FIVE GAY ACTORS IN MID-CENTURY HOLLYWOOD - WalterFilm

Contents:

• ANTHONY PERKS LIVED DOUBLE LIFE – MARRIAGE TO BERRY BERENSON AT 41 AFTER YEARS OF GAY AFFAIRS
• FAMO GAY PEOPLE WHO DIED OF AIDS
• AIDS KILLS 7,000 GAY MEN IN THE U.S. EACH YEAR
• TAB HUNTER’S TRIALS AND TRIBULATNS: 7 THGS WE LEARNED FROM THE LATE GAY HEARTTHROB’S NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

ANTHONY PERKS LIVED DOUBLE LIFE – MARRIAGE TO BERRY BERENSON AT 41 AFTER YEARS OF GAY AFFAIRS

"Psycho" actor Anthony Perks lived his life hidg the fact that he was a gay man. Anthony Perks lived a double life and married Berry Berenson at age 41 after years of gay affairs. As a gay man, Perks chose to live the closet bee he feared losg his as a homosexual man back the 50s and 60s, was not easy for gay actors to live their tth, and so Perks cid the only way he was gog to keep pursug his reer is by not disclosg that he was homosexual.

The bgraphy is also one of the first books to exame the dual life of a proment gay the book, Weff, a UCLA film-school graduate, illtrat how one unfettable movie n rult the typestg that kills a promisg Anthony Perks leav Spago rtrant 1991 Los Angel | Photo: ShutterstockFor stance, by 1981, Perks was rced to dog aftershave mercials Japan. However, the book about his life story lv eply to the clstrophobic era for gay thor tails what one of Perks’ male lovers lled “the excciatg dance of the fifti” like an anthropologist. He also not the seedy trysts Tim Square gay porno theaters and the arranged dat wh starlets for “Morn Screen.

”It also clus the fear the gay actors had that magaz like Confintial would expose them the way did wh Tab Hunter, who was allegedly one of Perks' first love Silvana Mangano (1930 - 1989) and Anthony Perks (1932 - 1992) on the movie set of 'This Angry Age' at Cectà Studs 1957 Rome | Photo: Getty ImagAnother one of Perks' early lovers, William, explaed that his relatnship wh Perks was a love affair, "but to anyone else, we were 'llege buddi. '" The Harvard scholar add:"Gay lovers who acted like gay lovers were somethg that only existed the Greek Isl… This was the fifti.

FAMO GAY PEOPLE WHO DIED OF AIDS

Perks revealed how beg famo drew the attentn of several leadg women whose advanc left him “shook up and also shared he had a homosexual enunter but scribed "that kd of sex" as "unsatisfyg. Dpe the fact that many homosexuals work film, the entertament world has until recently been slow to support AIDS programs, wh the exceptn of some stars, like Elizabeth Taylor.

”He said he had a homosexual enunter, but scribed “that kd of sex” as “unsatisfyg.

Now that gay actors like Nathan Lane, Jim Parsons, Victor Garber, Jonathan Groff, and Neil Patrick Harris are “out of the closet” and on the rise, ’s hard to image jt how different thgs were the relatively recent past. Not only was the notn of beg openly gay and havg a viable reer unimagable, but gayns self was also a ncept pole society uldn’t untenance. “Homosexuals” subsisted on society’s margs, mentned only whispered gossip, fearsome psychiatric studi, and Conservative diatrib cryg perversn.

AIDS KILLS 7,000 GAY MEN IN THE U.S. EACH YEAR

Still, spe of all, gay men managed to make their way to very top of the actg profsn the gild closets of Hollywood. Here are five of the most noteworthy exampl of gay actors mid-Century Hollywood.

Part of s all-star st, Liberace giv a marveloly wty performance as luxury ff salman who’s subtly yet obvly gay. ” What’s most tertg about the se is that on the stand, Liberace nied that he dulged homosexual practic. The ser cril receptn given to two of the postmortem Liberace bpic for televisn Liberace: Behd the Mic (1988) wh gay Victor Garber and a screenplay by the gay Gav Lambert, and Behd the Canlabra (2011) wh the straight Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, directed by the equally straight Steven Sorbergh reflects his populary.

TAB HUNTER’S TRIALS AND TRIBULATNS: 7 THGS WE LEARNED FROM THE LATE GAY HEARTTHROB’S NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY

Their producer, Ross Hunter (who was also gay) nnily st the young actor alongsi veteran star Jane Wyman both films, th wng the heart of olr female moviegoers enamored of good-lookg young men. He wed Phyllis Gat, the secretary of his gay manager Henry Willson, 1956. It lasted only two years, but served s purpose., Still didn’t fortall a joke mor that he had married his iend, sger-actor Jim Nabors (who was also gay but not closeted) om makg the rounds.

In 1950, he was arrted along wh a group of other gay men for Disorrly Conduct when the police raid a private party, which was not an unmon circumstance. Que matter-of-fact about his gayns by then, Tab told all a book and documentary movie Tab Hunter Confintial.

Perks me que late to marriage (1973) havg spent the better part of his life as a closeted but a somewhat eewheelg gay man whose lovers clud (the prevly noted) Tab Hunter, actor-dancer Grover Dale, Rudolph Nureyev (who certaly got around), and Stephen Sondheim, wh whom he -scripted the edy-thriller The Last of Sheila.

Yet Perks ntued to have gay liaisons — so dangero that he ntracted HIV and died of AIDS.

Maharis had a difficult time beg his gay self, beg obliged, as all actors were at that time, to stay the closet. His books clu Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000, The Srse Picture: The Art and Life of Mart Srse and Cahiers du Cema — Masters of Cema: Roman Polanski. He was briefly married orr to mask his homosexualy.

Jarman's gay-themed, polilly driven work took on everythg om the monarchy to Shakpeare classics to the surge of AIDS. Davis, who was straight, was rpected for havg the urage for takg on gay rol, specifilly Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart and the film Querelle. Later, Loud moved om California to New York, formed a band lled the Mumps, and eventually settled to his stat as a gay in.

Top mic stars of the '70s were also known to take the stage; the Village People, Donna Summer, and Gloria Gaynor all entertaed revelers.