David berry is he gay
Shunned, abused and tortured: David Berry portrays what many same-sex attracted men endured in 1950s Australia
ACTOR David Berry would be so traumatised by his television personality some days that he’d break down in hysterics on set.
The 31-year-old celestial body of A Place To Call Home would be totally inconsolable — a sobbing mess. And he began to take the serious experiences of James Bligh with him at the finish of a day’s filming.
It wasn’t just the heavy storylines from the Foxtel period drama, put in 1950s Australia — it was that so much truth was woven in to the fictional heir to a farming fortune.
James is married but gay and, in the previous two seasons, has experienced everything from forbidden love to family disapproval and even horrific “treatments” including electroshock.
“In the start, I did a lot of explore about what it meant to be a gay dude in this era,” Berry said.
“But I also interviewed men who lived through this time, as well as those ordeals — including the so-called therapies. I looked at real stories so I could inform an honest one with these characters.
“That’s why I sense an enormous burden. I have a very real possibility to do James well because
David Berry
I first interviewed David Berry on A Place to Call Abode. Now he’s an international success through another period drama – Outlander. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing David again.
You’ve had great international accomplishment with Outlander. Inform us about playing Lord John Grey.
David Berry: I become to play a great character, with actors and a crew that are world class. I was well prepared for that from my experience in Australia on A Place to Phone Home, but Outlander takes it into an extra gear. It’s been a fun experience and certainly opened me to a whole bunch of other experiences through active and living in Scotland.
You’ve now been in quite a few period dramas!
Drama is great because you get to play dress-ups with all the skilled details. The reflection that goes into making a period production is something special. There’s so much artistry and work from people behind the scenes, which also assists me in my job. I really like the historical component as I’ve been learning about both Scottish and American histories. From a performance indicate of view, it doesn’t really convert too much because it’s about humans just living in a different age
Outlander‘s David Berry on John’s Crave for Jamie: ‘You Don’t Call for Much Direction to Look at Sam Longingly’
If discretion is the better part of valor, Outlander‘s David Berry deserves some kind of medal for our recent chat.
The Australian actor portrays the Starz historical drama’s Lord John Grey, an earnest British soldier and closeted gay man who — like many characters in the drama — quietly yearns for James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, played by Sam Heughan. Warning: Book (and potential Season 4) spoilers ahead. If you don’t want to know, skip down to the Q&A below.
Because Season 4 of the TV adaptation will pull heavily from Drums of Autumn, the fourth novel in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, it’s likely that we’ll see Lord John (and William!) arrive in the Thirteen Colonies before season’s end — and, thanks to circumstances beyond their control, they’ll stay longer than he originally intends. If the series closely follows the novel, we also know that Lord John also will play a rather crucial part in another Fraser’s storyline as the e
From Outlander to A Place to Call Home
It’s only by coincidence that David Berry’s biggest acting roles have seen him portray two closeted gay characters who, ironically, have appeared simultaneously on Australian TV screens this year.
His breakout role in Bevan Lee’s gripping period drama, A Place to Call Place, saw him carry the emotional burdens of James Bligh, a young queer man who struggles to accept his sexuality during the testing times of the 1950s.
Since then he has gone on to land another notable role, this time in the romance-meets-history drama Outlander as gay closeted soldier Lord John Grey, who develops feelings for Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) after the ruggedly handsome Scot had spared his being when he was a teenager, a scene that played out in season two.
Both series are currently airing on Foxtel’s Showcase channel.
“I couldn’t tell you that the thought didn’t cross my mind about the similarities for sure, you can see it,” the 33-year-old actor says of the two roles.
“But at the alike time I loathe to draw too many comparisons because they are two separate people and I don’t want to combine them in ways just because of their sexuality as a reductive way to l