HOLLYWOOD — Long before there was "Ellen" or "Will and Grace" or "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," there was Jodie Dallas — the first openly gay character on a weekly, prime-time, network TV show. A hysterically funny little sitcom called "Soap."

And, long before he was starring in movies or hosting the Oscars, Billy Crystal was playing Jodie.

"I was the only one," he said. "So that was lonely. There were no other shows that had a gay character on the show week in and week out."

Not that Jodie was the most traditional of gay characters by any means. When the off-the-wall comedy premiered in 1977, Jodie was dating a pro football quarterback and looking to undergo a sex-change operation. He later got involved with a woman and fathered a child before eventually finding himself as a gay man.

Of course, giving the extreme wackiness of "Soap" — a parody of (what else?) soap operas — Jodie was far from being the most extreme character on the show. And, while the show stirred up considerable controversy — Utah's ABC affiliate, KTVX-Ch. 4, wouldn't air it in prime time — looking at it today, it seems positively tame. (Season 1 of "Soap" is available on DVD.)

"My kids now get to see it. They were tiny at the time," Crystal said. "They can watch it and go, 'What were you thinking?'

"But I'm so proud of what we did on that show and the inroads that we made. And the genius writing of Susan Harris, later Stu Silver, to make that character real."

Neither "Soap" nor "Jodie" are forgotten.

"I did something with Debra Messing ('Will & Grace') recently and her introduction made me feel very proud," Crystal said. "She said, 'He made it possible for our show.' I never thought of it that way. I was one of a great cast. I think that's one of the best casts in the history of television."

Not that he spends a lot of time dwelling on "Soap," which went off in 1981.

"I don't sit there like some old guy going, 'Look at all these gay guys now. Ahh, back in the days, in the '70s, that's when you could be gay," Crystal joked. "Now they need five guys to dress one guy. I could have done the whole thing alone."

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