Michael Greer

Michael Greer (born James Robert Malley; April 20, 1938 — September 14, 2002 ) was an American actor, comedian and cabaret performer. He is known for his appearances in the films The Gay Deceivers and Fortune and Men's Eyes, and for being one of the first openly gay actors to appear in major Hollywood films.

Early life Greer was born James Robert Malley in Galesburg, Illinois, to parents Charles and Elizabeth (née Koetter) Malley. Although his birth date has been given as April 20, 1943, his birth year was probably 1938, based on 1940 U.S. census records listing a 2-year-old "Jimmie Malley" He grew up in Galesburg, residing first with his parents and later with his aunt and uncle, and had two sisters and two half-brothers. He began performing at a young age, singing during intermissions at the local movie theater.

Greer left Galesburg in the mid-1950s. While in the service he formed a pop vocal group that performed in the style of The Four Aces. While playing the Redwood Room club in L.A., the act was discovered and popularized by Judy Garland, leading to a 16-month engagement, after which the group broke up. continued to perform solo at San Francisco clubs such as The Fantasy and The Purple Onion. Greer's act included music, comedy and female impersonations of actresses such as Bette Davis and Tallulah Bankhead. Greer also developed a signature routine that he performed, with variations, for the rest of his career, in which he appeared as the Mona Lisa, speaking through a large picture frame held on his lap and making art-related jokes.

Due to Greer's difficulties obtaining film roles after the early 1970s, he concentrated on his cabaret act for most of his career, touring and playing clubs nationwide. in which Jahr referred to Greer as "the gay world's Jonathan Winters" and likened him to "George Burns at a Friars' Roast." Greer's impersonation of Bette Davis was so perfect that, when she became unavailable, Greer was called upon to dub some of her lines in the TV miniseries The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978) and again in Wicked Stepmother (1989), her last film. In addition to writing his own material, Greer also wrote comedy material for several well-known performers, including Phyllis Diller, Debbie Reynolds, Rip Taylor, and Larry Storch. Greer played "Queenie" in both the Los Angeles and subsequent New York stage productions, logging over 400 performances in the role. Greer became close friends with both Mineo and Don Johnson, who was cast in the lead role of "Smitty". He played an old-guard activist professor in a 1998 Santa Monica production of Mark Savage's coming-out musical, The Ballad of Little Mikey.

With composer Wayne Moore, Greer collaborated on the book for a 1992 musical, Freeway Dreams, about commuters stuck in traffic in Los Angeles. Greer also directed the Los Angeles production which ran for four months, and appeared on the original cast album (released in 1997 on Moore's Ducy Lee label) as the voice of "the car radio announcer on station KDUL in the Valley."

Film Greer made his feature film debut in 1969 in the hit comedy The Gay Deceivers as "Malcolm", the flamboyant gay landlord of two heterosexual young men who pretend to be gay in an attempt to dodge the draft. However, the film was progressive for its time in featuring an openly gay actor playing an openly gay character in a happy long-term gay relationship, rather than having gay characters suffer loneliness, anguish or tragedy. Greer's performance drew good reviews. He received star billing and was featured in advertising for the film.

The following year Greer co-starred (with Don Johnson) as an underground rock musician in MGM's 1970 box office flop The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, for which he also co-wrote and sang the song "Water". and Diamond Stud.

In 1971, Greer reprised his stage role as "Queenie" in MGM's film version of Fortune and Men's Eyes, a film role he had previously turned down. Despite the filmmakers' controversial changes to the original stage play, including exploiting the camp and drag-queen elements portrayed by the Queenie character, Greer's performance received positive reviews and has been viewed as a strong statement of gay assertiveness. Greer felt that his film performance of "Queenie" was the definitive one, and was proud of it. Thereafter, his film career was limited to occasional small roles in movies such as Summer School Teachers (1974) (in which he played a heterosexual celebrity with a food fetish) and The Rose (1979) (in which he again played a drag performer). and Sunshine. He was a regular performer on the short-lived Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour in 1974. In the 1980s and 1990s, he provided the voice of several television cartoon characters, most notably as both Mayor Oscar Bulloney and Sadie Wowcow on the ABC cartoon series Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa (1992–1993).

Personal life Greer was a longtime resident of Los Angeles and an active member of the Beaux Arts Society, Inc. (USA), which named him a Distinguished Artist in 1996.

Filmography Film The Gay Deceivers (1969) .... Malcolm Diamond Stud (1970) .... Jim's Betting Friend The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart (1970) .... Danny The Curious Female (1970) .... Bixby Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971) .... Queenie Messiah of Evil (alternate title: Dead People) (1973) .... Thom Summer School Teachers (1974) .... John John Lacey The Rose (1979) .... Emcee The Lonely Guy (1984) .... Counterman Spree (1996) .... TV Store Clerk (final film role)

Television Mannix - Season 3, Episode 12, "Missing: Sun and Sky" (1969) .... Second Boy Ironside - Season 4, Episode 2, "No Game For Amateurs" (1970) .... Phil The Streets of San Francisco - Season 1, Episode 13, "A Trout in the Milk" (1973) .... Omar (uncredited) Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In - Season 6, Episode 19 (1973) .... Himself (cameo appearance) The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour - Various episodes (1974) .... Himself (regular performer) Sunshine - Season 1, Episode 1, "Sweet Misery" (1975) .... Big Mama Dinah! - Season 2, Episode 168 (1976) .... Himself Darkwing Duck - Season 2, Episode 12, "A Brush With Oblivion" (1991) .... Museum Curator (voice) Camp Candy - Season 3, Episode 6, "When It Rains...It Snows" (1992) .... Unknown character (voice) Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa - Various episodes (1992–1993) .... Mayor Oscar Bulloney, Sadie Wowcow (voice)