I’d like to do a linguistic analysis of gay identity in the media. Can anyone think of a movie in which a straight actor portrays an openly gay character, along with another movie in which the same actor plays a straight role, so that I can catalogue differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, etc.? I also need the movies to be devoid of regional dialects (at least for the actor in question), as it would add an unwanted variable.
As many examples as everyone can think of would be most appreciated.
Scott Bakula played one of the gay neighbors in American Beauty. He is straight in real life, as far as I know. He played a straight guy in Necessary Roughness and the TV series he was in, Quantum Leap.
Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas in Philadelphia as gay men and in many many other rolls as straight men. see www.imdb.com for filmographies I guess that Bandera has an accent in that movie, but there ya go.
Eric McCormack, every week on Will and Grace. Try Free Enterprise for a movie where he plays straight. Not for any big sociological break through … I just like that movie.
And then there’s Michael Ontkean, in Making Love. Try Slap Shot for a straight role, again, just because I like it.
Speaking of Robin Williams reminded me of John Lithgow as a transexual in The World According to Garp. Not quite addresing the OP I know, but might make an interesting example on its own.
Harry Hamlin and Michael Ontkean played gay in Making Love. Hamlin played Michael Kuzak on LA Law for several years and Ontkean appeared on Twin Peaks.
John Hurt played gay in Partners. He appeared in 1984.
Candice Bergin played gay in The Group. She played straight in Rich and Famous.
Shelley Winters played gay in The Balcony. She played straight in Pete’s Dragon.
Roy Scheider played gay in Marathon Man. He played straight in Jaws.
Rex Harrison and Richard Burton played gay in Staircase. Harrison played straight in My Fair Lady and Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
Peter O’Toole played gay in Laurence of Arabia and straight in Creator.
William Hurt won an Oscar for playing a gay man in “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” For contrast, I would point to his work in “One True Thing” or perhaps “Children of a Lesser God.”
Tom Hanks also won an Oscar for playing a gay man, in “Philadelphia.” Compare with his work in just about anything else, particularly his surburban comedies.
Ed Harris is convincing as a gay character in “The Hours,” as is Jeff Daniels. (But I do not know if Daniels’ true sexual orientation.) For comparison, see Harris in “Places in the Heart” or “The Right Stuff” or almost any other Ed Harris movie. I always assumed Daniels was straight, so look at his work in “Terms of Endearment” and “Something Wild.”
Greg Kinnear played an openly gay character in As Good As It Gets. I haven’t seen most of what he’s been in, but his characters in Dear God and You’ve Got Mail are straight.
I don’t know the actor’s name, but he place Greg in Dharma and Greg* and played a gay man in the movie Love, Sex, and Human Remains.
Also, I don’t know if this would add anything fun to the story, but what about looking at Anne Hache? I mean, she was straight, then gay, played both straight and gay characters in movies (examples include Women in Prison and Wild Side), and then became straight again. Could just add an interesting dynamic to your study, but maybe completely useless.
Probably not on anyone’s list of serious actors, but George Carlin played gay in Prince of Tides very well. The only other roles I’ve seen him in were broadly comic, so I don’t know if they’re comparable, but he was in Outrageous Fortune for one example.
This wasn’t a movie, but WWF’s (I refuse to call it the WWE, despite the Panda-huggers getting their settlement) The Rock had a sketch on his apearance of Saturday Night Live where he played a gay bartender.
First day of filming, the guys all put on their wardrobe in their respective trailers, and John and Wesley come wobbling out, as it was their first time ever wearing heels. They hear Patrick come out of his trailer, and he confidently strides in the direction of the set. They both give him this strange look and he has to explain to them that back when he taught dance, he had to learn how to walk in heels, so he could teach how to dance in heels.
(…wait, Wadsworth was straight, wasn’t he?)