# Films & television shows that have been 'de-gayed" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438 "2006-05-04T19:43:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/1 "2006-05-04T19:43:20Z")
I guess this thread is the opposite to [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=369918). But what movies, tv shows, literature, etc. have had gay content taken out of them? Some examples: film: [These Three](http://imdb.com/title/tt0028356/) - the first movie adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s play “the Children’s Hour”, made in the heyday (pardon the pun) of the Hays code. The rumor of lesbianism between two schoolteachers is changed to become a rumor of an illicit affair between one of the teachers and a male character not present in the stage play. **Spartacus** - the ‘bathing’ scene in which Laurence Olivier and Tony Curtis discuss a hypothetical man’s ‘preference for snails over oysters.’ Cut out of the theatrical run because of the obvious subtext (although restored for the video release in '91.) **Goldfinger** - Honor Blackman’s character Pussy Galore and all of her Flying Circus pilots were lesbians in the novel. The film removes any and all reference to Pussy’s sexuality. television: **Soap** - Billy Crystal’s character Jodie starts the series wanting to have a sex-change operation. By the time the show ended, his closeted pro-football boyfriend was long gone, Jodie had had three romantic relationships with women (including one with a lesbian!), had fathered a baby, and underwent hypnosis therapy to make him straight (the end result of that was he channelled a past-life and got stuck in the personae of a 90 year old jewish man). It’s worth noting that Jodie’s homosexuality was the _only_ aspect of the show that was toned down as it progressed - the heterosexual Campbells & Tates were bed-hopping to the bitter end. **Dynasty** and **Thirtysomething** - I didn’t watch either of these shows so I don’t know the specifics, but both were known for introducing gay characters and quickly rewriting them so that they were straight, or just getting rid of them. Dishonorable mention: **the Incredible Hulk** - In the comic book, the Hulk’s alter-ego is Dr. Bruce Banner. When the series was being developed, producers insisted his name be changed because ‘Bruce’ was “a swishy fag name.” ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/2 "2006-05-04T20:24:18Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > **Dynasty** and **Thirtysomething** - I didn’t watch either of these shows so I don’t know the specifics, but both were known for introducing gay characters and quickly rewriting them so that they were straight, or just getting rid of them. **Dynasty** had a reunion movie and Steven was finally unequivocally established as gay. So he was de-gayed but then re-gayed. > [@TNAIS](#): > > Dishonorable mention: **the Incredible Hulk** - In the comic book, the Hulk’s alter-ego is Dr. Bruce Banner. When the series was being developed, producers insisted his name be changed because ‘Bruce’ was “a swishy fag name.” Mindless technicality: in the comics his name is _Robert_ Bruce Banner, done as a retcon because of a Fantastic Four story in which he was referred to as “Bob Banner.” **Love, Sidney** was an series that featured an early gay character (played by he-man Tony Randall). In the preceding TV movie he was very clearly and openly gay but by the time the series debuted his sexuality had been reduced to approximately a photo of his dead lover seen on a side table. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/3 "2006-05-04T20:53:24Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > When the series was being developed, producers insisted his name be changed because ‘Bruce’ was “a swishy fag name.” I’d like to see those producers say that out loud in a pub in [Earl’s Court](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl%27s_Court). ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/4 "2006-05-04T20:59:21Z")
What about the 1950s film adaptations of Tennesse Williams’s plays: the dark and terrible secret at the heart of the story, that somebody or other is gay, is usually removed or subdued. For example, when Blanche DuBois talks about her young husband’s suicide in the film “Streetcar Name Desire,” all reference to his sexuality is taken out. And in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” not only are the reasons for Skipper’s suicide muted, but all mention of the elderly gentlemen couple who used to own the plantation are removed. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/5 "2006-05-04T21:02:45Z")
And of course, _Suddenly, Last Summer_ in which Sebastian Venable, despite being at the heart of the story, is never allowed to be on-screen. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/6 "2006-05-04T21:09:55Z")
Fried Green Tomatoes is another classic example. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/7 "2006-05-04T21:29:03Z")
_Breakfast at Tiffany’s_\*. In the book Fred is gay. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/8 "2006-05-04T21:36:44Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > **Love, Sidney** was an series that featured an early gay character (played by he-man Tony Randall). In the preceding TV movie he was very clearly and openly gay but by the time the series debuted his sexuality had been reduced to approximately a photo of his dead lover seen on a side table. In addition to which they even had him seduced by an attractive young woman as if to lift the curse once and for all. Tony Randall (who grew up in the art world [his father was a dealer] and became an actor and was surrounded his entire life by gays was furious over the chickening out (but he was also under contract). Several soap operas have done this. A few years ago _Days of Our Lives_ brought back one of Marlena’s mysteriously twins (they aged in the soap opera fashiong of birth to 18 in five years) named Eric and played by [Jensen Ackles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_Ackles) who was, as written, to have been gay. The early episodes showed him constantly on the phone to a “mystery boy” in the state where he’d arrived from and telling him how much he missed him and wanted to be with him. When the handsome young actor proved hugely popular with the girls the secret he was keeping was that he was involved in a gambling ring (or somesuch nonsense) with his friend back home (not sure why he missed being with him so) and he got out of it. Later on they were going to make the character of Brady gay- his father was seen on his knees praying for guidance because his son was so different and going through so much obvious internal pain about something he wouldn’t talk about- same story, handsome actor-major young female fan base-suddenly straightened out-some lame dodge added. I don’t believe they’ve ever had a gay major character on the show. (Source: a Soap Opera Channel show about DooL.) Paul Lynde made a career of playing gay characters on TV guest appearances who were never actually said to be gay and would even have a [one appearance only] female love interest. They included Uncle Arthur on _Bewitched_, Gidget’s uncle on the TV series Gidget, etc.- the “fuss budget bachelor”. On a documentary about _All in the Family_ Norman Lear said he considered giving Archie gay neighbors as recurring characters (ala the Jeffersons or Frank & Irene Lorenzo) but decided it just wasn’t the right time. There was an episode in which Mike had an effeminate friend (played by Luke Geary in the least effeminate acting of his career) who Archie calls a fruit and a fag, then learns that his own butch ex-football player buddy is gay when Mike outs him. Of the many movies that made the main characters suddenly and totally hetero include _Alexander the Great_ with Richard Burton, _Night and Day_ (the Cole Porter story) with Cary Grant and _The Agony and the Ecstacy_ with Charlton Heston as Michelangelo. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/9 "2006-05-04T21:44:53Z")
**Fried Green Tomatoes** really makes me angry. The book is a really charming lesbian love story. The movie is quite good, but removes the love story entirely, making the main characters motivated by friendship. When I read the book, I muttered, “Well, that story sure makes more sense now.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/10 "2006-05-04T22:17:17Z")
[Gentlemen’s Agreement](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039416/), a film about antisemitism, was based on a novel about discrimination against homosexuals (according to my old film professor; I never read the book). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/11 "2006-05-04T22:25:40Z")
> [@The New and Improved Superman](#): > > [These Three](http://imdb.com/title/tt0028356/) - the first movie adaptation of Lillian Hellman’s play “the Children’s Hour”, made in the heyday (pardon the pun) of the Hays code. The rumor of lesbianism between two schoolteachers is changed to become a rumor of an illicit affair between one of the teachers and a male character not present in the stage play. Are you saying the male character was not present in the stage play? Dr. Joe Cardin was Karen’s fiancé in the original Hellman play, the 1936 movie, and the 1961 movie. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/12 "2006-05-04T22:32:48Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > [Gentlemen’s Agreement](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039416/), a film about antisemitism, was based on a novel about discrimination against homosexuals (according to my old film professor; I never read the book). The novel _Gentlemen’s Agreement_ by [Laura Z. Hobson](http://www.vcn.bc.ca/outlook/library/articles/secular_humanism/05j_LauraHobson.htm) was also about anti-semitism. You may be thinking about the movie _Crossfire_ (1947), about an anti-semitic murder, which was from a novel by Richard Brooks about an anti-gay murder. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/13 "2006-05-04T22:48:32Z")
> [@FisherQueen](#): > > **Fried Green Tomatoes** really makes me angry. The book is a really charming lesbian love story. The movie is quite good, but removes the love story entirely, making the main characters motivated by friendship. When I read the book, I muttered, “Well, that story sure makes more sense now.” For what it’s worth, as a straight male who’s never read the book, I _totally_ got that there was something lesbionic going on there. I thought they did a good job of subtly implying it, considering it was 1991. ---
**Author:** ![Earthworm\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f07891/32.png) [@Earthworm\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthworm_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/14 "2006-05-04T22:56:30Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > …something lesbionic… _We can rebuild her. We have the technology_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/15 "2006-05-04T23:04:18Z")
In the show _Dead Like Me_, the main character’s father began the series gay; he was a college professor having an affair with one of his male graduate students. Later on in the series … nary a mention of it. He has a girlfriend. _He was cured_, apparently. [Cite.](http://www.afterellen.com/People/interviews/32004/bryanfuller.html) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/16 "2006-05-04T23:13:38Z")
In the novel **42nd Street** , director Julian Marsh was having an affair with his (male) stage director; that didn’t make it into the movie. The book **The Man Without a Face** was about a misunderstood, pilloried gay man; obviously that didn’t make it into the film with Jesus H. Gibson. Oh, yeah, and that **Cole Porter** bio-pic with Cary Grant . . . ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/17 "2006-05-05T00:06:56Z")
> [@DooWahDiddy](#): > > For what it’s worth, as a straight male who’s never read the book, I _totally_ got that there was something lesbionic going on there. I thought they did a good job of subtly implying it, considering it was 1991. I remember 1991, and there wasn’t anything particularly shocking about lesbians. I also remember _Thirtysomething_. Which character was supposed to be gay? Was it the English Professor? He always seemed a little light on his feet, and on TV that is a tell. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/18 "2006-05-05T00:15:43Z")
> [@saoirse](#): > > I also remember _Thirtysomething_. Which character was supposed to be gay? Was it the English Professor? He always seemed a little light on his feet, and on TV that is a tell. I never watched the show, but I remember a TV guide article on the show that had a photo from the set of two guys lying in bed together, not touching, with the sheets pulled up to their neck. And a stagehand just off camera, holding a boommike over their heads while covering his eyes with his free hand. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/19 "2006-05-05T00:16:22Z")
**The Color Purple** is the first one that comes to my mind. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438/20 "2006-05-05T00:20:16Z")
**[Tea and Sympathy](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049829/)**. In the play, the lead is troubled by being “sensitive” and not manly, and an older woman comes along and helps him out to heterosexuality (this was in the time when it was believed by some that homosexuality could be “cured” by the love of a good woman). The movie toned down the subject immensely. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/films-television-shows-that-have-been-de-gayed/355438.md?page=2)