Famous gays : Amanda Bearse (Marcy from Married with children)
PErthGUY:Mmv
children) and counting which have gay( or lesbian) actors playing the
characters, major characters too, not a small cameo role.
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Amanda Bearse made big headlines in 1993 when she became the first primetime
actress to come out as a lesbian, while playing the Bundy's neighbor Marcy
D'Arcy on the long-running Fox hit show Married With Children.
Although Bearse had always been out to her coworkers and friends, the
tabloids began running articles publicly outing Bearse in 1991. Bearse
finally acknowledged that she was a lesbian in a 1993 interview with the
Advocate magazine, and described the experience as follows:
The outing really was quite a freeing experience. I know that sounds sort of
clichéd, but it really was very liberating. That one thing, that one big
secret is out. For a lot of people, it was just a confirmation of what they
thought about me. I mean, I look like the girl next door, but I was always
kind of off-center.
Bearse has primarily played straight characters on screen, although she did
play Marcy's lesbian cousin Mandy in a 1997 episode of Married With Children
entitled "Lez be Friends." She played Marcy D'Arcy for ten years, from 1987
to 1997 when the series was finally cancelled.
She began acting with a role on All My Children from 1982 to 1984, and had
roles in movies like Fright Night and Fraternity Vacation before landing the
role of Marcy.
You don't hear much about Bearse in the press anymore, but not because she's
dropped out of Hollywood--because she has taken a role behind the camera, as
the director of a number of sitcoms. Besides several episodes of Married
With Children, Bears has also directed multiple episodes of shows like
Dharma and Gregg, Veronica's Closet, and Mad TV.
Some of these series didn't even last a season (like the Pauly Shore vehicle
Pauly), but several have lasted at least two seasons, a few were hits that
ran for several years (Dharma and Greg, Veronica's Closet), and one is still
on the air and in its eighth season (Mad TV). Not a bad directing record
considering very few series last beyond one season.
In a 2001 interview with Romeo San Vincente of "Deep Inside Hollywood,"
Bearse explained her switch to directing, saying "I chose to stop acting
because I wanted to direct and I had to show people that I was serious." She
commented "I'd like to get back in front of the camera eventually, but only
if I can play something a little bit different."
This must describe her role in the upcoming short film called Give or Take
an Inch (in which she co-stars with Michele Greene from L.A. Law) since it
is one of the few acting roles she's taken in several years besides the
occasional guest-star spot on television.
Bearse moved to Hollywood in 1981 from New York after a childhood in Winter
Park, Florida and Atlanta, Georgia. Shortly after she arrived, she began
dating Sandra Bernhard and later moved in with her; their relationship
lasted two and half years. She now lives in L.A. with her partner Amy
Shomer, who produces TV commercials, and their daughter Zoe.
Bearse is very much a pragmatist, citing as one of the reasons for coming
out to make it "safer...for even more people to come out." When asked in the
Advocate interview "What do you think the chances are for a lesbian or gay
character on prime-time TV?" Bearse responded:
Very good. Look at Roseanne. I think having Sandra and Morgan Fairchild just
pushed the ratings through the roof. If it sells, it sells. The people that
run television only care about people tuning in. The bottom line is money,
and if lesbians on TV make money for the network, Hollywood is ready.
At the time she said this in 1993, Norma Dunn's character on Sisters and
Beth on The Real World: Los Angeles were the only recurrent lesbian
characters on television; the former was a fairly minor character and the
latter on a show that was only beginning to take off. Although the lesbian
couple Carol and Susan would be introduced on Friends the next year, it
would still be another few years yet before there were any recurring lesbian
characters with significant screen time.
When Bearse came out in the Advocate in '93 (four years before Ellen
Denegeres came out), it was an extremely risky move because no primetime
actress had ever done it before, and certainly not in the middle of her
acting career. But although the personal risk was great, the risk to the
series itself was minimal, since Bearse was not the "star" of the show, so
any resulting negative publicity from her coming-out was unlikely to hurt
the ratings--and Married With Children was used to severe public criticism
anyway. This was very different than Ellen's situation a few years later in
which the success or failure of her sitcom depended on the public acceptence
of her sexuality.
Fortunately, the show's ratings actually improved after Bearse came out, at
least for a little while. Bearse counts the support she received from her
coworkers as one of primary importance to her during the coming-out process,
saying:
I've been very fortunate. I'm supported by the people I work with. I'm on a
hit show. I just renegotiated my contract: It was completely up, and this
was a time when they could have easily cut me loose. Fortunately I'm valued
there as a person, as an actor, and as a director. Being lesbian is a
nonissue on the show.
The positive acceptance she experienced on Married With Children contrasts
sharply with the severe criticism the show received by many feminists for
its stereotypical and negative portrayal of women (and others).
With lesbian directors like Bearse behind the camera, it is all the more
likely that there will be more lesbian or lesbian-friendly characters and
storylines in the future. The fact that Bearse's directing career didn't
take off until after she came out as a lesbian is also encouraging, since it
means coming out doesn't necessarily derail your career in Hollywood.
None of the series Bearse has directed has featured a lesbian character,
however, proving that more lesbians behind the camera don't necessarily
correlate to more lesbians in front of the camera. But it's a start.
Chris
The Secretary of HomIntern
wrote:
> I always knew she was a lesbo. Thats why she didn't like Al.
No, she -- Marcy, the straight woman -- didn't like Al because she didn't
like utter male chauvinist pigs. Amanda, the lesbian, OTOH, got along
splendidly with Ed. Do try to separate the character from the actor,
there's a good boy.
--
_______________________________________________
"The personal _is_ political."
Superfaggot; GGGHD; MWFA; HCNB; MU; BCB; FI
Economic Left/Right: -5.71
Authoritarian/Libertarian: -7.23
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