Gay in the day of LBJ: NBC's 1965-set American Dreams explores the life of its gay character

Last season on NBC's 1960s drama American Dreams, erstwhile housewife Helen Pryor landed a job at a travel agency, where she met dashing, intelligent coworker Donald (Hank Stratton). By the season's finale she discovered Donald was gay, having caught him and "roommate" Russ (The Trip's Larry Sullivan) shaking a tender--although hardly Queer as Folk-level--moment. "It's 8 o'clock television but 10 o'clock issues," notes creator, writer, and executive producer Jonathan Prince.

"You cannot tell the story of the '60s without coming to the surface of gay America," Prince says, adding that Donald was inspired by Dennis Quaid's Far From Heaven character. Stratton notes, "He's funny, soulful, smart--I love how smart they made him. Yet he's a man of his time, resigned to his place in history, and can't lead an open, proud life. He has to hide. I'm hoping that he'll start to become slightly more combative and ask for more, but for now this is how it is. It breaks my heart."

In season 3, Helen learns that Donald has a beard, Vivian, who accompanies him to the Pryors' for dinner and even when visiting his own family. Their boss learns of Donald's homosexuality and fires him, and Helen makes no effort to intercede. "When writers told me about that story line, I gasped," says Gail O'Grady, who plays Helen. "It made me really sad because Gall came into it ..." she blurts. After a pause, she continues, "In Gail and Helen there is a conflict. I love the character and think Helen's a good person and believes she's doing what God would have intended her to do--the right thing as a Catholic. And Hank plays this character so well, [shooting one of these scenes] left me in a funk yesterday."

Young Patty Pryor (Sarah Ramos) also develops a friendship with--and crush on--Donald, and "when he's fired, this poor girl asks, 'What happened? You're a better travel agent than my mother--why'd they fire you?'" recalls Stratton. "He says, 'How old are you? Fourteen? Then in seven years I'll buy you a cocktail and tell you the whole story. Until then, you just have to know it's not fair.'"

Ferber has also written for Entertainment Weekly.

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