# TV & Movie Characters Who HAD to Have Been Gay, but Weren't **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436 "2003-12-17T01:11:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/141 "2003-12-22T00:29:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Just as an aside, Benny’s effiminacy wasn’t something nobody talked about. I wish I could remember who it was who said of Jack, “You put that man in a dress and you could take him anywhere”. \*\* No cite, but if memory serves it was Alan King. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/142 "2003-12-22T02:05:57Z")
Data and Geordi, from _ST: TNG_. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/143 "2003-12-22T02:20:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Joel \* > \*\*There’s an add for Yellow Book (A telephone directory) where they show three people who work for “The Other Book” (clever, huh?) and one of the guys, the one who keeps saying “I told you, we’re in trouble people” seems very gay to me. Not so much the later adds, but more in the first couple of adds. \*\* Yes, I remember those ones. He did seem extremely campy. There was also a commercial for Lotrimin (I think it’s an athlete’s foot medication) that depicts two baseball players. At one point in the ad, apropos of nothing, one player puts his arm on the other guy’s shoulder. On another MB I referred to those two as “the only openly gay men in professional baseball.” ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/144 "2003-12-22T06:35:05Z")
When I think about it, Uncle Fester from the Adam’s Family might have been gay. I mean, he was an older man who was still single, and he did have a strong attachment to his Mama :D. On a related note, on a coppy cat show, Herman Munster seemed kind of effiminant. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/145 "2003-12-22T07:39:05Z")
What, no mention of C3PO? ---
**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:** [December 22, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/146 "2003-12-22T19:36:36Z")
Other folks who should’ve been mentioned in this thread by now: Starsky & Hutch, Cagney & Lacey, Sabrina Duncan (Kate Jackson’s character from “Charlie’s Angels”), Bulldog from “Frasier” (can you say ‘overcompensating’?), Any Peter Lorre character (he’s “artistic” after all…)… …And then there’s Maude! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/147 "2003-12-22T20:31:52Z")
Pretty much any character played by the late, great Vincent Price. I mean, come _on_. The mincing, the lisp… I watched The Last Man on Earth yesterday, and it has to be said: Vincent Price stakes vampires like a _girl_. ---
**Author:** ![Patr100](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@Patr100](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patr100)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/148 "2003-12-22T21:55:16Z")
Dr Smith from the Lost in Space series. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/149 "2003-12-23T00:37:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Art Vandelay, Architect \* > \*\*Bulldog from “Frasier” (can you say ‘overcompensating’?), > \*\* Dan Butler is gay and is involved in GLBT activism for quite a long time. He was the spokesman for the National Coming Out Project… oh, about 10 years ago or so. He’s done a bunch of public service announcements as well. To the OP, I nominate: Skippy from _Family Ties_. Why? Well, his name is _Skippy_ for one, and because he clearly had a crush on Alex P. Keaton, no matter how much he claimed to be in love with Mallory (denial, denial, denial). ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/150 "2003-12-23T01:05:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spoke- \* > \*\*Pretty much any character played by the late, great Vincent Price. I mean, come _on_. The mincing, the lisp… I watched The Last Man on Earth yesterday, and it has to be said: Vincent Price stakes vampires like a _girl_. \*\* I’m sure Buffy would take issue with you on that assessment. \ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/151 "2003-12-23T22:24:47Z")
I’m surprised no mention of Cory and Shawn on BOY MEETS WORLD. Cory’s marriage to Topanga is going to ultimately end up JERRY SPRINGER- he and Shawn wanted to do each other worse than the duos on MOONLIGHTING and WHO’S THE BOSS combined. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436/152 "2003-12-29T06:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Um, Danny Pintaro IS gay. Unless you mean his character on _Who’s the Boss_. \*\* I meant the character. Dang it…what was his name? Jonathan. I had to look it up at the IMDB. BTW, I remember him playing Paul on “As The World Turns” a gazillion years ago. That was waaaaay before “Who’s the Boss?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-movie-characters-who-had-to-have-been-gay-but-werent/219436.md?page=7)