In the 2010 movie sequel Sex and the City 2, Stanford settled down and married his longtime rival, Anthony, in a ceremony officiated by no less than Liza Minnelli.
Garson’s Stanford pushed the door open further as a gay character who talked frankly with his straight friends about sex, dating, rejection, insecurity, and the eternal conundrum of the male mind.
Garson’s first appearance as Stanford, in the 1998 pilot for Sex and the City, arrived just a year after Ellen Degeneres’s character from her self-titled ABC sitcom came out publicly, creating a cultural stir at a time when same-sex relationships were seldom seen in mainstream entertainment. From 1998 to 2004, and over two feature films, Garson, who died Tuesday at age 57, played the part of the “gay best friend” years before most people knew a real-life friend or relative who was comfortable being out. Armed with a razor wit and equally sharp skepticism about the dating scene, “Stanny” often joined Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw and her trio of girlfriends in navigating the men of Manhattan. With his bookish look, fussy demeanor, and devilish smile, Willie Garson worked for a decade playing unnamed characters like “Nitwit Executive,” “Corporate Guy,” and “Annoying Guy” before breaking through with his career defining role: Sex and the City’s nattily dressed confidante and best friend Stanford Blatch.
