Playing it Straight

James Dean in Giant (1956)

While this screen icon had just three starring roles, his work in all of those films — East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1955) and Giant — remains indelibly etched on the psyches of film lovers everywhere. Giant, his final film, had Dean playing Jett Rink, a man who goes from po’ white trash to filthy rich oil tycoon over the course of this sprawling, soapy history of Texas in the first half of the 20^th century.

Even though Dean’s physical appeal always bordered on the androgynous, he completely buries himself in the role of a wildcatter always looking to strike it rich, only to lose track of what he’s supposed to do once it happens. And always there in the performance is his adoration for Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor), the wife of his rival Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson).

4.5 Steves: If only for the scene where Jett gets covered head to toe with oil after striking it rich.

Russell Tovey in The History Boys (2006)

In a movie that’s fairly dripping with gay subtext — from schoolteacher Hector (Richard Griffiths) and his habit of fondling his students riding on the back of his motorcycle to the elaborate dance of seduction being played out between rakish student Dakin (Dominic Cooper) and new teacher Irwin (Stephen Campbell Moore), it’s somewhat ironic that one of the few full-bore hetero roles is played by a queer actor.

Kudos, then, for Tovey’s turn as Rudge, the class jock who uses slightly fabricated connections to get into the school of his choice. It’s obvious that the British are less concerned about actors being out of the closet, since Tovey has played a variety of straight guys in theater and on TV on the other side of the pond, including a turn as comic-book hero Tintin on the London stage.

4 Steves: Rudge seems born to play rugby and cricket. Which does make him seem the teensiest bit queer.

Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun (1951)

Clift was always supremely unhappy and secretive about being gay, and perhaps that’s what fueled his powerful screen performances in heterosexual roles. Whatever the reason, he’s one of those rare movie actors who successfully straddles the fence between Heartthrob and Serious Actor.

In this first collaboration with frequent co-star and close friend Elizabeth Taylor, Clift plays the callow hero of Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy, hoping to improve his lot in life by marrying the rich and gorgeous Angela (Taylor) but saddled with his responsibility as the father of Alice’s (Shelley Winters) unborn child, driving him to an irrevocable act of desperation.

4 Steves: Clift was never convincing as a roughneck — even in the classic Western Red River (1948), there’s a gentleness about him — but his performance in A Place in the Sun perfectly captures a man destroyed by his carnal desires.