# Has Any Famous Person Who "Came Out" Ever Truly Surprised You? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867 "2010-02-21T13:52:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/81 "2010-02-22T04:33:36Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Yeah, and I can’t believe Liberace was gay. I mean, women loved him! I didn’t see that one coming. Hey, it was the 50s. Men had to repress so much of their personalities that were not Cold-War or Organization-Man approved that women had no choice but to seek vicarious romance through the drippy emotional campiness of an over-the-top candelabrum-brandishing gigolo of the keyboard. Damn, that was a long sentence. But seriously, this was an era where you could be thought of as a homo for wearing a striped shirt. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/82 "2010-02-22T04:34:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Living in New Jersey, Governor Jim McGreevey. I read it on the Internet and made such a noise that someone two offices away asked me what was going on. > > Talk about falling into a Twilight Zone episode. I second this one. I live in NJ too, in a town nearby where he was mayor before he was Gov. I had the TV on and they say that the Gov. is going to make an announcement. I’m wondering what… I was in another room and listening and hear the Gov. say “I am a gay American”. WTF? You could have knocked me over with a feather… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/83 "2010-02-22T04:43:36Z")
I never guessed that Cesar Romero was gay. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/84 "2010-02-22T04:49:59Z")
Roger C. Carmel, Harry Mudd of Star Trek fame. Then again, look how [Harry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Carmel) dressed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/85 "2010-02-22T04:59:31Z")
> [@luv2draw](#): > > I second this one. I live in NJ too, in a town nearby where he was mayor before he was Gov. I had the TV on and they say that the Gov. is going to make an announcement. I’m wondering what… I was in another room and listening and hear the Gov. say “I am a gay American”. WTF? You could have knocked me over with a feather… I can’t believe \*anyone \*was shocked by **McGreevy’s** announcement. Even his wife had to know. He pinged my gaydar the first time I saw him on a NJ tourism commercial. **Raymond Burr** surprised me (first heard about it in this thread), but in thinking about him in **Rear Window** , I can see it. I just had memories of him as Ironsides (how’s THAT for a politically incorrect name for a guy in a wheel chair?) **Portia Del Rossi** was a shock to me, too. Never saw that. But boy, would I like to! She’s a true lipstick lesbian. But, in a fantasy world where she’d offer to be in a 3-some with me, I’d have to turn it down. I couldn’t get excited seeing \*\*Ellen \*\*naked. 😉 **J.E. Hoover** didn’t surprise me at all. He was very effeminate. **Johnny Weir** is just having fun with the media… plus, he seems to have a lot of teenage, female fans who perhaps don’t like the idea of their crush being gay. But he’s _ **flaming** _. He was just profiled on HBO’s Real Sports, and they showed a clip with him in a bathtub with his best friend having a conversation over wine. Not too many straight guys would do that, even as a joke. He told\*\* Frank DeFord\*\* (who I also think is gay, but have no idea if it’s true), that he likes “sparklie things”… that’s as close as he came to admitting anything. Oh, and for those of you shocked! about **Jim J. Bullock** , it may be because you are spelling his name wrong! It is **Jm J. Bullock** (without the i in Jim). At least that’s how I remember it when he was on the Hollywood Squares. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/86 "2010-02-22T04:59:31Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > AIUI (and ICBW), with the exception of Kelsey Grammer, _only_ gay male actors appeared in continuing roles on the show. Wow, you’re right! The most regular male character who might not have been is Daphne’s brother. > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Amanda Peet has been married to a guy since 2006 , she had 1 kid with him and is pregnant again. > > [Celebrity Moms, Adorable Baby Names and Birth Announcements - Us Weekly](http://www.usmagazine.com/momsbabies/news/amanda-peet-were-having-a-baby-girl-2010261) Does he know?!? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/87 "2010-02-22T05:08:51Z")
For some reason, I never realized Paul Lynde was gay until my husband told me. I just thought he was one of those asexual male stars that TV seemed to specialize in, similar to Disney family movie dudes like Dean Jones. I was clueless. I knew about most of these people mentioned in this thread (at least the people I’ve heard of), but I always forget about that aspect of them until reminded. It just doesn’t come to mind when I’m watching them act. Ones who really surprised me: Bulldog Dan Butler, Raymond Burr, Johnny Galecki, and Daniel J. Travanti (I took his picture down off my refrigerator when I realized I could never win his heart the way Joyce Davenport did.) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/88 "2010-02-22T05:13:25Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > […] > Oh, and for those of you shocked! about **Jim J. Bullock** , it may be because you are spelling his name wrong! It is **Jm J. Bullock** (without the i in Jim). At least that’s how I remember it when he was on the Hollywood Squares. 🙂 He was [disemvowelled](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12132275&postcount=12). ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/89 "2010-02-22T05:21:36Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > **J.E. Hoover** didn’t surprise me at all. He was very effeminate. He didn’t surprise or not surprise you, because there’s no proof it’s true. > **[Was J. Edgar Hoover a cross-dresser?](https://www.straightdope.com/21343554/was-j-edgar-hoover-a-cross-dresser)** Listening to say Woodrow Wilson, or looking at FDR with his spats and dandyish cigarette holder, you could equally call their patrician/less-diverged-from-British (British~gaylord) affect and accents “effeminate.” ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/90 "2010-02-22T05:23:51Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > Ha, oops! I thought Sarah Paulson was involved with Amanda Peet - turns out, not so much 🙂 > […] > It seems Sarah Paulson and Amanda Peet are good friends, and there’s a lot of pictures of them together. They starred together in the series [Jack & Jill](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0207889/), which for all intents and purposes started both of their careers. \*Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip \*was a bit of a reunion. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/91 "2010-02-22T05:31:59Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > . . . holding hands with this much longer man. Whan you say “longer,” is “holding hands” a euphemism? > [@](#): > > Okay, you can stop laughing at me now. Not quite. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/92 "2010-02-22T05:46:38Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > He didn’t surprise or not surprise you, because there’s no proof it’s true. > > [Was J. Edgar Hoover a cross-dresser? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2423/was-j-edgar-hoover-a-cross-dresser) [Janis Ian claims](http://www.janisian.com/articles-perfsong/mistakes.pdf) she ran into: “J. Edgar Hoover, dressed in a beautiful strapless pink evening gown…” at the bathhouse in which she was an investor in the 1970s. So we have at least one claim by an eyewitness. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/93 "2010-02-22T06:05:40Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > [Janis Ian claims](http://www.janisian.com/articles-perfsong/mistakes.pdf) she ran into: “J. Edgar Hoover, dressed in a beautiful strapless pink evening gown…” at the bathhouse in which she was an investor in the 1970s. So we have at least one claim by an eyewitness. Janis Ian is a seemingly-crazed self-proclaimed lesbian incest victim who claims the FBI harassed her lefty family back in the day (agenda, anyone?). Her story about running into Hoover in “the late '70s” at a bathhouse is only slightly compromised by the fact that Hoover died in May, 1972. Oh, wait – it’s completely compromised, and there was no “eyewitness,” just some crazy lesbo. Fact check. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/94 "2010-02-22T06:05:40Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > \ > Ones who really surprised me: Bulldog Dan Butler, Raymond Burr, Johnny Galecki, and Daniel J. Travanti (I took his picture down off my refrigerator when I realized I could never win his heart the way Joyce Davenport did.) Daniel J. Travanti is gay?!! Well, I guess that’s the one I didn’t see coming. ---
**Author:** ![Tenar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@Tenar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tenar)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/95 "2010-02-22T06:11:43Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Second Raymond Burr. It’s just hard to imagine Old Ironsides getting it on with another dude. > Also Richard Chamberlain. That one really came out of nowhere. _ **RICHARD CHAMBERLAIN** _? Really? Wow, I don’t see him as even a little hetero, so no surprise there. Or am I being whooshed? Add me to the Raymond Burr queue. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/96 "2010-02-22T06:16:18Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > I was surprised to learn after his death that [Raymond Burr](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Burr#Personal_life) (of Perry Mason and Ironside fame) was gay. Raymond Burr was gay? Boy, I’m out of the loop. Can’t someone cc me on these memos? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/97 "2010-02-22T06:40:21Z")
> [@missred](#): > > Daniel J. Travanti is gay?!! > > Well, I guess that’s the one I didn’t see coming. Now you can’t have him, either! ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/98 "2010-02-22T06:47:55Z")
> [@Cazzle](#): > > It seems Sarah Paulson and Amanda Peet are good friends In addition to starting out their Hollywood careers on Jack & Jill, both also starred in Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. > [@needscoffee](#): > > Johnny Galecki, and Daniel J. Travanti When and where did either of these two come out? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/99 "2010-02-22T07:01:41Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Raymond Burr would not have guessed. > > Surprised Tony Randall \*wasn’t \*gay. He was a hetero horndog. This to both. George Takei- admittedly I’d never really thought about his sexuality one way or the other, but aside from being a “lifelong bachelor” (i.e. no women- he’s had a boyfriend for many years) there was nothing identifiably gay about him. > [@tumbleddown](#): > > When and where did either of these two come out? To my knowledge neither has. There are rumors about both but you’re nobody until you’re rumored to be gay if you’re not married. Galecki played a male prostitute in a hit play on Broadway- one that required a full nude scene and making out with another guy (pics online if you’re interested) which probably fuels the rumors. This isn’t to say he _isn’t_ gay IRL- I honestly have no idea. His co-star Jim Parsons _almost_ outed himself on a TV show when he was talking about growing up in a conservative suburb of Dallas and having to to go to downtown to find “other… shall I say… like types”. There was some laughing and he said “You know what I mean… other people into… theater”. I’ve seen Seth Green on several openly gay lists. While I don’t know if he is or isn’t and wouldn’t be surprised either way (I’ll admit he pings my gaydar and always has), to my knowledge he’s never come out. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867/100 "2010-02-22T07:05:25Z")
For lesbians- Meredith Baxter was a shocker because of her several marriages and kids. Fannie Flagg surprised me- don’t know why. I suppose she always looked matronly. (She’s never officially come out to my knowledge but her ex-lover, Rita Mae Brown, has written about their relationship and about Fannie’s previous relationship with Susan Flannery, with whom she remained close.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-famous-person-who-came-out-ever-truly-surprised-you/529867.md?page=6)