Gay: Jimmy Edwards

Contents:

• IS JEREMY EDWARDS GAY?
• EDWARD VIII'S 'CLGY' WAYS PHED AMERIN DIVORCEE WALLIS SIMPSON TO GAY LNAIRE JIMMY DONAHUE'S ARMS

IS JEREMY EDWARDS GAY?

About this workDcriptnJimmy Edwards (1920-1988), Brish edian and ic actor, extremely popular on Brish rad and televisn the 1960s, he exemplified the ultra-mascule, motached ex-RAF type of Englishman, but was a closeted homosexual, outed the post-gay liberatn era of the 1970s (Jam Garder)Publitn/Creatn[Place of publitn not intified]: [publisher not intified], [between 1950 and 1959? Sheridan Morley looks back on changg public and police attus towards gay actors. In the late 1970s he was uted', and was revealed to a somewhat surprised world that Jim, he of the tuba and the handlebar motache, was fact also a lifelong homosexual.

As late as the 1980s, Brish public and private tolerance of homosexualy was still more than enough to reers and liv, or at least to do them nsirable damage; the televisn star Peter Wyngar and Leonard Sachs of The Good Old Days were jt two of maybe a dozen actors whose reers never really me back om urt s volvg ttagg, even though there was no qutn of the volvement of mors, or ed anyone other than nsentg adults. Ironilly, that same week, the first 'gay walkg tour' of Soho was announced, and clearly there was a double standard already tablished; suggtns of homosexualy did ltle harm, for stance, to the reers of Kenh Williams or Frankie Howerd, bee their public personae were long tablished as gay, even though they both rolutely refed to tell the tth and Williams once threatened to sue me for advertently, a theatre annual, publishg nothg more overtly 'damagg' than a picture of him on a beach Moroc wh Joe Orton and his killer Kenh Halliwell.

I believe, havg rearched some tail the arrt of Sir John Gielgud 1953 wh police who rell the se, that the wch hunt of homosexual actors the years after the send world war was as firmly tablished over here, and did as much damage to liv and reers, as that of the simultaneo wch hunt of Amerin actors and wrers by the McCarthy Commtee on UnAmerin Activi Hollywood. In the aftermath of the Burgs and Maclean fectn to Mosw, the FBI had strongly requted that the Home Office make every effort 'to weed out homosexuals om Brish public life', sce they uld clearly form a secury risk at a time when the Cold War was still at s height. Cole, was send for three months to Washgton to exame tail the anti-munist mpaign Ameri, and to see whether there were eful lsons to be learnt for the ongog war on homosexualy Bra.

EDWARD VIII'S 'CLGY' WAYS PHED AMERIN DIVORCEE WALLIS SIMPSON TO GAY LNAIRE JIMMY DONAHUE'S ARMS

But now for the first time there was an equally powerful group of younger movers and shakers who saw the Coronatn changeover the chance fally to drag Bra to the 20th century and le her up wh more liberal European neighbours such as France and Italy, where homosexualy among nsentg adults had long been crimalised.

Some playwrights, among them Terence Rattigan and Noel Coward, followed Isherwood and Aun to exile, choosg plac the sun such as Bermuda and Jamai where their discreetly homosexual liv uld be pursued whout fear of the police or prs. As ual when Bra go to one of her fs of manic moraly, there was a certa bleak humour around: when Sir John Woolfenclen was asked to file the first report to 'Prostutn and Homosexualy', his first actn was to wre to his openly gay son, who later mted suici, askg him if possible to wear rather ls make-up when out of doors. Arthur Rank fame as a romantic leadg man, ma the first openly gay mastream Brish movie.

Victim, one which specifilly unrl the real crime of blackmail to which many gay men were then exposed. Havg ma the movie agast strong advice, however, Bogar went to his grave nearly 40 years later still refg to reveal the tth of his lifelong homosexualy for fear of offendg his more nservative fans and rears.