# Do closeted gay actors get a special kick out of playing romantic leads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510 "2006-01-05T02:39:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/1 "2006-01-05T02:39:00Z")
I don’t know which actors are gay, and care less, but I assume there are some heart-throbs who are deep into the closet. Whatever their reasons for staying there, do you suppose one of them might be pride in their thespic talents, getting money and acclaim for portraying something that is foreign to them, and playing it intensely and convincingly? He’s out, but Dan Butler, who played the crude hetero Bulldog on “Frasier”, must have gotten a charge from doing (so to speak) a straight male so well. Do you think he’d gotten more of a charge out of it if he never told anyone about his own orientation? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/2 "2006-01-05T03:26:18Z")
Pretty much off-topic, but not completely, so I’ll mention it – watched **Stage Beauty** the other night – Billy Cudrup plays an actor who plays female roles (mostly Shakespeare) – when James II (played by Rupert Everett – ahem) decrees that not only shall women no longer be prohibited from being on the stage, only women can portray female characters, Cudrup’s dresser, Claire Danes, becomes an actress. Interesting flick – I enjoyed it. Have you seen it? ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/3 "2006-01-05T03:27:54Z")
Personally I think that most closeted gay actors use their acting talents more in real life than on the big screen. They may get a thrill out of fooling the movie audience for sure. I would certainly bet that Rock Hudson did. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/4 "2006-01-05T03:40:49Z")
It’s hard to think of a question that would come up with less informed answers than this one. Not only does it require us to guess what gay actors think, I doubt whether anyone will have an anecdote or quote to illuminate their answer. My bet? Maybe, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/5 "2006-01-05T11:58:24Z")
> [@don't ask](#): > > It’s hard to think of a question that would come up with less informed answers than this one. Thanks. You’re telling me that this is so hard to imagine, there may be a short story in it. From the p.o.v., perhaps, of a ferociously gay actor who finds himself typecast profitably in macho roles, and derided for the narrowness of his range. A gay John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford who can only make money by playing the manly straight-as-an-arrow roles we know him for, but who gets called unbelievable in roles outside that range. I don’t know know if I’m the guy to write it, but it’s an interesting story. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/6 "2006-01-05T13:26:32Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > He’s out, but Dan Butler, who played the crude hetero Bulldog on “Frasier”, must have gotten a charge from doing (so to speak) a straight male so well. He always pinged my gaydar, but I thought that was just the over-machoness of the character. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/7 "2006-01-05T13:49:02Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > Thanks. You’re telling me that this is so hard to imagine, there may be a short story in it. I think he’s telling you that there’s almost no way to get an informed answer to that question. I guess you could take that to mean it would make a good subject for a short story. ---
**Author:** ![Bogeyman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3e96dc/32.png) [@Bogeyman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bogeyman)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/8 "2006-01-05T16:16:02Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Pretty much off-topic, but not completely, so I’ll mention it – watched **Stage Beauty** the other night – Billy Cudrup plays an actor who plays female roles (mostly Shakespeare) – when James II (played by Rupert Everett – ahem) decrees that not only shall women no longer be prohibited from being on the stage, only women can portray female characters, Cudrup’s dresser, Claire Danes, becomes an actress. > > Interesting flick – I enjoyed it. Have you seen it? Not to hijack the thread, but that would have been James’ older brother, Charles II, famous for his love of at least one actress (Nell Gwynne). And no, I haven’t seen the movie. Sounds interesting. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/9 "2006-01-05T16:20:07Z")
> [@Bogeyman](#): > > Not to hijack the thread, but that would have been James’ older brother, Charles II, famous for his love of at least one actress (Nell Gwynne). :smack: Yeah, Charles. Sorry. Nell Gwynne is also a character in the film, as is Pepys. As I said, I enjoyed it – worth a look, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/10 "2006-01-05T17:45:19Z")
I doubt it. Well, sure, there might be a bemused WTF occasionally, but pride? No more than any actor would have in playing a terrorist, or a leper, or a high school principal. The reason it’s acting is that you’re playing something you’re not. I’d expect that more often they’d feel guilt-ridden, frightened and self-loathing at lying to everyone (sometimes even themselves) and never sharing who they really are. Or perhaps angry and resentful at a system and society which they percieve as forcing them to lie about themselves and deny their loved ones in public. But that shouldn’t have anything to do with their roles, it’d be due to their closetedness. And I loathed _Stage Beauty_. It completely misrepresented theatrical history, ascribing Stanislovskian technique to Rennaisance players. WTF? Naturalistic acting styles where unheard of for hundreds of years to come, yet that’s what Claire Danes somehow brings to theater, completely revolutionizing the art form? As if. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/11 "2006-01-05T18:29:12Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > I don’t know which actors are gay, and care less, but I assume there are some heart-throbs who are deep into the closet. Whatever their reasons for staying there, do you suppose one of them might be pride in their thespic talents, getting money and acclaim for portraying something that is foreign to them, and playing it intensely and convincingly? > > He’s out, but Dan Butler, who played the crude hetero Bulldog on “Frasier”, must have gotten a charge from doing (so to speak) a straight male so well. Do you think he’d gotten more of a charge out of it if he never told anyone about his own orientation? I’m a die-hard Doris Day fan, and one of my fave films is “Pillow Talk”. Summary - Doris & Rock Hudson have a party line. They hate each other; he decides to have a little fun at her expense & pretend to be uber-cowboy “Rex Stetson”. “Rex” starts to court Doris, but Rock goads her about him. At one point, Rock insinuates that “Rex” might be a leeetle _too_ close to mama - after all, as Doris confided, “Rex” hadn’t hit on her. They’re at a club, and after “Rex” samples the chips & dip, he makes a comment to the effect that “he simply _must_ get the recipe for Mama”. It always makes me cringe, because I wonder how a gay man playing a straight man insinuating that his alter-ego might be gay got through that scene. VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![Batsinma\_Belfry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea5d25/32.png) [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/12 "2006-01-05T18:31:47Z")
**Richard Chamberlain** , who at the time was still closeted, later said in an interview that his love scenes with **Rachel Ward** during _The Thorn Birds_ were, " incredibly repulsive". ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/13 "2006-01-05T19:03:36Z")
> [@Veuve\_ClicquotNJ](#): > > I’m a die-hard Doris Day fan, and one of my fave films is “Pillow Talk”. Summary - Doris & Rock Hudson have a party line. They hate each other; he decides to have a little fun at her expense & pretend to be uber-cowboy “Rex Stetson”. “Rex” starts to court Doris, but Rock goads her about him. At one point, Rock insinuates that “Rex” might be a leeetle _too_ close to mama - after all, as Doris confided, “Rex” hadn’t hit on her. They’re at a club, and after “Rex” samples the chips & dip, he makes a comment to the effect that “he simply _must_ get the recipe for Mama”. > > It always makes me cringe, because I wonder how a gay man playing a straight man insinuating that his alter-ego might be gay got through that scene. > > VCNJ~ I have read that Rock used to regularly screen his movies for his friends, lovers, and acquaintances, the Doris Day ones being crowd favorites. Pillow Talk is definitely on of my favorite of his movies. I used to wonder how he got through those scenes, but then again it was a much different era, and Rock was quite accomplished at hiding his own sexuality. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/14 "2006-01-05T19:13:07Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > And I loathed _Stage Beauty_. It completely misrepresented theatrical history, ascribing Stanislovskian technique to Rennaisance players. WTF? Naturalistic acting styles where unheard of for hundreds of years to come, yet that’s what Claire Danes somehow brings to theater, completely revolutionizing the art form? As if. I’m not knowledgable enough about/invested enough in theatrical history to be bothered overmuch by that, though I was aware it was wrong. The main thing I found of interest in the film was the exploration of gender roles, which the ending didn’t really affect all. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/15 "2006-01-05T21:21:06Z")
The division of “gay actors who get a special kick out of playing romantic leads” and “gay actors who don’t get a kick out of playing romantic leads” falls roughly along the same line as “gay actors who do/don’t like fried ice cream.” ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-closeted-gay-actors-get-a-special-kick-out-of-playing-romantic-leads/338510/16 "2006-01-06T08:39:37Z")
The gay actors I know find it incredibly difficult and not at all enjoyable to play heterosexual romance, as per Richard Chamberlain. Would you like to kiss a same sex person, night after night on stage? It’s like that.