David Fisher (Six Feet Under)

David James Fisher
Six Feet Under character
Portrayed by	Michael C. Hall
Information
Occupation	Funeral director
Age	75 (at time of death)
Born	January 20, 1969
Died	2044
Place of origin	Los Angeles, California

David James Fisher is a fictional character played by Michael C. Hall on the HBO television series Six Feet Under. The character is the middle child of three and is a third-generation funeral director. Initially, the character is portrayed as socially conservative (and possibly politically so), dutiful to his family, emotionally repressed, and conflicted about his homosexuality. Over the course of the series, he faces struggles and triumphs both personally and professionally. His most significant challenges are related to keeping his funeral home in business, navigating his relationship with Keith Charles, surviving being carjacked, and coping with the death of his father. By the show's end, he reconciles his religious beliefs, personal goals, and homosexuality, and he and Keith settle down. They adopt two children: eight-year-old Anthony and 12-year-old Durrell. The series finale and official HBO website indicate that Keith is murdered in a robbery in 2029, and that David at some point finds companionship with Raoul Martinez, with whom he remains until David's death at the age of 75.

Critics have cited David Fisher as the first realistic portrayal of a gay lead male character on television, and the character is popularly regarded as one of the most beloved of the series. Michael C. Hall was widely praised for his portrayal of the character, and was nominated for and won major awards as a result.

There was this stuffed-shirt quality and this vulnerable-little-boy quality at the same time. It wasn't exactly the David I'd envisioned, but it made any other idea about David irrelevant.

The show's creator, Alan Ball, says he based the characters Nate, Claire, and David on himself. Of David, he said: "I'm like David in that for years I tried to do everything right, as if that would some way redeem me." Ball said in one interview, when he first conceived the characters: "David was just always gay. He was the brother who was 'the best little boy in the world' who did everything to please everybody, and that's such a classic gay thing."

Jeremy Sisto (Billy Chenowith) and Peter Krause (Nate Fisher) both originally auditioned for the role of David. However, director Sam Mendes had just finished working with Hall on the Broadway show Cabaret and called him one day at noon to invite him to audition for the role that evening. Ball (who had worked with Mendes on the film American Beauty) said that, after four days of auditions "[Hall] started reading, and I just saw the character come to life. And it was David."

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