Hollywood's last taboo: why gay actors still rema the closet

Contents:

• GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO
• HOLLYWOOD'S LAST TABOO: WHY GAY ACTORS STILL REMA THE CLOSET
• GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO
• HOLLYWOOD TO BREAK LAST TABOO WH GAY WBOYS
• WATCH: "GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO" (DOCUMENTARY)
• GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO (2005)
• GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO TV LISTGS
• LISTS RELATED TO GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO
• WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET
• GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO

GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO

But open-mdns go only so far Tsel Town and there remas a huge taboo around the stg of gay actors above-the-tle straight rol.

Of all Hollywood’s shameful secrets, the shunng of gay actors is s most endurg.

HOLLYWOOD'S LAST TABOO: WHY GAY ACTORS STILL REMA THE CLOSET

And yet the studs has never been properly taken to task for expectg gay actors to dissemble about their sexualy. This four years after Call Me By Your Name, a g-of-age gay love story set ral Lombardy, which won cril plds for straight stars Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet.

Once out, a gay star n say goodbye to those juicy blockbter parts. In s treatment of gay actors, Hollywood has barely advanced sce the silent era, when stars such as Rudolph Valento were prsured to “lavenr” marriag to nceal their sexualy.

Yet the gay male matee idol remas a ntradictn terms.

GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO

We were troduced to Roy Harold Scherer Jr, a gay young man om Wka, Illois, who, assumg a new name and a staged marriage, would achieve fame as Rock Hudson (while ntug to pursue gay romanc secret). Another character Hollywood was molled on Stty Bowers, who claimed to have had gay relatnships wh many famo stars – cludg Cary Grant (which Grant’s fay have nied).

HOLLYWOOD TO BREAK LAST TABOO WH GAY WBOYS

But huge swath of s populatn are proudly tradnalist and certaly not smopolan to the pot of easily acceptg a gay actn hero.

And 2012 Big Bang Theory star Jim Parsons was revealed to be gay by the New York Tim. Or you n be openly gay. There are no great revelatns here (unls you thought Marlon Brando was exclively straight), but 's an tertg trawl through the homoerotic archiv, explorg Hollywood's ambivalent attu to homosexualy over the years.

WATCH: "GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO" (DOCUMENTARY)

There has never been a shortage of gay and bisexual actors but dienc, seems, prefer their leadg men straight, even if they are playg gay characters. Durg the 1930s and '40s when stud boss reigned supreme, gay actors such as Cary Grant (who was love wh fellow actor Randolph Stt) were expected to keep quiet about their preferenc and enter to well-publicised marriag, even if meant a life of misery. Even today, g out is nsired a reer killer, spe playg a gay character beg an sential part of any self-rpectg actor's CV (a practice one mentator ntemptuoly likens to whe actors wearg blackface).

GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO (2005)

Fally, seems, gay relatnships are about to go mastream at the Ledger, star of A Knight's Tale, and Jake Gyllenhaal, bt known om the arthoe h Donnie Darko, are led up to play star-crossed lovers director Ang Lee's Brokeback Mounta, a ank portrayal of physil and emotnal bonds between is a story of two wboys who spend a summer on the range 1963. Though major Hollywood stars such as Tom Hanks and Anton Banras have played gay rol the past, none has done so wh such ank Hanks played a gay man dyg of Aids the 1993 film Philalphia, the movie was about his illns, not his sex life.

'If what we are hearg about this film is te, this is a signifint and groundbreakg step for Hollywood terms of mastream movi, ' said Nick Adams, entertament and media manager at US gay rights group the stg of Gyllenhaal and Ledger has not been announced, sourc say they are talks about takg the lead rol - Jack Twist, who be a roo wboy after the fateful summer, and Ennis Del Mar, a ranch film is based on a short story by Pulzer Prize-wner Annie Proulx, who has rved a niche for herself wrg hntg and evotive stori set ral btsellg novel The Shippg News was also ma to a film.

Hollywood is notor for skippg over or playg down gay them.

GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO TV LISTGS

Ron Howard, director of the Osr-wng A Betiful Md, was cricised for ignorg the alleged gay relatnships of s real-life hero, mathematician John year saw a breakthrough the US media, wh h TV shows such as makeover programme Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and s It's All Relative featurg gay ntent that attracted straight viewers. 'In terms of film and cema, there aren't that many thrholds to cross now for gay men, ' said Timothy Shary, profsor of screen studi at Clark pot out that there are still areas where gay sex is not treated ankly.

Looks at the challeng facg gay artists Hollywood past and prent. Hollywood the 1920s was the most homosexual iendly place to be as most of the behd-the-mera staff were gay.

Any homosexual who wanted to mata a reer had to rema a well-locked closet. The studs, wantg to safeguard their vtments, even forced male gay actors, like Rock Hudson and Cary Grant, to sham marriag.

LISTS RELATED TO GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO

Gay Hollywood:The Last Taboo.

Gay Hollywood:The Last Taboo one payg attentn to the creased legimizg of homosexualy g om Hollywood and TV Ameri beg ndned, to "normalizg" homosexualy and other oddi?

WHEN HOLLYWOOD STUDS MARRIED OFF GAY STARS TO KEEP THEIR SEXUALY A SECRET

eagleye13 wrote:Gay Hollywood:The Last Taboo one payg attentn to the creased legimizg of homosexualy g om Hollywood and TV Ameri beg ndned, to "normalizg" homosexualy and other oddi?

GAY HOLLYWOOD: THE LAST TABOO

eagleye13 Ameri beg ndned, to "normalizg" homosexualy and other oddi?.. Have been homosexuals sce homo sapiens walked the pla.

kemmer wrote:There have been homosexuals sce homo sapiens walked the pla. The fact that so many people "accept as natural" homosexualy, lbianism, t*********rism, 57 shas of g****r, sex wh robots, et al. We often thk of Hollywood as beg acceptg of homosexual men and women.

Hollywood has also given great films about same-sex relatnships and gay rights such as Brokeback Mounta to Milk. But there was a darker time Hollywood when homosexual stars had to keep their sexualy as private as possible.