P-FLAG wavin' mama

Actress Sharon Gless finds joy in her new role, her past successes, and her Queer as Folk 'kids'

by Andy Scahill

Sharon Gless will be the first to admit that she's had some juicy roles in her time. As Debbie Novotny, the flamboyant and outspoken mother of openly gay Michael on Showtime's Queer as Folk, Gless says she's able to tap into the "Little Debbie" inside of her. Every week, she gets to experience Debbie's joy and her essence, if not her wardrobe.

But Gless has said that she would never have been in the position to take the role of Debbie had it not been for a little show called Cagney & Lacey. In that groundbreaking 1980s series, she and Tyne Daly portrayed police detectives negotiating the trials of both their personal and professional lives. For her portrayal of Christine Cagney, Gless received two Emmys and a Golden Globe.

Sharon Gless took the time to talk with us from her home in Florida before returning to filming Queer as Folk.

Andy Scahill: So the script for Queer as Folk came to you-what happened next? Sharon Gless: Well, someone actually sneaked it to me. Peter Forester, the finest drama coach in Chicago, had gotten ahold of this script and he called me and said, "Now I hope you're not going to be offended, but I'm sending you this script. It's not a very big part, but you've got to see this. You can do this."

I said, "I'm not offended by small parts," and read it and thought I can't believe they're going to do this on television. I was so fascinated by the daring and the explicitness of it.

So I called Showtime. I knew the president and his assistant, Carol, who had been my husband's assistant, and I asked her if the role of the mother had been cast, and she said, "You're not right for the mother. You don't want to do the mother . . ."

She thought I meant Justin's mom. I said, "No, no-Debbie! Debbie, Debbie, Debbie..."

"Well, I want it," I said. “What do I have to do? What do I have to do to get this?" At the time, they weren't going to go with a known actress in that part.

I really thought there was something I could bring to it. It seemed that although there was a darkness to it, the first three-hour script, I thought, this woman is so full of sunshine, so full of joy, and she's got such a mouth on her...there's such a great contrast between what's going on and this woman. And I thought, I can bring something to this. When you say that, do you mean you could bring something to it as an actress or as the character?

As an actor. It's an actor's dream. I mean, I surely don't look my best in the role. So we decided on the wig-well, we initially decided on several wigs; she was going to change her wigs all the time. But then Showtime lost their nerve. They said, "We're spending a lot of money for people to see Sharon Gless." And I said, "As soon as I open my mouth, they're gonna know who it is!"

Now, let's talk about Debbie's wardrobe.

[Laughs] Well, initially, I brought all the T-shirts myself, all the naughty ones. There's two great places in L.A., the Pleasure Chest, and the really nice place is Don't Panic.

I brought the T-shirts and buttons in, and then I thought she'd always have these leopard prints and tiger prints that don't match. I began that initial look, but our designer Patrick Antosh, who makes everyone look gorgeous well, except for Debbie-took this idea and he started, you'll see them this year, he started making his own. Because a lot of them I couldn't wear, the lawyers came down on me. My favorite one was DIET COCK: ONLY TWO CALORIES. So Patrick, in his genius, is designing them now, and you can buy them on the Internet! ***

I get the sense that you're very confident in your fellow actors on the show.

Oh, I love them. I really do. I love these kids. I have to say that I really was worried having never been in an ensemble show. I thought each one of these kids is so different, like stars all on their own.

I think each one is going to go beyond this. I thought, what if one of them rises to the top, and there are jealousies, and what's the tension going to be? But I've never been in a situation where actors promote each other like they do.

I've been to screenings with them (when I have to, cause I don't like to look at myself), and when each part comes up, the others start cheering for them. It's just amazing. I remember looking around and thinking, wow, this is amazing.

I wonder if it's because they're all part of a project which so many people said wouldn't work here in the States.

Yeah. But I knew it would. Now, you can't not notice a show like this. The only people who haven't noticed us--who choose not to notice us-is the Academy.

Right. Do you feel snubbed by the Academy?

Well, not me personally. But as part of the show, I feel the show has been snubbed. First of all, I think its partly because it's cable. But still, I don't think they see this show for what it is—gorgeous acting by these kids, great scripts, probably the most beautifully photographed show on television. In that arena, no one can touch it.

But I think in Hollywood, it's just chic to say, "Oh yeah, it's that show about the kids who take it up the ass." I mean, I don't mean to be vulgar, but I think that the Academy doesn't get past that.

How do you feel about Queer as Folk's relationship with the mainstream press?

When we opened, it opened to very good reviews. I remember one reviewer in L.A. took exception to it because of what the British version was.

One fear, we had was that the show would be compared to the British version and be viewed as too puritanical, which America is: very puritanical. To make that effort, they went overboard to be courageous and graphic, so that we could never be nailed for that.

There are many groundbreaking portrayals of gay characters on QAF, but I think it's important to note that Debbie is a different kind of mother than we've ever seen on television.

My back-story about Debbie is that she always wanted her own beauty parlor. She wanted to go to beauty school and get her own place. But she got knocked up, and left.

April 5, 2002

And you'll see that there have been a lot of lies going around. There's a really good episode coming up, really good, where we learn that Debbie has made up this whole story about Michael's father, and she made a hero for him. That's always a secret she's hidden, about her husband.

But in getting pregnant, and having no one to help her, she never could realize her dream. She just kept waitressing, which is probably something that she did in high school on weekends, and she just had to stay there. Her dreams were gone, but this incredible gift, Michael, was given to her. So she made him her life, sometimes to a fault. So everything centers around who he is and who he loves. But the nice thing is that she got this whole family-she's got all these boys.

But there's a lot of pain there, which I think she's dealt with and has moved on. Debbie does what she needs to do, for herself and for those around her. And what I've noticed is that she has no life. I mean, that is her life, but there's nothing there for her. But they do something nice for her this season, you'll see.

Many gay people get annoyed at the way that Michael treats Debbie-she's the mother of our dreams!

Yeah. But maybe, as Hal feels, that Debbie is just too involved. He does have a legitimate gripe that she tells everyone about her gay son and he doesn't have the courage yet to be out. Until they write a scene where he says, "Ma, you may no longer say, in front of complete strangers, that I am gay," then I have to play that dynamic., because he is her focus.

Now in the series, you've got a current storyline about Michael dating an HIV positive man, and Debbie has taken an overprotective kind of stance.

Yeah, there's been a lot of flak about that. Some people have been appalled that Debbie would take that stance. We were at an event in L.A. where we were being honored and there was a man in the audience who was very upset about Debbie Novotny, of all people, taking this stance.

"You have to understand that Queer as Folk does not tie everything up in a pink ribbon. This is real life," I said. "You're right, no one is more the champion for gay rights than Debbie, but now what has happened is, you're talking about her kid. And now all bets are off."

How have you handled the extreme fanatic following that it's gotten in the gay community?

Oh, it's been very nice for me. But it can be overwhelming for some of the kids. Some of them can't even go anywhere any more. Like specific gay areas of town, they say it's difficult now to be anonymous and to have a life. But I always enjoy it-I like people coming up and talking to me, it's nice to know the show has impact, that's why I wanted to do the role. Young men come up and ask for a hug, and I like it. It's a perk.

Are you and Tyne Daly, your Cagney and Lacey co-star, still close?

Very. Oh yeah, very. We have such a history; no two women have gone through what we've gone through for so many years. There's a special thing that happens. We'll never forget, and I always know she'll be there for me, and I will, too.

What did Tyne say when you took the QAF part?

I called her and told her. I said, "Are you watching my show?" She said, "Yes, I'm watching it!” I said, “Can you believe these actors, these kids, how good they are? I don't remember us being that good at their age." She said, "Yeah, yeah we were." [laughs]

Andy Scahill is the editor of Out in America at www.outinamerican.com.

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