So enchanted were they by this act that few were inclined to object to Liberace’s sexual orientation being “Hidden in Plain Sight”. This decidedly un-macho attitude won him a legion of devoted female fans. “I’ll be right back after I slip into something more spectacular,” he’d quip before taking a break in his program. For Liberace wore jewel-encrusted suits, floor-length fake furs, sequined hot pants and any number of other attention-getting ensembles of the sort that might give a “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestant pause. In addition, he offered a steady stream of cheerful patter about show business and his extravagant wardrobe. A pianist whose act consisted of an abbreviated arrangement of select “classical” tunes (Chopin, Tchaikovsky) freely mixed with popular “favorites” that he’d sometimes sing along with. Liberace was an utterly unique entertainer.
Here are five of the most noteworthy examples of gay actors in mid-Century Hollywood. In this covert context, bigtime careers and personal lives proceeded with a calculated risk that can fascinate us today. Still, in spite of it all, gay men managed to make their way to very top of the acting profession in the gilded closets of Hollywood. “Homosexuals” subsisted on society’s margins, mentioned only in whispered gossip, fearsome psychiatric studies, and Conservative diatribes decrying perversion. Not only was the notion of being openly gay and having a viable career unimaginable, but gayness itself was also a concept polite society couldn’t countenance. Now that gay actors like Nathan Lane, Jim Parsons, Victor Garber, Jonathan Groff, and Neil Patrick Harris are “out of the closet” and on the rise, it’s hard to imagine just how different things were in the relatively recent past.