List of Mad Men Characters - Supporting Characters - Sal Romano

Sal Romano

Salvatore "Sal" Romano (Bryan Batt) is the Italian-American art director at Sterling Cooper. He is originally from Baltimore and is a closeted homosexual. Sal turned down a proposition from a male employee of Belle Jolie Cosmetics midway through the first season, admitting that though he has thought about having relationships with men, he has never acted on this impulse, implying it was out of fear of discovery. He joins the other men of Sterling Cooper in their flirtations with the women in the workplace, in order to maintain the appearance that he is as interested in the opposite sex as they are. He speaks to his mother in Italian. Between the first and second seasons, Sal marries a childhood friend, Kitty (Sarah Drew), who is unaware of his true orientation, but over time becomes suspicious. The two entertain Ken Cosgrove for dinner during the second season, during which Sal seems taken with his guest.

In the third season premiere, Don Draper becomes aware of Sal's orientation after accidentally seeing him with a hotel bellhop, but Don subtly assures Sal that he'll keep silent by drawing Sal's attention to the ad slogan: "Limit your exposure". Later in the third season, with Don's encouragement Sal branches out into directing commercials for the company, while Kitty becomes increasingly suspicious of his feelings toward her and men. Sal and Kitty have not had sexual relations in several months and Kitty tells Sal she needs "tending to". He assures her that he loves her, but his mind is elsewhere due to pressures at work. Illustrations popular in magazine advertisements in the 1950s and early 1960s are going out of style in favor of photographs, so he fears he will lose his job as an illustrator. Later in the scene, Kitty is in bed and Sal vividly demonstrates how the Ann-Margret look-alike will dance and sing "Bye-bye Birdie" in his commercial (with lyrics changed to words for Pepsi's new diet drink Patio). Kitty's facial expression belies her discomfort with Sal's behavior.

In the episode "Wee Small Hours", Sal rejects the advances of Lee Garner, Jr., a married Lucky Strike executive, who in retaliation calls Harry Crane and demands Sal's removal from the account. When Harry fails to pass this on, Garner walks out of a subsequent meeting. Don, in contrast to his earlier reaction, derisively says "you people" while informing Sal he can no longer work at Sterling Cooper. In Sal's last appearance, he calls his wife late at night from a payphone located amidst a group of apparently homosexual men heading into the woods. He does not tell her he has been fired, only that he will be arriving home late.