Gay Best Friend: Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) in "All About Eve" (1950)
A series by Christopher James looking at the 'Gay Best Friend' trope
SERIES FINALE (for now)
All good things must come to an end (or extended hiatus). Over the past year, we’ve covered 42 examples of the gay best friend spanning from 1955 to 2021. Don’t worry, I’ll be starting a new column very shortly, so you haven’t seen the last of me. However, we are going out in fabulously bitchy style with our final entry. Not only is this our oldest entry, but it’s also the only Gay Best Friend that earned the actor in question an Oscar statue. Needless to say, George Sanders’ Best Supporting Actor win for the gossip columnist Addison DeWitt in All About Eve is one of the best wins in the category.
The central premise of All About Eve is a tale as old as time. Aging Broadway star Margot Channing (Bette Davis) meets an adoring fan one night named Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). Margot bonds with Eve over her favorite topic… herself. She eventually giving her employment in the theater. Soon, the much younger Eve starts to get greedy, taking some of Margot’s spotlight as the new, younger face of the theater...