Charlie’s Angels « Unidentified flying angels »

Starting in the 1970s, almost all American television series began to sprinkle their episodes with gay characters. With more or less nuance. These are episodic characters, rarely secondary, most often tertiary or even just decorative.

In this nine (or seven double) episode of season two of Charlie’s Angels, a young woman seeks the services of the Townsend Agency because her Aunt Charlotte has gone missing. The potential victim was passionate about astronomy, curious about science fiction, and very wealthy - this is the only clue the detectives have to go on.

John Bosley and Sabrina Duncan go to the missing woman’s home to question a man called Seth Corday, her personal secretary. He lives in the house, takes care of the dog, and has the power to sign checks on his boss’s accounts. Charlie’s Angels had several lgbt characters for short scenes, Corday is one of them. He’s played by Ken Olfson.

Without revealing the end of the episode, this character is a typical example of a crypto-gay character, made up of small stereotypes : his slightly superior and condescending air often attributed to gay characters, his robe and postures, all making him a somewhat ridiculous crypto-gay character. He is uncomfortable, and clumsy. Corday is not an outright villain, just cunning and not very courageous.

Corday is a good example of the firts crypto or gay characters who started to bloom on the screens, but who were limited to minor, episodic, or superficial roles in the shows.