When he was a hot, young leading man on television’s Dr. Kildare then later on such classic miniseries as The Thorn Birds and Shogun, actor now openly gay actor Richard Chamberlain remained firmly in the closet.
In a new interview with Brandon Voss for The Advocate, the now 76-year-old Chamberlain surprisingly advises gay actors who are leading man types to do in 2010 what he did in the 60s, 70s, and 80s: stay in the closet!
“It’s complicated,” he says. “There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay” — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.”
Brandon follows up by asking: “When can a leading man come out – when he’s 69 and promoting a memoir?” (As Chamberlain did in 2004 with Shattered Faith)
“I have no idea,” the actor says. “Despite all the wonderful advances that have been made, it’s still dangerous for an actor to talk about that in our extremely misguided culture. Look at what happened in California with Proposition 8. Please, don’t pretend that we’re suddenly all wonderfully, blissfully accepted.”
Arrrg! With the success of such openly gay stars as Neil Patrick Harris, John Barrowman, Alan Cumming and others who can play straight or gay roles, this is exactly the kind of attitude that will never change things.
I wish Chamberlain, who will be guest-starring on ABC’s Brothers & Si
sters as a love interest for Saul (Ron Rifkin), were more encouraging of actors coming and working to help change this viewpoint. Maybe Brothers & Sisters cast member, the openly gay Luke Macfarlane, can talk some sense into him!
To read the rest of Brandon’s interview with Chamberlain, go to Advocate.com.
The Young and the Restless star, Thom Bierdz talks candidly about cosmetic surgery he recently had and what he’s had done in the past in the new issue of Soap Opera Weekly.
The actor, who plays Phillip Chancellor III on The Young and the Restless, recently underwent liposuction to remove fat from the neck and upper stomach area.
Here’s what led to the lipo:
“On the September 13, 2010 episode of Y&R, my character, Phillip, consoled Nina in their diseased son’s bedroom. I remember the assistant director telling me not to look down and I almost rolled my eyes to Tricia Cast (Nina) about it. I had no idea how bad I looked in tha
t position because I was not able to see myself at this angle. … When I saw myself on TV, I was quite horrified and amused to see that my angular face was a complete round, fat mass that hung like Play-Doh when I looked downward. … My shirt also creased between my chest and my upper stomach because of a peculiar fat bump that made me look like I had a belly. So I wanted to remove that upper stomach fat.”
Why did he go through the trouble of surgery?
“I so want Y&R to give my character a love interest. I want to be a fit actor if that happens, but I have no idea if they will come through with a gay romance for Phillip.”
Thom was a closeted actor when he first played Phillip on the soap from 1986 to 1989. His mother was murdered by his mentally ill brother soon after that and Thom left acting for many years. He re-emerged in the public eye as an acclaimed artist and author and last year returned to Y&R only this time, as an openly gay actor. Phillip was also written to be gay and hiding his sexuality was explained as the reason why he faked his own death and fled Genoa City.
Thom had silicone injected into his jawline and had his ear pinned back 30 years ago to make his triangular face look more square. Last year, he added additional silicone to his jaw but it ended up making him appear wider on TV.
The handsome Thom looked pretty good to me before. What do you think of how he looks now?
A really terrific interview has just been posted on Advocate.com with True Blood’s new vampire king, Denis O’Hare.
The Tony Award winning actor made his debut on Sunday’s episode as Russell Edgington, vampire king of Mississippi. He shows up with his handsome afterlife partner of 700 years.
Brandon Voss has a terrific chat with Denis and here are a few appetizers:
The Advocate: It’s great to see you playing a gay character in True Blood. You’ve played gay before in Take Me Out and An Englishman in New York, but you rarely take on gay roles, especially for an out actor. Has that been a conscious decision on your part?
Denis O’Hare: No. Years ago I went in for As Good as It Gets, that movie with Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, and Greg Kinnear. I auditioned for the gay part, and after I finished the audition the casting director rolled her eyes and said, “This is a gay character. I’m so tired of people playing gay people like they’re straight. This is a gay man.” I was like, “OK. Should I do it again?” She goes, “Yeah, make it gay!” So I went a little more in that direction, and it was fine, whatever. When we finished, she said, “So how’s your family? You’ve got a wife, right?” I said, “No. I have a boyfriend.” She said, “You’re gay? I thought you had a wife!” It was really revelatory to me that she had some weird assumption about how gay people were supposed to act. Somehow, because I wasn’t acting that way, I couldn’t possibly be gay. It was such a bizarre experience. So I guess to some straight casting directors, I’m not gay enough to play gay.
You’ve definitely played your share of straight jerks. So what did you think about Ramin Setoodeh’s Newsweek article?
I must admit I didn’t read it, so I shouldn’t even speak to it, but of course I have an opinion anyway. It annoyed me, but I thought it was more complicated than the ensuing discussion. I don’t think his point was that gay actors can’t convincingly be straight in roles; I think his point was that once the knowledge is out that those actors are gay, the audience is unwilling to suspend their disbelief. So I felt there was a finer point there that got lost in the stampede. His point has less to do with the ability of actors and more to do with society’s ongoing prejudices and our inability to cut a gay man the same kind of slack we’d cut Julia Roberts if she were playing a nuclear scientist. We could suspend our disbelief for that, but we can’t suspend our disbelief to accept that Sean Hayes is interested in sleeping with Kristin Chenoweth? That’s a problem.
True Blood is known for its gratuitous male nudity. Would you get naked for a scene if asked?
I was asked, and I’m in bed with somebody in episode 10. It’s just from the waist up, but I was wearing a teeny jockstrap thing. I’m 48, so I wasn’t quite hoping that’s the way my career would go, but I’m proud of how I look. I can’t compete with 25-year-old bodies, but I’m in pretty good shape. I did spend the previous two weeks doing a little extra at the gym.
Describe Russell and Talbot’s dynamic 700 years into the relationship.
What you’ll see is a marriage that’s well-traveled and a little frayed at the edges. These guys snipe and complain, but there’s always an incredible deep affection at the base of it. Theo and I worried that there were too many fighting scenes between us, but then we had this lovely scene later in the season, a lovely tender moment, where I finally get to put my hand on his cheek and basically talk about how much I care for him. It was a great relief to have that scene, because we kept talking about that every day of shooting: How do we show the love?
Go to Advocate.com to read the entire interview.
Thom Bierdz, a talented actor, artist and author returned to Young and the Restless last year after a 20 year absence not only from the soap, but from acting.
His presumed dead character of Phillip Chancellor III resurfaced with a storyline that mirrored Tom’s life in one way: he was openly gay. Phillip went off to Australia but here’s hoping he will return to Genoa City soon!
Anyway, Tom’s return to the soap has made for some unusual encounters like the one he shared on Facebook yesterday:
It’s been ages since anyone recognized me in the grocery store, +-+Copy.jpg)
but everytime i get tested at the clinic for HIV, all the workers (even in the mobile units) ask me questions from “how many partners have you had in the past 6 months?”, “what kind of sex do you have?,” and then, “is phillip coming back to the young and the restless?” talk about feeling exposed LOL after another HIV negative result last night, I treated myself to french fries.
Will & Grace actor Sean Hayes has confirmed he is gay – adding that he was "never in" the closet.
The star, who played gay character Jack McFarland in the sitcom, has been criticised in the past for not declaring his sexual orientation.
In an interview with Advocate, he said: "I never have had a problem saying who I am. I am who I am. I was never in, as they say. Never."
The magazine had criticised him for giving media interviews in which he skirted around the topic of his sexuality, despite it being an open secret in Hollywood.
Hayes said: “Nobody owes anything to anybody. You are your authentic self to whom and when you choose to be. And if you don’t know somebody, then why would you explain to them how you live your life?
“I feel like I’ve contributed monumentally to the success of the gay movement in America, and if anyone wants to argue that, I’m open to it. You’re welcome, Advocate.”
On the magazine's criticism, he added: “Why would you go down that path with somebody who’s done so much to contribute to the gay community?
“That was my beef about it. What more do you want me to do? Do you want me to stand on a float? And then what? It’s never enough."
The actor also confirmed he was in a relationship, saying only: "I spend time with a special someone in my life. That's it. That's all I need. I don't need events. I don't do a lot. I live my life like an 85-year-old man. I'm just quiet. It's fantastic."
When he was a hot, young leading man on television’s Dr. Kildare then later on such classic miniseries as The Thorn Birds and Shogun, actor now openly gay actor Richard Chamberlain remained firmly in the closet.
sters as a love interest for Saul (Ron Rifkin), were more encouraging of actors coming and working to help change this viewpoint. Maybe Brothers & Sisters cast member, the openly gay Luke Macfarlane, can talk some sense into him!
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