Why so few openly gay stars, wonders DONALD CLARKE
YOU KNOW that prominent gay actor who just refuses to come out? No, not him.
He might just be very neat. I mean that chap whose sexuality is no longer in any serious doubt. Why won’t he just come clean?
It’s hard to imagine that such a revelation would do any damage to his career. After all, it’s not as if he’s ever played romantic leads. Come to think of it, we are, these days, so relaxed about homosexuality that even a matinee idol could manage the transition without suffering any serious loss of earnings.
If only this were so. A recent survey for the Stagetrade paper – bible of the English acting classes – has revealed that only 57 per cent of gay actors felt able to come out to their agents. The research suggested that, despite working in a famously gay- friendly environment, most homosexual actors still live a class of double life. Friends and family know the truth, but, as far as the industry is concerned, such professionals are as straight as the average Scientologist action hero.
The US has the odd homosexual politician. On this side of the pond, we happily tune in to watch a numberless array of gay television presenters. The days when the likes of Larry Grayson were forced to play a strange game of bluff – “oh, he’s just acting, you know” – have long faded into grim memory.
And yet. In the world of acting, an unhappy compromise still exists. Bluff character actors, theatre specialists and song- and-dance men are permitted to sail beneath the rainbow flag. Simon Callow, Ian McKellen, Anthony Sher and Miriam Margolyes make no secret of their sexuality. Casting agents have few problems with such actors playing the eccentric relative of younger, more six- packed actors. But openly gay leading men and women are still as rare as admitted homosexual Nascar drivers. (I’m guessing there, I admit.)
One must have sympathy. It’s an insecure profession. Rupert Everett recently admitted that coming out may very well have damaged his career. What on earth is going on?
Since audiences have had so few opportunities to vote with their wallets, it remains hard to know whether telling the truth would cause havoc for a hitherto closeted mainstream star. Sheer bigotry is still a problem. But the absurdly old-fashioned dynamics of the relation between star and acolyte are at least as big a barrier to full disclosure.
Just observe the online anger when a teen star settles down with the latest up-and-coming tyro. Audiences still want to believe that heart-throbs – despite living on the other side of oceans – are theoretically available to the admirer. Who knows? One day you really might get to hook up with Biff Broadchin.
Such fantasies have unfortunate repercussions. These days it’s probably easier for a gay politician to get elected to high office than it is for a gay actor to secure the romantic lead in a Hollywood movie. What a bizarre state of affairs.
