David Marshall Grant breaks gay barriers on Brothers and Sisters
It was twenty years ago when the sight of two men in the same bed on a prime time series caused advertisers to pull their ads; on the flipside, the broadcast network stuck by the scene and made television history. One of the actors in this scene was David Marshall Grant, who played Russell on ABC’s drama thirtysomething and he is forever a part of that milestone.
Then a decade later the out actor was part of American theater history as Joe Pitt in the Broadway production of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. Since then he’s become an acclaimed playwright (Snakebit, Current Events and Pen, all of which have received off-Broadway productions).
While he stills acts on occasion (most recently as Anne Hathaway’s dad in The Devil Wears Prada), Grant is now a writer and Executive Producer/show runner on the ABC hit Brothers and Sisters where the gay character of Kevin (Matthew Rhys) has been able to have a love life, get married to the man of his dreams and currently weather the complicated world of surrogacy with his husband.
EDGE’s Jim Halterman talked with Grant this week about Brothers and Sisters and how the show goes about making Kevin and Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) have the same problems as everyone else and, of course, he also reflects on that infamous thirtysomething scene.
Loving Gilles Marini
EDGE: I have to say that I love Gilles Marini on the show...
David Marshall Grant What’s not to love!?
EDGE: I take it you’re pleased with his addition to the show? Will we be seeing more of him, so to speak?
DMG: We love him. He’s coming back for more. He’s in a series of episodes yet to come and we may even bring him back later in the season.
EDGE: There’s really great sparks between he and Rachel Griffiths.
DMG: They worked really well together so we’re really excited about ’them’ as a possibility.
