IN TODAY'S HOLLYWOOD, MORE GAYS OUT OF THE CLOSET.

Byline: GREG HERNANDEZ Staff Writer

Rock Hudson nearly went to his grave while still in the closet. Richard Chamberlain and Tab Hunter waited until they were nearly 70 to tiptoe out.

But recently, the hinges of Hollywood's closet door have been oiled with three high-profile performers coming out as gay men and several lesbians currently enjoying mainstream success on television.

What is most remarkable, entertainment industry observers say, has been the lack of backlash faced by ``How I Met Your Mother'' star Neil Patrick Harris, ``Grey's Anatomy'' cast member T.R. Knight and former 'N Sync band member Lance Bass since they came out within months of each other during the second half of 2006.

``The general public is not freaking out about these actors coming out and they haven't stopped watching their shows,'' gay producer Paul Colichman (``Gods and Monsters'') said recently. ``Nobody really cares that much.''

Leo Braudy, a cultural historian and author of ``The Frenzy of the Renown: Fame and its History,'' said it was inevitable that gay performers would become less closeted just as in earlier generations when Jewish stars stopped aspiring to achieve WASP-ish personas.

``If you were Jewish, you frequently didn't make that obvious either,'' said Braudy, a professor at the University of Southern California. ``The WASP identity was the default identity.''

The heterosexual image has, for the most part, been the default identity for most actors. But with the same-sex marriage debate raging in America, gay images more prevalent in pop culture, and the blogosphere making secrets harder than ever to keep, mainstream Hollywood may be on the verge of relaxing its unwritten rules about trying to keep bankable performers in the closet.

``They are still trying to gauge what the audience reaction will be,'' Braudy said. ``If someone is a great heartthrob, they may be a little leery of him or her coming out of the closet because they feel they may be losing a large chunk of the audience. But what is happening is that audiences are more and more able to distinguish between the person and the role.''

Successful women

The image issue does not appear to be as big a stumbling block for women. Out actress Sarah Paulson is up for a Golden Globe Award this month for her role on the NBC drama ``Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip,'' while Jane Lynch, who was never in the closet, has a recurring role on ABC's ``Boston Legal'' and is featured in the current theatrical release ``For Your Consideration.''

Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres have also done pretty well for themselves since coming out, as has DeGeneres' life partner, Portia DeRossi of ``Arrested Development.''

While DeGeneres' coming out was a widely anticipated national event that landed her on the cover of Time magazine, only Bass got a national magazine cover (People) to whom he granted an interview after he was essentially outted by bloggers.

One of those blogs was PerezHilton.com, the wildly popular but very controversial site run by Mario Lavendeira, who calls the reluctance for some actors to come out publicly ``internalized homophobia.'' He feels no obligation to not post items on the private lives of gay actors -- closeted or not.

``It's a decidedly American concept that in America, it's still perceived that being gay is bad and that being gay and out in Hollywood will hurt your career,'' he said. ``That's a false concept that I don't believe. I don't buy into it. I'm not going to perpetuate it because it's not true. I dare you to name one person who came out and their career went to the ---- after. If anything, it will help. All the comings-out have helped.''

Colichman, the creator and CEO of the here! TV pay channel, which exclusively features gay and lesbian programming, agrees.

``Coming out and being gay may actually help some of these people who don't have careers,'' he said. ``At least it's something to promote and you have an audience to start with. You can get work at one of the gay networks and have something to bring to the table instead of being another out-of-work actor in Los Angeles or New York.

``Most of these actors would love to have Sir Ian McKellen's career,'' Colichman added. ``He has starred in family films and major commercials successes. It hasn't hurt him any.''

McKellen, nominated for an Academy Award for his role as a gay filmmaker in ``Gods & Monsters,'' has had major roles in both the ``Lord of the Rings'' and ``X-Men'' franchises.

Turning point

``Brokeback Mountain,'' the 2006 Oscar-nominated love story between two ranch hands, showed that a gay-theme movie could be a box office hit, and the leads in the film -- Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal -- are straight actors who convincingly tackled explicit gay roles, complete with explicit love scenes.

Seth Abromovitz, co-editor of the popular Defamer blog, points to ``Brokeback'' as the catalyst for the increased interest in gay topics.

``Gay people are feeling bolder and just a little more proud of who they are,'' Abromovitz said. ``Hollywood is the last battleground for that and it is finally falling. I think there is a built-in interest. The whole `Brokeback Mountain' thing, it wouldn't have become the huge cultural subject of last year if it was just interest from the gay community.

``There was something about the buttons it pushed as far as taking the classic Marlboro man image and turning it on its head. Whether it made straight people uncomfortable or made them feel great, whatever it was, it was an everyone phenomenon. I think it was a turning point.''

The success of ``Brokeback'' has led other straight actors to play gay roles, including John Stamos, who starred in the recent TV movie ``Wedding Wars'' and twice kissed his character's boyfriend in the film. Stamos, currently starring on ``ER,'' said he had no hesitation about taking the role.

``I knew the guy was in love with this man and he believed in gay rights, but I never thought of him as a gay guy,'' he said.

But on gay actors being out and going for straight roles, he understands their hesitancy.

``I feel people should come out when they are ready to come out,'' he said. ``I think it's hard for actors sometimes to play straight roles when people know they're gay so I think it's up to them. If they feel they want to keep it quiet, then they should keep it quiet.''

The true test

Even in this post-``Brokeback Mountain'' age, many say the real test will be public acceptance of a gay actor as a leading man at the level of a Brad Pitt or a Leonardo DiCaprio.

Actor Alec Mapa, known for his comic roles in television and film, said being out was never an issue for him ``but it would be completely different if I were Matthew McConaughey.'

``What? I was going to lose out on all the great roles for Asian males under 5 foot 5? The minute I came out, it was the first authentic thing I had to offer, the only authentic voice I had,'' Mapa said. ``But I'm a character actor. The next frontier (is) if people will buy an out gay actor as a believable heterosexual romantic lead. That bridge hasn't come out yet.''

Tom Cruise, one of the A-list stars most dogged by gay rumors over the years, has successfully sued publications and people who claim that he is gay. But Andy Towle, a respected blogger whose site Towleroad.com is widely read, thinks the litigious Cruise handled it all wrong.

``I think these actors who have come out recently have done it with a lot of class,'' Towle said. ``They were basically forced out of the closet by various circumstances. When you take a look at how they handled it as opposed to how someone like Tom Cruise handles rumors, Tom Cruise draws a lot more attention to himself by trying to sue or object publicly to the assertions that he might be gay.

``These other actors came out, made a statement and have gone on with their regular lives, and people just tend to leave them alone for the most part. It's much smarter for a celebrity to handle it like that than the way that Tom Cruise does. I think it's becoming less of a stigma for an actor to be out and the more actors who are out, it becomes less of a stigma.''

Knight and Harris simply issued concise statements to People magazine confirming their sexuality after it surfaced in the blogosphere. But they gave no interviews.

``Neil is a stand-up guy who has never been in the closet,'' said veteran publicist Simon Walls, who helped Harris craft his statement, which followed an erroneous statement released by another publicist stating that the actor, who rose to fame as ``Doogie Howser M.D.,'' was not gay.

``Neil was horrified to think it was out there that he was trying to be something he wasn't,'' said Walls, who also represented DeGeneres and actors Nathan Lane and Robert Gant when they came out. ``Rather than let misinformation float, with the destructive nature of these gossipy blogs, we decided to go with credible journalists and get out there in a dignified and honest way.''

`Historic' decisions

Damon Romine, entertainment media director of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, called the coming out of these two actors ``pretty historic'' because both are currently appearing on such big hit network shows.

``It's great that more and more people like T.R. and Neil are living their lives openly and honestly,'' Romine said. ``Their coming out has tremendous impact in terms of creating awareness, understanding and acceptance. The more actors who choose to live their lives honestly, the less anti-gay bias you will see occur in Hollywood.''

Among the actors who were open about their sexuality before they got cast in current network shows are Sam Harris, who plays Perry Pearl on CBS' ``The Class,'' and Eric Millegan, Dr. Zack Addy on Fox's ``Bones.''

They join such already out actors as Chad Allen, who played a straight hero in the theatrical film ``End of the Spear,'' and Gant, the former ``Queer as Folk'' star, who appears with Allen in the independent film ``Save Me,'' which will screen at the Sundance Film Festival this month.

``What's interesting is that for so long, everyone was so worried about it. `Will it hurt my career?' `Is that all people are going to talk about?' `Will the audience care?''' Allen said. ``The fact of the matter is, we are now at a place where it now doesn't matter. You can come out, acknowledge your sexuality and move on.''

Allen knows of what he speaks. When he was just a teenager and starring on ``Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman,'' a tabloid ran a picture on its cover of him kissing his boyfriend at a party. He stayed on the show, but stayed pretty low-profile for a while. But he's been out and proud for several years now.

Gay, straight roles

Allen is now at the forefront of out actors who are playing both gay and straight roles in television and film. But he still doesn't have the pick of roles a straight counterpart might.

``We're not 100 percent there yet,'' he said. ``Fear is still in place and it does drive those in charge of hiring -- and a lot of that fear rests in gay people. Gay executives are worried about if an actor can still be bankable.''

A big break for Allen came when he was cast in ``Spear,'' for which he said he had ``fantastic, enormous response.''

But there was a hubbub among some Christians after it was learned that an openly gay actor was headlining a faith-based film. Allen relished the controversy.

``I had the opportunity to really explore that side of the world and say, `This is who I am.' I get letters from people who have never addressed this in their lives, everyday people and even some church leaders,'' he said.

Another of Allen's best roles in recent years has been playing tough private investigator Donald Strachey, a gay man in a committed relationship, in a series of movies airing on here!, then released on DVD.

Here! is also home for the gothic gay soap opera ``Dante's Cove,'' which has garnered a loyal following and is produced by Colichman. Despite most of the characters being gay, Charlie David, 28, is the only lead on the show who is an out actor.

``People said I was crazy to come out,'' David said. ``I'm sure I've lost roles and I've gained some roles. But I wouldn't change the decision. It's a sign of the times that we are having more men and women coming out early in their careers.

``No matter when someone comes out, I think it's freeing for the industry and I'm happy for them as a person. Our lives just become so much easier.''

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) HARRIS

(2 -- color) ALLEN

(3 -- color) KNIGHT

(4) ``Brokeback Mountain,'' the 2006 Oscar-nominated love story between two ranch hands, showed that a gay-themed movie could be a box-office hit, and the leads in the film -- Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal -- are straight actors who convincingly tackled explicit gay roles.