Gay Actors of Yore, Part 2

Link to Part 1:

David Bacon, who was murdered (possibly by a trick)

appreciate the second thread... some interesting lives in the previous.

r2 These things happen.

Speaking of George Rose...

So did Richard Chamberlain dump Christopher Gable for the one who became his long-term lover Martin something or other?

Martin Rabbett

More about the murder of David Bacon

(r6) Gable, who was a ballet dancer, married when he was very young to another dancer. They remained together and had two children, until his passing in 1998 at the age of 58. They had an open relationship, and she knew about him and Chamberlain. and many others including Tommy Tune, when they appeared in the film, "The Boy Friend". Gable, however confided to friends that Chamberlain was very special to him.

Michael Redgrave

Richard Chamberlain Is a fag?

When he gave me that massage, oh wait…

Michael Redgrave "discovered" Stephen Boyd

William Swan

Martin Kosleck. There are better photos of him in this article about him.

His longtime lover was another German actor, Hans Heinrich von Twardowski, who also had to seek refuge in America when the Nazi's came to power in Germany.

Photo of Hans Heinrich von Twardowski

I can't find any confirmation he was gay but the great character actor Dabbs Greer:

Dabbs Greer's "pen pal"...

Dabbs was pretty infamous for his pickup line “A little Dabb(s) will do ya!”

Anton Diffring, who was German and, despite being Jewish, played Nazis a lot (including in The Day the Clown Cried!). Died from AIDS but the cause of death was initially covered up

Then there was that famous dyke couple of star character actresses — lots of people are surprised to learn that Marjorie Main and Spring Byington lived together for many years.

Robert Drivas, who I just saw in an old episode of "The Fugitive" this past weekend. He later went on to direct "The Ritz" on Broadway and eventually died of AIDS-related complications in 1986 at age 50:

Most of the cast of The Boys in the Band except for Cliff Gorman and Laurence Luckinbill, were gay--specifically, Leonard Frey, Kenneth Nelson, Frederick Combs, Keith Prentice, Robert La Tourneaux, Reuben Greene, and Peter White. And tragically, a number of them died young, of AIDS.

R22 In 2011, Reuben Greene was interviewed by Windy City Times and said he's not gay.

[quote] I’ve never said this; this is a personal statement. I’m not a gay person. I don’t know if I would do another gay film or play. I’d like to think underneath all those colors we project there’s a human being, but I also think there’s another experience that someone else can bring. Someone who has had that experience, and I don’t know if I’m capable of doing that.

Thanks for posting that interview, R23. My understanding was nobody had seen or heard from Greene in decades. It’s nice to know he was still around in 2011.

My apologies for my error and thank you for correcting, R23.

Reuben Greene can say what he wants, but a man is judged by his actions. Reuben Greene was gay - meaning he had sex with men. I know because I was there.

And we must take into account that Greene was African-American and in his community there was enormous hostility towards homosexuality. Especially by the holier-than-thou folks.

Barbara Eden also wrote in her 2011 autobiography Jeannie Out of the Bottle that Hayden Rorke was "unashamedly gay," and that he lived with his partner, television director Justus Addiss (of Mister Ed, among others), for many years in Studio City, along with their menagerie of dogs, until Addiss' death on October 26, 1979.