We watched BEHIND THE CANDELABRA last night. (Thank you, George.)
I thought it was interesting and quite watchable. Michael Douglas was certainly believable as Liberace. And, I loved Debbie Reynolds as his mother,
This morning, I couldn't help thinking how far movies and television have come since the 1960s-70s.
Back then, you could not get actors like Michael Douglas, Matt Damon or Scott Bacula to come anywhere near a project like this.
I had a publicity client, director Allen Reisner, who was set to do an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D., in which the guest star's character was "in the closet." I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think words like "gay" or "homosexual" were even used in the script. The character's sexual preference was just implied.
Reisner had a terrible time trying to cast that part, which was actually a pretty good one. No actor with any name value would even consider it. Finally, they cast Mark Miller, who had played Pat Crowley's husband on the Please Don't Eat the Daisies series.
It's been over 40 years since I've seen it, but I recall the finished episode as being rather bland and unsensational...probably because of network censorship.
Times have certainly changed...thankfully.