And the Oscar goes to...

April 3, 2007 7:36 AM

Has an openly gay man or lesbian ever won an Academy Award (in any category)?
posted by AlliKat75 to media & arts (29 comments total)

Jodie Foster is not technically out but she's really not in the closet either
posted by matteo at 7:42 AM on April 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

Didn't Melissa Etheridge win for Best Song this year?
posted by MasonDixon at 7:43 AM on April 3, 2007

Yes, she did.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:46 AM on April 3, 2007 [1 favorite]

Elton John won Best Original Song for Lion King in 1995.

Marcia Gay Harden won Supporting Actress in 2000. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
posted by smackfu at 7:47 AM on April 3, 2007 [4 favorites]

*Any* category? We at least have Elton John, yes?

I'm sure of the bazillions of set designers, costume designers, and other behind-the-scenes folk, at least one must be openly gay.

It's proving too difficult for my lazy ass to find a simple list of all actor/actress winners for me to look over it. How many openly gay actors/actresses are there? (Ian McKellen, I was disappointed to imdb, has only been nominated.)
posted by iguanapolitico at 7:49 AM on April 3, 2007

Pedro Almodóvar
posted by backwards guitar at 7:49 AM on April 3, 2007

Somebody in a minor category thanked his partner last year. As did Melissa Etheridge this year.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:51 AM on April 3, 2007

John Gielgud.
posted by pasici at 7:53 AM on April 3, 2007

Nigel Hawthorne was nominated in 1995 for Best Actor. Lost to Forrest Gump though.
posted by smackfu at 7:55 AM on April 3, 2007

Errm Sir Ian McKellan. Didn't he win one or two?
posted by PetiePal at 7:58 AM on April 3, 2007

It's proving too difficult for my lazy ass to find a simple list of all actor/actress winners for me to look over it.

It's easy to find at IMDB. That also reveals the insane number of winners each year, of which you recognize perhaps 10% of the names. I'm sure that some gay producers have won Best Picture, but who can ID producers?
posted by smackfu at 8:03 AM on April 3, 2007

Errm Sir Ian McKellan. Didn't he win one or two?

Nope. Nominated twice. Won neither time.
posted by solid-one-love at 8:04 AM on April 3, 2007

Alan Ball, screenplay for American Beauty
posted by pasici at 8:05 AM on April 3, 2007

John Schlesinger.
posted by ninebelow at 8:11 AM on April 3, 2007

To expand on my answer: he won Best Picture in 1969 for Midnight Cowboy.
posted by ninebelow at 8:13 AM on April 3, 2007

Sir Ian 'came out' in 1988 during an interview with BBC Radio.
posted by ericb at 8:15 AM on April 3, 2007

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:nndb.com+%22sexual+orientation:+gay%22+oscar may help produce a shortlist. Not sure how you'd determine their enclosetment status at the time though.
posted by hoverboards don't work on water at 8:17 AM on April 3, 2007

Noel Coward was openly, if quietly gay.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:20 AM on April 3, 2007

I made the assumption that the poster meant that the person was openly gay when they won the award. Was John Schlesinger openly gay in 69? Or John Gielgud?
posted by spicynuts at 8:33 AM on April 3, 2007

Bill Condon for his Gods & Monsters screenplay in 1999?
posted by blueshammer at 8:54 AM on April 3, 2007

Wow...I can't believe I forgot about Sir Elton and the Almighty Etheridge! So stupid!! Thanks for the answers.
posted by AlliKat75 at 9:18 AM on April 3, 2007

Jodie Foster is 100% in the closet. Everybody "knowing" she's a lesbian doesn't make her any less of a closet case.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:23 AM on April 3, 2007

The question said "openly gay". Jodie Foster is not openly gay.
posted by smackfu at 9:54 AM on April 3, 2007

There is also the fantastic lyricist Howard Ashman, who won Oscars for "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991 and "Under the Sea" in 1989. IMDB says he has the sad honor of being the first AIDS victim to receive a posthumus Oscar.
posted by saffry at 10:02 AM on April 3, 2007

[a few comments removed, take the Jodie Foster love/hate to MetaTalk or email, otherwise stick to the question, thanks.]
posted by jessamyn at 10:21 AM on April 3, 2007

I made the assumption that the poster meant that the person was openly gay when they won the award. Was John Schlesinger openly gay in 69? Or John Gielgud?

Gielgud's wikipedia entry is ambiguous on this point. It would appear that, due to his arrest, everyone "knew" he was gay, but he did not officially come out until after he won the Oscar in 1981.
posted by pasici at 11:32 AM on April 3, 2007

John Schlesinger didn't come out 'til 20 years after Midnight Cowboy so I don't think that counts.
posted by dobbs at 1:31 PM on April 3, 2007

Adam Elliot, an Australian animator, won an Oscar for best animated film with Harvie Krumpet. And you don't get more openly gay than thanking your boyfriend in the acceptance speech.
posted by tim_in_oz at 2:53 PM on April 3, 2007

John Schlesinger didn't come out 'til 20 years after Midnight Cowboy so I don't think that counts.

He publicly came out in 1971 - two years after Cowboy - but he was already in a long term homosexual relationship at that point. If he wasn't openly gay then he wasn't really unopenly gay either.
posted by ninebelow at 3:49 AM on April 4, 2007