Joshua Jackson played a gay character in Cruel Intentions and a straight one on Dawson’s Creek. I’m not sure you can call what they do on Dawson’s Creek acting though.
Except the majority of Jody’s love interests were women, IIRC.
Also in Victoria/Victoria, we had Alex Karras playing a gay man, as opposed to playing Mondo in Blazing Saddles.
Richard Dreyfuss played a straight actor playing a gay character in The Goodbye Girl.
Sharon Stone played… something… in Basic Instinct.
Michael Jeter played a pretty darn gay guy in The Fisher King. He also played a straight guy in all sorts of things. I have no idea whether he’s gay or not, but he’s played both sides of the street…
Derek Jacobi and Michael Jeter are both publicly Out (and in Jeter’s case, HIV +).
You mean the actors are straight, right?
Dagnabbit! That’s the one I was going to mention!
For the OP’s purpose, this might be a good movie to examine. Since the characters’ true sexuality is only revealed toward the end of the movie, you could examine the way they played their roles when they were “straight” vs. when they were “gay.” Essentially, in a portion of the movie, they were straight men playing gay men playing straight men. Similarly with Robin Williams in “The Birdcage.” Oh, the possibilities …
William H. Macy played gay in “Happy Texas” and straight in “Pleasantville”. Hank Azaria flames away in “The Birdcage”. Also George Hamilton in “Zorro, The Gay Blade”.
Actually, George Hamilton plays a straight character and a gay character in Zorro, the Gay Blade. Get your comparisons in one movie!
I have a hard time believing this story as Leguizamo had performed in drag with heel in his one man shows which I had seen years before To Wong Foo.
What about Forrest Whitaker in “The Crying Game”?
Also, I don’t know what you’d call Stephen Rea in that movie, but in real life he’s married with children.
Putter Smith as Mr. Kidd and Bruce Glover as Mr. Wint in Diamonds are Forever.
Check out the movie In and Out.
Kevin Kline plays a gay, small-town schoolteacher who is trying to stay in the closet.
Tom Selleck plays an openly gay reporter.
I’m sure you can find plenty of movies where these guys played straight characters.
In Bedrooms and Hallways, Hugo Weaving (“Elrond” in the LOTR series) plays a sex-obsessed gay real estate agent. As the movie is all about gay life in London, i’m sure you’ll find plenty of other straight actors playing gay roles in it.
Several members of the cast of Jeffrey are straight.
WHAT? Corky is gay in Waiting for Guffman? I don’t believe it.
Matthew Broderick in Torch Song Trilogy.
Hugh Grant in Maurice, of which I’ve seen only a small portion. He has a relationship with James Wilby, I believe.
Jason Alexander played a gay character in Long Time Companion, IIRC. He played a straight one in Shallow Hal.
Don’t know offhand if he is gay or straight IRL.
Regards,
Shodan
Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo.
Actually I think Marcus Licinius Crassus, the character Olivier played in Spartacus, was supposed to be bisexual. As a cite I offer the bathing scene in which he tells Antoninus his slave(played by Tony Curtis) “my tastes include both snails and oysters.” Curtis’s character ran away because he figured the master was going to put the moves on him.
Oh…right…yeah, he’s married, isn’t he? Funny, she’s never around…
Wesley Snipes had also done drag before. He played Sister Boom-Boom in the original stage production of Execution of Justice. Dunno if he wore heels for that, but I’d suspect so.