Gay/Bisexual Actors in Old TV Shows ( Pt 2 )

 

 

Saffron Burrows

Saffron Burrows (1972 – ) in Enigma

The statuesque Saffron; she is 6 feet tall (1.83m), played Lorraine Weller in Boston Legal for two seasons (2007-8). She was also Detective Serena Stevens in the 2010 season of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She was particularly beautiful in the WW2 spy thriller Enigma: Crack the Code (2001). For several years she was in a relationship with fellow British actress Fiona Shaw. Harry Potter fans will recall Shaw playing Aunt Petunia Dursley in five of the features. In 2013, the divine Saffron wed writer/producer Alison Balian and they now have a child. Alison wrote and produced for Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show for several years.

 

The Brady Bunch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

PeopleQuiz - Biographies - Robert Reed

Robert Reed (1932 – 1992)

Today Reed is chiefly remembered for playing Mike Brady in the inordinately popular family sitcom The Brady Bunch back in the late 60s and early 70s (1969-74), but he was also an important player in several other series far better than the schmaltzy rubbish that was The Brady Bunch. His other series included The Defenders, Mannix, Dr Kildare and Rich Man, Poor Man. Interestingly, in one of his final interviews he admitted that he, too, detested The Brady Bunch and his role in it. Reed kept his homosexuality secret all his life. A close friend of his was another gay actor George Maharis, but whether they were lovers has never been established. Reed died from colon cancer and was HIV positive at the time of his demise.

 

A Brief History of America's

Taos Unlimited | Movie Locations of the Great Southwest! | 1960s ...

 George Maharis (1928 – )

Route 66 (1960 – 63),  developed quite a cult following in the three seasons it lasted, due in no small way to the charismatic appeal of its two leads, especially Maharis who played Buzz Murdock. His clean-cut co-lead was popular Martin Milner, an actor who promised much but never really hit it big. George bared all for a 1970 Playboy centrefold spread, but his career unravelled in 1974 after he was charged with committing a sex act with a hairdresser in the men’s room of a Los Angeles gas station. He had previously pleaded guilty to a ‘lewd conduct’ charge with another man back in 1967. When a former male lover died and George’s homosexuality was revealed in the tabloids, ‘casting offices stopped calling after that’, he said.

 

Amazon.com: Family Ties: Season 3: Michael J. Fox: Movies & TV

 

Meredith Baxter | Elyse Keaton | Family Ties

Meredith Baxter (1947 – )

For seven years (1982-89), Meredith was known throughout the world as Elyse Keaton, the mother of the massively popular Alex, played by Michael J Fox. Unlike shows such as The Brady Bunch, this sitcom had clever, funny scripts, and is still effective today. Fox’s comic timing was exceptional. Meredith had three failed marriages (that produced five children) before she chose to ‘come out’ as a gay in 2009. In 2013, she married her lover of seven years, Nancy Locke. Her former Family Ties co-star, Michael Gross, toasted the couple at their wedding.

 

Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

RNA | Professor Taboo

Jim Nabors (1930 – )

For five successful seasons(1964-69), Nabors portrayed the gawkish, bungling, but loveable Gomer, always at loggerheads with Sergeant Carter played by Frank Sutton. The role pretty much pigeon-holed Nabors as a simple-minded bumpkin, but he had another talent – a rich baritone singing voice that saw five of his albums go gold and one platinum. A vicious prank did the rounds while he was at the height of his popularity in the 1970s, stating that he and Rock Hudson had secretly married each other. Nabor’s network immediately cancelled his upcoming variety series and his career stalled. Today, he is legally married to a former firefighter, Stan Cadwallader, his partner of 38 years.

 

Frasier - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Top 12 TV Characters We'd Like To Recycle | XFINITY TV Blog by Comcast

DAVID HYDE PIERCE (1959 -)

After tasting only fleeting success as an actor in film and on stage, Pierce auditioned for the role of Dr Niles Crane in the popular sitcom Frasier (1993 – 2004). His strong facial resemblance to Kelsey Grammer helped secure him the part. His acting ability has done the rest. In fact, he was nominated for a Supporting Actor Emmy in a Comedy Series every year the series ran, eleven in all, winning four times. Quite an achievement. In 2008 he married his partner, producer of Titus and Caroline in the City, Brian Hargrove.

 

Cast | Outside The Wire

DAN BUTLER (1954 -)

Butler appeared in 53 episodes of Frasier playing Bulldog Briscoe. He had small roles in the movies Enemy of the State and The Silence of the lambs, and had been a successful writer for TV and film for some time. Openly gay, he married actor/director Richard Waterhouse in 2010.

 

The Big Valley - Alan's FUN TV Western Trivia Quizzes

 

The Big Valley on Pinterest by John White | Richard Long, Brother ...    Double Indemnity (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barbara Stanwyck                             in Double Indemnity (1944)

(1907-1990)

Although she was Victoria, the matriarch of the Barkley family on TV’s The Big Valley (1965-69), the inimitable Barbara Stanwyck enjoyed a long acting career that far excelled such mundane fare. My favourite performance of hers came in 1944’s film noir Double Indemnity (in spite of the abysmal blonde wig she was compelled to wear), a movie I must have watched 40 times already. Her determination to lead a private life, surely a contradiction in terms for a Hollywood movie star, saw her remain tight-lipped about her sexuality, but the lady was clearly bisexual, at least according to those who knew her in the old days when she, Joan Crawford, Tallulah Bankhead and Marjorie Main spent a lot of leisure time in the gay and lesbian haunts of Harlem during the Roaring Twenties. Her marriage to Robert Taylor was almost certainly arranged by the studio to allay accusations of bisexuality directed at both of them.

 

It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It: A Lesson From the Hit ...

 

David Ogden Stiers

David Ogden Stiers (1942 – )

I suppose it comes as no great surprise that Stiers is gay. He played Major Charles Winchester in M.A.S.H. (1972-83), in a way that was anything but ‘macho’, never once showing an interest in a female; unlike his tent-mates who chased anything in a skirt. On his ‘coming out’ in May 2009, he was most candid: ‘I could claim noble reasons as coming out in order to move gay rights forward, but I must admit it was for far more selfish reasons. Now is the time I wish to find someone and I do not desire to force any potential partner to live a life of extreme discretion for me.’

 

The Rebel Johnny Yuma on Pinterest | Johnny Cash, Screens and Stars

Nick Adams (1931 – 1968)

The Rebel ran for three seasons (1959-61) and 76 episodes, Adams playing the star Johnny Yuma in every one. Although landing a part in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and an Oscar nomination for 1963’s Twilight of Honor, Adam’s career failed to go anywhere in the next five years. He befriended James Dean prior to his death, and was linked (some say romantically) with Dean, Elvis Presley and heartthrob Robert Conrad. Everything ended for Adams in 1968 when his body was found slumped against his bedroom wall, dead from an overdose at 36. It was said at the time that his death was an accident, that he was taking the drugs for a nervous disorder. Nothing since then has managed to alter that assessment.

18 Comments

  1. Is it really true, ELVIS PRESLEY, THE KING, was bisexual? All his years, he was always married to Priscilla or dating what’s her face the beauty queen. Please tell me that this is backed up by valid proof!!!!

    • Thankyou for your note, Donna. I merely posed the question that has been asked by others. Personally, I am totally convinced Elvis was heterosexual. Some writers have disputed that but they have supplied no proof that will change my opinion on the issue.

      • In her autobiography, ‘Tis Herself’, Maureen O’Hara mentioned that Boone and Peter Lawford were found in a gay brothel full of ‘beautiful young boys’ when they were in Australia making ‘Kangaroo’ in 1952. The studio hushed up the story.

        • is no evidence that richard boone w
          as anything other than straight..at the time of supposed incident..he was meeting with his fiancee..Claire mcaloon at the hotel she was staying while the film he was in was filming in town..he and his fiancee was madly in love and they married as soon as the film he was in was completed. I know he and Peter lawford worked together and was friendly for a while when filming but they never crossed paths again after film was done. Miss O’Hara was upset because no one was paying attention to her even though she was better known and her years as a youthful leading lady was coming to a close..and she was taking it out on people on the set.

          • Most interesting, Vickie. I have serious doubts about Richard Boone being possibly gay. His appearance at that brothel in Australia was probably as a curious observer, nothing more. I read Miss O’Hara’s auto-biography and was less than convinced by her writing. I felt that Anthony Quinn’s book was far more believable, but that is simply my opinion only.

  2. My late partner lived in both New York and Chicago in the 50s. He claimed to have had restroom encounters with George Maharis and Bob Fosse. Of the former, he stated that in real life, Mr. Maharis was better looking than on film and that he was one of the most beautiful men he’d ever seen.

  3. Now that mr. Stiers is gone I can vouch firsthand having worked at the Old Globe Theatere, San Diego,when he performed there in King Lear he was indeed gay. God bless him God Rest him he’s a wonderful man.

  4. There isn’t reliable information that David Ogden Stiers is gay. About 4 years ago it was written on a blog that he was gay and apparently that has been the source for claiming that he is gay. The Talk portion on his Wikipedia page details the rumor.

    • There wouldn’t even be much ‘gay stuff’ to talk about if the authorities had not taken it upon themselves to make homosexuality a crime. Probably the same lot who introduced Prohibition.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.