I just heard that actor Gene Barry died last week at 90. He was in Westerns and a 1960s TV series called Burke’s Law and did guest shots on shows like Fantasy Island, but most gay people would probably remember his name from the cover of the album La Cage aux Folles — he was Tony-nominated for playing the gay lover of Albin, the drag diva, in the 1983 Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein musical. Barry’s best number from the show, “The Song on the Sand,” was a wistful reverie about first falling in love. Neither Barry nor his co-star, George Hearn (who beat him for the Tony) was gay, but their dignified performances really did a lot for gay people.
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That character was made for him.
Sad to see him go.
Gene Barry was also the villain in the pilot for “Columbo.” He was a great actor, who had no boundaries.