Out gay actor Chad Allen, whom many will recall from his numerous television roles including Tommy on “St. Elsewhere,” David on “Our House” and Matthew on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” takes on a very different character, bringing gay private investigator Donald Strachey to life in the movie adaptation of Third Man Out. Allen is charming as the gay P.I. hired to investigate the death threats being made against gay activist and muckraking journalist John Rutka (Jack Wetherall of “Queer As Folk” fame), and as the suspenseful mystery unfolds, viewers will find themselves on the edge of their seats. Third Man Out will be making its television debut in September on here! TV.

Gay & Lesbian Times: Third Man Out screened in July at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Were you there for the screening, and if so, what was that experience like for you?

Chad Allen: I was there, actually. It was the world premiere of the film. It was a blast. I have to tell you that the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is just a fantastic film festival all the way around. The people who run it are just fantastic. The audience genuinely loves film. They enjoyed our movie and we enjoyed showing it to them. It was a great experience. It also screened the following week at the Los Angeles OutFest, and that was it, since the film already has a home and doesn’t require the festival circuit to find distribution. We did a couple of festivals to get the word out and to get publicity, and the movie is about to air on its home, here! TV.

GLT: Third Man Out is based on Richard Stevenson’s Donald Strachey mystery novel of the same name. Had you read any of the books in the series prior to signing on to do the movie?

CA: The only book I’d read prior to signing on was Third Man Out. I liked it. I particularly loved the relationship between Donald and Timothy. I felt like there was some work to be done to complete the transition from book to film. For instance, in the book series, Donald is a 40-something-year-old guy [laughs]. I knew there was some work to do on Donald if it was going to work with me as the actor. Everybody agreed that was the thing to do. Once I actually signed on to do [the other] movies, I got to read all the other books and see what was in store for the rest of the series. It’s been cool.

GLT: Strachey comes from the tradition of downtrodden P.I.s of fiction and film. Do you have a favorite detective from that genre?

CA: I grew up watching Columbo films, so I’m really close to those stories. A lot of our film is a bit of an homage to Nick and Nora.

GLT: The dog and everything.

CA: There are a lot of little elements. I must have watched that film 20 times before we made Third Man. It’s a fantastic picture and those actors are incredible. I really encouraged Sebastian [Spence], who played Timothy, to watch it as well. I would love for this to be a gay Nick and Nora. We almost shot it in The Thin Man’s schedule. They shot it in 10 shooting days. We shot Third Man in 12. Didn’t quite make it, but almost [laughs].

GLT: I’m really glad that you mentioned the relationship between Donald and Timothy, because it is very sweet and feels real. Third Man Out has an erotic yet tasteful love scene between the two of them. What was it like to film such a scene?

CA: It was the first gay character I’ve ever played in my life. For me, it was amazing, because I’ve been out forever and it was something that I always wanted to do, and for years was told that I just wasn’t gay enough for any characters [laughs]. It was really exciting, after doing hundreds of love scenes, the first being with Helen Hunt, so to finally be doing it with a guy was really exciting for me. To be paired up with Sebastian, who is straight, and sort of nervous, but completely gracious about the whole thing, was also kind of interesting because the tables were turned. I thought it was a beautiful scene. Nobody was interested in making any kind of gratuitous love scene, gay or straight. We wanted make something that matched up with the film. I think it’s a respectful, interesting, fun noir thriller and we wanted the love scene to match it. It’s one of my favorite sequences in the whole movie, and the kidnapping montage that goes along with it. I was really impressed with [director] Ron Oliver’s work in that.

GLT: Right, because it gets the viewer’s heart racing watching the love scene, and also does the same with the shots of the abduction.

CA: It was really important to me for the love in the movie to be beautiful. I waited this long to play a gay character. We’ve waited this long, as a gay audience, to have a television station of our own, mysteries of our own and so on. Along with everything else that we pass along, it’s important that the love that we get to make is beautiful, too. I didn’t want to avoid that in any way. And I think we achieved what we wanted to do, and I hope that as the series continues there is more opportunity to express that.

GLT: How many of the Donald Strachey mysteries are there plans for you to portray in other film adaptations?

CA: All of them. We have a contract to do six movies and Third Man is the first. There is conversation about shooting another one this fall and beyond that I don’t know; we’ll see how things go. They’ve contracted me, over the course of the next two and a half years, to do all six movies.

GLT: I haven’t read the books, but the movie has a degree of humor in it. How essential a component do you think that is in this type of film?

CA: It’s totally essential. I think it is something that is more prevalent in the movie than in the book. I think it’s because Ron, the director, has such a brilliant sense of humor, and he likes all the films in exactly the same way [I do]. We were both like, “Nick and Nora! We’re going to make the gay Nick and Nora.” We cranked up the drama in the films, as well as the humor. The first pass on the script was nowhere near as dramatic. It’s a much scarier film when it’s scary and much funnier when it’s funny. I was very impressed with the work that Ron did on the script. When I first received it, I knew the relationship was its strength and the mystery its weakness, and we had some work to do. His next pass after that really achieved most of what I wanted.

GLT: Considering that the novel was written in the ’80s, the movie touches on some topical subject matter, including AIDS funding and pharmaceutical companies getting rich from the virus, “religious fanatics who want to run the country,” as Rutka says, and especially sexual abuse of children at the hands of priests.

CA: Exactly. The book was written at a different time. It was written at the height of the AIDS epidemic. When outing itself was a very different thing. It was still practiced and had a much more profound impact. The book also handles their relationship and sexuality very differently. It was important for us to create a solid, monogamous relationship. There are some distinct differences and things that we had to leave behind. We had so much story and mystery to tell in a two-hour film, and still not quite enough time to delve into the relationship. I would have liked at least another half hour devoted to just that, because there were things that I wanted to talk about that we didn’t get around to. You can’t do everything in one movie, but we’ve got five more to do, and hopefully we can do a little more relationship stuff in the next one, as well as the mystery, just because that’s what I love the most.

GLT: You have a scene with porn star Matthew Rush. What was it like working with him?

CA: He was not at all what I expected. I hate to admit that I came to it with preconceived notions about what he was supposed to be like, but I did. He was so shy. I guess I expected someone more gregarious with a bit of a “look at me” attitude. He was not at all like that. He was really excited to be there and really sweet. Really shy! So humble and he kept saying how excited he was to be there and working with me. I think his scene is fantastic. Ron and I both want to bring him back in subsequent films to be that Huggy Bear kind of character who we always go to to get some piece of information and he’s always in some other insane situation; that he’s building his empire or whatever [laughs]. We’ll see if we work that out. But what a great guy.