Who were some of the lesbians from the classic days of Hollywood?

Garbo and Dietrich were both confirmed bisexuals, although Garbo didn't have much sex with anyone. Dietrich would've shagged a rusty nail.

Joan Crawford apparently muff-dived when she was horny/drunk enough, but she preferred men.

Claudette Colbert was outed after her death.

Barbara Stanwyck and Katharine Hepburn were both probably dykes or at the very least switch-hitters with a STRONG preference for pussy.

Bette Davis on lesbians: "I have nothing against lesbians, I've known quite a few, but Christ if I ever woke up in the morning to a pair of tits in my face I would just about DIE!"

Agnes Moorehead. Last name non withstanding.

I don't know of any, but I hope this thread takes off.

Ethel Merman

Mary Martin

Janet Gaynor

Spring Byington

Marjorie Main

Hattie McDaniel

Nazimova

Pola Negri

Miriam Hopkins was bi

Mary Wickes

Ann B. Davis

Nancy Kulp

Bea Arthur

Patsy Kelly

About Nazimova:

The Garden of Allah

Our story in Hollywood starts with Alla Nazimova, silent movie star, silent movie producer, ultra-dramatic stage actress, cinematic visionary, conspicuously lesbian social magnet, former concert violinist, and accomplished international liar / effective self-publicist. When sound arrived, Nazimova perceived that financial diversification might be good, so she converted her well-situated 1921 mansion estate into a three and a half acre semi-tropical hangout. She retained a private apartment upstairs in her former mansion, with the bottom story converted into a restaurant and bar.

The property became a complicated and romantic collection of Spanish-style bungalows and detached apartments, 25 villas were constructed around the pool. Cheap, yes, but designed with drama and scale. And of course Nazimova kept the pool; shaped like the Black Sea. This was January, 1927.

Nazimova's lesbian tatting circle and the financially catastrophic pursuit of her cinematic vision are tempting but off-topic. She'd played opposite Valentino as Camille! Valentino married two of her ex-girlfriends with a brief sloppy overlap for which he was jailed for bigamy! She studied in Moscow with Stanislavsky! No, no, to stay on-topic, the important thing is that her Garden of Allah was bankrupt within a year. It was taken over by an outside operator who raised the rents. Nazimova stayed. As a tenant.

How about the only one that got outed in her own time? "Queen of film noir" Lizabeth Scott.

[quote]Scott’s career was later dented by “scandal” because, as Muller put it, Offscreen, Liz reserved the pillow talk for other women.

[quote]Scott had been “outed” by Confidential Magazine back in the 1950s. She sued the magazine, but lost.

Merman was not lesbian but she had no problem outing Mary Martin and Jacky Susann who had a huge crush on her.

Joan Crawford was bisexual and apparently Marilyn was too.

I've also heard that Elizabeth Taylor was bisexual.

Wasn't Esther Williams rumored to be gay as well?

I can't remember her name but that absolutely gorgeous Slovakian_American actress from the late 40's who looked a lot like Lauren Bacall had rumors around her as well.

Hedy Lamarr and Ilona Massey were a couple like Cary Grant and Randolph Scott.

I'm pretty sure Simone Simon also lived with Lamarr and Massey but moved out.

Mercedes de Acosta, Dorothy Arzner

Marlene

R14, I think you mean Lizabeth Scott. She was a mousy little thing with a lisp. The lisp may have helped with cunnilingus but no way was she the rival to Bacall like the movie studio had hoped.

And yeah, Dorothy Arzner did. Crawford bragged about Arzner's alleged crush on her.

The actress Una Munson, best known for playing Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind, preferred tending to the ladygarden as well...

Nina Mae McKinney

Charlotte Greenwood

Jane Darwell (Ma Joad)

Imogene Coca?

For the record, Ethel Merman and Mary Martin finally became good friends in the last years of their lives. Martin visited Merman in the hospital and at home during her final illness, and kept in constant with Merman's son Bob.

Sorry to hijack the post but would someone please start a post for me about inheriting jewelry from my mom? I need a good dose of DL wisdom. *gulp*

Judy Garland was rumored to have had an affair with Kay Thompson, Liza's godmother.

Created, R23.

Jean Arthur

Kay Francis

Bebe Daniels

Anne Todd

Ruth Chatterton

Ina Claire

Jane Withers

Doesn't Tallulah Bankhead count as classic Hollywood dahlings?

My favorite Hollywood lesbian is Lilyan Tashman. She died young and most of her movies aren't shown but if you can find GIRLS ABOUT TOWN, she's a hoot. And I guess she was quite open and predatory about her pursuits too.

Does Liza count? She did after all debut in ITGOS with her mother.

Can ANY of these claims be substantiated, except by rumor or innuendo? I know the facts about Garbo, Dietrich, Scott,Ann B. Davis, Nancy Kulp, Nina Mae McKinney, Hattie McDaniel, these women have been proven to be lesbian. The other names are just speculation and rumor with no basis in fact. We keep seeing the same names over and over which perpetuates the rumor until it is believed to be true but there is no research done or fact revealed. SO STOP IT!

[quote]The lisp may have helped with cunnilingus

I can atthure you, it doth.

Nice thread...love that about Lilyan, I had never heard about her.

Judy Canova and Ann Sheridan had a thing. I think Ann was a Lesbian and Judy might have been BI.

Lena Horne had a big crush on friend Ava Gardner, hung out with lezes Kay Thompson and Nancy Sinatra Sr (yes), was married to a gay man and in love with another (Billy Strayhorn)...It's possible she did not start same sex affairs till later, but most people believe she and Ava got it on more than once.

Ann B. Davis is still alive. She must be 90 years old now.

Edith Head

Ann B. Davis is a TV character actress. She was not from the "classic days of Hollywood."

What gay man was Lena Horne married to?!

Mercedes McCambridge

Lennie Hayton, r38. She supported him financially until his death. He drank himself to death in her Palm Springs house, while she lived in NYC and sometimes in another Calif house.

Never heard Lennie Hayton was gay.

Janet Gaynor, who had a lavender marriage with Adrian.

Lena's biographer said that "everyone" he spoke with said Lennie was gay.

I love this about Lilyan Tashman and from wikipedia no less!--

[quote]In Hollywood, she was known to initiate sex in rest rooms with women of all ages, and, if repulsed, would forge ahead with a promise of complete silence on the matter and assurances that such sexual activity was common and very pleasureable. In 1928, Tashman was introduced to Greta Garbo and began a relationship with her the same day.

Lilyan Tashman was terrific - sad she died so young.

The great character actress Mary Wickes was a lesbian; it was more or less confirmed after she died in the 1990s.

Kay Francis? Really?

What's the proof on Lena and Ava?

Irene Sharaff, Costume Designer of the Arthur Freed Unit.

Her tape measure and the things she could do with it were legendary.

R49, that makes absolutely no sense. To be funny you have to make a little sense.

Louise Brooks was bisexual...She had an affair with Peggy Fears. Also, r2 said Joan Crawford preferred man, but she was truly bisexual, and had many, MANY female lovers.

Lest we forget....Tallulah Bankhead was a bisexual with a preference foe the ladies: "My father warned me about liquor and men, but he never said a WORD aqbout cocaine and women!"

Where's the PROOF??? The PROOF??? PROOF PROOF PROOF?????

Isn't it true that that one of the reasons between the Crawford-Davis feud was because Joan hit on Bette, but Bette rebuffed her advances? Didn't Bette say something about it? Or did I totally make that up?

Yes, that's in some ridculous book, r53. I don't believe it. It would have happened in the 1940s, they were at different studios, never socialized, etc.

BTW, did you know it was Joanie that cornered Lena Horne at a party in 1946 and told her she should apologize to L.B. Mayer to get off suspension? Wonder what else she said, like, why don't you come over to my place? (Lena wrote the L.B. Mayer part in her autobiography).

Re: Lena and Ava, that's been a rumor almost forever. Sinatra apparently believed it because he started hating Lena when he started going with Ava. Just like he began hating Artie Shaw after he got with Ava.

"Joan Crawford was bisexual and apparently Marilyn was too."

If you're talking about Marilyn Monroe, then you're mistaken. There have been many, many biographies about Marilyn Monroe, many of them very well-researched and well-documented, and they reveal Marilyn to be a raging heterosexual. She was a man's woman. She may have had a semi-lesbian relationship with an acting coach she had named Natasha Lytess. Lytess was definitely in love with her. But if there was anything like that between them it didn't mean anything to Marilyn; she never sought sex with other women. That's a fact.

Of course, there's the completely unsubstantiated tale that Marilyn had a one night stand with Joan Crawford and that her pussy-eating was so spectacular that Joan screamed in ecstacy and wanted more, more, more. But one night was enough, and Marilyn never ate Joan's pussy again, which caused Joan to hate her ever after. Actually Joan Crawford couldn't stand Monroe, much less have had sex with her. She was jealous as hell of Marilyn, who was young and gorgeous and lusted after by all men (Joan was middle-aged by then). Joan ever went so far as to denounce Marilyn publicly when Marilyn showed up at an awards show in a gown that left little to the imagination. Joan may have had some lesbo affairs but I doubt she had one with Marilyn Monroe.

Some "actor" named Ted Jordan put out a book claiming that he and young Marilyn had a hot affair and remained friends until her death. He says that Marilyn was a nympho who couldn't get enough of cock OR pussy. Why should anybody believe him? I sure don't.

I recall a blurb about some recent book, written by a woman, that put forth the notion that Marilyn Monroe, despite her endless affairs with men, was in fact a lesbian. The book must have came and went pretty fast, because I never heard of it again after that.

Richard Burton once stated, "all actors are bisexual"

Then there's the rumor that what finally ended Ava's marriage to Sinatra was him coming home to find her in bed - with LANA TURNER.

And of course Lana's daughter Cheryl Crane (the murderess) is an out lesbian....

And in his bio of her, William J. Mann outed not only Kate Hepburn but also Spencer Tracy.

Barbara Stanwyck pinged into outer space.

Going way back, the beautiful Maude Adams. A very beautiful actress, that insisted on living her life her way. The movie Somewhere In Time was said to be based on her. Not in the romance department but her background, personalilty and career.

Datalounge should know all about her. She was a brave woman for her time.

I was somewhat concerned that this thread wasn't going to take off. More lesbian stories please.

R60 can you tell us more about Maude?

The Wiki wasn't detailed...and how did you get to know about her?

Maude Adams

[quote] She died, aged 80, at her summer home, Caddam Hill, in Tannersville, New York, and is interred in the cemetery of the Sisters of the Cenacle, Lake Ronkonkoma, New York.

I've been to the Cenacle. My mother used to buy prayer cards there for dead people. I'd heard it was donated to the nuns by "a famous actress in silent movies," but didn't know her name.

Over the years a working class suburb has grown all around the once woodsy rural area. It's funny because you are driving in this typical Lawn Guyland working class suburb of split levels on small lots and all of a sudden you turn onto grounds with this huge old mansion. It's a startling contrast.

About Maud Adams. I came across a picture of her, googled her, and found her fascinating. I also like reading about that time in history.I know there's a book about her, always said I was going to find it. Have not yet. But she was a very interesting and talented actress.

Peter Pan was her biggest role. Most of her plays were written by James Barrie. But at one point of time, she was the best known actress in America. Other cast and crew described her as very kind and considerate to all. But at the height of it all, she was very solitary. Her agent was that famous guy that went down with the Lusitania. (So famous I can't remember his name!) But the agent in Somewhere In Time is based on him.

Here's a link to one piece that discusses her possible sexuality. I think she sought solace with religion but eventually lived what she was. She was buried with her long time companion.

You Tube has a nice tribute to her. She was beautiful, timeless. As Peter Pan she was also very believable.

That certainly puts a spin on her role as 'Octopussy'! Didn't realize she'd died. Bruce Dern claimed their sex scenes weren't simulated for the film 'Tatoo'.

What I heard about Maude Adams was that she was a fabulously wealthy silent movie actress who would like to have become a nun but could not bring herself to convert to Catholicism. She liked Catholic retreats, but didn't like the trappings of catholicism.

One of my professors acted for Maude Adams when she was on the faculty at Stephens College. He said because Stephens College was a women's college, local young men were invited to play the roles. I bet he had no idea he was working with a legend!

[quote]Where's the PROOF??? The PROOF??? PROOF PROOF PROOF?????

The proof is in the bread pudding.

Maude Adams was a great stage star at the turn of the last century. Another great lesbian stage star was Katharine "Kit" Cornell, who was huge on the stage in the first half of the twentieth century. She only made one film - "Stage Door Canteen", where she does a scene as Juliet with a GI Romeo - she was over 50 at the time.

But onstage she was supposedly magical, playing Juliet, and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Shaw's St. Joan, and Candida (casting the young Marlon Brando in his first major stage role), and many more great roles of the theater.

She was married to Guthrie McClintic, who was her director, and it was very much a "lavender" marriage - both were openly gay.

And then of course there was Eva Le Gallienne....

Wow R64... Thank you.

And of course another lavender marriage - Lunt and Fontanne.

Merman when asked if she had sex with women: "Please! I can't stand to even look at my OWN in the bathtub!"

"f you're talking about Marilyn Monroe, then you're mistaken."

Is this insecurity or stubbornness? Cool down. What you don't want to understand is that women who are extremely sexual, especially in Hollywood, usually have bisexual experiences -- it's the norm. If Marilyn didn't have numerous bisexual experiences it would be unusual; no biographer would be able to name each partner because they were probably one time/casual partners.

That being said, I don't believe Marilyn ever got with Joan Crawford. I also believe that Marilyn was mentally ill, and know she was abused as a child and acted out sexually.

There's no reason to go into a tizzy because someone "accused" dearest Marilyn of bisexuality. Really, on a gay msg board, LOL.

Why was Lizabeth Scott outed? Does anyone know? It seems those kind of things are political more than anything else, like when Tab Hunter was outed to protect Rock Hudson.

Was she 'traded in' for a larger name? OR did she piss someone off?

Ona Munson (who played Belle Watling in "Gone With the Wind") was bisexual, and had affairs with Alla Nazimova and Mercedes D'Acosta (the greatest lesbian starfucker evah!).

I would guess that Lizabeth Scott was outed because they could out her - the studio didn't care, that is, if she was under contract to a studio by the time she was outed.

Liza's interview from The Advocate, 1996. You can find it on Google Books.

Lesbian Liza was very clever talking about her sexuality as if it was adolescent folly.

Film noir were B movies. The studios wouldn't care about a B actress the way they would care about an A lister. And if she was getting older, the studio would figure she didn't have many roles coming up, so why not cut her loose.

R78 Plus, it's quite interesting that she finds straight men who enjoy watching two women together 'rather homosexual', but she doesn't apply the same rule to herself.

R65

Maude Adams (1872–1953).

Maud Adams (born 1945), the Bond girl, is still alive.

"And in his bio of her, William J. Mann outed not only Kate Hepburn but also Spencer Tracy."

Like so many unsubstantiated biographies that "out" long dead celebrities, William J. Mann's book is mostly speculation. Some reviewers on Amazon had this to say:

"for a biographer to come up with a 'theme', i.e. homosexuality/asexuality and run with it - in this case run with it far beyond any possible interest. Mann repeats his point about everyone in Hepburn's world being one or the other so often it is truly tedious. Spencer Tracy arrives on the page and you are simply waiting until he is outed too, which, of course, is not a long wait."

"I will not talk about Hepburn's sexuality, because the only person who knew for sure is dead. Instead, I will point out that this book makes many factual errors. It claims that Hepburn had a hysterectomy, ignoring the fact that Hepburn mentions having her period in 1951, eighteen years after the supposed surgery. It gets Spencer Tracy's drinking habits entirely wrong- he was a binge drinker, not a regular drinker. The author uses a witness, Scotty, who has said before that he has lied to biographers. Mann also takes comments out of context and manipulates them to suit his own purposes."

"Add to this ennui, is William J. Mann's real enthusiasm: His agenda for "outing" his subject and her friends. If supported by fact, his so called homosexual "sensitivity", could awaken some interest. Unfortunately for the reader, he fails on this too. Mann plays a game of smoke and mirrors. There are no demonstrable facts to back up his assumptions. His skills as a writer are employed in the pursuit of the non-existent. It's a fatuous and boring game. What remains, is a book about Mann himself, and this is not an interesting enough subject, for readers to spend all the time to plow through 532 pages. The book mistitled as "Kate", should honestly and logically be retitled "Mann"."

Dorothy Arzner was Hollywood's first, and to this day one of its only, female directors. She began as a film editor at MGM in the 1920s and earned a lot of accolades for the quality of her work. She all but demanded to direct films, and because she was such a top-notch editor LB Mayer gave her the go-ahead to do it, and she had an acclaimed and successful directorial career throughout the late 20s and 30s. Arzner retired from directing in the early 40s for unknown reasons. She later taught film at UCLA. Dorothy and Joan Crawford were close friends for decades. Crawford was totally pro-gay in an era when that was unheard of and had lots of gay and lesbian friends throughout her life. Here's Dorothy and Joan in the 30s. As you can see, Dorothy was quite the handsome butch gal.

More Dorothy and Joan.

Alla Nazimova gave Dorothy Arzner her first job in Hollywood as a "script girl" on her movie "Stronger than Death";)

r82, Amazon reviewers still think Rock Hudson was mostly straight. Amazon reviewers think Cary Grant was only "confused" when he acted out sexuality with Randolph Scott. Amazon reviewers are offended that ANY favorite star alive or dead could be "accused" of homosexuality.

Next.

At R64's link--

[quote]on Maude Adams: “She was a lesbian, a well known fact in acting circles, but well concealed as was the way in those days. Allegedly preferring women younger than she, Adams had a brief affair with actress Spring Byington , another more meaningful relationship with actress Katharine Cornell and a reportedly passionate yet brief affair with actress Eva Le Gallienne. Two of her most noted lovers was poet and writer Mercedes de Acosta, and actress Alla Nazimova.”

This is a very interesting thread, thanks everyone.

"Amazon reviewers still think Rock Hudson was mostly straight. Amazon reviewers think Cary Grant was only "confused" when he acted out sexuality with Randolph Scott. Amazon reviewers are offended that ANY favorite star alive or dead could be "accused" of homosexuality.

Next."

Some of them do. But a lot of them are intelligent enough to know that a lot of biographers are full of shit, especially when it comes to the sexuality of dead celebrities. Proclaiming a celebrity gay sells books, even if there's no real evidence to support that assumption.

R88, Mann's book didn't sell. Outing Hepburn is not what his book's about -- it's a biography, and it discusses what had to be discussed, although you didn't like that much. "Real evidence" would mean Hepburn herself or someone that slept with her would say she was gay, and that's not going to happen with old stars, dead or alive.

My favorite les story is one told by Frank Sinatra's valet from the 50s until about 1969 in a book he published about 8 or 10 years ago.

He was instructed by Frank to go to his Palm Springs house and take care of his guests one weekend- the guests were Marlene and Garbo. He was thrilled of course, and professional of course... but was amazed one night to happen out near the pool and find the two naked in the pool- Garbo comes out and lies back in a chaise, Deitrich follows and goes down on her and they run giggling into the house.

Doubt very much Marilyn did anything with women or Elizabeth Taylor. Both were pretty voracious man lovers far as I can tell- and both loved gay men like a lot of women in Hollywood.

Was Mercedes McCambridge gay? She is dead, isn't she?

Dietrich and Garbo never even met one another, never mind dined at the Y together.

Dietrich told her daughter EVERYTHING, and Maria Riva has gone on record that Dietrich and Garbo never met. There are also other sources for that as well.

True, r92. Hear that charlie know-it-all? Btw, one can be a "voracious man lover" and still have the occasional affair with the same sex.

"Btw, one can be a "voracious man lover" and still have the occasional affair with the same sex."

Not everyone is gay or bi. I doubt that Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor or Ingrid Bergman or Vivien Leigh or Jean Harlow or Grace Kelly or Bette Davis, to name a few, ever had the urge to "have the occasional affair with the same sex." They were all heterosexual women, some of them voraciously so, and there's nothing in their lives that would indicate they ever sought out lesbo sex.

Marlene Dietrich, on the other hand, would fuck anything male or female. She's an extreme example of a Hollywood bi-sexual. But according to her daughter she didn't even like sex! She told her she liked it when she went to bed with a man who turned out to be impotent, because then she could just snuggle with him and "be cozy."

Weren't there some tapes that supposedly featured Marilyn talking about hooking up with Joan Crawford, R94?

The other people on this thread working overtime to shut down any speculation about anything remotely gay are boring and can gtfo.

"Not everyone is gay or bi.

Oh really? They are at the DL.

"I doubt that Marilyn Monroe or Elizabeth Taylor or Ingrid Bergman or Vivien Leigh or Jean Harlow or Grace Kelly or Bette Davis ever had the urge to "have the occasional affair with the same sex."

That's your opinion, you know nothing, you're just guessing. Guess away, so will I. Viven Leigh, being bi-polar, yes. Monroe, yes. I would doubt Taylor, Davis, Kelly. That's my opinion.

"They were all heterosexual women...and there's nothing in their lives that would indicate they ever sought out lesbo sex."

A man would never understand how many heterosexual women love a little, as you derisively call it, "lesbo sex," now and then.

This thread is full of scared homosexuals who are afraid of their favorite female stars getting a little female action on the side. These are the same gays that defend George Clooney as gay or bi because of rumors they swear they've heard. There are dead male celebs they say the same thing about where there is no proof, just speculation. Double standard much?

"Weren't there some tapes that supposedly featured Marilyn talking about hooking up with Joan Crawford"

There was an old guy named John Miner who claimed that Marilyn's last psychiatrist let him listen to tapes of her psychiatric sessions with him. He said he took notes. There's no proof any such tapes existed; his story cannot be verified in any way. You just have to take it on "faith." The Marilyn revealed by these "tapes" is a caricature of a slutty, brainless bimbo. She sounds like a man's idea of what Marilyn Monroe would sound like during a psychiatric session. The whole Joan Crawford/Marilyn Monroe sex scene derives from these "tapes." Miner also has Marilyn speaking about her friendship (not sexual) with Mae West. There's just one problem with that: Mae West and Marilyn Monroe never met. The tapes were obviously bogus, an old man's attempt to achieve money and immortality by claiming to unearth deep, dark secrets about the spectacular, iconic Marilyn Monroe.

"A man would never understand how many heterosexual women love a little, as you derisively call it, "lesbo sex," now and then."

You're deluding yourself, hon. No heterosexual woman has even "a little" lesbian sex. Only bi or gay women have sex with other women.

As for Vivien Leigh...well, being bi-polar doesn't make you bi-sexual. When in her manic phases she sought out cock, not pussy. And Marilyn Monroe has got to be one of the most UN-gay celebrities on record.

I speak from experience, hon. Or should I say, frightened gay. You don't know anything about women, darling.

Using anecdotal evidence to make generalizations about an entire sex is incredibly ignorant.

Despite what Mama told Maria, the idea that Dietrich and Garbo never met is patently absurd.

Not only did they travel in the same circles in 30s Hollywood - Mercedes de Acosta and Salka Viertel's homes, not to mention The Garden of Allah (Nazimova), but as a young girl Dietrich was an extra in several silent films Garbo made in Berlin in the 1920s before both came to America.

Not me, buster. Pussy never interested me--'cept mine when Bogie or Cooper were bangin' away at it--and always taking too long.

There is a new interesting book about the old timey lesbians. A good review here from Terry Castle

"You don't know anything about women, darling."

You don't have to know anything about women to know that heterosexual women don't eat pussy and don't want to get their pussies licked by someone of their own sex. Maybe that's a fantasy of yours: a "straight" woman who succumbs to the delights of lesbianism whenever the opportunity presents itself. Yes, I suspect that's a very vivid fantasy of yours.

An interesting review of an interesting book, R103. I subscribe to the print edition of the London Review of Books, but I'm glad you posted this.

R104 -- you prove my point.

A lot of straight women I know do not like gay men!!

r26, Bebe Daniels and Ruth Chatterton? First I've read... One thing is for sure, the sexuality of most of the women mentioned here was up in the air, like Kay Francis. We will never really know because they didn't know themselves. It was the time period dahlings.

Garbo was gay? Wha??

I don't blame Lena Horne for being in love with Billy Strayhorn (if it's true), I would be too. Lush life.

My impression of Garbo from everything I’ve read is that she went with whoever could do her the most good at the time, whether that be Maurice Stiller, Salka Viertel, Mercedes de Acosta, Cecil Beaton, George Schlee, Cecile de Rothschild, Sam Green, etc. She may have thrown any or all the occasional pity fuck to keep them beholden to her.

[quote] Garbo was gay? Wha?? [quote]

Well, she DID suck my cock, dahling!

R110, Cecil Beaton??? You really believe that? Its one of the biggest laughs of the past 100 years.

Bette Davis was a homophobic. I wonder why... I guess she was afraid of her own lesbian tendencies and she tried to push them away by using sarcasm and other mind tricks...

I met Bette Davis. She definitely spoke her mind.

Bette had such an interesting personality and she is certainly one of my favourite actresses. I love so many of her movies! What a pity she was homophobic. I understand her fears though. On the other hand, fortunately, she was not only homophobic. She could be grand and she was not always a bitch. Hehehehe!

Beverly Roberts and Wynne Gibson were a couple.

Also that actress who did a few movies with James Cagney...Margaret something????

Margaret Lindsay. I know, I know, all these people are obscure.

R103 ... that was an excellent article. It was long, but worth reading. I think there is a movie script to the story of those women's lives.

Vivien Leigh was a nymphomaniac so who knows what she was doing and with whom

bump

Bette Davis was a drunk, that's why she was homophobic, or pretended to be.

Ginger Rogers of course!

How come most of these posts are from anonymous? Are people simply passing on gossip and reluctant to back it up? If you're not proud enough of your words to take credit for them, why publish?

R15, wow...could that be really true? They would have made a very beautiful couple! Hedy Lamarr and Ilona Massey were both very beautiful and feminine. I approve of them as a couple all the way! Ha!

I think that Ava had strong lesbian tendencies. She was trying to prove her femininity by sleeping with a lot of men, but the fact remains the same:she always pinged to me! I'm sure that she had a crush on Lana Turner. I'm the only one that thinks so?

Any gossip about Ilona Massey? Any kind of gossip, it doesn't have to be exclusively about sex...

Hope Emerson. Watch the classic dyke film "Caged", 1950. She's the towering, corrupt, sadistic prison matron. The movie is magnificent with many "hidden" references. Miss Emerson was a wonderful actress and known to be very kind and well liked. She was Oscar nominated for her role.

R124 Hedy and Ilona were not a couple. The studio arranged them to live together so that they could learn English together.

In his biog, RJ Wagner says Stanwyk knew her way around the boudoir like no other broad he'd ever been with, and obviously he wasn't talking about lesbian lovemaking techniques. He makes it clear she was an expert. So is there any proof she could also please a woman? Or is the talk of her being a lesbian no more than gossip?

"So is there any proof she could also please a woman?"

Really dumb question, R128

Ida Lupino always came across as a lesbyterian to me. Any stories?

according to the exhaustive, researched bio of Mary Wickes that came out last year, she was NOT a Lesbian, just reserved prim and proper and from a Victorian era family--kind of a no sex please background

129: Wagner made it clear she was well acquainted with the things heterosexuals do in bed, so that's a statement of some substance as they were together four years. Has there ever been a similar voice of experience that said she had experience in what lesbians do in bed? What's dumb about wanting some facts rather than the tired old rumours that are endlessly regurgitated? Perhaps you're satisfied with unfounded speculation. If so, I think dumb just met dumber.

R101 may no longer be around, but I've read that book by McLellan and studied the images of the stills from that movie made in Berlin (The Joyless Sreet), and in no way is the woman whom she claims is Dietrich actually Dietrich. I think McLellan even tries to base her argument on claims that Dietrich had a funny hand and this can be seen in The Joyless Street!

The absurdity of McLellan's claims only strengthen the idea that Dietrich and Garbo never met, at least in 1920s Berlin.

Stanwyck was not a lesbian or even bi. She was from Brooklyn and had a very tough life, including being orphaned, raped as a teen and having an abortion that left her unable to bear children. It made her kind of hard and unemotional, which are masculine traits, so people like to think that she was a lesbian.

About Marilyn and Stanwyck. Deets?

R130, I read that Lupino struggled with bipolar disorder and alcoholism, but she had three husbands pretty much in succession and a production company with one of them. She broke through the glass ceiling as a director/producer in a man's profession, but no rumors of lesbianism that I could find.

I'm sure virtually all these fine actresses were not lesbian. I don't know why you want to smear their good names. The way you all tell it, it would be easier to list the three actresses that were not.

Not an actress (though neither was the aforementioned Edith Head), but certainly from the classic days of Hollywood and most certainly better known than some of the character actresses named so far: Maxine Andrews.

Married the Sister Act's then agent in 1941. They were already separated by 1949. He continued being their agent. She never re-married. Can anyone say arranged?

I met her when she was a celebrity guest on a cruise ship in 1985. She was with a female companion. The haircuts, the talk, the dyke swag were all there - the only thing they were missing were wool plaid lumberjack shirts. Maxine was the butcher one.

Why is this thread being taken over by a bunch of uptight and prissy heterosexuals getting wound up at the slightest mention of a old hollywood star they admire being linked to homosexuality? R137 are perfect example. Why are you infesting this place?

R137 "I don't know why you want to smear their good names. "

Oh , dear you are lost.

"The way you all tell it, it would be easier to list the three actresses that were not"—r137 got that right, anyway.

I am sure most of the mentioned women were bisexual, not gay.

According to this thread, all the classic female movie stars were gay

Are you saying Bette Davis wasn't a classic female movie star?

Wow, you found one. If you try really hard, maybeyou can think of two or three more

One doesn't need to try hard with trolls.