Alec McCowen was a fearless out gay actor. When he was “done” on This is Your Life, he made strenuous objection to the fact that his partner, the late Geoffrey Burridge, was not mentioned and got Thames to broadcast an addendum at the end of the transmission. Years later, I interviewed McCowen as he was about to play Prospero at Stratford, and I asked him about being a young gay actor. “Oh,” he said, “most actors are more or less gay ... [exquisite pause] ... with the possible exception of Jack Hawkins.”
