Saturday Morning Man: Bryan Batt!

What a concept: a gay man playing a gay man on television!

But there’s a big difference between the character of Salvatore Romano on AMC’s Emmy-winning series Mad Men and actor Bryan Batt: Sal is a closeted art director for an ad agency in a show set in the 60s while Bryan is an openly gay actor who has been in a relationship with events planner Tom Cianfichi for 18 years.

“It’s such a honor to play this character,” Bryan told me on the red carpet of the Emmys last month.  “I want to get it right because we have to pay homage to the men and women who went through this.”

Bryan is a showbiz veteran who until Mad Men, had primarily been known as a stage actor in such Broadway shows as Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Saturday Night Fever and Beauty and the Beast. He was also the only actor to re-create his off-Broadway stage role for the film adaptation of Jeffrey.

Bryan was among the out actors who participated in an intriguing discussion on Wednesday at the Screen Actors Guild on being out in Hollywood. I will have a report on the event posted tomorrow to coincide with Coming Out Day!