Researchers at the British Film Institute have discovered what might be television’s first-ever gay kiss – and it stars a then-29 year old Sean Connery.
In the controversial smooch scene, Connery kisses Richard Pasco, an actor who plays his brother in the 1960 BBC drama Colombe.
In this particular episode, Connery’s character suspects his brother of having an affair with his wife, so in an attempt to understand what his brother has that he lacks, he kisses him.
The footage itself, which was found at the US Library of Congress and given to the BFI, originally belonged to Public Broadcasting Service WNET New York.
Naturally questions have surfaced such as, “how does a groundbreaking kiss make it onto TV screens at a time when homosexuality was still frowned upon?”
According to Dick Fiddy, a TV consultant at the British Film Institute,
“Sadly nobody around here now seems to recall it. But it might have been accepted because of the context and because it was a television version of a classic play by a great French dramatist.”
“It was, we are pretty sure, the first male-to-male kiss on TV, film or on stage.”
via PinkNews
