I only recently discovered that the late, great Richard Deacon was gay

Maybe I'm the last guy on Earth to discover this. Who was Richard Deacon, you ask. Well, here he is (seated):

[image=http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/d/Richard%20Deacon/deacon.jpg]

Still, not ringing any bells? How about this?

[image=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/B_fred01.JPG] [image=http://www.hembeck.com/Images/FredSez/RichardDeacon250.jpg] [image=http://www.newsfromme.com/images6/dvdlw.jpg]

That's right, Mel Cooley from The Dick Van Dyke Show and Lumpy Rutherford's dad from Leave It to Beaver.

One of the best character actors of the 1950s and 60s, although his career lasted into the '80s. In an interview, Deacon said, "Most [of the public] would be surprised. Only because what you see on TV ? a serious guy in a suit, unsmiling ? isn't how anyone thinks of gay males."

 

[image=http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/d/Richard%20Deacon/deacon.jpg]

Does anybody else not see the irony of this?




That being said....I always loved him and Carl Reiner playing off each other.

 

[image=http://thelongestlistofthelongeststuffatthelongestdomainnameatlonglast.com/images8/burr.jpg]

Raymond Burr was gay, too. Too bad these great actors didn't have the freedom to openly be the people they were.

 

I quite literally just watched him in "The Brain Center at Whipples" from my complete Twilight Zone boxed set yesterday.

 

Deacon was fantastic in that episode.

Oh, by the way...

[image=http://www.buzzandnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/david-ogden-stiers-gay.jpg] [image=http://www.epk.com/wp-content/uploads/davidogdenstiers.jpg]

 

David Odgen Stiers really wasn't much of a surprise.

 

and how is this news

 

You do know that Rock Hudson was gay, right?

 

I watched Match Game religiously for years on GSN and I had no idea Charles Nelson Reilly was gay until he died a couple years ago.