anything else in particular. There was music in it, but nobody burst into song on a bus or anything like that.”
One year later, Cassandra took home the title and, in typical drag race fashion, delivered heartfelt words of wisdom with a touch of cheekiness.
“My advice is take your time, be true to yourself,” she said during the April 2024 episode. “And try to show as much skin as possible.”
And with such Hollywood mainstays having won previously, it only fits that industry powerhouse Liza is joining their ranks.
After finding success in the Off-Broadway revival of Best Foot Forward in 1963, Liza—whose dad was a film director—found herself solo touring like her mother and achieving on-screen success in films like 1969’s The Sterile Cuckoo and 1970’s Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.
Still, the film that cemented her status as a household name was 1972's Cabaret, where she won her first Academy Award for her portrayal of the vivacious Sally Bowles.
“It’s the kind of film that I was just so pleased to be in,” Liza told the BBC’s Nationwide in 1973. “I think that Bob Fosse found a new way of making a musical film. You know, it wasn’t like anything else in particular. There was music in it, but nobody burst into song on a bus or anything like that.”
Liza’s love doesn’t just extend to her craft, but to the queer community as well.
“Where would I be without the LGBTQ community of dazzling souls who have always supported and understood me on a level that is unique and extraordinary,” she wrote in a letter published to Billboard in celebration of pride in 2017. “From my earliest memories I understood that some people were different, especially when I met so many of the creative people who were working on films made by my mother and father.”
“Today I celebrate all the special people, past and present,” she added. “Who made it possible for me to be here and to be courageously different. Their examples have shaped me, and without them, my life would be empty.”
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