Gay Pride wasn’t born yesterday, but at 50 this month, it’s never been more vital. That’s due, in part, to Rupert Everett, who was something of a pioneer in the movement as it entered adulthood. The 60-year-old actor came out in 1989, five years into his filmography, back when it still was considered certain career suicide to do so.
I’ve always thought of Everett as a successful actor, so I was surprised to come across a 2009 The Guardian profile in which he lamented the effect coming out had had on his career. He also cautioned aspiring gay thespians against making the same mistake: “I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.”
His rant began with this: “The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business. It just doesn’t work, and you’re going to hit a brick wall at some point.”
Everett has enjoyed a solid, if not quite spectacular, 35-year career, so it’s tempting to dismiss his gripes as bitterness over its occasionally jagged trajectory, but consider this: If he had come out much later or not at all, would his early promise as the next Cary Grant — or a British Rock Hudson — have translated to eventual superstardom?
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Although openly gay actors now can find fairly gainful employment, especially if they look like, say, Matt Bomer, and can be mistaken for straight, we still don’t have one of Will Smith’s or Bradley Cooper’s A-list caliber.
No openly gay actor has ever won a performing Oscar (Kevin Spacey, Sir John Gielgud, and Cabaret’s Joel Grey were not publicly out when they grabbed their gold), and even bisexual and sexually/gender fluid ones hit that brick wall. Nico Tortorella has publicly identified as all three, and that might partly explain why he has yet to parlay his exposure on Younger and his leading-man good looks into substantial TV roles.
It’s harder to answer that definitively than it is to blame Everett’s Oscar snub for playing Will to Julia Roberts’ Grace in the 1997 hit My Best Friend’s Wedding on an Academy that’s more likely to be floored by a straight actor negotiating a gay character with such finesse (see Rami Malek’s and Mahershala Ali’s 2019 wins — and even Olivia Colman’s). Did the Academy pass over him despite his receiving rave reviews and Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations because voters assumed he was just playing himself?
We’ll never know for sure, but by choosing the courageous road less taken, Everett may have instantly pigeonholed himself. That’s something any fledgling gay actor should consider. While there are benefits to being out from the start — never having to worry about the dreaded tabloid expose, for one — there are potential hazards.
If you claim stardom as a gay character, you run the risk of being typecast. This is particularly true if you don’t fit the “bro”-gay standard. Chris Colfer won a Golden Globe as the openly gay Kurt Hummel on Glee, but according to Wikipedia, most of his post-Glee TV credits have been playing himself — literally.
Four-time Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce never hid his sexual orientation, but he probably owes his longevity to staying quiet about it for so long. Had he been out of the closet during Frasier’s heyday, would viewers have been as invested in Niles’s romance with Daphne?
Like Pierce, Neil Patrick Harris, Matt Bomer, Zachary Quinto, and Ben Whishaw, all waited until they were fairly established before coming out as gay, which might have been wise of them. Harris probably wouldn’t have been cast as the womanizing Barney Stinson on How I Met Your Mother if he had outed himself 10 years earlier than he did. That the show’s popularity didn’t suffer after he came out in 2006, though, shows that Hollywood underestimates the viewing public’s capacity to suspend disbelief.
Quinto has worked steadily since coming out in 2011, but his profile is considerably lower than that of his straight Star Trek costar Chris Pine. Meanwhile, Whishaw has won rave reviews, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for playing Hugh Grant’s lover in the 2018 TV miniseries A Very English Scandal, but the onetime frontrunner for the role of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody watched the part (and the Oscar) go to the more marketing-friendly (i.e., straight) Rami Malek.
Speaking of Mercury, music wasn’t particularly hospitable to gay and bisexual men when the late Queen frontman was alive or even for decades after he died. Coming out didn’t hurt the professional standing of Elton John in 1976, George Michael in the early ’90s, or Ricky Martin in 2010, but all three were already well-established by that time. Had they not been, Elton’s 1970-76 commercial peak, Michael’s Grammy-winning Faith, and Martin’s “Livin’ la Vida Loca” might never have happened.
The times, they are a-changing in music, though. Adam Lambert, Sam Smith, and Troye Sivan were out pretty much from the start, and all three have done well anyway. Then there is Frank Ocean, whose success still begs unavoidable questions: Did Channel Orange, his 2012 debut album, sell 131,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week because of the publicity surrounding his pre-release admission that his first love had been a man? Or did it sell that many in spite of it?
Was Ocean more acceptable because he resisted labeling himself as gay or bisexual, and veers far from the stereotypical campy gay man? I wonder how fans and the hip-hop community would have reacted had he come out and said, “I’m gay,” then showed up on a red carpet holding a man’s hand the week of the album’s release. Would Channel Orange still have done as well as it did?
At least the music industry occasionally bows down to gay pride. Hollywood merely curtsies politely. The movies still treat straight actors playing gay with far more respect. Until filmmakers respond to our gay pride with more gay pride of their own, the likes of Rami Malek and Mahershala Ali will continue to reap all the greatest benefits of living our lives.
Wicked Dickie
You can’t compare a gay musician to a gay actor. The movie industry is much bigger than the music industry. Further, musicians can release their music independently and free, from YouTube, too Soundcloud. Actors are under contracts with studios, they’re paid a lot of money, and the investment is much larger with a greater probability of the studio not getting their return on investment.
chaz54
DOES HOLLYWOOD FAIL OUT ACTORS….
Jeremy,
I can’t believe you fell for Ruperts’s winning; maybe he shouldn’t have written a biography EARLY in his career telling anyone who would listen that he was. Quite a productive RENT-BOY.
I like the style of the new color too ofc journalists but one thing, DO YOUR RESEARCH .
As for the GLEE bunch, I’m just glad that they received hefty paychecks…
Donston
Please don’t try to connect Nico Tortorella’s with “gay struggles”. His struggles are all within himself. He’s a terrible actor who is a divisive figure within the “lgbtq community” and has only been known to have “dated” a guy for a couple months. He’s the one who allowed his “queerness” to completely dominate his image and his career. He’s the one who wanted to consistently get press for it while at the same time doing and saying many things that made him off-putting to other “queers”. If you want to bring his career struggles into the equation then you can throw Ezra Miller in there as well. He’s the most high-profile “queer” actor, and he’s not at all finding it hard to get high profile parts and get gigs in blockbusters despite claiming he sexually engages with the whole spectrum and claiming he doesn’t really have a sense of gender and now claiming he doesn’t really have any romantic/sexual/affection/relationship preferences. There have been plenty of guys in Hollywood throughout the decades who have admitted to not being heterosexual, not feeling entirely cis gender and/or indulging homo behaviors, but their careers have not struggled. We can try to lump the “queer community” together all we want, but actually saying that you’re “gay” or actually indulging legitimate, publicly known same-sex relationships or people knowing that you mostly date your same gender- these are different beasts entirely.
There’s so much predatory shit in Hollywood, so much internalized homophobia, manipulation and shame. We already know there are plenty of “queers” in the industry who look not to hire gay identifying actors for straight roles or for any roles at all. All of this is fairly well known at this point. So, I question why any adult who is homosexual/homo-leaning/homoromantic/gay thinks they can enter that industry and change the game.
As far as Ocean goes, well, his music is just good. He is where he’s at primarily because his actual art. But semi coming out before his album was released did boost his profile a bit and add some extra buzz and context to the album. While keeping his life private, avoiding identity, avoiding talking about himself, his relationships, where he is on the general spectrum, being more “masculine” and not making much of any overtly homo-erotic/homoromantic music have all assisted his career, has made him more palatable in the “black community” and has made him look “more cool” to many people. But a musician’s career and the type of pressures they have is quite a bit different than an actor’s.
Selverd
Chris Colfer is pretty busy writing children’s books right now, along with directing and writing a movie based on one of them. So while I’m sure he would have less acting opportunities than other straight actors, I don’t think his lack of credits post-Glee is because he can’t find any work.
Donston
He’s a pretty effeminate guy, openly gay, doesn’t have much conventional sex appeal and is merely an okay actor. So, the acting options beyond Glee were always gonna be limited. No one from Glee (besides Darren Criss to a certain degree or if you want to count Jane Lynch) has had much mainstream success post series.
Selverd
He’s been successful as a children’s author, and I think he’s more than an okay actor, but I already acknowledged he probably wouldn’t be getting as many opportunities as a straight actor would.
My disagreement was with this article saying he hasn’t been able to find any roles post-Glee because he’s effeminate or openly gay, when he’s been busy with other projects ever since the show ended and isn’t exactly struggling for work.
Donston
He found some success in a different avenue. That doesn’t really speak on his acting career.
Selverd
It’s still a leap to act like he’s a failed actor who can’t find any roles because he’s choosing to do other stuff right now.
Brian
But it’s he doing the other stuff because that’s what he wanted to do, or did he have to find a new career path because he couldn’t get any acting roles?
Selverd
He started writing books when he was still on Glee, so I think it’s something he likes doing. I also find it hard to believe he wouldn’t be able to find ANY roles. Like, maybe not a romantic or action lead, but I don’t think he would have any trouble guest starring or having a supporting role on a sitcom or dramedy. And unless he’s burned his bridges, I think at the very least Ryan Murphy would be happy to cast him in one of his projects.
wvrnsson
As both Lea Michele and Darren Criss (both non-gay actors I know) have easily found work within Ryan Murphy’s universe and not much outside of it, I think if Chris really wanted to act, Ryan would mold a role for him to play. I do consider him to be the best of the actors from Glee, although Darren wowed me as Cunanan and I hope that does bring him success outside of the Murphy universe.
Donston
Ryan likely would have hooked him up with some gigs if Chris really wanted it. My point was that being a successful author doesn’t mean anything to his acting career. I believe he likely didn’t want to deal with persistent rejection and all the general BS in the industry.
frenchjr25
Rupert Everett doesn’t get a lot of work because he isn’t the easiest to work with. He also has a history of trashing his co-stars and other celebrities in the media.
Chris Colfer is a different story. He was extremely lucky to be on one successful TV series. Few actors get that chance. And then maybe 10% of them ever get the chance at another series. Plus his looks and performance ability are perfect for TV and the stage but not for film.
And by the way, Gay pride is more than 50 years old. Stonewall wasn’t the beginning – not by a long shot.
Kangol2
The fight for gay rights predates Stonewall and similar uprisings a few years before (in SF, etc.), but where in the US or most Western countries, let alone others, were there open Gay Pride celebrations before 1969? Do tell.
OzJosh
Yes. I’m so sick of Rupert Everett’s career dive being held up as the ultimate example of homophobic injustice. You only have to read his own autobiography to know that he behaved appallingly, was never disciplined, was either drunk or drugged half the time and, unless you were also enjoying a coked-up 80s, would have been extremely unpleasant to be around. Everett admits all this himself, yet still doesn’t seem to connect the dots. He’d rather believe there was a homophobic conspiracy than accept that he self-sabotaged.
Mack
I think what it all comes down to is whether or not the actor can play a convincing “gay” or a convincing “straight” part. It’s called “acting” for a reason. As much as I like Chris Colfer I really don’t think he could ever play a convincing “straight” part nor can Sean Hayes. As far as some of the others, they’ve proven they can so they should continue trying out.
Donston
This is one of the elephants in the room. More effeminate and “obviously queer” guys are always going to have a more difficult time, even if they can be more “butch” in their acting roles. But openly homosexual/homo-leaning/homoromantic/gay actors rarely even get offered high-profile gay roles. Furthermore, dudes like Luke Evans, Matt Bomer and Zachery Quinto have proven to be at least solid actors who can be rather convincingly “straight”, but they have all still struggled to remain relevant in the mainstream. That’s despite having some high-profile, mainstream roles at one point and getting a decent amount of hype at one point. While Hollywood has started to give “masculine females” more high profile gigs and opportunities. That hasn’t happened with more effeminate males.
Brian
Exactly. Typecasting is something lots of actors have to deal with, it’s definitely not limited to gay people. Even if Sean and Chris could easily pull off straight roles, nobody is going to think of them for that when they’re casting, and audiences wouldn’t be likely to buy them in those roles.
OLSinFLA
Sean Hayes could not play straight on TV.. maybe. But he did on stage in “Promises Promises” and got a Tony nomination for it.
Mikey E
Chris Colfer is one of a very few people who can be both effeminate and somewhat attractive. For me, it’s almost certainly a deal-breaker. But in his case, the effeminacy is less caustic and offensive than it is in most people suffering from the condition. He is so talented and nice, that it offsets the effeminacy issue to a degree.
That having been said, if he weren’t effeminate, he would be 1000X hotter. He did a scene in Glee where Kurt tries to audition for a male romantic lead role in a school play, which in turn required Colfer (Kurt) to act normal and not-effeminate for a few minutes during the audition. It was really something to see. A glimpse of the man he might have been had he not been saddled with this condition.
Selverd
Suffering from a condition?
Donston
You must always find a reason to speak on how distasteful you find effeminacy to be and how it’s important to be a “real man” or be “normal”. We get it. Furthermore, the general reaction to this article is becoming about effeminacy when there are clearly many issues in the industry beyond that.
It amazes me how willing people are to dismiss Hollywood’s homophobia, internalized homophobia, effemiphobia, straight/hetero-leaning worship and the general pressures to manipulate or stay closeted. That’s despite so many people within the industry commenting on these things. It really highlights how so many people out there are full of self-resentment and how so many of “the gays” are easy to placate.
man5996853
I doubt that you have any qualities that offset your “condition.” You are just a sad, self-loathing queer.
ptb2016
it’s bizarre how many gays there are in positions of power in Hollywood, but the likes of Ryan Murphy are unfortunately few and far between, as most do not champion gay subjects of support openly gay actors. I worked win one openly gay and very successful Oscar winning producer who wanted to make a film about Alexander the Great but insisted it star porn star at the time Cal Culver, who he clearly just wanted to get very close to. Naturally the movie never happened until macho Oliver Stone miscast his version. I was propositioned more than once, (and a couple of times I didn’t mind at all and had a good time!) being open about my sexuality, but not being in front of the cameras or in a position of power I had a hard time from the other technicians, in a so called ‘liberal thinking’ business. Imagine what its like for an actor with the chance of taking a $60million movie on your shoulders?
Cam
“”Four-time Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce never hid his sexual orientation, but he probably owes his longevity to staying quiet about it for so long.””
……
What a cute way of admitting that Hyde Pierce was closeted but trying to pretend he wasn’t.
jjose712
At least lately more gay producers and directors are chosing gay actors for roles, in the past (and i think it’s still prevalent) a lot of gay people in power positions made it even more difficult for openly gay actors.
On music the change on the last decade is very significative. Even in mainstream radio charts right now it’s not that difficult to find a couple of gay singers (when that was very rare on the past)
deacon
As for Ben Whishaw I doubt his sexuality has anything to do with him not getting the role of Freddy Mercury, you ever think that going with someone who’s ethnicity is the same as the person your filming about is the right thing to do.
Persa
Rami Malik is of Egyptian ancestry (his parents are immigrants to America)
Freddy Mercury was of Indian ancestry (his parents were immigrants to Tanzania, then England)
They do not have the same ethnicity.
EliottlovesLucas
Wishaw essentially aged out of the part due to long development.
Gary Q VV
Up front, I admit my ignorance in the mainstream film industry. But, the theme follows that of all other homophobic discriminatory actions of societies. I feel comfortable in speaking about statistics regarding the quagmire that many LGBTQ family find themselves when wanting to do that for which they have a professional passion, but find luke-warm reception and of course that horrid brick wall.
This article is about all of those film actors who either feared or experienced homophobic disputations or didn’t. These lines of though are important issues because they lend to the underlying principles of why we lack real equality and freedoms.
We Queers will never be treated equally in the US until we are granted Constitutional legal guarentees ratified by processes defined by the Framers in Article V. That’s a very important issue of which our community should be aware, and fight for.
djmcgamester
I do think it’s problematic, obviously going back decades. I can’t help but wonder if more actors were out at the beginning if it would be less of a stigma with Hollywood. If I had to take a guess, they might say something like “that guy can’t pull off being a straight man”. My response would be “why not”? Even if they’re on the more feminine side, there’s this thing called ACTING that people do. If a straight guy can pull off the role of an effeminate gay man, why can’t an effeminate man pull off the role of a typical masculine straight man? Like it said, it’s called acting. If they can’t play diverse roles there’s already a problem. They ought to be judged on their actual acting ability rather than perceived masculinity.
Note: The article only discusses men so I stuck to that. I have no doubt that “butch” lesbians have similar issues.
TopazNixie
If you think that Chris Colfer was playing himself in his post glee roles then it shows how little you know about him.
A basic google search would have informed you that he has had sixteen books published since 2012, twelve of those post glee. The first book in his new series is due out later this year. He’s also been adapting the screenplay for the movie based on his books. He went on book tours for most of those books too. He’s hardly been at home twiddling his thumbs. As for those who think Ryan Murphy will give him a role, it was my understanding that they parted ways a long time ago.
niles
Many of these actors played supporting roles (such Mr. Spock to Captain Kirk), so they naturally are not going to be looked at for the starring roles in Hollywood. But the truth is that “gay” mannerisms and speech do affect one’s ability to act a part and can be very distracting. That is why a smart actor will work on delivering a more neutral everyman presentation, not necessarily straight, but one that could encompass a wide variety of roles.
Gary Q VV
You’re unfortunately correct that some Gays have to pretend to be that which they aren’t. African descendants have a more difficult problem since they can’t hide their skin color. And, a Queer African descendent has quite a whammy to deal with.
Point of comment: As the fabulous late Gilda Radner’s character “Roseanne Roseannadanna” always said, “It’s always something”. And, that’s why to be treated equally in the film industry, as well as everything else, we Queers gotta get off our behinds and be active in our Gay Revolutionary fight for freedom.
EliottlovesLucas
My theory is Hollywood is less “gay” than people think. Gay Hollywood probably peaked in the 50s as far as actors are concerned. I say most ambitious and talented gay actors head to Broadway or the West End. A lot actors we are talking about have a lot of success there. Keep in mind Asia and Russia account for much of the market for American films and Russia and some Asian countries have anti-gay propaganda laws. So having a truely openly gay actor could cause complications.
dont
What many forget is that Hollywood is not a US business, movies are an international business.
An openly gay actor automatically has issues with a lot of countries around the world, whether it being going on a publicity tour or as a filming location.
Yes, a US audience may accept a gay actor in a role, but will a Russian? Chinese? Malaysia?
It’s very unfortunate, but with something like 2/3 of the box-office for a large moving coming from outside the US it is understandable why an out actor would be considered a significant risk.
Cam
So in other words, it isn’t Hollywood that is bigoted, it’s OTHER places. Yeah, that’s the same line Hollywood used a few decades ago “Oh it isn’t HOLLYWOOD that’s racist, it’s just that middle America won’t accept it.”
Nope, bigotry using others as an excuse is still bigotry.
Kangol2
It is telling that he doesn’t mention any Black or other POC actors, but I didn’t expect him to. I wonder if he can identify any–beyond the most obvious, and recently notorious case (i.e., the one canned from Empire, etc.). Also, I’m not sure he b!tches about the mistreatment of Black gay men, but rather he focuses on his own personal crises, as you point out in your second comment, and then abstracts them to all Black gay men.
yaletownman
Hollywood is a business and profits a lot from the fantasies of its patrons. Being that straight women make up a huge portion of that Hollywood has to take their fantasies under consideration.
When a woman lies down at night with her vibrator she’s likely to bring someone to mind that she can fantasize will actually want to have sex with her. Actors have always been a part of these fantasies. Movie goers fall in love with these actors not only for their characters on screen but for who they are off and patronize them accordingly. No matter how convincingly a gay actor plays a straight character in a film if he’s gay off stage a woman won’t be able to imagine him wanting her and that kills the fantasy. He will have lost his sex appeal to most of the movie going audience.
I don’t blame an actor who has the potential to at least make some solid money before coming out. I just don’t know how long a person can live that way before their soul cries ‘no more’. I guess it’s up to each individual how long they can take it.
Cam
Except Straight women don’t seem to have a problem with gay men. But that IS the excuse Hollywood has used for years to avoid casting LGBT actors as well as why they kept claiming that people wouldn’t go see a movie with a black lead or a woman lead.
The problem is, when those movies came out and actually made money Hollywood is STILL trying to use those same tired excuses.
TopazNixie
Times have changed. Chris has a huge following of straight women, a good portion of those straight women love to think about him and another guy especially Darren Criss. Some of those straight women are so obsessed that they actually believe Chris and Darren are in a secret relationship even though Chris has been with his boyfriend for years and Darren is married. There is a similar patten with other fandoms.
I first noticed this type of behaviour back when the US version of Queer as Folk was on air. I’ve also noticed that when it’s two straight actors playing gay, they play up to it because they know it gets them attention. Once they get that attention they know they can peddle their merch and ads. It’s a big market. Hollywood is well aware and are adapting.
montegutdude
I was just watching a clip of Chris Colfer winning his Golden Globe on Youtube. It’s a great moment due to his complete surprise at winning and his touching acceptance speech. Everybody should go watch that.