Gay Actors of Yore

Earl Holliman. BDF

Earl is still around at age 95!

Agree with you about Tom Drake, OP. He had a beautiful profile and a fantastic speaking voice.

I always thought he had the looks to be a star of silent films, when the clean-cut collegiate look was the thing. He never broke through as a star during the war years, and heavy drinking took a toll on his looks quite early. If you ever see him in later TV appearances, he is almost unrecognizable as The Boy Next Door.

Grant Williams (“The Incredible Shrinking Man” and a key appearance in “Written on the Wind”)was another clean cut gay actor under contract to Universal in the ‘50s.

Grant Williams was hot

Bump

Grant Williams died of “blood poisoning”…in 1985?

Hmm.

He was handsome, and I’m sure still had a great ass, etc…

A DLer once claimed to have had an "encounter" with Grant Williams, but it was when he was older, not at the peak of his hotness

Roger C Carmel. Chest hair galore.

George Grizzard. An Oscar short of EGOT.

Love George Grizzard. Great character actor

Grizzard was on The Twilight Zone when he was young. He was kinda cute back then

Gail looks positively possessed.

Joel Crothers.

I didn't run home from school to watch Dark Shadows, I ran home from school to watch Joel.

My gaydar was already finely-tuned at age 6

Joel Crothers was so hot

Larry Kert looked like he could be wild in bed.

David Oliver, gone 32 years now.

R16, David's partner, Terry Houlihan, survived him by 30 years, dying in 2022. Terry lost his brother, Brian, to AIDS in 1988.

Interesting video ... "The Story of David Manners"

Manners is probably best known for playing the Jonathan Harker character in the 1931 film classic, Dracula.

He was born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom on April 30, 1900, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. .. What a name!

I guess Joan Crawford was completely nasty to him at the start of some picture in 1936, so he walked out and took a leave of absence from Hollywood.

His partner was playwright, Frederic William Mercer. They were together 30 years until Mercer's death in 1978. David himself lived to be 98 and died in 1998. He also did theatre work and wrote books.

btw - There's a fairly nice dick print at the 7:00 minute mark.

Tom Neal. Loved him in Detour.

Another vote for Earl Holliman. Love him.

R19 Tom Neal was gay? Didn't he have an affair with Barbara Payton and didn't he kill his wife?

Tom Neal was a straight pig who killed one of his wives.

I've always liked David Manners

[quote]Tom Neal was a straight pig who killed one of his wives.

He also killed his career by putting Franchot Tone in a coma.

Raymond Burr. Often dreamed of sitting on his face.

R18- Oh SHIT !

Manners!

I wonder what cunty thing Joan said to David Manners

All the posts re Tom Neal are correct. He was a heterosexual pig but I always thought he was closeted and a self-hater.

I always thought Michael Whalen was hot. He did a couple movies with Shirley Temple

Dark Shadows had SO MANY to choose from!

Jack Larson was a real cutie when he played Jimmy Olsen on "The Adventures of Superman":

Was Jack a top or bottom?

Sizemeat?

Didn't Larson have an affair with Monty Clift?

Yes

The ever-radiant John Fraser, whom you might remember from El Cid, Repulsion or as Bosie to Peter Finch's Wilde in The Trials of Oscar Wilde.

That David Manners video was interesting

I didn't know he'd considered suicide :-(

Don't forget Hawaiian Eye, r3.

Loved John Fraser in The Trials of Oscar Wilde

Patrick Bedford

I'm not doubting anyone...just wondering how you know these people are gay?

Is it commotion knowledge and I missed it? Just random information that you picked up somewhere along the way? Personal connection?

I hadn't heard of some of these people so it's interesting to learn this and then research them.

TIA

^ Some of these guys (like John Fraser) actually came out in their later years

Others were "glass closeted" and, while they never publicly came out, weren't really living a lie, either

More love for Earl Holliman.

Patrick Bedford?

I know there was a gay British actor named Brian Bedford who loved openly with another actor named Tim MacDonald.

Richard Deacon of "The Dick Van Dyke Show":

William Haines

Let's not forget Ramon Novarro

Jean Marais

Two actors and longtime partners, DIrk Bogarde and Anthony Forwood

^ They were a handsome couple

Jack Larson, best known as Cub Reporter Jimmy Olsen in the Adventures of Superman.

I would have done Jack Larson back in the day!

Jean-Claude Brialy

George Maharis

Jean-Claude Brialy was really cute and a good actor

[R26] Well, since as Bette said, Joan Crawford slept with every MGM actor except Lassie, "Mommie" probably tried to get David into bed and he wasn't interested. That probably pissed her off.

Joan was pretty gay-friendly, though

Rock Hudson

B-movie hunk, George Nader.

I first noticed David Manners in an excellent early talkie called The Last Flight about WW 1 veterans going aimlessly through life still shellshocked by what they had been through during the war. An unusual film for its time and when seen today you're amazed by its contemporary resonance despite featuring still young men drinking their way through life in black tie. Starring the once hugely popular Richard Barthelmess.

I had such a crush on Jack Larson when I was a boy watching Superman. How happy I was to find out many years later he was gay.

There are some very hot men pictured here!

George Nader can act on me, please.

Yore Mama.

Tab Hunter

Jackie Gleason

VICTOR BUONO. Loved him in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, hot!

Paul Lynn

Paul Lynn? Who the hell is he? Or did you go to Columbia?

R64 Glad to see another big bear admirer. Buono was a sexy guy, especially with the beard.

(John) Edward Penn - probably better known as a stage actor.

Penn was Daniel J. Travanti's partner for decades. They left L.A. in the mid-90s to live a simpler life in the Lake Forest, Illinois area.

Penn died in February 2020 at age 93. .. Travanti just turned 84 in March.

And speaking of "Dan Travanty" the name he went by when he first started out in Hollywood, he was involved with gay James Daly.

Don't mean to be a Debbie Downer but mention of Grant Williams always makes me sad. He had a lot of promise but went downhill personally and professionally and seemed to have had a very lonely end. No proof but certainly all signs are a killing closet.

Geez, that's really sad

GAY APES!

Maurice Evans as Dr. Zaius.

R72 Sorry your post sent me on a tangent.

Maurice Evans was into twinks, I heard

MORE GAY APES!

Roddy McDowall as Cornelius.

STILL MORE GAY APES!

Sal Mineo as Doctor Milo.

Maurice Evans, more recognizable as Maurice, Sam’s father on Bewitched.

psychopath Lawrence Tierney.

We can't forget the boys from Hitchcock's "Rope."

Farley Granger

... and John Dall

And then there's Robert Calhoun, Granger's longtime partner, who was also an actor.

Planet of the Gaypes.

And Clement Brace, who was John Dall's partner at the time of Dall's death.

Who was that beefy hairy-chested 40s noirish hunk, slick black hair, with the first name Steve?

Could he have been gay??

84 responses and no one's mentioned DL fave Richard Chamberlain?

R84 Steve Cochran? Doubtful.

R78, was Tierney gay?!!!

YES. Read about Lawrence Tierney. The dude was not just playing a psycho. He was a violent nut case. He was just about A list when the studios couldn't have anything to do with him. He should have been in jail and never got out. The closet kills. Sometimes it's not the closeted it kills.

Another vote for Joel Crothers, one of my favorite daytime TV actors. Can’t believe he’s been gone nearly 40 years now.

Cary Grant

Randolph Scott

Van Johnson

Keenan Wynn

Charles Laughton

John Gielgud

Tony Perkins

Guy Madison

Rory Calhoun

Troy Donahue

Anyone with a funny first name

Where are you getting that he was gay, r88?

Rob't Reed

Is everybody gay!?

Anthony Perkins and Grover Dale

Ivor Novello

Steve Cochran was a notorious womanizer with a big dick.

Ivor Novello supposedly got around

He was depicted by Jeremy Irvine in the movie Benediction

R97 Receipts?

Disney actor, Tommy Kirk.

Isn't "notorious womanizer" often code for "bisexual" in Old Hollywood?

I always liked Cesar Romero

Tierney in action. He just oozes creepiness.

Richard Cromwell

I'm not finding anything gay about him, r103.

Well what do you want him to do? Beat someone to death with his murse?

Richard Cromwell was Angela Lansbury's first husband.

Needless to say, it didn't work out

Like the comments at youtube say, if Nedra hadn't been sitting there, I think Lawrence would have beat (gay) Skip E. Lowe up.

Singing in the Dark

Winston Churchill supposedly had sex with Ivor Novello and described the experience as “musical.”’

I didn't know that Ty Power and Cesar Romero had an affair

Ty and Cesar

Handsome couple

At least Ty's sitting like a lady.

Wasn’t Zachary Scott a poofter?

Scott was married multiple times, I believe, but he always pinged for me

Larry Kerr was described as an uninhibited Californian. Sounded fun and it’s a shame that Kert did most of the heavy lifting for “Company” but Dean Jones gets all the glory because he was on the damn cast album.

Well, Dean had the star quality.

Henry Brandon. His longtime partner was one of Judy Garland's husbands, Mark Herron.

Henry Brandon was a good character actor. He had a great voice too

Gay actor of yore Roddy McDowall playing gay and bitchy in the gayest murder mystery ever, Evil Under the Sun.

The gayest Joker ever to grace the screen.

More Sal Mineo.

R117, Larry Kert was just a replacement. Anyone who saw Dean Jones in the role, knows he was excellent.

R112, Cesar speaks of his friendship with Ty.

I wonder what more gay actors of yore thought of one another.

Tragic Dick Kallman

Lon McCallister and William Eythe lived together, much to the consternation of Darryl Zanuck.

R128, Now, you tell me.

Gordon Heath and Lee Payant fell in love, moved to Paris and opened L'Abbaye on the Left Bank, running it and performing together for 27 years until Lee died of cancer in the 70s.

Actor Hayen Rorke and his partner of over 40 years, director Justus Addiss.

Hayden Roarke is a new one to me . . .

HE WAS NOT!

Did he ever hit on Larry?

I would have.

Cute chub James Coco

R135, At one point, he lost a ton of weight. I remember him as a guest on the Mike Douglas Show with his new body, looking like a different person.

“Coco died at St. Vincent's Hospital, Manhattan, on February 25, 1987, at age 56 after suffering a heart attack at his Greenwich Village home.“

Drastic weight loss is tough on the heart if it’s not done properly.

[quote]Actor Hayen Rorke and his partner of over 40 years, director Justus Addiss.

Shit! I was careful to spell "Justus Addiss" correctly, but misspelled "Hayden."

Justus Addiss directed a bunch of episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Twilight Zone that I enjoyed

Did not know he was family!

Actor Earle Hyman, cousin of singer Phyllis Hyman, with his partner of 50 years, Rolf Sirnes.

Earle became fluent in Rolf's native language, Norwegian, and headlined a Norwegian adaptation of "Othello", which was a smash hit throughout Scandinavia. He then regularly toured with a Norwegian theatrical company and picked up Swedish and Danish along the way. In 1986, he was awarded the St Olav Medal, Norway's highest honor, for his contributions to Norwegian theatre.

Denholm Elliott

Dennis Price

Derek Jacobi

John Gielgud

Dick Sargent:

Do you mean Dick York?

I almost didn't recognize Marie Windsor at first in the R125 interview. Must be her Korean wig. Caesar was a charming man. You can see the difference between him and Lawence Tierney though Skip E is still annoying.

John Darrow (aka Johnny Darrow), actor who became an agent, who was lovers with Charles Walters, Broadway dancer/choreographer and later MGM director.

CLIFTON WEBB

[quote]Do you mean Dick York?

Dick York wasn't gay.

147 posts and no mention of Noel Coward.

Monty Woolley

He was much more than an actor, r149.

R144 Dick Sargent announced he was gay on National Coming Out Day, 1991.

R151 True. He was still a gay actor of yore.

John Darrow was in Hell's Angel

There are a lot of hotties in this post. I have some new ideas for that old if you had a time machine question.

Furry blond Terry Lester.

Yeah, obviously I screwed up the Dicks. Sorry, all.

Terry Lester was a hottie

Kerwin Mathews

Ivor Novello

R159 I had no idea Kerwin Mathews was gay. What a lovely man he was.

Kerwin Mathews had a longtime partner who talked about their life together

Stephen Boyd

[quote]Mathews retired from acting in 1978 and moved to San Francisco, where he ran a clothing and antiques shop. Mathews died in his sleep in San Francisco on July 5, 2007, at age 81.

[quote]He was survived by his partner of 46 years, Tom Nicoll, a British display manager at Harvey Nichols, the British luxury department store. The two met in 1961.

Ross Alexander

James Mitchell

James Mitchell's longtime partner was costume designer Albert Wolsky who won Oscars for All That Jazz and Bugsy as well as many Broadway theater credits. He's still with us at 93.

Not sure if they met on The Turning Point but James Mitchell was in it and Albert Wolsky designed the costumes.

James Mitchell and Nora Kaye (Mrs. Herbert Ross) in "Fall River Legend."

Raymond St. Jacques

Probably one of the very first gay Hollywood actor of yore

I was drawn to actor George Nader as a youngster before I knew we were both gay.

I read somewhere (here?) that Charles Bickford was gay, or bi. Could that be true? I only read mention of it in one place… where ever it was.

He seems like the type who’d rip your head off if you so much as enquired.

Did Bickford's family own all those cafeterias? He was a handsome man.

Walter Pidgeon

Everybody in every book ever written by Boze Hadleigh.

Everybody who Scotty Bowers ever met.

There were always rumors about Bickford but why, exactly, I don't know.

I followed the wiki link at r170, and I am perplexed by the saga of Raymond St Jacques’ son, Sterling. Are they insinuating he wasn’t his actual son but a kept boy toy? Any extra information appreciated!

Some dish on Raymond on the AIDS Memorial post about his nephew Sterling on Instagram.

Sorry — "nephew/son"

R179, there's a DM article about Sterling St Jacques that mentions that he and Raymond were actually lovers.

R132 Jeannie knew!

Even as a kid watching the original I Dream of Jeannie I thought Hayden Rorke was femmy.

R171, Huck Finn was gay?

R93 that’s Bradley Cooper you silly gay

Becky Thatcher was a bull dyke.

And let’s not talk about Aunt Polly.

R88 Shelley Winters fucked him.

R187 Only in the Chicago company.

R15, Larry lived across the street from me on Horatio when he died. Partner, Ron, still with us.

Soap Stars - Val Dufour, George Reinholt, Jean LeClerq, Louis Edmonds, Dennis Parker.

Since today women are called Actors, add Connie Ford and Lois Kibbee to the list.

My mom told me she had a big crush on Tom Drake when she was a teenager.

With Judy.

With Deanna.

I think I read that Judy was disappointed Tom rejected her advances, on Meet Me In St. Louis, so she started showing interest in Minnelli

She sure could pick 'em.

R188, Who didn't Shelley Winters fuck?

Might be the OG gay actor...J. Warren Kerrigan, a silent star. He passed his domestic partner off as his "gardener"

When Ron Palillo died in 2012 at 63, he left behind his partner Joseph Gramm. They’d been together since 1971.

Guess Travolta wasn't the only gay Sweathog

Farley Granger was sexy.

Maureen O'Hara wrote that when they were filming Kangaroo in Australia, Richard Boone and Peter Lawford were caught in the raid of a male bordello.

R202, I think it's been established that Peter Lawford swung whichever direction the wind blew. But Richard Boone?

Yes...Richard Boone.

A bit on the male bordello at the Poseidon link.

R190

Tony and Emmy winner Michael Jeter.

Paul Winfield.

Hard to believe that he died two decades ago.

Surprised by Monty’s hairy back at r33!

Michael Jeter was pals with Burt Reynolds

[quote]Michael Jeter was pals with Burt Reynolds

They did Jazzercise together.

Bav!

r190, I also lived on Horatio Street throughout the 1990s down the block from Larry Kert and Ron Pullen. I'll never forget the sad day an ambulance showed up to take away Larry's body.

As you may remember that was a "star-filled" block with Cherry Jones and her architect gf Mary on one end and DL fave (not!) Mary Testa on the other, as well as Billy Campbell and Jennifer Connelly, who lived there together for almost a year when Billy appeared as Laertes in a Roundabout production of Hamlet. Oh, and Eddie Cibrian lived there briefly for awhile with his first wife and kids when he was shooting Third Watch.

Evocative post, r214.

His first wife has a name. Brandi!

^ She's a fine girl.

Nelson Eddy, here in the 1940 film, "New Moon". William Tannen (on the left) became Eddy's lover when he was cast in a small role in "Rosalie" (1937). Tannen's role was larger by the time of "New Moon" and they remained involved for several years. Eddy also picked-up a young Ross Hunter, when Hunter was an actor, in the 40's. Hunter frequently shared the story including telling one of his closest friend actress Virginia Grey. Grey had made a pass at Eddy during the filming of "Rosalie" (she had a small role) and was rebuffed because, "Eddy only had eyes for Tannen..."

Brandi is a dyke-lite. Does that make her a gay actor of your?

Hegelochus

Aeschylus

R205…great link! Thanks!

It’s total bullshit—but enjoy

Richard Boone looks sexy af in some photos. I especially like his man-in-black western look.

Boone was attractive in a rugged sort of way

I wonder what Richard Boone might have requested at the male bordello.

The veracity of said scenario is even being debated in the comments on a John Wayne fan site.

^ Link.

Boone was jolie-laide

Claire McAloon Boone?

Geoffrey Toone

To be fair, "Geoffrey Toone" is a pretty gay name.

r230...

[quote]For many years he had shared a house with his close friend, the actor Frank Middlemass. "To their general amusement", they were often mistaken to be lovers, but in fact were not.

Rock On, Frank!

Roscoe Lee Brown

Roscoe Lee Browne even got to play gay - a gay sociopathic robot named Box in Logan’s Run.

According to IMDb, Roscoe Lee Browne expected hostility from John Wayne on the set of The Cowboys, but somehow the two ended up friends.

R236. Wayne was famous for gladly excepting blowies from any guy on set.

Rock Hudson got along well with John Wayne but Wayne HATED Monty Clift

[quote]Roscoe Lee Browne even got to play gay - a gay sociopathic robot named Box in Logan’s Run.

He played a gay bookstore owner on "Will & Grace."

Wayne hated Monty Clift for his Method acting, not his gayness.

When I was 10, I named my dog Roscoe. I guess I knew somehow.

Sherman Hemsley:

Paul Winfield 1972

R242, he had a pretty nice body there!

Alan Bates

(No--not the one fighting the Post Office on PBS.)

Alan Bates was soooo hot. Great actor, too

Alan Bates!

❤️

R242, Sherman was 21 years younger than Isabel Sanford.

Alan Bates had a hot furry chest

I love the happy photo at r248!

Richard Haydn

To R167...Loved James Mitchell, he played the "most Evil soap opera male actor" on AMC......Palmer Cortlandt of Cortlandt Manor.

My favorite Evil Character. When he released the Dobermans on Daisy & destroyed Adam Chandler at his own victory party.

Whatever. The age difference between Sherman and Isabel was not at all apparent. They played so well off of each other.

Clift was supposedly repelled by Wayne and his old fashioned macho views, and Wayne thought Clift was an arrogant little prick. However, Wayne was prepared to work with him again in Rio Bravo, which Clift was offered, but turned down.

R253 I recall I was surprised back when Sherman died that he was 20 plus years younger than Isabel. The casting worked on The Jeffersons because she looked 10 years younger than her age and he looked 10 years older than his.

Irving Allen Lee

^ He was a handsome guy.

Seems so strange now to look at some of these actors’ death dates and instantly know it was AIDS - and then suddenly remember the constant grind of death that lasted at least 15 years.

Denholm Elliott, another AIDS victim

Awwww, I went to college with Irving Lee. He lived in my dorm and he was such a sweet guy.

R258 he died of HIV-related TB. No one dies of “AIDS”—are you typing from 40 years ago?

Where does r258 state that, r260?

Where he says “AIDS victim” —that’s where

R262 Um, yeah - Denholm Elliot was an AIDS victim.

Let me help you here - People who die of HIV (aka AIDS)-related complications can be classified as AIDS victims.

No- “aka AIDS” is absolutely meaningless …stop with the bullshit. There are no AIDS victims. They didn’t die of a syndrome, and they weren’t victims. Your entire mindset is mistaken. You type like a 20th century frau. Try typing like a 21st century gay man with a basic understanding of related medical issues.

R264, your ignorance is appalling.

r264 is proudly retarted.

265 please provide a citation to anything, much less any medical source, regarding “aka AIDS.” We can wait.

r264, BREEEATH!

R257 Yeah, sadly most of the actors who died young from 1984 -1996, can be presumed to be AIDS related.

Either that or that damned watermelon diet.

They died from liver cancer!

Move on people; the thread is about gay actors from the past.

Character actor John Hoyt

R264 I don't need a lecture from some social justice warrior.

I lived through the worst of the AIDS era. Yes, AIDS was - and still is - very real. And people did - and still do - die from it.

John Hoyt was outed by his widow!

Has Peter Wyngarde been mentioned?

Peter Wyngarde was busted for "cottaging"

Yes r277 but before that my sisters, aunts, mother, even my Gran were soaking their panties over him. But my fledgling gaydar and sore cock, told me otherwise.

And I was right.

Loved Peter Wyngarde as Klytus in Flash Gordon.

Was he a good fuck?

R79 Farley looks a lot like David Muir in that photo.

R281 David looks like Farley.

How old is she, anyway?

Her REAL AGE?

Alan Bates dated Peter Wyngarde for years

Alan Bates was also involved with the great skater, John Curry. What a beautiful pairing, they both were said to be prickly and reckless.

Does JM J Bullock count as vintage/yore in 2024?

I can't believe Grandpa Kaniski was gay!

More about John Hoyt. He certainly had a colorful life!

A John Hoyt classic...

R285 Bullock is still alive, and because OP wrote "gay actors of the past" I got the idea he was asking for ones who are DEAD TO ME. - jmho

I recall an interview Bullock did not that long ago where he said he's not retired, but he doesn't actively seek roles either. A couple of summers ago, he appeared in the "Kinky Boots" production at the Hollywood Bowl. You can see him in this promo video for the show around the 2:50 mark.

R288, that movie is a camp hoot

I like this woman's description of it, r290...

Peter Wyngarde was mad as fuck.

Actor turned novelist, Tom Tryon.

Still from "I Married A Monster from Outer Space."

R292

"mad as fuck" as in crazy mad, or angry mad? And is there a story with or about that?

Or both, since he looks like he could throw a "mad fuck" either way.

Ancient Live Journal discussing Tom Tryon.

I’d forgotten he was with porn star Casey Donovan for years.

Here’s an ancient livejournal on Tom Tryon. I’d forgotten he was with sexy mess Casey Donovan for years.

R295

“During the 1970s, he was in a romantic relationship with Clive Clerk, one of the original cast members of A Chorus Line and an interior designer who decorated Tryon's apartment on Central Park West in New York City, which was featured in Architectural Digest. From 1973 to 1977, Tryon was in a relationship with porn actor Casey Donovan.“

Casey Donovan is fun in Ramsey Metzger’s softcore smut Score.

Casey Donovan came on to me when I was 15.

IIRC Stackpole & Tryon was the name of the spiffy men's clothier owned by Tom Tryon's family, very much still in business in the 1980s when I worked in Hartford, and boosted by the preppie craze and Hartford downtown renaissance of that decade. But I don't think the shop lasted through the 1990s. I have no idea if Tom or his family actually owned it in those final years. Nevertheless, I always I hoped for a sighting of Tom, whenever I went in there. No go, lol.

R299, please tell more.

Roland Wybenga.

Let’s get some true thespians in here.

Tom Tryon was a very handsome man

Rip Taylor

R304, Otto Preminger treated him abysmally during the filming of "The Cardinal" which probably played a part in his turning to writing rather than acting.

Ray Stricklyn

Are we adding James Garner and Robert Mitchum?

What is the gay gossip about Lawrence Tierney and Tom Neal?

[quote]Tom Tryon was a very handsome man

He got his start with Disney, first with "Texas John Slaughter" on television and later with a Disney live-action feature called "Moon Pilot."

R310, He was “Adam” to Marilyn Monroe’s “Eve” in the unfinished “Something’s Got to Give”.

R311 Right. One can see Tryon in this segment of the film, when the husband (Dean Martin) goes looking for him and finds him in playboy mode poolside -- featuring Tryon in a swimsuit.

That scene starts around the 28:15 minute mark.

Even with that clip it's hard to imagine Tom Tryon succeeding in that role in Something's Gotta Give. Handsome though he was, he had no sense of comedy or the dopey bravura to carry it off. Did he ever play sexy in anything? I can see why Chuck Connors replaced him when the film really got going with a mostly different cast.

R313, George Cukor was probably hoping to get into that bathing suit.

I remember when I was a kid, being in a bookstore once and there was a display featuring one or more of Tyron's novels, with a larger poster of the author. Perhaps he was on a book tour and was going to appear at the store. Anyway, his sexy gorgeousness just stopped me in my tracks.

[quote] During the 1970s, he was in a romantic relationship with Clive Clerk, one of the original cast members of A Chorus Line ....

It sounds like Clive Clerk's relationship or at least friendship with Tyron lasted up until he died (1991), because in this lengthy retrospective of Tom's career published by the Hartford Courant newspaper in 1992, one of people they interview is "Clive Wilson," which is the name Clive Clerk went by when he switched careers to become a designer and painter.

In the article, Wilson is described as "a longtime West Coast friend and Tryon’s literary executor" and someone "who worked closely with Tryon on several of his books."

There's also a lot within the article from Tyron's younger brother, Bill, as well as discussion about Tyron's ordeal with Otto Preminger mentioned by R306.

Clive Clerk can also be added to thread. Besides Broadway, appeared in some TV and films, most notably the Rock Hudson/Doris Day rom-com, "Send Me Know Flowers."

In it, Clerk plays the flirty "Vito" the dry cleaning delivery boy. whom Rock's character, "George," doesn't like very much. When "George," begins to worry about who his wife "Judy" might hook up with after he kicks the bucket, he has a dream about it, and the guy in his dream turns out to be young Vito.

That segment leading into the dream starts around the 31:00 minute mark in this link at Dailymotion:

Howard Rollins was a very gifted actor and a very tragic story.

Eric Portman was a wonderfully dark and creepy presence in a host of British noirs from the 1940s. Indeed, he became so identified with the genre that one critic referred to him as "a one-man crime wave."

Corridor of Mirrors is my favorite Portman film but his other noirs like Dear Murderer, Daybreak, and Wanted for Murder are also excellent.

[quote]"Send Me Know Flowers."

Oh, dear.

But seriously -- how gay is that cast? Rock, Paul Lynde, gay-adjacent Tony Randall, and now Clive Clerk too?

Eric Portman was also the original narrator of The World at War tv series before Larry Olivier did the highlights version.

r316, I would love to read the article, especially the parts concerning Tom’s experience with Otto Preminger but I don’t do paywalls honey.

Tom, as a good Catholic gay ;)

Tom talks about horror Otto in the Otto documentary.

Tryon appears shirtless in the movie Three Violent People (where he co-starred with Chuckles Heston). He looked super hot. Great body.

R325, His character was missing an arm in the movie.

R325, Elaine Stritch has a supporting role as someone who is aware of Anne Baxter’s shady call girl past that she has been hiding from husband Chuck Heston.

in vistaVision!

R311, the role was originally offered to Gardner McKay, who was on a weekly series called "Adventures in Paradise," in which he played Adam Troy, the skipper of a schooner called Tiki III that sailed the South Pacific. It would've been a hilarious meta in-joke had he agreed to play "Adam" to Marilyn's "Eve," and had the film been completed and released. But, alas, it just wasn't meant to be.

Wasn’t Otto Preminger a asshole on the set to everyone?

John Mahoney isn’t from the golden age, but he died five years ago, and he’d be as old as some of the other offerings on this thread.

He also played gay a couple times.

R328 co-starring Elaine Stritch!

That trailer is a doozy—the ultimate B picture!

R329 Gardner McKay is one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. I first saw him in a Vogue spread with Dovima on Pinterest. What a loss that he drifted away from the screen.

R332, Can you not see R327?

Gardner McKay was in The Pleasure Seekers with Ann-Margret

Cheesy movie but he was hot in it

He sought pleasure…and found it.

Gale Gordon? Yay or nay?

nay

Neigh!!!

Gardner McCay is a seriously handsome piece of man. I'm an eldergay so I should know more, but this place, Datalounge, is where I first heard of him.

Thanks DL

Gardner McKay looking spectacularly slutty.

Gardner McKay was gorgeous but was he EVER cast in a sexual role? Like Tom Tryon, he never seemed to be cast as man with any sexual desires.

Gale Gordon was heterosexual, BUTT according to a Reader Blind at Entertainment Lawyer, he enjoyed getting pegged:

[quote] READER BLIND -- OLD HOLLYWOOD: This deceased actor (Gale Gordon) had a long film and TV history but is primarily known for a couple TV shows ("I Love Lucy"/"The Lucy Show"/"Here’s Lucy"/"Life With Lucy") he did with this actress (Lucille Ball) of a certain hair color whose most famous TV show ("I Love Lucy") came first. He played her exasperated foil ("Theodore J. Mooney"). In real life, he was heterosexual and married for many many years but he also enjoyed being pegged and was known among Los Angeles sex workers as someone who would tip generously for a strap-on experience. Gale Gordon/"I Love Lucy"; "The Lucy Show"; "Here’s Lucy"; "Life With Lucy"/Lucille Ball/"I Love Lucy"/"Theodore J. Mooney" -- October 9, 2021

[quote]Actor turned novelist, Tom Tryon. Still from "I Married A Monster from Outer Space."

He was gorgeous.

Gavin Gordon

Ralph Clanton

Bruce Mince

More Jonathan Frid, the centerpiece of Dark Shadows - also upthread in the link at r29 with the other gays from the show.

I wonder what the relationships were between all the gay men in that cast were like.

Dark Shadows and Bewitched were chock full.

Witches and vampires, existing under the radar on the outskirts of polite society.

As a kid, I was devoted to both shows. I didn’t get why, but there was unquestionably a niche appeal to a lonely little gayling.

George Maharis and his nipples.

[quote]George Maharis and his nipples.

He never went anywhere without them.

….according to a Reader Blind at Entertainment Lawyer, he enjoyed getting pegged:,,,

💀👽🤖

Dirk Bogarde’s ultragay look.

Darth Vader was a Dildo-Freak, yea?!

Raymond Burr.

Is there a good biography of him? Or maybe an extensive piece online?

Laurence Harvey.

Who has not seen Walk in the Wild Side?

Laird Cregar

That was a sad story at. R355.