Director Peter Glenville: Conservative, Gay, and the Closet 1960s Hollywood

Contents:

• IS PETER O'TOOLE GAY?
• CONSERVATIVE, GAY, AND THE CLOSET 1960S HOLLYWOODBIOGRAPHIESPETER GLENVILLE LED A MULTIFACETED LIFE: A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA DIRECTOR WHO WORKED WH RICHARD BURTON AND PETER O’TOOLE, A STNCH NSERVATIVE CATHOLIC, AND A GAY MAN.GIL TROYUPDATED OCT. 10, 2019 2:33PM EDT / PUBLISHED NOV. 25, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY LYNE LUCIEN/THE DAILY BEASTI AM SUPPOSED TO LL PETER GLENVILLE A GAY DIRECTOR WHO WAS ALSO A NSERVATIVE REPUBLIN AND A TAX DODGER, BUT ’S MORE ACCURATE TO LL HIM A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA HOLLYWOOD AND BROADWAY DIRECTOR—WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE A CLOSETED CATHOLIC NSERVATIVE TAX DODGER. WELE TO THE MORN BGRAPHER’S DILEMMA. TODAY WE OFTEN FE PEOPLE BY ASKG: WHO SLEPT WH WHOM? WE’VE CID THAT SEXUALY F ALL. BUT EVERY HISTORIAN IS A DIPLOMAT REPRENTG YTERDAY’S LOST WORLD TO REARS TODAY. GOOD HISTORIANS SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF TODAY WHOUT LETTG THE LANGUAGE OM YTERYEAR GET LOST TRANSLATN. THREE MOVI DAZZLED THE NOMATORS FOR THE 37TH AMY AWARDS 1965. MARY POPPS HAD 13 NOMATNS. MY FAIR LADY AND BECKET EACH EARNED 12. ON OSR NIGHT, MY FAIR LADY WON EIGHT AWARDS, MARY POPPS WON FIVE, AND BECKET ONLY ONE, FOR BT ADAPTED SCREENPLAY. IN A JT WORLD WHERE ARTISTRY TMPS SHTICK, BECKET WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER—AND BE REMEMBERED TODAY. BECKET EXPLOR THE BOND THAT BROKE EIGHT CENTURI AGO BETWEEN THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND HIS IEND KG HENRY II, WHO APPOTED HIM—THEN HAD HIM KILLED. ON SCREEN, THE MOVIE CRACKLED THANKS TO THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN A POST-CLEOPATRA (AND POST-ELIZABETH TAYLOR-SNDAL) RICHARD BURTON AS BECKET AND A POST-LAWRENCE OF ARABIA PETER O’TOOLE AS THE KG. AND UNRLYG THOSE BOFFO PERFORMANC WAS A GLENIVILLIAN BRILLIANCE ILLUMATG THIS NFLICT BETWEEN TWO IENDS AND TWO ENTERPRIS THAT FED GLENVILLE’S LIFE: THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN. GLENVILLE EXPLAED THAT “A DIRECTOR SHOULD, LIKE A NDUCTOR, BE AN TERPRETER OF THE PARTICULAR WORLD OF EACH PLAYWRIGHT WH WHOM HE WORKS:” SOMETIM THE STAGG MT BE “UNOBTSIVE,” SOMETIM “BROAD AND LORFUL.” ADDNALLY, THE DIENCE F THE PERFORMANCE BY THE STMENTS—THE ACTORS—BUT WHOUT AN IRON-FISTED VISNARY, CHAOS WOULD EPT. AS THE SON OF A FAMO IRISH ACTG DUO, GLENVILLE WONRED WHETHER TO BE AN ACTOR—OR, RATHER, NOT TO BE ONE. BORN 1913 LONDON, RAISED TO BE POSH, GLENVILLE STUDIED WH JUS STONYHURST COLLEGE, THEN ATTEND OXFORD, WHERE HE SUCCUMBED TO HIS TE LOVE, THE THEATER. THE F WAS NOT ONLY BEE OF HIS PEDIGREE BUT HIS STUNNG GOOD LOOKS. HE WAS ONE OF THOSE BETIFUL MEN WHO SURROUNDS HIMSELF WH BETIFUL MEN. IN 1958, WHEN HE WAS 45, THE NEW YORK TIM EMED HIM “EASILY THE MOST HANDSOME-LOOKG DIRECTOR ONE IS LIKELY TO ENUNTER HOLLYWOOD” (PDF). A GOOD-ENOUGH ACTOR, GLENVILLE BRAVED THE LONDON BLZ WT END HS DURG THE EARLY 1940S. GREATNS, HOWEVER, BECKONED AS A THEATRIL MASTERMD. BY 1949, HE WAS POND-HOPPG TO NQUER BROADWAY AND HOLLYWOOD. OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS, BRGG ALIVE MATERIAL WRTEN BY GRAHAM GREENE, TENNSEE WILLIAMS, AND TERENCE RATTIGAN, HE DIRECTED HENRY FONDA, LRENCE OLIVIER, ANTHONY QUN, JACKIE GLEASON, VIVIEN LEIGH, AND A BROADWAY ROOKIE, TOMMY LEE JON, 1969. HE FALLY MOVED TO MANHATTAN 1960, BUYG A SUMPTUO TOWNHOE AT 18 EAST 68TH ST. TOGGLG BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE STAGE AND THE STUD, HE BALANCED THE “LERATURE OF IAS”—AND OF “IMAG.” WORDS STAR PLAYS, HE EXPLAED, “BEE PHYSIL ACTN IS LIMED BY THE SIZE OF THE STAGE, AND THE SEPARATN BETWEEN ACTORS AND THE DIENCE L OUT SUBTLETI OF EXPRSN. IN THE THEATER, EVERY WORD, EVERY GTURE MT BE PROJECTED, EXAGGERATED.” IN THE MOVI, THE VISUAL DOMAT: “IMAG BEE MORE DRAMATIC THAN WORDS.” MOVI ULD ALSO REACH PSYCHOLOGIL PTH, G CLOSE-UPS “TO SHOW NER THOUGHT PROCS.”GLENVILLE’S WORKS DRAMATIZED HIS IOLOGIL NFLICTS. HIS MOVIE THE PRISONER 1955, STARRG ALEC GUNS AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC RDAL TERROGATED BY AN EASTERN EUROPEAN SECRET POLICEMAN PLAYED BY JACK HAWKS, ANTICIPATED BECKET. ONCE AGA, TWO ENCHANTG MEN LIVERED CHARGED PERFORMANC. AND ONCE AGA, GLENVILLE CHOREOGRAPHED A “ADLY ENUNTER BETWEEN A MAN OF GOD AND A MAN OF THE STATE.”TO GLENVILLE’S AMEMENT, FRENCH RADILS NOUNCED THE FILM AS “ANTI-COMMUNIST,” WHILE IRISH CLERICS EMED “ANTI-CATHOLIC.” A RADIL DIVIDUALIST, GLENVILLE EMPHASIZED THE HUMAN STORY OF “PRIZE FIGHTERS THE REALM OF THE SPIR.” THIS “DUEL” NSUMED TWO “MEN OF TEGRY AND STATURE, WHO FIGHT TO THE ATH FOR WHAT THEY NSIR TO BE RIGHT,” HE EXPLAED A POWERFUL NEW YORK TIM SAY. ALTHOUGH THE TERROGATOR WS, THE BROKEN PRIT’S SPIR HAS BEEN “FORTIFIED.” GLENVILLE’S LSON: “PERSECUTN” STROYS “THE PERSECUTOR” MORE THAN “THE VICTIM.” WHO THEN, HE ASKED, “ FACT IS THE PRISONER.”GLENVILLE’S STGGLE WH HIS VOUT CATHOLICISM WAS MORE PERSONAL. SHORTLY AFTER WORLD WAR II, HE MET HIS LIFE PARTNER, THE THEATRIL PRODUCER HARDY WILLIAM “BILL” SMH. THEY WERE, AS ED TO BE SAID, “NFIRMED BACHELORS.” THEY HOBNOBBED WH GAY ACTORS. GLENVILLE’S GREATT WORKS BRISTLED WH HOMOEROTIC ENERGY. YET GLENVILLE KEPT HIS PRIVATE LIFE, PRIVATE. FRIENDS SAID HE ABHORRED FLAMBOYANCE AND WAS AS “STRICT AS THE BISHOP OF BOSTON.” SOME WONRED WHETHER GLENVILLE’S “TOTALLY HARMON” RELATNSHIP WH SMH WAS CELIBATE. OTHERS SPECULATED THAT THE NFSNAL BOOTH AND THE MOVIE SCREEN HELPED HIM CYCLE THROUGH “S” AND “SALVATN” REGULARLY. HIS STGGLE AGAST COMMUNISM— FACT ALL TOTALARIANISM—LACKED ANY SUCH AMBIVALENCE. IN WHAT END BEG HIS LAST FILM THE COMEDIANS, GLENVILLE MOBILIZED AN ALL-STAR ST 1967 TO EXPOSE “PAPA DOC” DUVALIER’S REIGN OF TERROR HAI. DPE BEG BASED ON A GRAHAM GREENE NOVEL, SPE THE TALENTS OF RICHARD BURTON, ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ALEC GUNS, JAM EARL JON, CICELY TSYON, LILLIAN GISH, AND PETER USTOV, THE FILM SPUTTERED. HTG AT TODAY’S POLILLY RRECT RELATIVISM AND INTY POLICS, SOME LIBERALS EVEN CRICIZED THIS BRAVE STANCE AGAST DICTATORSHIP FOR CRICIZG A BLACK LEAR—AND SENSED GLENVILLE RED MORE ABOUT KNOCKG DOWN BLACK PANTHERS AT HOME, THAN DUVALIER THUGS ABROAD (PDF).GLENVILLE STOPPED AT 60 BEE OF THE ’60S. ANGRY POLICS ON THE STREETS, EXPLIC SEX ON SCREENS, AND METHOD ACTG ON STAGE MORALIZED HIM. “I’M TIRED OF BEATG MY HEAD AGAST A STONE WALL,” HE SAID AS HIS PRODUCTNS FAILED. HE BEME ONE OF THOSE MEN ABOUT TOWN, SQUIRG THE SOCIETY LUMNIST SUZY KNICKERBOCKER TO A DNER AT THE FORD WHE HOE HERE, ATTENDG A CLOSE IEND’S BROADWAY PREMIER THERE. LEAVG NEW YORK JT EQUENTLY ENOUGH, HE HOPED, TO AVOID PAYG TAX AS A RINT, AND GMBLG ABOUT THE HARD TURN LEFT POLICS AND ART, HE LIVED GRANDLY UNTIL 1996. ONE OF “THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER STAGE DIRECTORS AMERI,” BEME “THE FOTTEN GIANT OF MID-20TH-CENTURY DIRECTG.” THAT JUDG HIM OM THE OUTSI . FROM THE SI OUT, GLENVILLE SEEMED SERENE. BRISH JUS REVERE ROBERT SOUTHWELL, THEIR MARTYRED 16TH-CENTURY “PRISONER-POET OF FORT AND STRENGTH.” AFTER GLENVILLE FOUGHT WH SUCH “STRENGTH” TO ADVANCE HIS ARTISTIC VISN, NTA HIS PERSONAL STGGL, AND NONT SOME OF HIS ERA’S GREATT THREATS, HOW LUCKY HE WAS, FALLY, TO ENJOY TWO S OF “FORT.” FOR FURTHER READINGCAROL KG, GLENVILLE: THE ELIVE DIRECTOR WHO CHARMED HOLLYWOOD AND TRIUMPHED ON BROADWAY, 2012. THOMAS S. HISCHAK, ENTER THE PLAYMAKERS: DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS ON THE NEW YORK STAGE, 2006. GLENVILLE: AN INVENTORY OF HIS PAPERS AT THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER. GIL TROY
• CONSERVATIVE, GAY, AND THE CLOSET 1960S HOLLYWOODBIOGRAPHIESPETER GLENVILLE LED A MULTIFACETED LIFE: A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA DIRECTOR WHO WORKED WH RICHARD BURTON AND PETER O’TOOLE, A STNCH NSERVATIVE CATHOLIC, AND A GAY MAN.GIL TROYUPDATED OCT. 10, 2019 2:33PM EDT / PUBLISHED NOV. 25, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY LYNE LUCIEN/THE DAILY BEASTI AM SUPPOSED TO LL PETER GLENVILLE A GAY DIRECTOR WHO WAS ALSO A NSERVATIVE REPUBLIN AND A TAX DODGER, BUT ’S MORE ACCURATE TO LL HIM A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA HOLLYWOOD AND BROADWAY DIRECTOR—WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE A CLOSETED CATHOLIC NSERVATIVE TAX DODGER. WELE TO THE MORN BGRAPHER’S DILEMMA. TODAY WE OFTEN FE PEOPLE BY ASKG: WHO SLEPT WH WHOM? WE’VE CID THAT SEXUALY F ALL. BUT EVERY HISTORIAN IS A DIPLOMAT REPRENTG YTERDAY’S LOST WORLD TO REARS TODAY. GOOD HISTORIANS SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF TODAY WHOUT LETTG THE LANGUAGE OM YTERYEAR GET LOST TRANSLATN. THREE MOVI DAZZLED THE NOMATORS FOR THE 37TH AMY AWARDS 1965. MARY POPPS HAD 13 NOMATNS. MY FAIR LADY AND BECKET EACH EARNED 12. ON OSR NIGHT, MY FAIR LADY WON EIGHT AWARDS, MARY POPPS WON FIVE, AND BECKET ONLY ONE, FOR BT ADAPTED SCREENPLAY. IN A JT WORLD WHERE ARTISTRY TMPS SHTICK, BECKET WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER—AND BE REMEMBERED TODAY. BECKET EXPLOR THE BOND THAT BROKE EIGHT CENTURI AGO BETWEEN THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND HIS IEND KG HENRY II, WHO APPOTED HIM—THEN HAD HIM KILLED. ON SCREEN, THE MOVIE CRACKLED THANKS TO THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN A POST-CLEOPATRA (AND POST-ELIZABETH TAYLOR-SNDAL) RICHARD BURTON AS BECKET AND A POST-LAWRENCE OF ARABIA PETER O’TOOLE AS THE KG. AND UNRLYG THOSE BOFFO PERFORMANC WAS A GLENIVILLIAN BRILLIANCE ILLUMATG THIS NFLICT BETWEEN TWO IENDS AND TWO ENTERPRIS THAT FED GLENVILLE’S LIFE: THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN. GLENVILLE EXPLAED THAT “A DIRECTOR SHOULD, LIKE A NDUCTOR, BE AN TERPRETER OF THE PARTICULAR WORLD OF EACH PLAYWRIGHT WH WHOM HE WORKS:” SOMETIM THE STAGG MT BE “UNOBTSIVE,” SOMETIM “BROAD AND LORFUL.” ADDNALLY, THE DIENCE F THE PERFORMANCE BY THE STMENTS—THE ACTORS—BUT WHOUT AN IRON-FISTED VISNARY, CHAOS WOULD EPT. AS THE SON OF A FAMO IRISH ACTG DUO, GLENVILLE WONRED WHETHER TO BE AN ACTOR—OR, RATHER, NOT TO BE ONE. BORN 1913 LONDON, RAISED TO BE POSH, GLENVILLE STUDIED WH JUS STONYHURST COLLEGE, THEN ATTEND OXFORD, WHERE HE SUCCUMBED TO HIS TE LOVE, THE THEATER. THE F WAS NOT ONLY BEE OF HIS PEDIGREE BUT HIS STUNNG GOOD LOOKS. HE WAS ONE OF THOSE BETIFUL MEN WHO SURROUNDS HIMSELF WH BETIFUL MEN. IN 1958, WHEN HE WAS 45, THE NEW YORK TIM EMED HIM “EASILY THE MOST HANDSOME-LOOKG DIRECTOR ONE IS LIKELY TO ENUNTER HOLLYWOOD” (PDF). A GOOD-ENOUGH ACTOR, GLENVILLE BRAVED THE LONDON BLZ WT END HS DURG THE EARLY 1940S. GREATNS, HOWEVER, BECKONED AS A THEATRIL MASTERMD. BY 1949, HE WAS POND-HOPPG TO NQUER BROADWAY AND HOLLYWOOD. OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS, BRGG ALIVE MATERIAL WRTEN BY GRAHAM GREENE, TENNSEE WILLIAMS, AND TERENCE RATTIGAN, HE DIRECTED HENRY FONDA, LRENCE OLIVIER, ANTHONY QUN, JACKIE GLEASON, VIVIEN LEIGH, AND A BROADWAY ROOKIE, TOMMY LEE JON, 1969. HE FALLY MOVED TO MANHATTAN 1960, BUYG A SUMPTUO TOWNHOE AT 18 EAST 68TH ST. TOGGLG BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE STAGE AND THE STUD, HE BALANCED THE “LERATURE OF IAS”—AND OF “IMAG.” WORDS STAR PLAYS, HE EXPLAED, “BEE PHYSIL ACTN IS LIMED BY THE SIZE OF THE STAGE, AND THE SEPARATN BETWEEN ACTORS AND THE DIENCE L OUT SUBTLETI OF EXPRSN. IN THE THEATER, EVERY WORD, EVERY GTURE MT BE PROJECTED, EXAGGERATED.” IN THE MOVI, THE VISUAL DOMAT: “IMAG BEE MORE DRAMATIC THAN WORDS.” MOVI ULD ALSO REACH PSYCHOLOGIL PTH, G CLOSE-UPS “TO SHOW NER THOUGHT PROCS.”GLENVILLE’S WORKS DRAMATIZED HIS IOLOGIL NFLICTS. HIS MOVIE THE PRISONER 1955, STARRG ALEC GUNS AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC RDAL TERROGATED BY AN EASTERN EUROPEAN SECRET POLICEMAN PLAYED BY JACK HAWKS, ANTICIPATED BECKET. ONCE AGA, TWO ENCHANTG MEN LIVERED CHARGED PERFORMANC. AND ONCE AGA, GLENVILLE CHOREOGRAPHED A “ADLY ENUNTER BETWEEN A MAN OF GOD AND A MAN OF THE STATE.”TO GLENVILLE’S AMEMENT, FRENCH RADILS NOUNCED THE FILM AS “ANTI-COMMUNIST,” WHILE IRISH CLERICS EMED “ANTI-CATHOLIC.” A RADIL DIVIDUALIST, GLENVILLE EMPHASIZED THE HUMAN STORY OF “PRIZE FIGHTERS THE REALM OF THE SPIR.” THIS “DUEL” NSUMED TWO “MEN OF TEGRY AND STATURE, WHO FIGHT TO THE ATH FOR WHAT THEY NSIR TO BE RIGHT,” HE EXPLAED A POWERFUL NEW YORK TIM SAY. ALTHOUGH THE TERROGATOR WS, THE BROKEN PRIT’S SPIR HAS BEEN “FORTIFIED.” GLENVILLE’S LSON: “PERSECUTN” STROYS “THE PERSECUTOR” MORE THAN “THE VICTIM.” WHO THEN, HE ASKED, “ FACT IS THE PRISONER.”GLENVILLE’S STGGLE WH HIS VOUT CATHOLICISM WAS MORE PERSONAL. SHORTLY AFTER WORLD WAR II, HE MET HIS LIFE PARTNER, THE THEATRIL PRODUCER HARDY WILLIAM “BILL” SMH. THEY WERE, AS ED TO BE SAID, “NFIRMED BACHELORS.” THEY HOBNOBBED WH GAY ACTORS. GLENVILLE’S GREATT WORKS BRISTLED WH HOMOEROTIC ENERGY. YET GLENVILLE KEPT HIS PRIVATE LIFE, PRIVATE. FRIENDS SAID HE ABHORRED FLAMBOYANCE AND WAS AS “STRICT AS THE BISHOP OF BOSTON.” SOME WONRED WHETHER GLENVILLE’S “TOTALLY HARMON” RELATNSHIP WH SMH WAS CELIBATE. OTHERS SPECULATED THAT THE NFSNAL BOOTH AND THE MOVIE SCREEN HELPED HIM CYCLE THROUGH “S” AND “SALVATN” REGULARLY. HIS STGGLE AGAST COMMUNISM— FACT ALL TOTALARIANISM—LACKED ANY SUCH AMBIVALENCE. IN WHAT END BEG HIS LAST FILM THE COMEDIANS, GLENVILLE MOBILIZED AN ALL-STAR ST 1967 TO EXPOSE “PAPA DOC” DUVALIER’S REIGN OF TERROR HAI. DPE BEG BASED ON A GRAHAM GREENE NOVEL, SPE THE TALENTS OF RICHARD BURTON, ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ALEC GUNS, JAM EARL JON, CICELY TSYON, LILLIAN GISH, AND PETER USTOV, THE FILM SPUTTERED. HTG AT TODAY’S POLILLY RRECT RELATIVISM AND INTY POLICS, SOME LIBERALS EVEN CRICIZED THIS BRAVE STANCE AGAST DICTATORSHIP FOR CRICIZG A BLACK LEAR—AND SENSED GLENVILLE RED MORE ABOUT KNOCKG DOWN BLACK PANTHERS AT HOME, THAN DUVALIER THUGS ABROAD (PDF).GLENVILLE STOPPED AT 60 BEE OF THE ’60S. ANGRY POLICS ON THE STREETS, EXPLIC SEX ON SCREENS, AND METHOD ACTG ON STAGE MORALIZED HIM. “I’M TIRED OF BEATG MY HEAD AGAST A STONE WALL,” HE SAID AS HIS PRODUCTNS FAILED. HE BEME ONE OF THOSE MEN ABOUT TOWN, SQUIRG THE SOCIETY LUMNIST SUZY KNICKERBOCKER TO A DNER AT THE FORD WHE HOE HERE, ATTENDG A CLOSE IEND’S BROADWAY PREMIER THERE. LEAVG NEW YORK JT EQUENTLY ENOUGH, HE HOPED, TO AVOID PAYG TAX AS A RINT, AND GMBLG ABOUT THE HARD TURN LEFT POLICS AND ART, HE LIVED GRANDLY UNTIL 1996. ONE OF “THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER STAGE DIRECTORS AMERI,” BEME “THE FOTTEN GIANT OF MID-20TH-CENTURY DIRECTG.” THAT JUDG HIM OM THE OUTSI . FROM THE SI OUT, GLENVILLE SEEMED SERENE. BRISH JUS REVERE ROBERT SOUTHWELL, THEIR MARTYRED 16TH-CENTURY “PRISONER-POET OF FORT AND STRENGTH.” AFTER GLENVILLE FOUGHT WH SUCH “STRENGTH” TO ADVANCE HIS ARTISTIC VISN, NTA HIS PERSONAL STGGL, AND NONT SOME OF HIS ERA’S GREATT THREATS, HOW LUCKY HE WAS, FALLY, TO ENJOY TWO S OF “FORT.” FOR FURTHER READINGCAROL KG, GLENVILLE: THE ELIVE DIRECTOR WHO CHARMED HOLLYWOOD AND TRIUMPHED ON BROADWAY, 2012. THOMAS S. HISCHAK, ENTER THE PLAYMAKERS: DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS ON THE NEW YORK STAGE, 2006. GLENVILLE: AN INVENTORY OF HIS PAPERS AT THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER. GIL TROY

IS PETER O'TOOLE GAY?

Peter O'Toole has never ma any public statement about this, so all mors about if Peter O'Toole is gay rema pletely unfound and unproven. Neverthels, speculatns over whether Peter O'Toole is gay or not are still prent certa rners of the tabloids and on var webs, once aga whout any solid foundatn.

Celebri such as Peter O'Toole have not admted they may be homosexual, this is bee they're fely not gay or bee they're and don't want to go public. Vooxpopuli manag thoands of famo celebri and 's possible we missed some tails about the qutn - Is Peter O'Toole gay? O’Toole said he was often asked if Lawrence of Arabia was homosexual.

CONSERVATIVE, GAY, AND THE CLOSET 1960S HOLLYWOODBIOGRAPHIESPETER GLENVILLE LED A MULTIFACETED LIFE: A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA DIRECTOR WHO WORKED WH RICHARD BURTON AND PETER O’TOOLE, A STNCH NSERVATIVE CATHOLIC, AND A GAY MAN.GIL TROYUPDATED OCT. 10, 2019 2:33PM EDT / PUBLISHED NOV. 25, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY LYNE LUCIEN/THE DAILY BEASTI AM SUPPOSED TO LL PETER GLENVILLE A GAY DIRECTOR WHO WAS ALSO A NSERVATIVE REPUBLIN AND A TAX DODGER, BUT ’S MORE ACCURATE TO LL HIM A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA HOLLYWOOD AND BROADWAY DIRECTOR—WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE A CLOSETED CATHOLIC NSERVATIVE TAX DODGER. WELE TO THE MORN BGRAPHER’S DILEMMA. TODAY WE OFTEN FE PEOPLE BY ASKG: WHO SLEPT WH WHOM? WE’VE CID THAT SEXUALY F ALL. BUT EVERY HISTORIAN IS A DIPLOMAT REPRENTG YTERDAY’S LOST WORLD TO REARS TODAY. GOOD HISTORIANS SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF TODAY WHOUT LETTG THE LANGUAGE OM YTERYEAR GET LOST TRANSLATN. THREE MOVI DAZZLED THE NOMATORS FOR THE 37TH AMY AWARDS 1965. MARY POPPS HAD 13 NOMATNS. MY FAIR LADY AND BECKET EACH EARNED 12. ON OSR NIGHT, MY FAIR LADY WON EIGHT AWARDS, MARY POPPS WON FIVE, AND BECKET ONLY ONE, FOR BT ADAPTED SCREENPLAY. IN A JT WORLD WHERE ARTISTRY TMPS SHTICK, BECKET WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER—AND BE REMEMBERED TODAY. BECKET EXPLOR THE BOND THAT BROKE EIGHT CENTURI AGO BETWEEN THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND HIS IEND KG HENRY II, WHO APPOTED HIM—THEN HAD HIM KILLED. ON SCREEN, THE MOVIE CRACKLED THANKS TO THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN A POST-CLEOPATRA (AND POST-ELIZABETH TAYLOR-SNDAL) RICHARD BURTON AS BECKET AND A POST-LAWRENCE OF ARABIA PETER O’TOOLE AS THE KG. AND UNRLYG THOSE BOFFO PERFORMANC WAS A GLENIVILLIAN BRILLIANCE ILLUMATG THIS NFLICT BETWEEN TWO IENDS AND TWO ENTERPRIS THAT FED GLENVILLE’S LIFE: THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN. GLENVILLE EXPLAED THAT “A DIRECTOR SHOULD, LIKE A NDUCTOR, BE AN TERPRETER OF THE PARTICULAR WORLD OF EACH PLAYWRIGHT WH WHOM HE WORKS:” SOMETIM THE STAGG MT BE “UNOBTSIVE,” SOMETIM “BROAD AND LORFUL.” ADDNALLY, THE DIENCE F THE PERFORMANCE BY THE STMENTS—THE ACTORS—BUT WHOUT AN IRON-FISTED VISNARY, CHAOS WOULD EPT. AS THE SON OF A FAMO IRISH ACTG DUO, GLENVILLE WONRED WHETHER TO BE AN ACTOR—OR, RATHER, NOT TO BE ONE. BORN 1913 LONDON, RAISED TO BE POSH, GLENVILLE STUDIED WH JUS STONYHURST COLLEGE, THEN ATTEND OXFORD, WHERE HE SUCCUMBED TO HIS TE LOVE, THE THEATER. THE F WAS NOT ONLY BEE OF HIS PEDIGREE BUT HIS STUNNG GOOD LOOKS. HE WAS ONE OF THOSE BETIFUL MEN WHO SURROUNDS HIMSELF WH BETIFUL MEN. IN 1958, WHEN HE WAS 45, THE NEW YORK TIM EMED HIM “EASILY THE MOST HANDSOME-LOOKG DIRECTOR ONE IS LIKELY TO ENUNTER HOLLYWOOD” (PDF). A GOOD-ENOUGH ACTOR, GLENVILLE BRAVED THE LONDON BLZ WT END HS DURG THE EARLY 1940S. GREATNS, HOWEVER, BECKONED AS A THEATRIL MASTERMD. BY 1949, HE WAS POND-HOPPG TO NQUER BROADWAY AND HOLLYWOOD. OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS, BRGG ALIVE MATERIAL WRTEN BY GRAHAM GREENE, TENNSEE WILLIAMS, AND TERENCE RATTIGAN, HE DIRECTED HENRY FONDA, LRENCE OLIVIER, ANTHONY QUN, JACKIE GLEASON, VIVIEN LEIGH, AND A BROADWAY ROOKIE, TOMMY LEE JON, 1969. HE FALLY MOVED TO MANHATTAN 1960, BUYG A SUMPTUO TOWNHOE AT 18 EAST 68TH ST. TOGGLG BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE STAGE AND THE STUD, HE BALANCED THE “LERATURE OF IAS”—AND OF “IMAG.” WORDS STAR PLAYS, HE EXPLAED, “BEE PHYSIL ACTN IS LIMED BY THE SIZE OF THE STAGE, AND THE SEPARATN BETWEEN ACTORS AND THE DIENCE L OUT SUBTLETI OF EXPRSN. IN THE THEATER, EVERY WORD, EVERY GTURE MT BE PROJECTED, EXAGGERATED.” IN THE MOVI, THE VISUAL DOMAT: “IMAG BEE MORE DRAMATIC THAN WORDS.” MOVI ULD ALSO REACH PSYCHOLOGIL PTH, G CLOSE-UPS “TO SHOW NER THOUGHT PROCS.”GLENVILLE’S WORKS DRAMATIZED HIS IOLOGIL NFLICTS. HIS MOVIE THE PRISONER 1955, STARRG ALEC GUNS AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC RDAL TERROGATED BY AN EASTERN EUROPEAN SECRET POLICEMAN PLAYED BY JACK HAWKS, ANTICIPATED BECKET. ONCE AGA, TWO ENCHANTG MEN LIVERED CHARGED PERFORMANC. AND ONCE AGA, GLENVILLE CHOREOGRAPHED A “ADLY ENUNTER BETWEEN A MAN OF GOD AND A MAN OF THE STATE.”TO GLENVILLE’S AMEMENT, FRENCH RADILS NOUNCED THE FILM AS “ANTI-COMMUNIST,” WHILE IRISH CLERICS EMED “ANTI-CATHOLIC.” A RADIL DIVIDUALIST, GLENVILLE EMPHASIZED THE HUMAN STORY OF “PRIZE FIGHTERS THE REALM OF THE SPIR.” THIS “DUEL” NSUMED TWO “MEN OF TEGRY AND STATURE, WHO FIGHT TO THE ATH FOR WHAT THEY NSIR TO BE RIGHT,” HE EXPLAED A POWERFUL NEW YORK TIM SAY. ALTHOUGH THE TERROGATOR WS, THE BROKEN PRIT’S SPIR HAS BEEN “FORTIFIED.” GLENVILLE’S LSON: “PERSECUTN” STROYS “THE PERSECUTOR” MORE THAN “THE VICTIM.” WHO THEN, HE ASKED, “ FACT IS THE PRISONER.”GLENVILLE’S STGGLE WH HIS VOUT CATHOLICISM WAS MORE PERSONAL. SHORTLY AFTER WORLD WAR II, HE MET HIS LIFE PARTNER, THE THEATRIL PRODUCER HARDY WILLIAM “BILL” SMH. THEY WERE, AS ED TO BE SAID, “NFIRMED BACHELORS.” THEY HOBNOBBED WH GAY ACTORS. GLENVILLE’S GREATT WORKS BRISTLED WH HOMOEROTIC ENERGY. YET GLENVILLE KEPT HIS PRIVATE LIFE, PRIVATE. FRIENDS SAID HE ABHORRED FLAMBOYANCE AND WAS AS “STRICT AS THE BISHOP OF BOSTON.” SOME WONRED WHETHER GLENVILLE’S “TOTALLY HARMON” RELATNSHIP WH SMH WAS CELIBATE. OTHERS SPECULATED THAT THE NFSNAL BOOTH AND THE MOVIE SCREEN HELPED HIM CYCLE THROUGH “S” AND “SALVATN” REGULARLY. HIS STGGLE AGAST COMMUNISM— FACT ALL TOTALARIANISM—LACKED ANY SUCH AMBIVALENCE. IN WHAT END BEG HIS LAST FILM THE COMEDIANS, GLENVILLE MOBILIZED AN ALL-STAR ST 1967 TO EXPOSE “PAPA DOC” DUVALIER’S REIGN OF TERROR HAI. DPE BEG BASED ON A GRAHAM GREENE NOVEL, SPE THE TALENTS OF RICHARD BURTON, ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ALEC GUNS, JAM EARL JON, CICELY TSYON, LILLIAN GISH, AND PETER USTOV, THE FILM SPUTTERED. HTG AT TODAY’S POLILLY RRECT RELATIVISM AND INTY POLICS, SOME LIBERALS EVEN CRICIZED THIS BRAVE STANCE AGAST DICTATORSHIP FOR CRICIZG A BLACK LEAR—AND SENSED GLENVILLE RED MORE ABOUT KNOCKG DOWN BLACK PANTHERS AT HOME, THAN DUVALIER THUGS ABROAD (PDF).GLENVILLE STOPPED AT 60 BEE OF THE ’60S. ANGRY POLICS ON THE STREETS, EXPLIC SEX ON SCREENS, AND METHOD ACTG ON STAGE MORALIZED HIM. “I’M TIRED OF BEATG MY HEAD AGAST A STONE WALL,” HE SAID AS HIS PRODUCTNS FAILED. HE BEME ONE OF THOSE MEN ABOUT TOWN, SQUIRG THE SOCIETY LUMNIST SUZY KNICKERBOCKER TO A DNER AT THE FORD WHE HOE HERE, ATTENDG A CLOSE IEND’S BROADWAY PREMIER THERE. LEAVG NEW YORK JT EQUENTLY ENOUGH, HE HOPED, TO AVOID PAYG TAX AS A RINT, AND GMBLG ABOUT THE HARD TURN LEFT POLICS AND ART, HE LIVED GRANDLY UNTIL 1996. ONE OF “THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER STAGE DIRECTORS AMERI,” BEME “THE FOTTEN GIANT OF MID-20TH-CENTURY DIRECTG.” THAT JUDG HIM OM THE OUTSI . FROM THE SI OUT, GLENVILLE SEEMED SERENE. BRISH JUS REVERE ROBERT SOUTHWELL, THEIR MARTYRED 16TH-CENTURY “PRISONER-POET OF FORT AND STRENGTH.” AFTER GLENVILLE FOUGHT WH SUCH “STRENGTH” TO ADVANCE HIS ARTISTIC VISN, NTA HIS PERSONAL STGGL, AND NONT SOME OF HIS ERA’S GREATT THREATS, HOW LUCKY HE WAS, FALLY, TO ENJOY TWO S OF “FORT.” FOR FURTHER READINGCAROL KG, GLENVILLE: THE ELIVE DIRECTOR WHO CHARMED HOLLYWOOD AND TRIUMPHED ON BROADWAY, 2012. THOMAS S. HISCHAK, ENTER THE PLAYMAKERS: DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS ON THE NEW YORK STAGE, 2006. GLENVILLE: AN INVENTORY OF HIS PAPERS AT THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER. GIL TROY

’O’Toole claims he never dulged homosexualy but had plenty of offers. “He told me you n’t be succsful Hollywood if you’re not OK wh Jews and homosexuals, ” says Omar Junr, lghg. Brish gay magaze Attu regnised his urage by givg him an Inspiratn Award last October.

CONSERVATIVE, GAY, AND THE CLOSET 1960S HOLLYWOODBIOGRAPHIESPETER GLENVILLE LED A MULTIFACETED LIFE: A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA DIRECTOR WHO WORKED WH RICHARD BURTON AND PETER O’TOOLE, A STNCH NSERVATIVE CATHOLIC, AND A GAY MAN.GIL TROYUPDATED OCT. 10, 2019 2:33PM EDT / PUBLISHED NOV. 25, 2017 12:00AM EST PHOTO ILLTRATN BY LYNE LUCIEN/THE DAILY BEASTI AM SUPPOSED TO LL PETER GLENVILLE A GAY DIRECTOR WHO WAS ALSO A NSERVATIVE REPUBLIN AND A TAX DODGER, BUT ’S MORE ACCURATE TO LL HIM A PROMENT COLD WAR-ERA HOLLYWOOD AND BROADWAY DIRECTOR—WHO ALSO HAPPENED TO BE A CLOSETED CATHOLIC NSERVATIVE TAX DODGER. WELE TO THE MORN BGRAPHER’S DILEMMA. TODAY WE OFTEN FE PEOPLE BY ASKG: WHO SLEPT WH WHOM? WE’VE CID THAT SEXUALY F ALL. BUT EVERY HISTORIAN IS A DIPLOMAT REPRENTG YTERDAY’S LOST WORLD TO REARS TODAY. GOOD HISTORIANS SPEAK THE LANGUAGE OF TODAY WHOUT LETTG THE LANGUAGE OM YTERYEAR GET LOST TRANSLATN. THREE MOVI DAZZLED THE NOMATORS FOR THE 37TH AMY AWARDS 1965. MARY POPPS HAD 13 NOMATNS. MY FAIR LADY AND BECKET EACH EARNED 12. ON OSR NIGHT, MY FAIR LADY WON EIGHT AWARDS, MARY POPPS WON FIVE, AND BECKET ONLY ONE, FOR BT ADAPTED SCREENPLAY. IN A JT WORLD WHERE ARTISTRY TMPS SHTICK, BECKET WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER—AND BE REMEMBERED TODAY. BECKET EXPLOR THE BOND THAT BROKE EIGHT CENTURI AGO BETWEEN THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, AND HIS IEND KG HENRY II, WHO APPOTED HIM—THEN HAD HIM KILLED. ON SCREEN, THE MOVIE CRACKLED THANKS TO THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN A POST-CLEOPATRA (AND POST-ELIZABETH TAYLOR-SNDAL) RICHARD BURTON AS BECKET AND A POST-LAWRENCE OF ARABIA PETER O’TOOLE AS THE KG. AND UNRLYG THOSE BOFFO PERFORMANC WAS A GLENIVILLIAN BRILLIANCE ILLUMATG THIS NFLICT BETWEEN TWO IENDS AND TWO ENTERPRIS THAT FED GLENVILLE’S LIFE: THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN. GLENVILLE EXPLAED THAT “A DIRECTOR SHOULD, LIKE A NDUCTOR, BE AN TERPRETER OF THE PARTICULAR WORLD OF EACH PLAYWRIGHT WH WHOM HE WORKS:” SOMETIM THE STAGG MT BE “UNOBTSIVE,” SOMETIM “BROAD AND LORFUL.” ADDNALLY, THE DIENCE F THE PERFORMANCE BY THE STMENTS—THE ACTORS—BUT WHOUT AN IRON-FISTED VISNARY, CHAOS WOULD EPT. AS THE SON OF A FAMO IRISH ACTG DUO, GLENVILLE WONRED WHETHER TO BE AN ACTOR—OR, RATHER, NOT TO BE ONE. BORN 1913 LONDON, RAISED TO BE POSH, GLENVILLE STUDIED WH JUS STONYHURST COLLEGE, THEN ATTEND OXFORD, WHERE HE SUCCUMBED TO HIS TE LOVE, THE THEATER. THE F WAS NOT ONLY BEE OF HIS PEDIGREE BUT HIS STUNNG GOOD LOOKS. HE WAS ONE OF THOSE BETIFUL MEN WHO SURROUNDS HIMSELF WH BETIFUL MEN. IN 1958, WHEN HE WAS 45, THE NEW YORK TIM EMED HIM “EASILY THE MOST HANDSOME-LOOKG DIRECTOR ONE IS LIKELY TO ENUNTER HOLLYWOOD” (PDF). A GOOD-ENOUGH ACTOR, GLENVILLE BRAVED THE LONDON BLZ WT END HS DURG THE EARLY 1940S. GREATNS, HOWEVER, BECKONED AS A THEATRIL MASTERMD. BY 1949, HE WAS POND-HOPPG TO NQUER BROADWAY AND HOLLYWOOD. OVER THE NEXT 20 YEARS, BRGG ALIVE MATERIAL WRTEN BY GRAHAM GREENE, TENNSEE WILLIAMS, AND TERENCE RATTIGAN, HE DIRECTED HENRY FONDA, LRENCE OLIVIER, ANTHONY QUN, JACKIE GLEASON, VIVIEN LEIGH, AND A BROADWAY ROOKIE, TOMMY LEE JON, 1969. HE FALLY MOVED TO MANHATTAN 1960, BUYG A SUMPTUO TOWNHOE AT 18 EAST 68TH ST. TOGGLG BACK AND FORTH BETWEEN THE STAGE AND THE STUD, HE BALANCED THE “LERATURE OF IAS”—AND OF “IMAG.” WORDS STAR PLAYS, HE EXPLAED, “BEE PHYSIL ACTN IS LIMED BY THE SIZE OF THE STAGE, AND THE SEPARATN BETWEEN ACTORS AND THE DIENCE L OUT SUBTLETI OF EXPRSN. IN THE THEATER, EVERY WORD, EVERY GTURE MT BE PROJECTED, EXAGGERATED.” IN THE MOVI, THE VISUAL DOMAT: “IMAG BEE MORE DRAMATIC THAN WORDS.” MOVI ULD ALSO REACH PSYCHOLOGIL PTH, G CLOSE-UPS “TO SHOW NER THOUGHT PROCS.”GLENVILLE’S WORKS DRAMATIZED HIS IOLOGIL NFLICTS. HIS MOVIE THE PRISONER 1955, STARRG ALEC GUNS AS A ROMAN CATHOLIC RDAL TERROGATED BY AN EASTERN EUROPEAN SECRET POLICEMAN PLAYED BY JACK HAWKS, ANTICIPATED BECKET. ONCE AGA, TWO ENCHANTG MEN LIVERED CHARGED PERFORMANC. AND ONCE AGA, GLENVILLE CHOREOGRAPHED A “ADLY ENUNTER BETWEEN A MAN OF GOD AND A MAN OF THE STATE.”TO GLENVILLE’S AMEMENT, FRENCH RADILS NOUNCED THE FILM AS “ANTI-COMMUNIST,” WHILE IRISH CLERICS EMED “ANTI-CATHOLIC.” A RADIL DIVIDUALIST, GLENVILLE EMPHASIZED THE HUMAN STORY OF “PRIZE FIGHTERS THE REALM OF THE SPIR.” THIS “DUEL” NSUMED TWO “MEN OF TEGRY AND STATURE, WHO FIGHT TO THE ATH FOR WHAT THEY NSIR TO BE RIGHT,” HE EXPLAED A POWERFUL NEW YORK TIM SAY. ALTHOUGH THE TERROGATOR WS, THE BROKEN PRIT’S SPIR HAS BEEN “FORTIFIED.” GLENVILLE’S LSON: “PERSECUTN” STROYS “THE PERSECUTOR” MORE THAN “THE VICTIM.” WHO THEN, HE ASKED, “ FACT IS THE PRISONER.”GLENVILLE’S STGGLE WH HIS VOUT CATHOLICISM WAS MORE PERSONAL. SHORTLY AFTER WORLD WAR II, HE MET HIS LIFE PARTNER, THE THEATRIL PRODUCER HARDY WILLIAM “BILL” SMH. THEY WERE, AS ED TO BE SAID, “NFIRMED BACHELORS.” THEY HOBNOBBED WH GAY ACTORS. GLENVILLE’S GREATT WORKS BRISTLED WH HOMOEROTIC ENERGY. YET GLENVILLE KEPT HIS PRIVATE LIFE, PRIVATE. FRIENDS SAID HE ABHORRED FLAMBOYANCE AND WAS AS “STRICT AS THE BISHOP OF BOSTON.” SOME WONRED WHETHER GLENVILLE’S “TOTALLY HARMON” RELATNSHIP WH SMH WAS CELIBATE. OTHERS SPECULATED THAT THE NFSNAL BOOTH AND THE MOVIE SCREEN HELPED HIM CYCLE THROUGH “S” AND “SALVATN” REGULARLY. HIS STGGLE AGAST COMMUNISM— FACT ALL TOTALARIANISM—LACKED ANY SUCH AMBIVALENCE. IN WHAT END BEG HIS LAST FILM THE COMEDIANS, GLENVILLE MOBILIZED AN ALL-STAR ST 1967 TO EXPOSE “PAPA DOC” DUVALIER’S REIGN OF TERROR HAI. DPE BEG BASED ON A GRAHAM GREENE NOVEL, SPE THE TALENTS OF RICHARD BURTON, ELIZABETH TAYLOR, ALEC GUNS, JAM EARL JON, CICELY TSYON, LILLIAN GISH, AND PETER USTOV, THE FILM SPUTTERED. HTG AT TODAY’S POLILLY RRECT RELATIVISM AND INTY POLICS, SOME LIBERALS EVEN CRICIZED THIS BRAVE STANCE AGAST DICTATORSHIP FOR CRICIZG A BLACK LEAR—AND SENSED GLENVILLE RED MORE ABOUT KNOCKG DOWN BLACK PANTHERS AT HOME, THAN DUVALIER THUGS ABROAD (PDF).GLENVILLE STOPPED AT 60 BEE OF THE ’60S. ANGRY POLICS ON THE STREETS, EXPLIC SEX ON SCREENS, AND METHOD ACTG ON STAGE MORALIZED HIM. “I’M TIRED OF BEATG MY HEAD AGAST A STONE WALL,” HE SAID AS HIS PRODUCTNS FAILED. HE BEME ONE OF THOSE MEN ABOUT TOWN, SQUIRG THE SOCIETY LUMNIST SUZY KNICKERBOCKER TO A DNER AT THE FORD WHE HOE HERE, ATTENDG A CLOSE IEND’S BROADWAY PREMIER THERE. LEAVG NEW YORK JT EQUENTLY ENOUGH, HE HOPED, TO AVOID PAYG TAX AS A RINT, AND GMBLG ABOUT THE HARD TURN LEFT POLICS AND ART, HE LIVED GRANDLY UNTIL 1996. ONE OF “THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER STAGE DIRECTORS AMERI,” BEME “THE FOTTEN GIANT OF MID-20TH-CENTURY DIRECTG.” THAT JUDG HIM OM THE OUTSI . FROM THE SI OUT, GLENVILLE SEEMED SERENE. BRISH JUS REVERE ROBERT SOUTHWELL, THEIR MARTYRED 16TH-CENTURY “PRISONER-POET OF FORT AND STRENGTH.” AFTER GLENVILLE FOUGHT WH SUCH “STRENGTH” TO ADVANCE HIS ARTISTIC VISN, NTA HIS PERSONAL STGGL, AND NONT SOME OF HIS ERA’S GREATT THREATS, HOW LUCKY HE WAS, FALLY, TO ENJOY TWO S OF “FORT.” FOR FURTHER READINGCAROL KG, GLENVILLE: THE ELIVE DIRECTOR WHO CHARMED HOLLYWOOD AND TRIUMPHED ON BROADWAY, 2012. THOMAS S. HISCHAK, ENTER THE PLAYMAKERS: DIRECTORS AND CHOREOGRAPHERS ON THE NEW YORK STAGE, 2006. GLENVILLE: AN INVENTORY OF HIS PAPERS AT THE HARRY RANSOM CENTER. GIL TROY

Negative character tras uld be: Arrogance and Peter OToole gay or straight? We don't know for a fact whether Peter OToole is gay, bisexual or straight.