Nathan Lane for President

Here's something you don't hear every day: out actor Nathan Lane will be playing the President of the United States on Broadway in November, a new comedy by David Mamet.

Lane sounds like a perfect fit for the piece, which is described as a "day in the life of a beleaguered commander-in-chief": he does beleaguered quite well and his comic timing is impeccable. It doesn't sound like his President is supposed to be evocative of our current White House comedian, but one can imagine that there will be parallels drawn.

Which got me thinking: have we ever seen an out gay actor portray the leader of our country? No doubt the response from the stalls will be that we're tempting the Hellmouth again. November opens in ... December.