Most actors long to have one signature role that will define their careers. Sharon Gless has two: Christine Cagney on Cagney & Lacey and Debbie on Queer as Folk. Both series were groundbreakers: C & L for it’s strong portrayals of women in the police force, QAF for it’s day to day depiction of a fictional gay community.
After winning multiple Emmys and Golden Globes for her portrayal of Cagney, it was Gless, a staunch supporter of gay rights, who’s responsible for getting Queer as Folk off the ground.
“A friend gave me the script,” she told me in an interview. “I called Showtime and asked to be cast.” Because of her name, other actors were suddenly willing to appear on the show. Prior to her involvement, many performers were afraid to lend their name to Queer as Folk.
Gless calls the passage of Prop 8, and last week’s CA Supreme Court ruling: “Shattering. I’m a fifth-generation Californian. For the first time I’m ashamed of my home state.”
The star is immensely proud of her new film Hannah Free, which will premiere later this month as the closing night attraction at Frameline, San Francisco’s annual LGBT film festival. The film is based on a play by lesbian playwright Claudia Allen — Gless is repeating a role she played on the Chicago stage.
“It’s the story of two women in a 60-year relationship,” she says proudly. “I appear as Hannah at ages 50 and 80.” As elderly women, Hannah and her partner are in a nursing home — Hannah is stopped from visiting her partner by homophobic relatives. “It’s very timely,” says Gless. “It brings in Prop 8 themes.”
Gless will appear at Frameline with pal Rosie O’Donnell, who isn’t in the film. Gless says that O’Donnell often gets an underserved bad rap. “She donates millions of dollars to benefit children’s causes. She never talks about this, and never gets credit for it.”
Gless remains close friends with Cagney & Lacey co-star Tyne Daly — the two have since worked together on stage. Both actors are excited about the upcoming DVD box set:
Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years, which will feature the four made-for-TV reunion movies that were produced after the series was cancelled. It will be released in September of this year.
For more information on Hannah Free, please visit the film’s site.
To see the film at Frameline and meet the star, please visit www.Frameline.org.
David Alex Nahmod lives in San Francisco. Visit him at DavidsOpenForum.Blogspot.com.
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