Face to face with Gale Harold

We all know Gale Harold as sexy and slutty Brian Kinney from the much-beloved "Queer as Folk" series. Of that amazing cast, he has found the most work on television including the lead in the short-lived Fox series "Vanished," a role on HBO's "Deadwood," and a stunning two-part guest spot on "Grey's Anatomy" as a paramedic who is a closet white supremicist. Now he has landed a role as a regular on "Desperate Housewives" which begins its fifth season this fall with the show jumping ahead five years.
Here is part of our conversation last night at the ABC party which was the culmination of the network's day on the Television Critics Association Press Tour.

Question: That is a very dramatic opening scene you had on the season finale of "Desperate Housewives." It was such a shock because Susan (Teri Hatcher) came home to you and not to Mike (James Denton). How have things been going so far?
Answer: I've worked about four days and it's been very nice, a very easy transition to go from being a complete stranger to all these people to just going to work and doing the work. (Teri) has a very ready grasp of what she needs to bring to the scene, she's a very fluid actress and it's been great to work with her."

Question: Do you feel like you've finally left Brian behind?
Answer: Brian behind? Is that a joke?

Question: it was such a great role. And you're doing such different stuff now and I'm starting to look at you in a different way.
Answer: I'm glad that you say that. That's kind of a baseline obstacle for an actor who comes from a place of obsurity then gets a big job and then they get associated with whatever that big job is. And when the job is really somewhat extreme then you worry. Everyone decides to get freaked out about typecasting at some point in their lives. But I really wasn't.... If I was never anything other than what I did on that show then maybe I would be typecast but I think I have the ability to consider the world at large and approach it."

At this point, some other "journalist" crashes our little chat and remarks that Brian Kinney "could have been straight or gay." I love Gale's response: "No, I think he could never have been straight. I mean, the guy was absolutely homosexual. It was part of what was interesting about playing him. He was what he was. He was, essentially, an absolutely-realized gay man living with no boundaries."

This same "journalist" who doesn'rt even let people finish their answers then asks Gale about his "Desperate Housewives" character which he has already covered. So, he jokes: "He's a self-possessed gay man, out and proud."

I wrestle control of the interview back and ask him about his fellow "Queer as Folk" castmates. Are they in touch?

"By the way, congratulations to Sharon Gless who was nominated for an Emmy today. That should be the lead, don't bury it, please. I had lunch with Scott Lowell (last) Saturday and I emailed Peter Paige this afternoon. Randy (Harrison) was in Paris and we talked a day after he got back about three weeks ago."

I wrap up my part of the interview when the other "journalist" starts asking questions like "Are you a nightlife guy?" "Are you an outdoors guy?"

I didn't stick around long enough to hear the answers to those STELLAR questions...