‘In gay years, you’re rather past your sell-by date, aren’t you?’ the person ont of me said, raisg an eyebrow.
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I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
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Sure, I’d heard the agent’s name before, primarily nnectn wh his most famo client, Rock Hudson – that Henry Willson’s secretary was the bri chosen for Hudson durg his brief marriage to unter the rampant gay mors that were swirlg about him Hollywood as he grew to a star the early 50s.
So I cid old Henry served a blog spot all his own Leroy Willson (1911 ~1978) – and y, that’s “Willson” spelled wh two l’s pl, appropriately enough, a “son” add on at the end – was an olr gay man, what today we would ll a notor “chicken hawk” of an old queen, equentg gentlemen’s night clubs along the Sunset Strip bar scene where he wooed younger men for both personal as well as profsnal see, Henry Willson also jt so happened to be the head of talent at David O. Certaly none of the 1950s dreamboat beefke movie star wannab uld rist, those young men who end up wh the tenr attentns of Henry Willson as their agent, cludg his role shapg gay or bisexual actors to ostensibly straight-arrow silver-screen idols.
Such young gay actors were no secret the bs, yet jealoly and zealoly kept unr wraps om the dienc who bought tickets for the fantasy played out on movie screens and fan magaz. A look to the life of Hollywood mogul agent Henry Willson today giv a unique sir glimpse at the dilemmas of his gay clients livg a double life, straight leadg man by day while nductg lively after-hours same-sex affairs and sexual liaison trysts unr the very flashbulbs of the publicy mache which had created their inic statur the first retrospective examatn sh a proverbial spotlight on the hidn soccultural history of the Amerin movie stud system through the late 1950s, which self began to pture the 1960s wh the sexual revolutn as “outg” beme a natnal passtime.
GAY CYCLG LOVER
Even at that time, for a gay actor to e out of the closet was ak to mtg reer hara-kiri, not to mentn that was prosecutable to boot (not jt among actors, of urse).
While today certa high-profile producers and directors and even a spatterg of movie stars are now out and prumably proud, n easily be said that more than a few gay actors and their handlers are still saddled wh problems that Henry Willson, Agent, would regnize all too well. “If a young, handsome actor had Henry Willson for an agent, ‘ was almost assumed he was gay, like was wrten across his forehead, ” rells Ann Doran, one of Willson’s few female closeted dilemma of the gay actor trac s roots the movie dtry further back, however.
Two of the Navy’s blacklisted clubs were smack-dab the middle of the Sunset Strip — Chez Boheme at 8950 Sunset Blvd and Cafe Internatnale at 8711 Sunset Blvd — both of which were, g today’s term, “gay iendly.