DECEMBER 23, 1994

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 25

ON WITH THE SHOW

Gays and lesbians on the screen in 1994

by Jerry Semas

It's the end of the year, and a brief look back at gays and lesbians in film and television turns up quite an array of material.

One of the TV season's most memorable was the Frasier episode in which the new gay station manager mistook Frasier's attempt to set him up with a girl as an invitation for a date with Frasier. The ratings were big, and NBC was so hyped by the episode that they re-ran it in November during sweeps month.

And don't forget

Roseanne's annual Hal-

loween party episode in

which Leon who was dressed in drag as

Hillary Clinton. The party featured many drag denizens, and a running gag about Jackie's new husband being gay. One of the best lines was when Roseanne guessed

Leon's costume to be J.

actor named Bunny. Of the other films from 1994, let us not forget Gregg Araki's Totally Fucked Up, The Sum Of Us, Go Fish and Under Heat, just to name a few.

The about-to-open film The Madness of George III, from director Nicholas Hytner, certainly has a gay aura around it. The picture stars prominent gay British actors Rupert Everett (Another Country) and Nigel Hawthorne (as George) in addition to Amanda Donohoe, famous for her lesbian kiss scene

As you get older you start to realize that it really doesn't matter what other people think.

Jonathan Murray executive producer of MTV's The Real World

Edgar Hoover. Leon resonded indignantly, "Hoover would never wear taupe. He was an Autumn!"

Over at ABC, the critically-acclaimed but faltering in the ratings My So Called Life features a continuing gay character played by the real-life gay actor Wilson Cruz. Cruz plays Ricky, an feminine Latino boy who is dealing with his own awakening homosexuality. In a recent episode, Ricky's parents kicked him out of the house when they found out he was gay. The same thing happened to Cruz a year ago when his real-life parents discovered his sexual orientation.

Harvey Fierstein was barely seen as an openly gay character on the Dudley Moore series Daddy's Girls before CBS put the show on hiatus after only three episodes. The network claims to be re-working the show and will bring it back after the first of the year. The cable channel Comedy Central braved the critics and advertisers once more when they aired the second lesbian and gay comedy special, Out There II.

Of course, one of the biggest broadcasting coups ever was the PBS airing of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City. Though PBS and the miniseries' British backers pulled out of plans for a sequel, don't count it out yet. One of the major cable channels is still very interested in producing More Tales of the City, the second book of six Maupin wrote.

In addition to an increased number of gay faces on television, the film industry saw many reflected such welcome changes. The gay hit of the century, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is still playing in theatres around the country. Tim Burton's bio of Angora-holic and schlock filmmaker Ed Wood featured more camp than Allan Carr's bar mitzvah. Johnny Depp was marvelous in drag with Bill Murray playing a gay

on L.A. Law; Jan Holm, who had an affair with Timothy Dalton in Mary, Queen of Scots and Rupert Graves, best known as Skutter in the Merchant Ivory film Maurice.

Another

Maurice alumni, Hugh Grant (Four Weddings and a Funeral), is about to have his life and

dirty laundry hit the publishing world. Grant's former girlfriend (yes, real girlfriend-sorry guys!) Jody Tresider is working on a book titled Hugh Grant: An Intimate Biography. The publishers promise the work will include juicy scoops such as a tidbit about how Grant's former Oxford classmates thought he was gay.

Now that Andy Williams has his own theatre in Branson, Missouri, maybe its time to build a cabaret club for his nephew David. Best known as a teen magazine pin-up boy in the 70s, David Williams is a little older, and now out as a gay entertainer. Teamed with his brother Andrew, the duo's third album, Harmony Hotel, has been released by Warner Brothers. A cut from that album encouraged David to come out to the public. The piece is called Don't Look Now and covers AIDS issues and the need for compassion.

Late Columbus playwright Scott McPherson's play Marvin's Room is on its way to becoming a movie. The touching comedy focuses on terminal illness and is scheduled to begin production next year. This production will mark the motion picture directorial debut of Broadways own Jerry Zaks. Another stage-to-screen project is Craig Lucas' Reckless. Mia Farrow and Mary Louise Parker will star in this fable abouat a woman forced to go on the lam on Christmas eve when she finds out her husband has hired someone to kill her. Norman Rene will direct the project which marks his third teaming with Lucas, having previously teamed on Prelude To a Kiss and Longtime Companion.

Antonio Banderas (Philadelphia) is playing the title role in Richard Rodriguez' film Return of the Mariachi. The project is a sequel to an earlier, low-budget ($8,000) film Rodriguez made with supportive friends a few years ago. Steve Buscemi (Parting

Glances) plays Banderas' best friend and Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino has a small part.

In literary news, writer Boze Hadleigh is working on a book titled Hollywood Lesbians which looks at woman to woman relationships through Hollywood's golden years, arranged marriages, and all the hush-hush news that never touched the pages of gossip columns of that period.

Look for a top-notch cast in Jocelyn Moorhouse's film How To Make An American Quilt, based on the book by Whitney Otto. The list from a recent casting coup includes Ann Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Capshaw, Dermot Mulroney, Kate Nelligan, Winona Ryder, Rip Torn, Alfre Woodward

In the top ten

At the Miss Gay America pageant held recently in Dallas, Texas, Miss Gay Ohio, Brazon, placed 8th out of 53 contestants. In the preliminary scoring Brazon was 3rd in the top ten. Brazon is the first person to go from Miss Gay Columbus to Miss Gay Ohio and then on to the Miss Gay America

Y

pageant.

and Maya Angelou. Filming began last month in Los Angeles.

Word comes that a British company, Kudos Productions, will make the film version of The Well of Loneliness, to star Oscar winner Emma Thompson. Production should begin by mid-1995, with a script by Richard Friedenberg, who received an Oscar nomination for his screenplay of A River Runs Through It.

The 16th Annual National Cable ACE Awards will be broadcast on January 15. Among the nominees is the HBO docudrama of Randy Shilts' AIDS chronicle And The Band Played On, which ranks at second place for most number of nominations in ten categories.

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