People in this thread which surprised me:
Reginald VelJohnson (and to the guy who mentioned Urkel fanfic-DAMN YOU!!!)
John Mahoney (had heard it b4, but was unsure)
Jimmy Parsons
Dave Ogden Stiers (though a friend had told me)
I missed the posts before about Tom Hulce. I can’t say I’m surprised to find out he’s gay because I’ve never really thought about it one way or the other. But how openly gay is he? He was married up until 2005. Did the marriage break up as a result of him realizing he was gay or was he in the closet?
The thing that did surprise me was the way he now looks. Okay, he’s fifty-seven. But I guess because he stopped appearing before the camera I still picture him as being a young actor.
What’s the story on Christina Applegate? Is she bisexual? I know she’s been married to one man and is now preganant and engaged to another but I’ve heard rumors. One was that she had an unofficial marriage to another woman (this was before same sex couples could get legally married). When this became public knowledge Applegate denied being a lesbian and said she and the woman were just good friends who had gotten “married” as a joke. Which seems like kind of a strange thing to do as a joke to me.
One actor I was surprised to learn is gay is Denis O’Hare, who currently plays Russell on True Blood. I don’t think he’s particularly well known, but he’s appeared several times on Law & Order TOS and that signals “good if not great actor” to me. I read an interview with him when he mentions his “partner” but didn’t knock me over the head by announcing he was definitely gay. I don’t know if he was mentioned earlier in this thread.
I did a little googling and the assumed aftermath to that story was that Christina was blitzed out of her mind. So I wouldn’t go adding her to any Wikipedia GLBT lists just yet.
When I first heard he was gay, it was at least 20 years ago. (I have no idea if he really is gay or not.)
Tom Hulce was never married:
**** I was surprised to learn that Fanny Flagg is a lesbian. She said that years ago she and Dick Sargent used to pretend to be a couple to keep the general public from knowing that they were both homosexuals.
It doesn’t! 
Put me down for another ‘John Barrowman as the biggest surprise.’ The man is Sex On Legs no matter what orientation. Shoulda guessed that something that heart-stoppingly good-looking couldn’t be straight. There went THOSE fangirl fantasies…
NPH and Takei were the second biggest shockers. Harris was completely adorable as a kid and still is as a grown up. I read Takei’s autobiography without ever figuring it out.
I was surprised when I learned about Matt Bomer (White Collar). I still think he would have made a better Superman than whoever they picked for the next one.
Funny how I came across this thread.
I couldn’t believe it about John Mulhoney. Guess it’s down to Grammer for representing the Other Team.
Back in the mid-80’s a friend of mine was dating a girl who used to be a Hollywood hairdresser. She said Burr and Mr. Brady were gay! I really had trouble processing all of that, but it was finally borne out decades later!
Also heard from another Hwood insider that a certain older actor, known for his on-stage portrayal of an archetypical American Author was gay. But still stays in the closet.
Read online a few years back about Paul Newman, and couldn’t believe it. Now, not so sure.
I used to believe Kevin Spacey’s denials…until those National Enquirer pix of him and his massage buddy came out…
Really? Richard Chamberlain? He was outed in my mind in the mid 1970s, before I was even sure what sexuality was.
I found out recently that sixties pop singer Lesley Gore is openly gay. Not only was she presented as an all-American teenager in her early years, but songs like “Sunshine Lollipops and Rainbows” are almost parodic in their notions of female heterosexuality.
