Television closet case: Miss Hathaway from The Beverly Hillbillies. I couldn't see her going home from a day at the bank to take care of a man. Maybe a cat or two ...but probably her sweetie.

The floorwalker from Macy's who fires Auntie Mame at Christmas time. Even without the real life claim that at the time, he was the lover of Patrick Dennis, the author of the book, he (the character) was just gay. In an early scene in the movie, when Rosalind Russell is out on the patio chatting with guests, there is a woman in a man's suit having a conversation with another woman (can't remember if she was wearing a suit too) in the background. It was the 1920's and it was New York and Mame was avant garde.

I used to wonder if maybe Maynard G. Krebs had a secret crush on Dobie Gillis. Maybe that's just because I had a crush on him, even if I was four or five years old at the time.

What about the housekeeper from "The Brady Bunch"?

Sorry but I keep thinking about television characters instead of the movies.

The question has percolated in my brain ever since I read it. It seems Thelma Ritter was typecast as a dyke in a few movies, probably more than I remember here. To me she is the most memorable character in any movie she played in.

I had to consult IMDB to validate my memory--and it's a good thing, because I was going to say the movie was "A Night to Remember" but it was actually the 1953 "Titanic".

Maude Young (played by Thelma Ritter) hung out with the guys, playing cards and smoking cigars. As I recall, she stayed in the card parlor for some time after the collision with the iceberg.. I don't know what people in late nineteenth century high society thought of women like her. Possibly they just thought she was "eccentric". Between the movie censorship of the 1950's and dubious historical accuracy of most movies, I can say without a doubt that Maude Young was different. Maybe she liked men sexually but preferred to be on top. These things are hard to guess. The character impresses me as the kind of gal you wouldn't want to piss off by asking the wrong question.

Thelma Ritter also impressed me as a dyke in "Boeing, Boeing". In the course of the movie she informs her employer that she drove for the general during the war. "MacArthur?" he asks. "Pershing!" she flatly responds.

Thelma Ritter also played a character that I remember as Aggie (Aggy, Agee?) in a western movie. She own a ranch (alone) and hires a woman to come out and work on the place with her. IMDB was no help. I saw the movie in B&W on television once years ago. Maybe it was a television series.

"Clancy" was a character played by Thelma Ritter in "With a Song in My Heart", which I incorrectly remembered as "The Jane Froman Story" (Thanks IMDB). She was a tough old army nurse with the heart of gold, who nursed Jane Froman (portrayed by Susan Hayward) back to health from dreadful injuries sustained in a plane crash while she was on tour with the USO. Jane Froman is a real person and the basic story is true and it's a good movie if you like schmaltzy tearjerkers with lots of songs from around that time.

www.imdb.com/title/tt0045333/