Richard Chamberlain's character on "Desperate Housewives" is gay...

This is cool.

Love that Richard Chamberlain, who I fell in love with in "The Thorn Birds," has been out for several years now and is playing gay roles more often. On Sunday, he will guest on "Desperate Housewives" as Lynette's (Felicity Huffman) stepfather. He tells her why he left her mother (played by the terrific Polly Bergen): he left her because he is gay.

Chamberlian told Entertainment Tonight that he'd love to stick around Wisteria Lane. That would be great, if the writers can resolve their strike against producers. Jann Carl asked Chamberlain if he now makes it a point to play gay characters.

"I played a couple of gay characters since I came out," he said. "I didn't want to come out until I was completely free of fear about it, which finally happened at age 68."