One of the first recurring transgender characters was played by a "Dallas" star

PODCAST

Powerful women, a rap theme song, an original screenplay ... This week, in SERIELAND, Clémence Olivier takes you behind the scenes of an avant-garde series from the 1970s. However, it was quickly deprogrammed: it's All That Glitters. 

Little is known, but the first recurring transgender character appeared in a series 44 years ago.

It was in 1977 in

an American series broadcast at the time on several local television channels.

And it was Linda Gray who embodied this character.

Does it ring a bell ?

Linda Gray, however, is one of the leading actresses of the

series

!

She is famous for having played for ten years the role of Sue Ellen, the somewhat alcoholic wife of the ruthless JR.

But how did she end up playing this transgender character?

That's what I'm going to tell you.

In 1977, the world did not yet know the Ewing family, and Linda Gray was not really known to Americans.

She starred in commercials, a few movies but nothing particularly notable.

So when she learns that Norman Lear, an American producer renowned for his comedies, is launching a new series, she tries her luck. 

In the skin of a transgender model

Especially since the scenario thrills him.

I give you the pitch:

tells the daily life of several executives of a company.

Except that the plot takes place in a world where women occupy all positions of power.

Men are either secretaries or housewives.

And Linda Gray loves this gender reversal.

So she gives her all.

And it works.

The actress is chosen to play a transgender model called Linda. 

Well, it's not the title role, but it's a recurring role.

So to be sure not to fall into caricature and interpret her character as best as possible, she meets a transgender woman who tells her about her daily life.

In April 1977, we discover her in the skin of Linda Murkland in the credits of

The series quickly canceled

The pitch is innovative, the players involved.

But being ahead of the times doesn't always mean success.

On the other side of the screen, viewers are not buying it.

Finally, especially men.

As for feminists, they fear that satire is not really understood.

But it is above all the failed valves and the writing that are criticized.

Result: audiences tumble quickly.

And after 13 weeks on the air, and 65 episodes, the series is simply canceled.

For Linda, that's for sure a disappointment.

But in the meantime, she started filming another series.

A fiction which depicts the life of two rival families in Texas and which will make her a star:

you understood it! 

As for Norman Lear, the creator of 

he can still boast of having paved the way for the representation of transgender people on the small screen.

In a 2015 interview with the

a newspaper dedicated to the LGBT + community in Chicago, a famous actress compared him to an "Elon Musk of television", as she considers him avant-garde.

This actress is Linda Gray!