One of America's first few openly gay major celebrities, actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein (pronounced Fire-steen) didn't need to "come out" after he became famous and was never "outed" against his will. In many ways a typical product of the post-Stonewall off-Broadway and live performance art scene of New York in the 1970s, Fierstein combined a semi-experimental, in-your-face approach with the campy nostalgia, the heart-tugging showmanship, and the conventional formats of the tearjerker, the drag revue, and the sitcom. In the process, he proved to be a key figure in promoting the idea