Out Gay Actor William Haines in Old Hollyood

Is there really enough story there? He was big for just a few years, then became an interior decorator and nothing happened forever except for one small episode on the beach when...was it that he and his partner were attacked or falsely charged? Something.

But that's not enough plot for a feature.

I think it would make a great movie. It's because of him that we had Crawford, right?

Hollywood, after all these years, is still too homophobic to make a movie about a gay actor. Sad but true.

I smell OSCAR NOM... for the right heterosexual actor!

Straight... to STARDOM!!!

.....

"Is there really enough story there? He was big for just a few years, then became an interior decorator and nothing happened forever except for one small episode on the beach when...was it that he and his partner were attacked or falsely charged? Something."

There's way more to his life than that.

"But that's not enough plot for a feature"

You must have missed Call Me By Your Name

[quote] It's because of him that we had Crawford, right?

Uh, no.

There’s only one person to blame for Joan Crawford and that’s Joan Crawford.

There is a great book: “Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood’s First Openly Gay Star (Unabridged) by William J. Mann”

I just read it a few months ago. With some work, it could be a good screenplay.

R1, weren't Haines and his partner together for life? So maybe his story might make for a big drippy weepy romance, the story of a man who loved another man so much that he was willing to give up stardom rather than True Love.

It's a pity that Hollywood has both lost the knack of making weepy romances, and is still terrified of gay content.

[quote]I just read it a few months ago. With some work, it could be a good screenplay.

Why not go all the way and make it a musical!

It would be a wonderful movie. Just that Haines has not been that well known since, well, the 1930's. His story is a Hollywoodtown story. Those in the "industry" likely knew who he was. But even though he was a very well known interior designer and "former" movie star, he was not on America's radar for the better part of the 20th century, PARTICULARLY because he was gay and the culture was virulently homophobic. In other words, his story is only about NOW "ripe" to be told as a film. In decades past, producers would have dismissed a screenplay JUST about him as, likely, a "story about a fag decorator" and not much more. If someone would have thought to "trash" up or "camp" up a screenplay then, perhaps. But Haines would only ever have been a minor player (as a character) in a story like The Oscar or The Valley of the Dolls or some bad 60's movie about Hollywood, itself. And probably played by Vincent Price or Cesar Romero.

You might be able to get a small independent movie out of it, but I just don't see Hollywood approaching it otherwise. There's no enough drama or box office appeal--let's not kid ourselves.

Probably right, r13. His aunt was my grandfather's secretary.

Haines wouldn't be worthy of a biopic because he's famous, he'd be worthy of a biopic because he gave up so much for true love and an honest life.

In an era where everyone spends their free time grasping at 15 minutes of fame, perhaps they'd be shocked by seeing someone realize there are more important things than fame. Maybe it's a story for the modern age after all.

I think it would be a great story. It's about how film stars could be openly gay for a time in Hollywood. But then wall street money came in and kicked out women film makers and pushed gays into the closet.

I would just love to see any film that had an honest depiction of Hollywood in the silent days, and before it was ruined by money and bourgeois morality. It must have been so wild and free in those early years. And so exciting.

I can’t imagine who could play him in the movie

"Wisecracker" is a wonderful book that could be made into a wonderful film. Just don't let Ryan Murphy near it.

At the very least his story merits a good documentary.

He was Nancy Reagan’s decorator.

Paul Rudd could play the lead. He resembles him.

Aniston as Crawford.

He didn't give up anything. He was fired from MGM because he's been arrested with a sailor in the YMCA in downtown LA.

R23 I think that and the Laguna thing is what made Mayer pressure him to get married. They could have killed those stories if he got married. But he refused.

MGM IRAed him after LAPD IDed him giving a BJ to a USS MD at the YMCA in DTLA.

R25 Please stop texting your contributions to this site.

[quote]He didn't give up anything. He was fired from MGM because he's been arrested with a sailor in the YMCA in downtown LA.

Louis B. Mayer told him that he would have to choose between Jimmie Shields and his career. He could have stayed in the closet and continued what had been a successful film career. But he chose Jimmie instead and walked out.

Give the story to a great scriptwriter and it could be a great film. There are a number of compelling issues to cover - sexuality, the closet, out of the closet. the film industry, those fascinating decades, interesting supporting characters - fabulous interiors and costumes - and a rather happy ending - what's not to love?

It this had been made twenty or even thirty years ago, William Hurt would have been perfect.

R20, TCM produced a very good documentary on him in 2001.

Jimmie Shields, his partner of 47 years, committed suicide shortly after Haines died, as he couldn't live without him. His suicide note read:

[quote] Goodbye to all of you who have tried so hard to comfort me in my loss of William Haines, whom I have been with since 1926. I now find it impossible to go it alone, I am much too lonely.

Tasteful friends!

A great star and personality in his own right. Also, a great story. And, yes, a movie should definitely be made about him.

Autographed!

Sailor William.

William Haines:

Born, January 2, 1900. Died, December 26, 1973.

A Capricorn!

Lookin' spiffy for dinner.

I know everyone is gonna kill me, but don't you think Armie Hammer kinda looks like him? Maybe with an acting lesson or two?

It would also be fun to see a young Joan Crawford as a character. We’ve seen her middle age in Mommie Dearest and at the end of her life in Feud so it would be interesting to have that missing piece. And say what you will about her parenting, but she was loyal to Billy and helped get him clients as a designer at the beginning of his second career. And they stayed friends for the rest of his life.

R38 Armie is not that talented.

Would there be a peach in the script?

[quote]I think that and the Laguna thing is what made Mayer pressure him to get married. They could have killed those stories if he got married. But he refused.

Sadly, I was too young at the time.

He should have just went into the closet, then screamed "I love you, Dianne!" at the Oscars. What was he thinking?

So during his acting days, was Haines privately out, or publically out?

r44, no actors were PUBLICLY out back then, but there were some who didn't go out of their way to hide it in their everyday lives. Like Haines.

Speaking of gay actors from the silent era, a Ramon Novarro movie would be interesting.

[quote]He should have just went

Oh, dear! Make it stop!

r11, Do you see it as a Betty Hutton? We're always looking for a Betty Hutton.