Will & Grace's SEAN HAYES: 'It wasn't accepted when I knew I was gay'

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Sean Hayes arrived on our screens in 1998 as the camp Jack McFarland in sitcom Will & Grace. Catty and full of one-liners – 'Is there anything I can pretend to do for you right now?'; 'There are no straight men, just men who haven't met Jack'; and 'There's no shame in getting old, there's only shame in getting ugly' – he pretty much stole the show.
We're chatting in a studio in South London, where Hayes is rehearsing Good Night, Oscar. The play is based on a controversial 1950s TV chat-show appearance by pianist Oscar Levant, who starred with Gene Kelly in the musical comedy film An American In Paris.
Talking of comedy, I say that Will & Grace really helped to take things forward: in 1996, according to Pew Research Center, 65 per cent of Americans opposed gay marriage. By 2006, when the show finished, the 'no's were down to 55 per cent. By 2013, US support for gay marriage hit 50 per cent, with 43 per cent opposed.
Now, though, things seem to be going backwards, I suggest. He sighs. 'Oh, that's an understatement. It's insanity. It feels like there's a civil war going on. And it makes me so sad because I love America. I have friends on both sides [of politics]. I think the media is the issue – they make money from polarisation.'
He recalls the early days on Will & Grace, when death threats were a regular thing. 'They'd keep the worst ones from us,' he says. 'But there was one lady who got a pen, paper and stamp, wrote and mailed, 'You're all going to hell. You should be ashamed for putting this on television. You're all horrible people. But thank you for making the show. It's a riot. We love it.''' He bursts out laughing.
When in 2001 George W Bush became president after opposing gay rights while governor of Texas, the writers gave Karen, played by Megan Mullally, a line to be delivered to Jack: 'Oh, didn't you hear, honey? Gay isn't cool any more.'
'Well, we're not here to be hip or not hip,' he replies with a shrug. 'But it is interesting how my life and my skin and my blood and my human-being-ness is politicised just by getting out of bed in the morning.'
I list some of the Hollywood stars leaving the US to evade the Trump administration – Rosie O'Donnell heading for Ireland, Courtney Love taking British citizenship and Ellen DeGeneres trading California for the Cotswolds. Would he consider a similar move? He hesitates, his eyes wide, mouth firmly closed. 'OK, I love it here so very much,' he says carefully. 'It's been a dream my entire life to do a play in London in the West End. And to walk the streets my favourite bands walked: Depeche Mode, Erasure, The Smiths, The Cure, Oasis. I would love to move here. But my life is in America – my friends, my husband and my family, everything.'
Hayes has nursed the idea of playing Oscar Levant since 2001. He identifies with him, he says. Levant discussed his mental-health problems and drug use on late-night television before confession culture was a thing. Hayes, born in a Chicago suburb, the youngest of five, says, 'I've been surrounded by anxiety and depression in my family and dealt with it myself,' he explains. 'My dad was Irish, so we were brought up not to communicate. My mum had cancer when she was two years old that we weren't allowed to talk about. She had one eye removed. We weren't allowed to ask her about that. My alcoholic dad left home when I was five. Playing Oscar is like therapy.'
Initially he was reluctant to come out as a gay actor. 'We're all products of the time we grew up in,' he admits. 'It wasn't accepted when I knew I was gay, but I still came out at 18. My mum had a problem with it and all the drama that you'd go through. And then when I got Will & Grace and there were death threats, I didn't – at that stage – have the DNA to be a spokesperson for any group of people. I'd just say something dumb.'
Coming out limited future roles to gay characters, until Broadway found him. Now, as Oscar Levant, he is a married father. There are similarities, however: Hayes is also beloved of the US talk shows (he guest-hosted The Jimmy Kimmel Show) and, like Levant after his role in the film An American In Paris, he endured a career dip following Will & Grace. The play is based on an appearance on Tonight Starring Jack Paar, a late 50s/early 60s late-night talk show. Levant is on a four-hour pass from a mental-health facility. Having filched opioids, he shocks the audience and complaints flood in over his quips about religion, drugs and celebrities. Then, in the emotional climax of the play, he holds his demons at bay long enough to perform a stunning version of George Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue. He has to show disdain and despair and love and beauty while hammering through the rapid notes and huge left-hand jumps on the piano keys.
'I didn't realise it was that hard,' he shakes his head. 'Even the people who do [play piano] for a living do it twice in a week. I do it seven times. I end up icing my arms every night. In America I had to have cortisol shots, which I'm going to try not to do here.'
That seems a lot of work for a 55-year-old to go through every night. 'I'm finding in the last year or two that the chase of trying to procure work is exhausting,' he tells me. 'So I only want to do things that mean something to me. And if I don't, what a lovely life I've had. I'm happy going for a walk with the dog and hanging out with friends and watching a movie at home with my husband. I've won so many times and I want to keep winning. But if I don't, that's a win, too.'