Jon-Erik Hexum’s death, almost 40 years later

E! Mysteries and Scandals episode on him, which aired in 1999.

News coverage from the tragic night of his death

Play stupid games win stupid prizes

I remeber h3earing it on the radio as 'breaking news'. He was the hottie-du-jour and was dating some singer as I recall.

Who was the top?

Who was the bottom?

Was Alec Baldwin on set?

Who was a chubby chaser?

R5 no one as he was straight. Hate to break it to you but not everyone is gay.

Zzzzzz….r3

Entertainment Tonight coverage

Cooking in AM Los Angeles.

Talk about cover up!

A tragic end to a very promising career. One should never be careless or cavalier when it comes to firearms.

Tragic end.

Loved him in Voyagers! His role of Phinneas was supposed to be 45 or so but producers went with Jon-Erik after seeing his audition.

The rapport with the kid in the show was sweet

Can’t tell for sure if he were gay or not.

He seemed married to his career and moving up

Just Men

He’s been dead for nearly 40 years and still to this day all accounts link him to women. R16 it’s safe to say he’s straight

R12 Those morning hosts were so rude to him, mocking his creative (albeit highly processed) spread.

what accounts and what women R18?

I’ve spilled plenty to him. Totally gorgeous.

R18, he was coy in a few interviews; something about having gay friends and wasn't dating man, woman, fish or foul...whatever that line is.

It may be okay for leading men today like Matt Bomer and others (one or both of those guys in Red, White and Royal Blue) to be out but back in the early 80s? No, if you were a symbol of heterosexual desire and you're a guy you had to be straight or play straight.

By 1982, AIDS was in the news a lot. Some gay actors were already thinking about finding a woman and settling down and having kids. Many did.

A lot of Hexum's relationships seemed to be created for the red carpet; he was tied to Joan Collins for a for a few headlines. He dated a co-star in an episode of Voyagers and there was Emma Samms. That singer with the initials; he looked unhappy with her. I attribute those publicity romances as just that publicity; not hiding his orientation.

At the end of the day, we'll never know. But if I had to guess...I'd guess, yes, he was probably straight. Was he the settling down type? Did he truly want kids? Would he have been faithful? Would he have gone gay for pay for a huge movie role?

We'll never know.

Everything I do hear about him is that he seemed like a very decent, polite, professional guy. I'm sure he regretted Cover Up given that O'Neill wasn't so nice to him and the scripts weren't exactly Beacon Hill or Family or The Paper Chase. I've read he was frustrated at all the relighting that was going on that day and he was bored and someone handed him that gun and he didn't know blanks could kill him. I think it was a Friday and he was headed off to Vegas to practice for Circus of the Stars?

After Making of a Male Model, Spelling wanted him for Dynasty; MAYBE for the Dex Dexter role; Nader was a better fit; and I heard Jon Erik didn't want to sign a seven year deal. It's too bad Spelling didn't insist or give a little on terms. He could still be with us today either as a movie star or playing super hot dads on CW shows.

"If only..." two saddest words ever.

A degree in philosophy, could play the piano, ambitious, beautiful, a sense of humor. It’s really sad.

R22 no.

R24, which part are you saying 'no' to?

My thinking he was straight? The Dynasty part?

No to all R25 except the reference to the AIDS era. Not R24.

He came from Bergenfield, N.J. and spent a lot of time at local rest stops, especially the busy rest stop on Route 80 in Lodi, with his pants down. He loved a good blow job but never reciprocated, but his was a beautiful cock, with a weedy bush. He drove this gray piece of shit, but was very picky when it came to who sucked him off. I got lucky quite a few times.

He was so fucking hot.

R27, makes for a good fantasy.

There is r27 again, making up shit. It’s so fucking sad.

Did he make talkies?

I think Joan quipped to him at one point, 'Darling, I can't do ALL the acting.'

and when asked about him as a real life love interest she also quipped that she wasn't 'an arm pit' person.

R32 any source for this?

R33 yeah I found it; at least the arm pit quip.

I think he told Playgirl about her not being able to do all the acting.

40 years ago tomorrow; People Oct. 10, 1983

So ironical.

This guy pushed all my buttons as Phineas Bogg. The way he took care of orphaned Jeffrey. Swoon.

OP Why would anyone want to kill Jon-Erik Hexum? I’m too weary to google.

[Quote] At the end of the day, we'll never know. But if I had to guess...I'd guess, yes, he was probably straight. Was he the settling down type? Did he truly want kids? Would he have been faithful? Would he have gone gay for pay for a huge movie role?

from PEOPLE As for ladies, he protests, “I have no way to meet them. I’m alone when I go to bed at night.” The likable Hexum even has an answer to one plausible theory about his lack of female companionship. “Gay, I ain’t,” he blurts out, adding, “I don’t want to be thought of as gay, although 80 percent of my friends are.”

at the end of the day he was gay

I don’t think he was gay. My best friend knew him slightly from her childhood neighborhood in Tenafly NJ. He was a few years older. Popular in high school. Jockish. Well liked. No sense he was gay, and her gaydar has always been good.

Yeah sorry fellas but I think he was straight.

Yes but being in showbusiness I'm sure he had his share of male attention.

Hard to believe that he'd be in his retirement years right now (his 66th birthday will be on 11-5-23).

Had he lived I think he would have gone on to do movies; he might have landed a franchise -- I heard he was up for a movie version of Terry and the Pirates newspaper comic strip. Not sure that ever would have been made but I bet he would have gotten something, done a bunch of films and then come back to TV.

Voyagers showed he could do comedy. (Bogg says hello when he meets Charles Dickens. Jeff: "Bogg, this is THE Charles Dickens." Bogg: (Beat). "Yeah, well I said hello."

He'd be playing the hot dad in a whole bunch of CW series and articles would have been written about how he was hotter than the hunky boys playing his sons.

I met a guy once; ex-military, you'd never know he was gay. He told me he used to bang girls constantly in college to prove to everyone and himself that he was straight. So...I never count out anyone.

But...probably straight. Just very focused on his career. He must have been so bored that day on Cover Up; yeah, he was the star but the scripts were so predictable and O'Neill wasn't always pleasant to him I read in interviews. I came to LA and worked for CBS in the mid to late 80s. Had Cover up continued I probably would have met him.

What. A. Loss.

As for ladies, he protests, “I have no way to meet them. I’m alone when I go to bed at night.”-Jon Erik

really! did he live in a bubble. When there's a will there's a way He was gay.

R41 I disagree. He was never a good actor and while there are plenty of bad actors who become movie stars he was destined for television stardom.

R42 or he was straight and not a stereotypical asshole. Some people are hermits.

If "hex" is in your name, you are not a lucky duck.

I thought he was involved with actress E. G. Daily at the time of his death.

He was a model actor. As in acting talent of a model. If you watch him in this clip his acting is TV grade. He would have gone on to retire on a soap. Or just retire. He was a good business man and being Norwegian very frugal. Even though show business' may have been his death it was not his life.

^ That collection of clips features Sachi Parker.

I don't think he was a "great" actor, but do think he could have become a fan favorite - like Nathan Fillion type.

He was charming on screen and didn't seem to be disliked by co-stars - being pleasant goes a long way sometimes.

[Quote] Some people are hermits.

“I don’t want to be thought of as gay, although 80 percent of my friends are.”-Jon-Erik

R44 Doesn't sound straight or like a hermit to me. If he could meet guy people . . .

^^ gay

R50 "guy people" LOL.

But I know what u mean 'cause I didn't buy it either.

He was such a beautiful man. What a tragedy. Poor guy.

Fun Fact: Tom Cruise auditioned for Voyagers and almost got it.

^^^

Well now we know just how bad Tammy is at fellatio!

R27= Meeno Peluce

His coached voice reminds me of that of Seth MacFarlane. It's like they are trying too hard to sound masculine.

Why is this plastic Ken doll even remembered?

Were it not for DL nostalgists, he would be as little known as he was in life.

R54 "Fun Fact: Tom Cruise auditioned for Voyagers and almost got it. "

They couldn't hire Tom Cruise for the part because he was even shorter than the kid.

Whether someone is a good actor or not is subjective. He worked well with the kid on Voyagers because Jon-Erik had very little experience and Meeno was a seasoned pro at that point in his life. That chemistry worked. It's an enjoyable show.

He got to spread his wings a bit in the episode Barriers of Sound, which wasn't the typical Voyagers episode.

Hotel was like The Love Boat on dry land - his was one of three stories in that episode (or two?) and told Cinderella with Emma Samms as Cinderella. It was only going to be so good especially since the ballroom looked like a utility closet.

The Bear has to be one of the few movies that isn't available on streaming or DVD.

Plenty of actors who can't act make nice livings at it; they play a version of themselves, show up on time, aren't assholes to co-stars and crew and people want to work with them.

So much of the business is luck and timing. Kate Jackson would have had a totally different career had Spelling let her out to do Kramer v Kramer. Would she have won the Oscar? Maybe. Maybe not. She certainly would have been nominated.

If Hexum had been given a romantic screwball comedy (like Ryan O'Neal had in What's Up Doc?) he might have surprised everyone.

Given his looks and tragic end, he'll be debated and talked about five years from now just like he was five years ago.

RIP.

Related

Jon with a beard

[quote] Jon-Erik Hexum on Just Men

“See I told you he was gay!!!!!”

He was a red blooded heterosexual male and I'm just the dame who can prove it!

Every time someone called him Your Majesty on the Hotel show I had a giggle.

No real mystery or scandal

Merv's pussy was so wet after that show he had to change his undies, pants, seat cushions and the carpet.

Any man looks good next to Steve Landesberg.

Merv the Perv. He loved those young guys!

when I was a little gayling living in my family home as a teen I saw an episode of Merv and he had this beautiful boy on; he was wearing, I think, a polo shirt that showed off his biceps. He talked about how fat women were hitting on him and he was all 'No thanks!'

Merv was gushing and I can't recall for the life of me what the kid was promoting.

Anyone have a link to the episode where allegedly Merv is perving all over Christopher Atkins? I’ve heard about it but never seen it.

[Quote] Merv was gushing and I can't recall for the life of me what the kid was promoting.

himself!

Best looking homosexualist ever.

Jon-Erik looks really hot in this interview

[quote]with a weedy bush

Smelled like weed or covered in dandelions?