Harry Hamlin turned 75 on October 30. It is a fitting moment to revisit a performance whose importance cannot be measured only in box-office returns or the jobs that followed.
In Making Love, released in 1982, Hamlin played Bart, a gay writer who becomes involved with Zack, a married doctor portrayed by Michael Ontkean. Kate Jackson played Zack’s wife, Claire.
The film brought a gay romance to a major Hollywood studio’s screen at a time when that was an unusual and professionally risky choice.
A story he thought deserved to be told
Hamlin has repeatedly recalled being warned against accepting the role. Coming off Clash of the Titans, he was being considered for leading parts, but wanted something more substantial than the scripts arriving on his desk.
Speaking with Andy Cohen for Interview in 2022, he explained that he saw Making Love as a story about a real social experience that needed to be discussed.
He also shared an affectionate memory of his father enthusiastically recommending the film to people at an airport. His father, Hamlin recalled, was proud of him.
That is a lovely detail to set beside the anxiety surrounding the role: while others worried about its consequences, his father wanted people to see his son’s work.
The career cost, in his own account
Hamlin believes the film affected his opportunities in the studio system. In a 2022 Yahoo Entertainment interview, he said meetings for studio pictures stopped after its release.
He also acknowledged that nobody explicitly told him his gay role was the reason, and that the film’s disappointing commercial reception could have been a factor.
His acting career continued through independent films, theatre and television, including his breakthrough on L.A. Law. In a later Still Here Hollywood podcast interview, he described 80 for Brady as his first studio-film offer in roughly 40 years.
What audiences gave back
The other side of the story is the response from gay viewers.
Hamlin has spoken about men approaching him to explain that Making Love helped them come out or talk with their parents. One encounter he recalled involved a man in Palm Springs thanking him through tears.
For people who grew up with few mainstream images of gay intimacy, a film could become part of a much larger personal story.
Asked by Cohen about regrets, Hamlin said: “I have no regrets about Making Love.” He added that it might be the work of which he was proudest.
Hamlin is straight and married to Lisa Rinna. His place in this particular piece of gay film history comes from a character he chose to play and the audiences who saw something of themselves in that performance.
A day after his milestone birthday, that feels like a good reason to send him some love.
📷 20th Century Fox / Making Love / @harryhamlin
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