April 11, 2003
GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 11
on the airoff the press
The passing of two openly gay actors is mourned
by John Graves
As if to prove that point, All My Children recently had Henry and Maggie, whom fans had hoped would get romantically involved with Bianca, groping each other in a steamy bedroom scene.
The young and the young-at-heart are mourning the passing of award-winning actor Michael Jeter, 50, who won the hearts of children everywhere for his portrayal of Mr. Noodle on PBS's long-running children's Growing up gay in the '60s
show Sesame Street.
Born on Aug. 26, 1952, in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Jeter won a Tony Award for the Broadway musical Grand Hotel and an Emmy for his role as assistant coach in Burt Reynolds' television series Evening Shade.
According to his April 1 obituary in the Los Angeles Times, Jeter was found dead Sunday in his Hollywood home by his life partner, Sean Blue. Publicist Dick Guttman noted the openly gay, HIV-positive Jeter had been ill, but that the cause of death has not been determined.
Jeter came out about his HIV status in an interview on Entertainment Tonight in 1997 and says that he had been a dedicated fundraiser for AIDS Project Los Angeles for the last decade.
Also passing this past week, 46-year-old openly gay Chinese actor Leslie Cheung died after jumping from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.
Cheung won the Grand Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 1993 for his role as a crossdressing opera singer in a long-term relationship with a French diplomat in the Oscarnominated historical drama Farewell, My Concubine.
In 1997, Cheung and actor Tony Leung played a pair of gay lovers stranded in Buenos Aires in the movie Happy Together.
According to the Hong Kong newspaper The Standard, there "were reports that Cheung began ‘behaving abnormally' last year after he starred in a local horror film."
Cheung denied this, saying he was merely going through a "mood fluctuation." Cheung also denied that he and his partner Daffy Tong were having problems.
Here's to you, Mrs. O'Donnell
In an unusual recognition of their status as a committed same-sex couple, USA Today announced under the headline "Two Mrs. O'Donnells" that Rosie O'Donnell's partner, Kelli Carpenter, has legally changed her name to Kelli O'Donnell.
We can't show that
Despite earlier reports, viewers will not see the upcoming love scene between Bianca and Lena on All My Children.
"A relationship will develop between Bianca and Lena, however, at this time, there are no plans for explicit love-making scenes on-screen," said a spokesperson for the daytime drama.
"Word is ABC Standards and Practices won't allow the gals to be shown 'in the act' during the daytime," said TV Guide. "As soap fans well know, this rule does not apply to straight characters."
Even though critics panned the debut episode of Oliver Beene, the new Fox sitcom about an 11-year-old boy's experiences growing up in the early 1960s, the show's writers have done a very credible job portraying the childhood days of a young gay boy.
Last week, Oliver noted that his best friend Christopher had "wardrobe issues" as the two rummaged through Christopher's parent's closet looking for just the right item for Christopher to wear in a scene they were acting out.
When the two boys discover a copy of a '60s girlie magazine, Oliver excitedly exclaims "Oooh!" while Christopher response is "Eeww!" Although he doesn't seem to know it himself, Christopher's parents suspect something.
At the end of the episode, Christopher's father catches him trying to return the magazine to its hiding place and asks him if he actually enjoyed looking at the pictures of scantily-clad women. When Christopher nervously says "Yes," his father shouts for joy and falls to his knees, hugging his son.
Oliver Beene, garnering solid ratings despite the unfavorable reviews, airs on Fox Sundays at 8:30 pm.
That wasn't funny, Jay
The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition is protesting Jay Leno's March 31 joke about a male-to-female transsexual in his opening monologue on NBC's Tonight Show.
Theresa Sparks made history that day when the California Assembly made her the first transgender recipient of the chamber's Woman of the Year award.
Leno joked that the Assembly "awarded a man who had a sex change as its Woman of the Year. When he accepted the award, he said there was a part of him that didn't want to accept it but that's gone now.'
NTAC director Vanessa Edwards Foster, accused Leno of "prime-time dehumanizing of transsexuals."
"In a country where no positive accomplishments of transgender people are ever reported, it's curious that belittling humor of these same people is openly welcomed," Foster said in a press release. "Leno's remarks took an historic recognition for a transgender community leader and summarily diminished it with insensitive humor."
New police drama on HBO
For those missing their extra dose of gay characters on HBO's Sunday night line-up since the end of the prison drama Oz: Have no fear. The Wire seems determined to singlehandedly increase the scope of gay and lesbian African Americans on television.
The Baltimore-set police drama features narcotics detective Shakima Greggs, played by Sonja Sohn, as well as gay gangsta Omar, portrayed by Michael K. Williams. At the end of the April 6 episode, Omar's boyfriend is targeted by a drug kingpin's men because he and Omar stole some money from him. According to HBO's web site, his boyfriend's
death leads Omar on a quest to take down his rival, Avon.
The Wire is shown Sundays at 10 pm after Six Feet Under, with replays on the HBO multiplex at various times during the week.
John Graves is the producer and host of Gaywaves, a lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender public affairs show on Cleveland's WRUW 91.1 FM Fridays at 7:30 pm, and at www.wruw.org. See what's coming on TV in the Couch Potato Report, under "Entertainment" at www.lgcsc.org. Dave Haskell, Jim McGrattan and Kim Jones also contribute to this column.
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