‘Bewched’ and Be Gay! – Geia Voice – Gay & LGBT Atlanta News

Contents:

• HOW BEWCHED WENT GAY WHOUT EVER SAYG "GAY"
• HOLLYWOOD FLASHBACK: ‘BEWCHED’ HAS BEEN A GAY FAVORE SCE 1964
• ‘BEWCHED’ AND BE GAY!
• THE GAY SECRETS BEHD THE CLASSIC TV S “BEWCHED”
• PL LYN GAVE THE GAYS WHAT THEY NEED ON ‘BEWCHED’ 55 YEARS AGO

HOW BEWCHED WENT GAY WHOUT EVER SAYG "GAY"

| Photo: Getty ImagPAUL LYNDE WAS GAYLyn was a picture-perfect image of a edic geni on mera, but much of his personal life was shroud mystery. One of such securi was his was gay at a time when was owned upon and wily unaccepted.

He feared that if his fans knew he was gay, would end his reer.

He land gay rol, and beg gay real life ma even easier for the in to give an outstandg performance.

HOLLYWOOD FLASHBACK: ‘BEWCHED’ HAS BEEN A GAY FAVORE SCE 1964

| Photo: Getty ImagPAUL LYNDE ON "BEWITCHED" AND "HOLLYWOOD SQUARES"One of his gay rol was the 1960s classic ABC s, "Bewched. " In the seri, Lyn acted as Uncle Arthur — a gay man and uncle of the wch Samantha. Not long after, the edian land another gay role which was arguably the highlight of his had tried to save his iend when he lost his grip by sperately grabbg his arm but uld not hold Lyn appearg the Walt Disney Televisn TV seri 'The Pl Lyn Show' cir 1972.

Some clud playg gay rol, which the actor quickly turned down out of Lyn appearg the Walt Disney Televisn TV seri 'The Pl Lyn Show' cir 1972. BewchedIn the actured, ntent tim, the one thg that we n all agree on is that Bewched was a super duper gay show.

It's a ltle strange to thk of as queer sce never actually had any explicly gay characters or same-sex upl.

‘BEWCHED’ AND BE GAY!

Other ss around the same time (M*A*S*H, All the Fay, Mary Tyler Moore) all had gay one-offs, but Bewched never did. So why do I remember as beg so gay — gayer, fact, than any of those other programs?

I wish the show uld have gone gayer — to give Uncle Arthur, played extremely broadly by Pl Lyn, a boyiend. But as an artifact of the late '60s and early '70s, Bewched still succeeds whout explicly gay ntent. Queerns is lible s central metaphor, far more than the one-off gay-of-the-week episos that TV would provi until the late '90s.

For a 1960s s that on the surface was about as straight as you n get — attractive woman who happens to be a wch wants to be normal hoewife, so she marri a high-stng ad exec — a lot of gay magic lurks jt beneath the surface of ABC’s Bewched.

THE GAY SECRETS BEHD THE CLASSIC TV S “BEWCHED”

But when he me out, he did big time: He and Montgomery were grand marshals of Wt Hollywood’s 1992 Gay and Lbian Pri Para. Then there was the mother--law, Endora (played by former rad star Agn Moorehead), a sharp-tongued, ftan-wearg gay favore long before Goln Girls h the air. Who better than the Mount Vernon, Oh-born funnyman to play gay whout explicly g out as gay?

PL LYN GAVE THE GAYS WHAT THEY NEED ON ‘BEWCHED’ 55 YEARS AGO

LOS ANGELES - Dick Sargent, who played a beleaguered hband on the televisn seri "Bewched" and later clared his homosexualy wh pri, died yterday. In 1991, on Natnal Comg Out Day, he announced he was gay. The high rate of suici among young homosexuals was the ma reason, he said, jokgly referrg to himself as a "retroactive role mol.

“Bewched” was load wh some of the gayt stuff around, jt brimmg unr the surface.

Good and betiful wch Samantha (played by Elizabeth Montgomery, who was the lovelit, most supportive queer iend imagable) marri the mortal Darr Stephens (who, after a restg, was portrayed by gay actor Dick Sargent). The show buted pre-Stonewall, at a time when gay characters were vanishgly few on televisn — particularly when me to primetime and ss. Pl Lyn, who played Uncle Arthur, was gay, as was Mrice Evans, who played Samantha’s father.