Henry Willson's Boys

I did not sleep with him! We were just good friends!

Henry's Sewing Circle

He had a great eye for "talent"

He discovered me, signed me, and ran me ragged bearding for all those queens.

Who the hell is Yale Summers?

I wonder if he actually got his hands on Clint Walker. That would make it all worthwhile.

Calling All Girls lol

Beautiful shot of Clint @ R6. Wow!

R7 - ROFLMAO!!!

Yale Summers

Kerwin Matthews, What a heartthrob. He was with his BF Tom for 46 years until the end.

I love the story of Rory and Guy at the party, in the back of a car.

Henry briefly represented identical twins Norman and Orman Rambo, whom he renamed Dack and Dirk.

What story? Spill.

Rory and Guy busted going at it in the back of a Jaguar at a party in Hollywood.

[quote]Guy was ridiculously sexy and dashing, and became even sexier the older he became. It was widely rumored that Guy and Rory Calhoun carried on a secret and torrid affair for years.

Of all the people listed I'd want a young Chad Everett. He was so fucking hot and sexy. Plus he always seemed angry. That always makes for a good fuck.

[quote]Anyway there's even more to Rory Calhoun's tale than being hot when he was young and then getting old and making a horror movie, if you can believe it. Lots more! Like the long-time gossip tidbit that he was caught fucking the living daylights out of most beautiful Guy Madison in the backseat of a car one time.

Guy pulls Rory into the tub...

Rory was in and out of reform school when he was young. Supposedly he was pretty much a psychopath.

When Confidential was going to out Rock Hudson, Henry gave them a story about Rory's criminal past. It worked out good for both of them. He saved Rock's reputation (made him marry his secretary) and helped Rory's rep by making him seem a little "dangerous."

R16, he was hot as hell

Buried in a styrafoam coffin in an unmarked grave at the end of Burbank Airport. Bobby Wagner would go take a piss on it from time to time.

Guy knew to get ahead ya had to be good at giving it.

R4 That's Zsa Zsa Gabor.

He looks like the horrible Chris Noth.

R23, Nope. Rhonda Fleming.

I love the fantasy names he came up for his discoveries, like “Rock Hudson,” “Troy Donahue” and “Tab Hunter.”

Two Willson clients with boring names: John Smith and Robert Fuller.

^ Both hot as hell!

Was Dash Riprock one of his boys?

And Rad Fulton who left Willson and went back to his real name James Westmoreland.

Robert Fuller or “Wagon Train” had an amazing ass. big, round and bubbly and he wore the tightest jeans . . .

Other clients: Craig Stevens, Guy Williams, Cal Bolder, Race Gentry, Chance Gentry (no relation).

Kaye Ballard suggested that Willson add to his stable: Grid Iron, Cuff Links, Plate Glass and Bran Muffin.

R30, Rad Fulton 😂😂😂. I must have missed that one.

Ty Hardon.

At 93yo is Robert Wagner the last living person to know what Henry Willson's cock tasted like?

Brett Halsey on Henry Willson.

The posters on this thread are the last living people to get tingley over Robert Wagner.

Don't forget Mike "Touch" Connors

[quote]Norman and Orman

Their parents should have been brought up on charges.

Robert Fuller is still alive as well

[quote]Kaye Ballard suggested that Willson add to his stable: Grid Iron, Cuff Links, Plate Glass and Bran Muffin.

How about Bolt Upright?

Brett Halsey in younger days.

Brett Halsey is still around, too

I had no idea Robert Fuller was one of his clients. I LOVED him. He was the first man who made me realize I was gay. Just the thought of having to strip down for that toad (Willson) makes me wanna vomit. I know I'd never make it in Hollywood.

Remember Jim Parsons as Willson doing the Dance of the Seven Veils for Rock Hudson? I wonder if that was based on RL. I'd have run out of there.

Are we sure he didn't just admire them from afar instead of getting all these hotties to offer up their wares?

Ahem

R46, according to Rock Hudson biographer, Mark Griffin, "I think it was fairly well-known that if you were a Henry Willson client, as Tony Curtis once expressed it, you probably had to sexually express yourself to Henry."

Hmmmm, I can't imagine that Clint Walker let him tough him anywhere on his body.

I read Tab's memoir and he said he didn't let Henry do anything, but then he mentioned they did go off together on a boat trip to the Caribbean. And when they got back he started getting roles.

R50 holes=roles

Ty Hardin gave me a hard on.

Tab also said in the film version of his autobigraphy that Henry would do things like press his knee on Tab's when they were sitting next to each other, but that he didn't do anything with him.

Natalie Wood was also his client, btw, he didn't just represent men.

Actually Touch at R47 you got that nickname while playing basketball at UCLA. Although Henry did think it worthy of use.....he added the Connors and you were on your way......no longer Krekor Ohanian, Jr.....Columbia Pictures let you add the Mike.

Clint Walker from Henry Willson's Private Collection

Tony Tarantino (father of Quentin)...

revealed in 2017 that, when he was 20 years old in 1960, talent agent Henry Willson offered him acting opportunities and a lavish lifestyle in exchange for sex.[5] He says he punched Willson in the face, knocking him to the ground, after which Willson said Tarantino would never work in Hollywood or New York again as an actor.[5] He stated he was thereafter quickly fired from his role on the western television series Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre,[5] and used the stage name "Tony Maro" to book several acting jobs with Paramount as an extra, but was fired within two hours once his true identity was discovered.[5]

In today's Hollywood Clint Walker would have been a mega star.

I read somewhere that the name "Troy Donahue" was initially suggested for new Willson client, Francis McCown, but McCown ultimately settled on "Rory Calhoun." "Troy Donahue" was later given to another up-and-comer, Merle Johnson Jr.

Tony T.

Tarantino's father was gorgeous! Was Quentin adopted?

PSYCHO would have been an even scarier movie if Anthony Perkins had played twins....Norman and Orman Bates!

Kiddie diddler is just mad that his USAID money is cut off.

I like how in the clip with Brett Halsey,p he quickly says that Jack Benny and wife Mary Livingston “took a liking to me,” opening all sorts of doors for him.

Benny was gay, don’t know about Mary so don’t know if theirs was a lavender marriage because she was a dyke, or whether attractive young men were meant to service both of them.

The book The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson is good. It's about Willson. I think someone who was interviewed for the book said Willson had naked pictures of Guy Madison

r7 I laughed out loud at that. Even in the 50s people must've known that Roddy was gay gay gay.

[quote] Benny was gay

Is there any proof of this?

Henry wasn't above throwing one client under the bus to save another client.

This

Guy Madison was hot AF

A whole page dedicated to Guy.

Guy Madison nekkid

R67, earlier it was mentioned how Willson sold his client Rory Calhoun down the river in order to save his top money maker, Rock Hudson, from scandal. It was actually a 2-for-1 deal: Rory and Tab in exchange for Rock.

Tab was convinced it was Henry who blabbed to "Confidential" about his arrest for disorderly conduct when he was picked up at a private gay party.

For Henry Willson it couldn't last, and it didnt:

Willson’s end was a tragic one. Willson was arrested for a DUI; he lost his house to the bank. “He had no friends,” said Murphy. “He had a maid, and every time that the maid would come to clean his apartment, he would give her a piece of furniture because he had no money. So by the end of his life, he was living alone in an unfurnished house. And he was a true cautionary tale about somebody whose horrible deeds caught up to him.”

In spite of the way Willson had abused him over the years, Hudson reportedly made one last goodwill gesture toward his former agent during his final years. Said Parsons, “They hadn’t spoken for years, and had a very cantankerous relationship after they split up—Henry talked badly about him and vice versa. But even so, he always acknowledged somewhere in his heart and mind that Henry was a major part of why he became the success he was. And when Henry was in failing health, apparently Rock sent him $20,000—a larger sum than that sounds like today—and told his friend, ‘That’s it. I don’t owe Henry anything anymore.’”

“Henry Willson ended up dying of cirrhosis in absolute poverty,” said Murphy. The irony of his final resting place, explained Parsons, was stark: “This man who invented all these names for people died, and he didn’t have enough money to have his own headstone. So he was a nameless plot—until somebody eventually paid for him to have a headstone made.”

Not mentioned yet but Jon Saxon was my fantasy man circa 1980s dynasty. I remember he was playing some oil sheik or something and came out in a towel in Alexis's hotel room. I would have right then and there. He was so fucking sexy.

R72 And it was a party that had happened in 1950.

I thought Tab's problems were at a rest area.

Did Henry rep Route 66 closeted gay star George Maharis?

How did Quentin end up such a troll with a father like that. And that's the kind of man who was going to end marrying a very pretty Italian girl. Recessed genes?

R77, no

Tony's wife (Quentin's mother) was named Connie McHugh.

Anyone got a login workaround to see Guy Madison nekkid at LPSG?

The Confidential article on Tab's arrest is just awful with its homophobic slurs: "limp-wrist pajama party," "limp-wristed lads," "a couple of lispers who happily prattled" etc. Thankfully, we were spared of "nancy boys" and "chattering prisspots."

Tab said in the documentary (Tab Hunter Confidential) that Jack Warner told him, Remember, today's newspaper is tomorrow's toilet paper.

R82, Confidential probably had an in-house style book full of that stuff. That magazine was extreme even by tabloid standards.

r81 use this link for nekkid Guy Madison.

Anyone remember Rory Calhoun on the soap, Capitol? I remember he looked pretty old. Richard Egan was also on it (and Constance Towers). Egan was another '50s hunk type (good actor. Not a Willson client).

He had all the hot asses

Guy Madison was Wild Bill HickCOCK on tv and he certainly lived up to the name.......

Calhoun had the best widow's peak this side of Scarlett O'Hara...

But it wasn't better than Eddie Munster's.

Found Guy Madison's nekkid picture -- very nice! Would do! (He was so handsome but could not act his way out of a wet paper sack.)

Thanks, R56.[5] Next time you cut and paste something from Wikipedia[5], try[5] taking[5] the footnote/citation references[5] out[5], you lazy cunt.[5]

And cite your source, you lazy cunt.

Yeah Henry could fix a lot of things. He knew every picture in production, and had a surprisingly good reputation at the studios. He worked hard on erasing any kind of feminine gesture in speech and comportment among his gay recruits: And he taught straight actors how to fit in:

“The original queer eye for the straight guy, Henry Willson gave heterosexual men the necessary grace and social polish to shine in Hollywood’s better executive suites, nightclubs, and Bel Air homes,” Hofler wrote in his 2005 book, The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson. “He was equally effective at teaching gay men how to butch it up and pass for lovers of women on the big screen."

Guy Madison's younger brother, Wayne Mallory, appeared in several episodes of "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickcock" with Guy, and "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" with Hugh O'Brian. I don't know if Wayne was ever a client of Willson's though.

Guy and Wayne

John Smith from LARAMIE (the inspiration for Brokeback Mountain, in my opinion), whose real name was the fabulous Robert Errol Van Orden, legally changed his name to the bland “John Smith” at the behest of Willson because it would make him the only John Smith in the business. Smith (or “Smitty,” as he was called by friends) had a brief marriage in the ‘60s to former child actress Luana Patten that ended it divorce because he would reportedly disappear for long stretches at a time and not tell her where he had been (hmmm…). He never remarried and never had kids. His career was sidelined by director Henry Hathaway, who for some reason developed a dislike for Smith during the filming of the John Wayne picture Circus World. Hathaway threatened to see to it that Smith would never work again, and while he did get work, it was mostly in episodic TV or B-grade films. He passed of cirrhosis in 1995 at the age of 63.

He and the equally delicious Robert Fuller had wonderful chemistry in LARAMIE, and the characters they played were clearly in love with each other. Smith sported major VPL in 99% of the episodes, sometimes to the point of near obscenity (I’m wondering how it ever got past the sensors).

R92. I didn't need to cite my source. I left the notations in so that people would know it was Wikipedia. No go have another drink from the bottle.

John Smith’s big gun…

They definitely had chemistry.

What about the guy who played the incredible shrinking man? (In the picture of the same name.) Was he a Willson client? Grant Williams. He was at Universal. Nut he didn't have a name like Zip or Ridge or whatever.

*But, not nut.

There's an article about him R100 over on Poseidon's Underworld

Grant Williams was hot and probably gay

Chad Everett's original name was Ray Cramton which sounded too much like actor Ray Danton so Willson changed it. He liked Chad as his first name but wanted his last name to be "York" but Henry said no.

Danton was gorgeous. Looked a little like Rory.

Robert Fuller is a sweetheart and is still kicking at 91 years old. I’ve met him many times at the various cons he attends and have even had drinks with him at his insistence (he loves Cabernet). He has a RABID middle-aged to elderly female fanbase on Facebook who fawn over him like school girls online and in person at the cons, and they are going crazy now that he will be attending the Mid-South Nostalgia convention this year in Memphis (he’s been staying away over the past few years because of COVID). I never knew that he was represented by Willson too.

More of Jon Saxon - woof

I don't think anyone ever wore jeans tighter than Robert Fuller did.

Robert Fuller had cakes that rivaled Robert Conrad’s. I mean…GYATT DAMN!

Fuller was a hot daddy on Emergency too.

LOL R105 I bet he has an equally rabid gay Boomer fan base. I met Ty Hardin at one of those con things at Lone Pine in the early aughts. He was in his 70s but still very handsome decked out in western gear. His wife was there but he pinged. He was creepy though...

[quote] Hardin founded a paramilitary group while living in Arizona that evolved into the controversial Arizona Patriots militia group.

Fuller ass

Fuller had those upturned eyebrows that I loved.

sorry, said eyebrows

[quote]LOL [R105] I bet he has an equally rabid gay Boomer fan base.

Indeed!

Hardin was hot as fuck back in the day too. I heard he was a hardcore right winger (as most of these guys were).

I took some videos of Robert Fuller’s very full ass from color episodes of “Wagon Train” a few years ago. I would post one if I knew how.

^If they’re on your phone, do screen shots, upload the shots to imgbb.com and post here.

John Smith sporting semi-wood in a scene from “Laramie.”

Lance Fuller really had a hard time after the studios dropped him:

"Lance Fuller's film career stalled in the late 1950s, as was the case for many actors once under contract to a major studio. He was successful in finding guest-starring roles on popular TV series, but he was unable to have his own series. As a result of his flagging career and increasing emotional instability, he quit the business in 1962. In 1968, Fuller made headlines when a police officer in Los Angeles caught him vandalizing cars with an iron pipe; he attacked the officer, who then shot Fuller in the chest and left him in critical condition. After recovering, he attempted a comeback and landed small roles in several feature films and a few TV programs in the 1970s, finally retiring at the end of the decade. He passed away in Los Angeles after a heart attack at age 73 on December 22, 2001. It is unknown if Fuller left any survivors. It appears that his only marriage was to Joi Lansing."

R102 Thanks, that was interesting.

I guess Robert Wagner and Robert Fuller resisted having their names changed by Henry.

I would totally watch a series about Henry Wilson. The guy who played him in Hollywood could play him. I find Henry Wilson to be fascinating.

Sleazy flesh merchant.

[quote]I guess Robert Wagner and Robert Fuller resisted having their names changed by Henry.

Robert Fuller was a stage name. He was born Leonard Leroy Lee. He took the first name of Robert from his stepfather, Robert Simpson Jr.

Henry Willson spotted a young Alain Delon at a discotheque in Cannes, liked what he saw, and took him to David O. Selznick, who was in Rome for "A Farewell to Arms" with Rock Hudson and Mrs. Selznick, Jennifer Jones. Selznick signed him to a seven-year contract, but nothing ever became of it because Delon decided to stay in France and launched a successful career there.

When asked about Delon, Rock Hudson allegedly assessed, "Cute, but tiny dick."

Rock was such a size queen. He's not wrong but someone should have told him even a 747 looks small when it's landing in the Grand Canyon.

[quote]Rock was such a size queen.

An admirable trait. Apparently, Rock was hung himself.

[quote]When asked about Delon, Rock Hudson allegedly assessed, "Cute, but tiny dick."

I've seen smaller.

Alain had a perfectly nice willy

Rock was looking for a lot more. Sometimes, a sixer just won't do the trick.

[quote]Rock was looking for a lot more.

He should've hooked up with John Smith.

[quote]He should've hooked up with John Smith.

Who says he *didn't*?

Rock was a bottom.

[quote]Roc, was a bottom.

Oh honey, we know.

[quote]I would totally watch a series about Henry Wilson. The guy who played him in Hollywood could play him. I find Henry Wilson to be fascinating.

That would be Jim Parsons who played Wilson in Ryan Murphy's "Hollywood"

Rock in the shower

^ Was that part of Henry's "personal collection"?

Just kidding R137. Found it on the Internet

R119 I loved him in Leo and Lance.

Does that mean Alain Delon slept with Rock?

Possibly, Alain was notoriously bi.

I thought Alain was a homophobe

[quote]I thought Alain was a homophobe

Only because Rock pointed and laughed.

Great thread, OP! Thank you for that.

Rock wasn't anywhere near as hot as Alain so he should have been grateful for anything he got

Did de make Norman Fell?

[quote]Henry Willson spotted a young Alain Delon at a discotheque in Cannes, liked what he saw, and took him to David O. Selznick, who was in Rome for "A Farewell to Arms" with Rock Hudson and Mrs. Selznick, Jennifer Jones. Selznick signed him to a seven-year contract, but nothing ever became of it because Delon decided to stay in France and launched a successful career there.

When Delon arrived in Rome to meet with Selznick, the person who met him on the tarmac wasn't a driver or one of Selznick's assistants. It was Rock Hudson, according to Holfer's book.

Rock was used to the University of Kentucky football boys like Lee Majors.....Alain obviously couldn't measure up.

Didn't Alain Delon sleep with Luchino Visconti? Despite Delon's later-in-life homophobia

R99, Willson may have worked hard to eradicate any gay mannerisms, but the camera sees all. In the pilot episode of [italic]Laramie,[/italic] the Fuller character (Jess) is sunning himself on a log beside a stream (making sure to arch his back slowly so the audience sees how taut and lithe he was), hat covering his face, when Smith's character (Slim) shows up to confront him for being on private property.

Slim tells Jess to stand up slowly, with hands up. Jess straightens up, sees Slim for the first time... and the look of "couldn't help myself" he gives Slim, raking him with his eyes from feet to head, is both hilarious and hot as fuck. If I'd been the director I'd have made them reshoot the scene.

But maybe straight people see it differently?

Did he discover Jany Wyman’s bitchy hairstyle?

[quote]But maybe straight people see it differently?

Oh, they do. I can't tell you how many times one of the women on Bob Fuller's Facebook fan page will post a screen cap of "Slim and Jess" in a compromising situation that could obviously be construed as a moment between lovers and comment, "They're just like brothers!"

You can see John Smith's religion...

R151 June Alyson did

R148, what are you implying about the Six Million Dollar Man?

R155, motive and opportunity, I guess?

R155, Lee Majors was Rock Hudson’s “protégé.” It’s a famous story. Rock met Majors somewhere in Kentucky and was smitten enough to bring him to Hollywood. It’s exactly what Henry Wilson himself would have done— spot some good-looking, no-talent guy and introduce him to your industry friends.

Add our own Clint Ritchie to the list. I think Lee Patterson was one of Henry’s boys too. Miss Viki can sure pick’em.

[quote]Lee Majors was Rock Hudson’s “protégé.” It’s a famous story. Rock met Majors somewhere in Kentucky and was smitten enough to bring him to Hollywood. It’s exactly what Henry Wilson himself would have done— spot some good-looking, no-talent guy and introduce him to your industry friends.

And then, when Lee became a star, he got his own boy toy(s) just like Rock. He was almost outed by one of them but he hushed it up.

"Both Sides of the Rainbow" is based on a true story of a handsome, young gay man who moves to Beverly Hills to pursue a career in modeling. His adventures and misadventures involve many of the stars of the 70's and 80's. Lana Turner, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Grace Kelly are just some of the Hollywood legends he knew. While the fast lane was addictive and exciting for the 24 years he shared with a popular movie star, he could see the destruction of his friends' lives and made a life changing decision to leave it all and settle down with the love of his life and his two West Highland terriers in Georgia...the other side of the rainbow. "I read until 11:30 last night until I fell out of bed laughing at the "Tree" story. (72-year-old woman)

"My husband came into the room as I read the "Lucille" story to my Mom and wouldn't leave. He sat there laughing for two more stories. That was a first. (58-year-old teacher)

[quote]While the fast lane was addictive and exciting for the 24 years he shared with a popular movie star, he could see the destruction of his friends' lives and made a life changing decision to leave it all and settle down with the love of his life and his two West Highland terriers in Georgia

MARY!!!

R56 - Nah - I looked up young Tony Tarantino - he was a 5 at best. Didn't seem to be worthy of a Henry Wilson client.

[quote]Lee Majors was Rock Hudson’s “protégé.”

I think Burt Reynolds did the same for Robert Urich.

Clint bathing in a lake

Clint hoisting a (LUCKY) guy

Clint throwing a drunk Van Williams over his shoulder (was Van, who was also smoking hot, represented by Willson?).

Wow. He just picked up Van and threw him over his shoulder. I love this pic of Clint and Roger Moore.

"In the early part of the 1930s, one of Henry's first clients, and reportedly also his younger male lover, was Junior Durkin. Durkin's career would be cut too-soon short by a fatal automobile accident on May 4, 1935. Interesting to consider is the idea that Durkin might have been one of Willson's early name reconfiguration efforts. Born Trent Bernard Durkin, he began his acting career on stage in the New York theater. Durkin ventured West to Hollywood and entered films in 1930 where he met and presumably fell in love with Willson. Junior might best be remembered for playing the irascible Huckleberry Finn in "Tom Sawyer" in 1930 and then reprising the title role a year later for "Huckleberry Finn" in 1931."

As already mentioned, Craig Stevens ("Peter Gunn") was another Willson client. Nothing salacious to report, only that Stevens was married to DL fave Alexis Smith for nearly 50 years.

[quote]what are you implying about the Six Million Dollar Man?

Back then he only charged $50.

Henry's lover, Junior Durkin, has a sad Wiki entry:

In 1935, Durkin was returning from a hunting trip in Mexico with Jackie Coogan and three others: Coogan's father John Henry Coogan Jr., Charles Jones (manager of the Coogan Ranch) and writer Robert Horner. Coogan's father had to swerve to avoid colliding with a car coming straight at him, and his car left the road, rolling repeatedly until it landed in a creek bed. The accident occurred about 50 miles (80 km) from San Diego, California. Jackie Coogan was the only survivor.

At the time, Durkin was living with agent Henry Willson, and they were rumored to be lovers. In a 2013 interview, former child star Diana Serra Cary (known as Baby Peggy), a close friend of Durkin, said, "It would not surprise me to know that Trent was gay. However, in the early thirties it would have been suicidal for such a promising young actor to come out of the closet. Especially without the protection of a strong producer, or already under contract to MGM, with studio head Louis B. Mayer seriously invested in his future success as a leading man."

Both Ty Hardin and Chad Everett are scorching hot in THE CHAPMAN REPORT, though Chad's role is just one brief scene.

[quote]Ty Hardin

née Orison Whipple Hungerford Jr.

R171, I'm sure they were just buddies!

If you don't blink, you'll find Robert Fuller amongst the Olympic team on the cruise ship singing "Bye Bye Baby" with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES.

Sadly, he didn't make the cut for "Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?" No nude speedo for him.

R162 Some people on the thread have posted his picture taken he was young and found him attractive.

R171 I'm certain I read in a biography or filmography of Bette Davis that she said Durkin kept getting a visible hard-on in his scenes with her (he was 7 years younger).

[quote]If you don't blink, you'll find Robert Fuller amongst the Olympic team on the cruise ship singing "Bye Bye Baby" with Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES.

He's in the "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" sequence too. The arrow here points to him...

Ty Hardin's shorts from The Chapman Report should be on display in some museum. That ass was MUAH.

A little something I like to call -- "Robert Conrad Getting Head"...

Clint Walker is said to be in Send Me No Flowers with Doris and Rock. Does he have any scenes with Rock?

R181, Yes.

Clint looks like a brick shithouse in R181 pic.

They do not make 'em like Clint Walker anymore.

Rock probably leaked pre-cum filming that scene with Clint.

[quote]Rock probably leaked pre-cum filming that scene with Clint.

Only if Clint was packing 9 x 7

Clint was Captain of the Guard in The Ten Commandments.

[quote]They do not make 'em like Clint Walker anymore.

You can say that again. The mold was smashed to smitherrens.

*smithereens

Did Mr. Fuller and Mr. Chakiris find each other in the makeup room getting their Streaks 'n' Tips applied to their temples?

One thing about Ty Hardin. He had the ability to look different in a lot of his publicity photos. If he was able to act he could've been a much bigger star.

Ty one on

Was Peter Brown from Lawman on of Wilson’s boys? He was a hot fucker too. Married like five times with several girlfriends in between.

The Robert Fuller asses is R108 and R111 seem different.

Robert Fuller was also one of the dancers in "Latin Lovers" with Lana Turner and Ricardo Montalban, and "Meet Me in Las Vegas" with Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse. I only knew him from "Emergency" and he was always so serious in that show, so it's surprising to me that he had an earlier career as a hoofer and pin-up boy.

During the Bob Fuller Q&As at the cons I've attended, he always stresses that he is a cowboy at heart and how Jess Harper ("Laramie") is his favorite character because he IS Jess Harper. In fact, he flat out refused "Emergency!" when Jack Webb first approached him about the part because he wanted to continue doing westerns, even though they had pretty much gone out of style at that point. It took several tries before he finally relented and took the role of Dr. Kelly Brackett.

[quote]The Robert Fuller asses is [R108] and [R111] seem different.

He had put on a bit of weight between the first two black and white seasons of Laramie and the last two color seasons. It's mostly noticeable in his ass and thighs, but even his face is a little fuller (no pun intended) in those color seasons. I think he got married during that time, which means he was probably eating his wife's good cooking lol.

[quote]I think he got married during that time, which means he was probably eating his wife's good cooking

While *she* was eating...

[quote] If he was able to act he could've been a much bigger star.

That always helps.

Robert Fuller’s mother and step father were dancers, so he grew up learning at their feet.

R200 So to speak...

In all those years as a kid that I watched Robert Fuller on Laramie (desperately bored but waiting for a shirtless scene) and then later on Emergency! I can't remember Fuller ever doing much publicity for either show. Can't remember any TV interviews or guest appearances on talk shows or game shows. So I never had a sense of his real-life persona. I guess he was not into PR.

Fuller always seemed bored. No matter what he was doing. It worked for him. Beautiful man.

Robert Fuller was apparently not my type because I watched Emergency! and some of these other shows, and he made almost no impression on me.

R203 I was just thinking, as I wrote that^, about how there was nothing compelling about the guy as an actor.

HI MISS KELLER!

Robert Fuller's stepdad, Robert Simpson, was a ballroom dance instructor, who supplemented his incoming by doing background work under the stage name, Robert Cole. He was a dancer/chorus boy on Call Me Madam, Calamity Jane (along with Fuller), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (along with Fuller), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Brigadoon, Oklahoma!, Carousel, The Opposite Sex, The Judy Garland Show, and countless other tv shows as a non-dancing extra.

Here's Robert and Robert in dance.

R206 Haha. Sorry, I'm not trolling, I just don't like that face, much. The body is okay. I can see why TV was as far as he went.

The dancing explains the body. It's great but you can tell it isn't entirely a gym body. I understand likes and dislikes. Guy Madison and Van Williams win the beauty pageant on looks alone but in my opinion neither has any sex appeal. Van was incredibly beautiful and aged very well. The Green Hornet is up on YouTube.

Guy was another Williams who was pretty handsome.

[quote]Guy was another Williams who was pretty handsome.

I was wondering if Gregg Palmer was a Henry Willson client but I guess not. Played Rock Hudson's friend/felloe physician in Magnificent Obsession.

Rock meeting the family. That dad looks like he knows exactly what is going on. He just knows it will get Lee out of a dead end town. The best part of the story is Lee eventually claiming he never met Rock.

At R207 you can tell Dad was the dancer in the family.

Too bad Lee tried to pull a "I don't know her!"

What a phony

The portrait of Rock hanging in Lee's home (and above the bed!) makes me laugh. Was it a gift from Rock himself as a keepsake? What is this about?

Lots of straight dudes put pictures of their male buddies on the wall. No homo!

Funny, R126. Yeah, ol’ Rock liked getting fucked. So no matter how nice-looking, anyone climbing on or into him with a normal dick probably did not excite him too much. Must have been tough for him, ya’ know, in Hollywood’s better executive suites, nightclubs, and Bel Air homes, where sources here, knowing all, would say he could be found.

Lee put Rock's picture on his wall to signify who was responsible for giving him a, uh, leg up in the business. And then Lee did the same thing with his chorus boy at R160 before and after he was married to Farrah. So it goes in Whorelywood.

"One veteran Tinseltown reporter saw the picture of Rock that Majors kept in his bedroom while working on The Big Valley, his first TV break. When she asked him why it was there, he said: “I admire him.”"

“Rock loved football and always said that there were many good-looking college and professional football players around that they should get into acting before some injury would mess up their faces or bodies,” a Hollywood source says.

“Rock was also a friend of former pro football player Roman Gabriel, and he tried to push him into acting, but Roman just couldn’t cut it,” he says. “Roman wasn’t into acting and I think he made one film, thanks to Rock, which was just plain awful.

@R213 Lee's Dad looks like one of those three-name serial killers.

An old friend of mine was one of the guys who would be called up to lounge around Rock's pool at his weekend parties. He had the look Rock liked: Natural blonde hair, a fit body, masculine affect, etc. but he lacked one essential ingredient -- He was a bottom. He described the "castle" as being an exercise in bad taste, full of heavy Mexican-inspired furniture and lots of pillows with the initials RH on them.

[quote]I can't remember Fuller ever doing much publicity for either show.

He did a bit of promo on Heff's PLAYBOY AFTER DARK show during his time on Wagon Train. His good friend Doug McClure is also there wearing a diving suit along with Bill Cosby (also in a diving suit) and Don Rickles. Rickles ribs Bob when he walks in at the 1:30 mark...

Fuller was on Hollywood Squares a lot in the '70s, and he did some interviews for Emergency! Love his DEEP voice...

This has been a great thread!

It just boggles the mind to think there is a strong possibility that he got his hands on most of these men. Harvey Weinstein was not a glitch.

There was a big name actress, can't remember her name, who said the chain of command goes something like this when it comes to fucking your way to success in Hollywood (in order with some variations): Agent, Casting agent, Studio Publicity head, Director, Producer, Executive Producer, Head of Studio

Clint Walker was such a mountain of a man that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. But that would NOT keep me from trying.

Guy Madison. Jesus fuck.

Somehow I get the feeling Clint was one of Henry's boys that never had to put out for him. Henry probably knew he wouldn't get a shot at him.

[quote]In 1955, while working as a deputy sheriff in Las Vegas, Walker was persuaded by Hollywood agent Henry Willson to take a screen test for Warner Brothers.

R223 Rock's house was used in the pilot for McMillan and Wife - you can see it below starting at 17:20 and more at 28:10 and 48:07. The interiors as of 1971 were Spanish and Italian, not heavy Mexican.

Jealous bitches?

R233 Can't see much of the furnishings in those clips but I'm sure you're right. The friend who described it to me was a tacky bitch lol.

They do not make men like the men in this thread anymore. I’d like a night with all of them at the same time.

Speaking of Doug McClure, I was watching an episode of Airwolf the other day that he guest starred in around 1985 and nearly came in my pants during a scene where he was lifting weights. He had gotten huge and muscular around that time, which was after he’d stopped drinking.

Van Williams really was almost as pretty as Guy

^Yes lord.

Van. Wow. Delicious. He escaped Henry Willson and got discovered by Uber Straight Mike Todd. "Todd liked the look of me and said I should try the acting business, but added, 'First, boy, go back to college and get your degree.

From Wiki: Outside his acting career, Williams was also closely affiliated with co-star Adam West. The two of them were neighbors in Sun Valley and spent much leisure time together. Hmmmm.

When Willson worked for David O. Selznick, he would procure young women for the boss, and saw how easily these hungry starlets would drop their panties for Selznick. And when he started his own talent agency, there was no shortage of young bucks willing to do the same. The promise of fame and fortune in exchange for a blow job or something else.

And, Willson was no dummy. He wanted to collect his 10%, so he encouraged his clients, gay and straight, to sleep with producers and directors to land those coveted parts. And if they hesitated, he would taunt them with "How badly do you want this career?... I thought you wanted this." Sleazy.

[quote]Sleazy.

Nothing wrong with networking.

Peter Brown did a nude spread in OUI magazine in the 70s.

[quote]Harvey Weinstein was not a glitch.

That's what I've been trying to tell the courts. How do you think I got MY first few jobs?

Rock Hudson kept Willson as his agent for a long time (until 1964), even though Willson's notorious reputation had tarnished the Hudson brand. When boyfriend Lee Garlington asked, "Why don't you fire the sonofabitch?" Hudson said that he couldn't because Henry threatened to have one of his goons throw acid in his face if he left him, and Rock believed he would go through with it.

A gay actor I knew in my teens got a gig in a Midwest dinner theater. I can't remember what the play was. The leads were Marjorie Lord and... Guy Madison.

Tom said he was thrilled. He was friendly with "Maggie," and they flew in and both waited for Mr. Madison to arrive.

He showed up and they were crestfallen. He was bent, scrawny, in ill health and seemed not have taken care of himself. They were mean about it.

R245, Guy Madison was still looking good in 1989, so that dinner theater must've been later, before his death in 1996.

R245 Mr Madison was very frail in the end. He died after a fall precipitated by tripping over his prolapsed anus.

R238 Van's camel toe was very pretty indeed.

I can't look at Guy Madison wirthout thinking of my mother telling me how she had a crush on him when she saw him in Since You Went Away (1944), and later, Till the End Of Time (1946). Just spoils it.

R233 Thanks for that. at 28:33 you can see Rock's extensive record collection. It was these LP's that the infamous Marc Christian was initially hired by Rock to dupe to tape among his other "duties".

2 for 1: Bob Fuller and Van Williams

R251, Jay-sus!

I dunno if Peter Brownn was one of Henry's boys but he was a colossal asshole, The entire cast of B&B hated him.

Clint Walker. Is that the Clint Walker that was on All My Children?

R254 do you mean Clint Ritchie on One Life to Live? He played Clint Buchanan.

R58: Willson really liked the name "Troy Donahue". He tried to give it to 3 different guys. The 3 rd was Merle.

all hot except the one I just never got and that's Tab Hunter. Those bug eyes.

"Bug eyes"? Tab had a wholesome, All-American prettiness.

Troy was prettier.

To each his own. I didn't think Troy was anything special.

[quote]A gay actor I knew in my teens got a gig in a Midwest dinner theater. I can't remember what the play was. The leads were Marjorie Lord and... Guy Madison.

Marjorie was just thrilled not to be cleaning up shit-covered glass coffee tables.

Average age of posters on this thread.

[quote]r262 = Average age of posters on this thread.

So?

The people on this thread must be old, they're informed and can write in full sentences.

R264, Not just that, but we can wax poetically.

[quote]I dunno if Peter Brown was one of Henry's boys but he was a colossal asshole, The entire cast of B&B hated him.

Aw man, that makes me sad. I like him, and he gives a cool guy vibe in interviews. Any details of why they hated him?

What's B&B?

Daytime soap opera The Bold & The Beautiful.

R265 We can dodder with the best of em punk.

R262 I thought it was (kinda) funny the first time you posted it on another thread.

Troy Donahue escaped the bad publicity of Tab's orgy article in Confidential but later admitted he'd awakened before in a pile of naked guys on the floor.

An Italian actor known as Terence Hill (changed from Mario Girotti), Hill became known in Spaghetti Westerns but made only very infrequent U.S. movies, such as Mr. Billion in 1977, a film which required his character to come to California from Rome in order to claim a sizeable inheritance. Costar Jackie Gleason, playing the will's executor, tries to prevent him from getting to the U.S. Gorgeous man whose crystal blue eyes were as mesmerizing as Paul Newman's.

^^^Sorry wrong thread.

If you are young and on this thread you are clearly very ugly and unpopular. People avoid you like the plague.

Terrence Hill reminds me of Franco Nero.

I think the story is in the The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson - Henry Willson was squiring a young guy around town. The guy kept looking in every mirror and proclaimed how handsome he was.

Willson drove them to a motel room.....he went in turned on the lights and pulled the bedclothes off the young man who was in the bed.....who was naked.

Willson pointed and said: "That's a handsome man!"

It was his client Carmine Orrico soon to be named John Saxon - who was so young when Willson first met him that Saxon's mother had to sign the contract.

John Saxon was so beautiful. The laugh from the film he did with Esther Williams, The Unguarded Moment, was that he went after her because he could not get a date with a girl his own age.

The Unguarded Moment should be required gay viewing.

One website says he was 5'10" but he never seemed much taller than Sandra Dee when they were standing side by side.....

Sadly, Saxon was as wooden as cheap lumber.

Saxon was actually not as wooden as some of these guys. He was great against Brando as the villainous Mexican bandit in The Appaloosa, a type of role he always excelled in.

Sometimes all you need is a big hard log.

I'm in my early 50s, an eldergay, by DL standards. Most of these guys are were on afternoon reruns and old movies on Sunday on Channel 5. Just because they're dead or paw-paw age, doesn't mean you can't admire how hot they were in their prime.

This has been a great thread.

Except for the flip flops, how can you not find these guys gorgeous, no matter what the decade.

^Hell, the flip-flops add to the hotness.

FLIP FLOPS and THIGHS and LEGS, Oh my!

R280, Saxon had real presence as a villain and had a better career as a result. That was an oversight on Willson's part; he seemed to want hapless guys who would be totally dependent on him.

Van and Bruce Lee having fun on the beach.

Van steading himself on Robert Conrad's shoulders

I'm surprised he didn't try to get his hands on

Van and Robert Conrad at the gym

Did Bob Conrad tap that?

Sad to die that way— where everyone hates you

There was a time when young up-and-coming hunks did the obligatory shower pictorials. I think it was a Life magazine feature. It was the male version of the beautiful starlet in a bubble bath.

Here's John Saxon in the shower.

Vince Edwards after a shower? (hair isn't wet).

Guy Madison in shower.

I think Burt Lancaster emerged before Henry started his agency. Burt was represented by Hal Wallis for a while but preferred to be an independent.

Speaking of Burt...

John Saxon bush and a peek at the cock

Can that really be John Saxon at r297? Beautiful fantasy (he looks like a Roman god) but if he was just a teenager when he was "discovered" by Willson, would a photo that revealing have ever been done?

Saxon was 17 when he signed with Willson with his parents' permission, but that pic (if it's real) could have been taken after he'd turned 18.

It was a different time. 14-year-olds were fucking producers for parts, with their parent's blessing. Except for that insane bush, it wouldn't surprise me if the photo was taken before he was legal.

“It smells like poppers and ass in here!”

I didn't mean that taking the photo would have been illegal back then. What I meant to suggest was that once Saxon was in the star-making machine of Henry Willson, Willson wouldn't have allowed such a provocatively "gay" photo of his client to be taken and get out there. It also appears that chest and forearm hair was shaved.

But I totally agree that it looks like Saxon so what do I know?

Great thread. I'm now watching Massacre River on YouTube. It's B-movie awful, but the men are gorgeous.

According to John Saxon's wiki page, "He entered show business as a teenager, when he was spotted by a modeling scout at a movie theatre.' Willson saw his picture on the cover of a detective magazine, and immediately contacted his family in Brooklyn. With his parents permission, the 17 year-old signed a contract with Willson.

The picture posted was probably taken during Saxon's modeling days, when he was underaged. The shot reminds me of Wilhelm von Gloeden's nudes.

How refreshing to see attractive men who are not covered in a roadmap of tattoos and piercings that make those who do it look like circus freaks.

Beverly Garland, on some of her costars:

“The Saga of Hemp Brown” (‘58) and Rory Calhoun: “What an adorable guy—such a cutie. I couldn’t keep my eyes off him!

Guy Madison on a “Zane Grey Theatre”: “Frankly, I don’t recall much about him. He didn’t impress.”

Robert Conrad (“Wild Wild West”): “Thank goodness we didn’t have any love scenes together. I am taller than Robert Conrad, but then, who isn’t? He’s a tiny man.”

I once had drinks with an actress who appeared on the Wild Wild West. She said Conrad was the handsomest man she'd ever met, but when she started talking to him, his only comment to her was, "Don't mess up my hair."

Beverly was 5' 5" so Conrad must indeed have been very short.

Conrad's bio says he was 5'8", which means he was really 5'4".

LOVE that Beverly Garland interview! Thanks for posting. What a sensational broad!

Although the Van Williams / Bob Conrad photos are titillating, neither were ever Heny Willson clients.

They look like they're going to start making out

RJ Wagner, OTOH, was not only a Willson client, but also a Clifton Webb protege.

^ Just brahs bein' brahs

NO HOMO!!!

Garland mentions how Jock Mahoney was a friend. He was a gorgeous hunk of man, but also a pedo and a perv according to Sally Field’s memoir.

Wasn't RJ Wagner also a "protege" of Spencer Tracy?

If you're a What's My Line? fan or a Robert Wagner fan, look on youtube for his 2 appearances as the Mystery Guest on that show. You can just tell how the panel of old NY sophisticates just lap up his charm and young good looks. And he's funnier than he was ever allowed to be in his contract player days at Fox.

R310 You're welcome!

Good for him if he got to fuck all those beautiful men

Dissenting opinioin about John Saxon. I don't see the big deal. I guess you have to like that Sicilian type.

Beverly Garland.....so what?

[quote]RJ Wagner, OTOH, was not only a Willson client, but also a Clifton Webb protege.

And what am I, chopped chicken liver? Sheesh.

Does anyone remember Gardner McKay? He was lithe and trim compared to Clint Walker, but he was just as tall -- 6'5." I was sure he was discovered by Henry Willson but it turns out he was discovered by Dominick Dunne of all people "in a coffee shop reading a book of poetry," which is Hollywoodese for Gardner had a stint as a rent boy, kidding . . . He wasn't the best actor but he was drop dead gorgeous. Then he walked away from it all for some reason.

yeah McKay was supposed to be the next big thing. Then all of the sudden he pulled a Greta Garbo and ran away from Hollywood as fast as he could. Wonder what happened.

I'm sure Dominick Dunne admired him for his acting talent *wink*

I shudder at the thought of having to fuck Dominick Dunne.

Do you think he took off his tie?

McKay probably saw he was only going to rise to the middle with his acting and probably didn't want to be another cowboy on the back lot. He sure had the looks to be a big star. I think his family was well off. Maybe he had a trust fund or something.

All of the men on this thread were so handsome and so masculine, they put current young actors to shame, looks-wise

Wikipedia sez

McKay had just decided to end his acting career, when he got a phone call from the noted director George Cukor, offering him the opportunity to star in a romantic comedy film opposite Marilyn Monroe. The film was Something's Got to Give. McKay had made up his mind and turned it down. Cukor and Monroe were shocked. Monroe phoned him to see if she could get him to change his mind. McKay said, "She was so delightful on the phone, so winning, so seductive in a way," but he said no. He added "I didn’t belong in acting." The part went to Dean Martin and the film was never completed.

I doubt the part went to Dean Martin. I'm sure the part was as the hunky, athletic guy Monroe's character was stranded on a desert island with. (The part went to Tom Tryon.)

(The movie was a remake of My Favorite Wife, 1940.)

Gardner McKay came from money and didn't need a Hollywood career to sustain himself. After his film career went nowhere, he set sail for the Caribbean, South America, etc., and never looked back. He devoted much of his time photographing, sculpting, painting, and writing plays and novels for which he won literary awards. He married his first and only wife at the late age of 48.

From Dunne's story in Vanity Fair:

In those days, Fox had an enormous back lot, where Century City now stands. On it, the studio built a huge lagoon and an 80-foot schooner. Shooting got off to a stylish launch with a South Seas-theme party on the studio-built quay beside the Tiki. Gardner stood behind the wheel in a pose that became part of his persona. For some reason I can't remember, Joan Crawford came to the party, all dressed up, and there were lots of photographers taking pictures. Life sent Shana Alexander, one of its star reporters, to write an article about Gardner, and he ended up on the magazine's cover before the series went on the air—no mean feat for an unknown. In retrospect, the show itself was very corny. In one episode, Paulette Goddard and Suzanne Pleshette played mother and daughter. Goddard sends Pleshette to a ritzy boarding school in Paris so that she won't find out her mother runs a whorehouse on a South Pacific island, but Pleshette returns as a surprise and hires Adam Troy to take her to Goddard.

The early reviews were scathing, but reviews didn't matter in television. Critics said Gardner was wooden, and he was, but that didn't matter either, because we got him an acting coach named Charles Conrad, who never left his side. What mattered was that Gardner was a physically charismatic star. The camera took to him, and he took to the camera. People loved his looks, so each week we'd figure out a reason for him to remove his T-shirt during a scene in order to show off his bod. That may not sound racy now, considering what gets by, but Gardner McKay stripped to the waist, showing hair below the belly button, was as racy as it could get back then, and girls and gays in great numbers tuned in to stare at him.

Andy Cohen's Wiki page says he is 5'9" and he is 5'2" so that tradition lives on.

Was it ever confirmed about Rory and Guy in the backseat of the car?

Was gardner McKay a Henry Willson boy?

Guy Madison was married to tragic Gail Russell,

Our theatre group did SEA MARKS in the late 1980's and Gardner McKay came to see it. He was very tall and of course old.....but he said some nice things and he still looked pretty good.

Would John Calvin have been too young to be in the Willson stable?

R331, yes, the part Gardner McKay was up for was that of "Adam," the hunky skipper that Marilyn's character gets shipwrecked with in the South Pacific. This would've been meta since McKay was playing hunky skipper Adam Troy in the weekly series, "Adventures in Paradise."

Several of Willson's clients landed starring roles on TV westerns: Clint Walker, "Cheyenne"; Robert Fuller, "Laramie", "Wagon Train"; John Smith, "Laramie"; Guy Madison, "The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickcock"; Don Durant, "Johnny Ringo"; Nick Adams, "Rebel"; Ty Hardin, "Bronco"; Rory Calhoun, "The Texan"; Doug McClure, "The Virginian"; Chad Everett, "The Dakotas"

If it's true that Willson encouraged his clients to sleep with these closeted producers and directors to land parts, then it makes perfect sense in hindsight why a lot of these westerns were littered with homoerotic scenes.

^ if that link didn't work, maybe this one will.

The Laramie boys checking out each other's package.

I spend a week at my parents' twice a year and after dinner, the Western channel comes on. They always switch it if it's an episode of Laramie--I see I've been missing something.

Jock Mahoney featured in a movie last time I was there and his looks had me googling. Shame if what R316 mentioned is true.

R321, John Saxon is also for me the odd man out lookswise. He's the only one I already knew back in the day, but as a square-headed, irate-looking staple of 70s TV.

Gardner McKay: ¡Qué hombre! You bitches can have Clint Walker, I'll take him.

R340 This movie was re-done with different actors in all the roles (Doris Day instead of Monroe, James Garner rather than Dean Martin, Polly Bergen replacing Cyd Charisse, Edgar Buchanan replacing John McGiver as the judge, etc.). And unfortunately without Cukor directing. Move Over, Darling. In that version I think Chuck Connors played the hunk. Maybe.

I'm not into big dudes like Gardner McKay or Clint Walker at all.

[quote] Henry briefly represented identical twins Norman and Orman Rambo, whom he renamed Dack and Dirk.

Was Dirk a homo too?

Dack said Dirk was bisexual. Sad he lost his life so young in a car wreck at 25. As a twin, Dack must have felt the loss quite sharply, based on the unspoken bond twins have, as well as being blood brothers. Later that same year, Dack Rambo landed the role of Jeff Sonnett on The Guns of Will Sonnett and co-starred in the short-lived Gunsmoke spin-off Dirty Sally, with Jeanette Nolan so maybe Dirk was working "behind the scenes" to help his brother's career, if you believe in that stuff.

Thanks for sharing the article. McKay’s story is an interesting one. He was self-aware enough to know he wasn’t a good actor, then went on to be successful as, among other things, a writer. Not your typical vain beauty.

This looks to be an image of an older Gardner McKay. Still handsome whenever this was taken.

I remember Dack Rambo as a regular on 70’s/80’s television shows. Sad to hear he died of AIDS in 1991.

I have a very vague memory of either Dirk or Dack playing the son of Loretta Young in a short-lived TV series in the early/mid-60s. Or maybe even both of them as her twin sons. I think Loretta was a widow with lots of kids and he/they was/were the eldest.

I'm always surprised that Wagon Train's Robert Horton, who was a major TV Western hunk never comes up in these threads.

R353 Here, my dear...

Dack Rambo's VPL

The Rambo brothers.

Norman and Orman. That must have been almost as confusiong as being Dirk and Dack.

John Saxon and Dack Rambo both guest-starred on separate episodes of Wonder Woman.

I don't know if anyone's interested but here's another one of those Western Clippings things. Audrey Totter on John Smith (mentioned above).

John Smith, who later gained stardom on the “Laramie” series, started on “Cimarron City”. “I used to talk to him. One time I said, ‘John, you’re good looking, talented... you can have a career.’ But he got in with a bunch of people, among them the director. I said, ‘It’s great fun to sit there and drink all night but you can’t do this forever.’ I guess he thought somebody who doesn’t drink is an old reformer...he just went downhill. Recently John lived near a friend of mine who used to see him once in a while. He said he didn’t even know John anymore. Too bad.” (Smith died from cirrhosis of the liver January 25, 1995. He was only 63.)

This thread got me thinking about how Westerns were such a staple of American pop culture for decades and then they were just gone practically overnight.

R354 - I used to watch Wagon Train (when it was originally broadcast!) just for Robert Horton. He was such a dreamboat (to me) and he had done a movie 'Code Two' before Wagon Train. He was even hotter in the image referenced below - I sure would love to have been in his grip in that image!

I watched the Rifleman, Death Valley Days, Bonanza and Big Valley as a kid, but I honestly don't remember having any sexual thoughts about these guys. I was pretty little, though.

Does anyone have a comprehensive list of Willson's clients? Did he have any female clients, and if he did, were any of them closeted (of course) lesbians?

You can just tell by looking at Gardner McKay that he came from money.

R340 after Gardner turned down the part in the Marilyn movie - Tom Tryon played the guy she had been marooned with on the island.

Tom is at 11:45 in this collection of clips.

From the Dunne article:

Gardner was a classy guy—good goods, as they used to say. Came from money. Park Avenue. Social Register. Spoke French. Stuff like that. He was the kind of actor who got asked around in high social circles. There are pictures of him in my scrapbooks in black-tie at a New Year's Eve party at Betsy and Alfred Bloomingdale's house, attended by the Ronald Reagans—before his governorship and presidency—and Hedda Hopper. He would carry a book of poetry when he went to lunch. He was glamorous, but there was something distant about him. He never let anyone get too close, except his dog. There was that remoteness and mystery about him that real stars have, and, for the brief time that it lasted, he was a star. He never really liked being an actor, although he loved being a star. No one could walk past the bleachers into a film premiere better than Gardner. He knew how to wave to the screaming throngs better than anyone else I ever knew, and his handsome face got even handsomer with every rush of admiration he received.

I can't tell from looking at him that he came from money.

Are you in the legitimate theatre?

Gardner in his Chevy convertible with his best friend "Pussycat."

R363, Willson represented Lana Turner. Yes, her name was also a Willson creation.

I would've spread wide open for Van Williams. That man was GORGEOUS.

[quote]Did he have any female clients, and if he did, were any of them closeted (of course) lesbians?

Henry Willson's girls:

Diane Baker, Marge Champion, Fifi D’Orsay, Margaret Dumont, Rhonda Fleming, Joan Fontaine, Patsy Kelly, Jeanette MacDonald, Gena Rowlands, Anne Shirley, Lana Turner, Marie Wilson, Jane Withers and Natalie Wood.

Patsy Kelly was most definitely a lesbian. Lana, supposedly, dabbled.

[quote]Diane Baker, Marge Champion, Fifi D’Orsay, Margaret Dumont, Rhonda Fleming, Joan Fontaine, Patsy Kelly, Jeanette MacDonald, Gena Rowlands, Anne Shirley, Lana Turner, Marie Wilson, Jane Withers and Natalie Wood.

That's *quite* the mix.

Ouch, Saxon's navel in the pic @R297 looks like a bullet hole!

The photos of Gardner McKay here (and elsewhere) that I've looked at don't really appeal to me. He has that hooded-eyes look, low eyebrows, or something. There was one picture where he ahd white hair and was smiling that I liked. He's handsome, but I can see why he wasn't really an actor. He even looks wooden in still photos.

*had white hair

The Boys:

Nick Adams, Keith Andes, Edd ‘Kookie’ Byrnes, Rory Calhoun, Barry Coe, Mike Connors, James Darren, John Derek, Troy Donahue, Junior Durkin, Chad Everett, Robert Fuller, John Gavin, Jon Hall, Ty Hardin, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Tom Irish, L.Q. Jones, Guy Madison, George Nader, Nick Nolte, William T. Orr, Dack Rambo, Dirk Rambo, John Saxon, John Smith, Craig Stevens, Robert Wagner, Clint Walker, Guy Williams and Van Williams.

Some of these guys were Henry's clients very briefly and several of them wouldn't readily admit it. As actress Ann Doran once commented, "If a young, handsome actor had Henry Willson for an agent, it was almost assumed he was gay, like it was written across his forehead."

Not saying he's not a nice-looking guy.

William T. Orr was married to Joy Page, Jack Warner's daughter in law (and the girl who played the Bulgarian refugee at the roulette table in Casablanca). He became a TV producer.

R306, I've been OBSESSED with that site since I ran across it a couple months ago.

One of my fave profiles was Ruta Lee's. Like Bev Garland she's a hoot and a half, but kinda seems the sort of woman who'd brag about having more men friends than women friends, ya know what I mean?

Here are her takes on some of the guys on this thread:

[quote]“I was so sad, but that’s our business, you have a moment in the sun and then you’re out again. What made me sad was that Rod Cameron, this big, big, big star, in my eyes, had second billing to Rory. To me, Rory had never accomplished or done as much or had the credibility that Rod Cameron had. [Side note: I agree 100%.]

[quote]Robert Fuller came on “Wagon Train” in ‘63, but also starred in “Laramie”. “Pussycat, full of vim, vigor, vitality and so eager to please and have a good time along the way. I’m crazy about him. You know, he’s a hellava dancer too. He started out as a dancer. His father was a dancer. His father was in ‘Seven Brides For Seven Brothers’.”

[quote]Clint Walker, the bigger than life star of “Cheyenne”, Ruta calls, “…a dear soul. What a dear soul. He just made you feel so comfortable and so good and so easy. Everything was okay. And he ambled. He didn’t do anything fast. He’s special.”

[quote]Ty Hardin…Try harder, right? I did his test. Now there was a boy who was slightly full of himself. And he was so pretty. I mean, he really looked stunning in his outfits. The camera loved him. Later, with Ty, I did this awful movie called ‘Rooster’, then it became the ‘Claws of Death’ or something. Dreadful piece of shit. But Ty was all of a sudden a different human being in this. He was always good with me, we laughed, but all of a sudden, he had a humility that he hadn’t had before. Maybe it’s because life hadn’t treated him quite as beautifully as when he was first at Warner Bros.”

R380 Oh my god, I thought I was the only one! I found it two or three years ago. I don't think I've read through all of them. I haven't even heard of many of these actresses. But they seem very upfront and forthcoming about their costars and directors. The stories are great!

By the way, on the YouTube channel, A Word on Westerns, a guy named Rob Word interviews some of these actresses (and actors) who are still around. Often it's at the Autrey Museum, or the Lone Pine film festival. or in some cases, it's the children of the stars The interviews are very good. Ruta Lee did one or two of them (one with Russ Tamblyn, since they were both in Seven Brides). I linked to one with Joan Collins here, once, that I found funny and enjoyable, but I don't think many people commented.

Brett Halsey interview, for ex., from a year ago.

[quote]I would've spread wide open for Van Williams.

How descriptive.

Thanks, R370!

Another question, one that's really bothered me for several years now: Does ANYBODY know exactly why Henry Hathaway developed such an animus toward John Smith that he essentially blackballed Smith? I mean, John Wayne himself gave Smith his imprimatur, which should've carried a lot of weight in the Western film world. I've never come across an adequate explanation--did HH make a pass at Smith, and was rebuffed? Did HH think Smith was gay, and fucked him over out of homophobia?

It's so sad how that event seemed to start Smith on the long-ish road of self-destruction. I saw him in the 2 or 3 early episodes of [italic]Emergency![italic] he did, brief scenes in each, but he still looked pretty hot--still long, lean, and thick blonde hair. I guess Fuller tried to help out an old friend by getting him on the show; wonder if his alcohol problem prevented him from becoming a regular? Instead, Michael Norrell got the permanent gig as Captain of Firehouse 51.

R372, I've seen rumors over the years that Diane Baker loves the ladies. Interesting.

We had a very interesting Diane Baker thread here on DL more than ten years ago....of course I can't find it with a search.....but it was fun.

r383 Van Williams could've mounted me like a bull and pumped me full, if you know what I mean.

So many of these incredibly sexy guys just seemed like they weren't very ambitious, like they could take a film or TV career or not. Maybe it was because they knew they didn't have much talent and their looks wouldn't last long.

A lot of them fell into acting rather than being ambitious to be serious artists.

R384 Who's HH?

But it's interesting/sad how so many of them were given these grand opportunities and just didn't buckle down and study and train and take the craft seriously.

HH = Henry Hathaway, director

I only know about Henry Hathaway's feud with Dennis Hopper.

I guess it reinforces the belief that people who are too good looking never learn to work too hard. Present company excluded, of course.

R391 What did you expect Dack Rambo to do, play King Lear? John Wayne didn't study acting or train and he did pretty well. The qualities it takes to be beliveable in a western role are what these guys had. Westerns went out of style. How did they know that was going to happen? I don't think they seem sad.

Westerns, adventures...the whole hunky-handsome guy thing went out in the late 60s. There were a few, there always are, but that was the Hoffman-Pacino craze. Even the hunks (Redford, Reynolds) weren't that hunky.

Donald Sutherland, Elliot Gould...

Some guys are happy just to stay in their lane

This is how I remember Dack Rambo

R212 Greg Palmer played so many bad guys in Westerns it’s a bit jarring to see him playing a doctor.

Many of Willson's boys landed multi-year contracts with Warner Bros television division based on looks alone. This was supposed to be a training ground for bigger and better roles, and Warners would test promising tv talent in their films. Some made the cut, others flopped at the box office because looks alone only go so far. You need talent and charisma and audience approval to be a star.

[quote]John Saxon and Dack Rambo both guest-starred on separate episodes of Wonder Woman.

Peter Brown too. So did sexy Tarzan hunk Ron Ely.

Who was the one married to Vera Miles?

Gordon Scott, r402.

Bev is on MTM right now.

R352, it was "The New Loretta Young Show," which ran for one season in 1962-63.

I remember reading a biography on a closeted gay actor of the 1950s-60s (it could've been the Hofler book on Rock and Henry, but I don't remember), and it mentioned an unnamed pair of handsome twin actors who made the rounds tag-teaming the closeted gay men of Hollywood. The only pair of handsome twin actors that came to my mind were Dirk and Dack.

I remember a movie called Marilyn that 20th Century Fox pulled together with excerpts from her films a year after she died. It was narrated by Rock Hudson who also appeared in the film and started with a shot of the Tiki, the schooner from Adventures in Paradise. The conversation about Gardner McKay reminded me of that because AiP was one of the first shows I followed obsessively on TV as a kid, partly because I experienced a strange and inexplicable crush on the star of the show.

I remember that movie. It actually contains the (rare) CinemaScope verison of Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend. It was before there had been any movies in CinemaScope, it was a test/demo of the number, in wide screen (from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, 1952). "Marilyn" has been out of circulation a long time.

Why did it start with a shot of the Tiki?

The John Smith/Henry Hathaway stuff flummoxes me too. From the few interviews I've seen of Smith and from the accounts from his longtime fan/friend who runs his FB page, he was a very nice guy. Hathaway, however, was reportedly a nasty piece of work. My only assumption is that Hathaway had somehow assumed or found out that Smith was gay and acted out of homophobia to blackball him. Smith, who was a good-looking guy, only married briefly and never had children. The catalyst for his wife divorcing him was that he would disappear for days and would never tell her where he'd been, so maybe he was keeping secrets?

[quote]So many of these incredibly sexy guys just seemed like they weren't very ambitious, like they could take a film or TV career or not.

That's pretty much the way Van Williams felt about it according to this interview with Entertainment Tonight. He didn't act much after the '70s, if at all, due to the instability of an acting career.

Thanks for that link, R359.

[quote]I'm always surprised that Wagon Train's Robert Horton, who was a major TV Western hunk never comes up in these threads.

Horton was indeed hunky. It was rumored that he and Ward Bond didn't get along on the set of Wagon Train and that Ward insinuated that Robert was gay. Per the comment on this Redditt link:

[italic]I think Robert Horton was tremendously handsome and a natural as an actor. He had true star quality. It was virtually impossible to take one's eyes off of Robert Horton when he was on screen. I had always liked Ward Bond until I recently read about his abrasive personality and his constant insinuations about Horton and his sexual preference. I personally would not care what or whom Horton cared to share his life as or whom with. I have read numerous times that Ward Bond was homophobic and antisemitic. Bond was supposed to throw a fake punch at Martin Landau, a Jewish actor on the set of W.T. but instead, cold-cocked Landau. I find that reprehensible. I can no longer hold Ward Bond in high esteem.[/italic]

Ward was also a good friend of John Wayne's, and we all know of Wayne's history of bigoted remarks.

r394, the ambitious talented young actors who starred in those TV westerns never played King Lear but they did become big movie stars: James Garner, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds.

Clint Eastwood in "Unforgiven" was up there with a performance of Lear.

And I can't stand the man's ethics, personality or politics. Credit is due. Plus it's the greatest western ever filmed, with apologies to John Ford.

Take that, Olivier.

Robert Horton seemingly had a very long and happy marriage (to a woman) as referenced by Beverly Garland in that upthread interview.

Maybe he was actually gay. I don't know. Ward Bond may have hated Horton because he was so pin-up boy handsome, thus stealing attention on Wagon Train.

[quote] Why did it start with a shot of the Tiki?

It started with Rock explaining that here he was at the 20th studio, the Tiki if I remember correctly was in the background, and he said something to the effect of "Where many pictures and shows like AiP have been shot" and then said that this was the studio that made Marilyn a star.

I remember Diamonds in CinemaScope. I'd love to see that again.

Gregg Palmer aka Palmer Lee was a big guy. He did a lot of episodic television. He shared an agent with Allison Hayes, so if a program wanted her, he was part of the package. See 77 Sunset Strip "The Parallel Caper" and Gomer Pyle "Gomer Says Hey to the President."

He also played the fiance of Jane Wyman's daughter Gloria Talbot in All The Heaven Allows. And was a good friend of Rock Hudson's.

He was still after the boys while appearing at those Conventions in the 1990's - 2000's probably even the ones at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn. He always tried to get at least two young fans in his room every night.

Dead now.....

[quote]Do you think he (D. Dunne) took off his tie (to get fucked)?

No, of course not.

He simply switched to a blow tie.

Harder. Much harder.

The original Chad

L Q Jones was not exactly a pretty boy.

Ward Bond had an incredible butt, so I forgive him everything.

^^That he did. You could still tell he had a lot of junk on Wagon Train even though he was older.

R420 linky stinky

John Ford liked Ward Bond's butt and featured it in several shots in all the movies they made together. Once you know, you can't not see it.

Memorialized in song...

Well according to Maureen O'Hara Ford liked a handsome man as much as he did a pretty lady. And I think she would know.

For R425 Maureen O’Hara claimed in her 2004 autobiography ‘Tis Herself: A Memoir that she walked in on Ford in mid-embrace with “one of the most famous men in the picture business” (supposedly Tyrone Power) and that Ford was a “closet homosexual.” O’Hara goes on to suggest that these “conflicted feelings” were at the heart of Ford’s alcoholism and his bad behavior.

Barry Coe.

Barry Coe definitely belongs in this thread!

[quote} He also played the fiance of Jane Wyman's daughter Gloria Talbot in All The Heaven Allows. [Gregg Palmer]

R415 David Janssen played Gloria Talbot's fiance in All The Heaven Allows. Gregg Palmer played the love interest of Barabara Rush (who played Wyman's daughter-in-law) in Magnificent Obsession. Easy mistake to make, I also get those Douglas Sirk movies mixed up, as well as the hunks in them.

I have a vague memory of an early1960s TV series called Follow the Sun that had hunks Barry Coe, Brett Halsey and the super cute Robert Logan.

Anyone remember that one?

Bond's fat ass was a subject for joking in the John Ford universe. Apparently Bond got kidded about it a lot. I read Ford once sent Bond a photo of a horse's ass and wrote on it, "Thinking of you." I doubt it was anything seen as homoerotic.

Ward Bond not only supposedly treated Robert Horton badly but he was also a prime force behind the blackballing of left-wingers with socialist or communist leanings during the Red Scare. According to Scott Eyman's book about John Wayne, Wayne gets a lot of the vitriol that should really go to Bond.

Barry Coe, Christine Carere, Sal Mineo, Terry Moore, Gary Crosby, Barbara Eden from "A Private's Affair" (1959)

Barry Coe and Carroll Baker made a nice couple in But Not For Me.

Barry Coe’s career fizzled. Last I saw him, he was little more than an extra in “Fantastic Voyage” (1968).

I'm noticing looking at all these pictures, that most, if not all of these men, have the same type of body. More specifically, great (and big) legs and a type of torso that seemed to be ubiquitous in men of the 1920s/1930s/1940s. Medium to big chests but not overly muscled - or not muscled at all, as we now think of muscles - and sometimes leaning towards fit/fat.

I don't know how their common physique would be described, or if it even has a name/description, but I've realized it's a body type I LOVE. I want it on top of me, feeling their weight, and maybe have them wrap me in those arms. That's to begin with...

Anybody feel the same about their bodies? Anybody have a better description of their "type"?

Steak, vodka and cigarettes gave them those hot bodies r435 😂

I am always surprised that big, blond, hung and hunky Aldo Ray was not a part of the Willson gang. He certainly checked all of the boxes to be considered worthy, but I guess he made it on his own.

He told a story in a biography about his adventures as the new stud in Hollywood. A certain studio executive would summon him to his office to be serviced on the regular and Aldo wrote that he would appear at the request and enter the guys office in a rampant state and let the guy have his way with what was rumored to be a very substantial erection. Aldo said he would think of other things as he shot a wad down this guy's throat...zip up and leave.

A story very similar was told in a Rock Hudson biography. Rock was summoned to a film executive's office (maybe the same man as Aldo's cocksucker) and the scene played out was Rock would silently stand there with his pants around his ankles and the exec would crawl over to the object of his affection on his hands and knees. (Much like Cole Porter crawling across the floor as Jack Cassidy, just out of reach, cock teased him to "come and get it!")

R435, men are supposed to look like that, at least in my world. People were more physically active in those days; they had the kind of bodies that don't come from "working out" but just doing things. A lot of men still knew how to ride horses, for example. That will really develop your leg muscles.

Gasp

[quote] I am always surprised that big, blond, hung and hunky Aldo Ray was not a part of the Willson gang. He certainly checked all of the boxes to be considered worthy, but I guess he made it on his own.

Maybe...

Aldo Ray had the undying support of George Cukor.

That's what I meant.

At least two hunky Willson clients went on to romance Lucille Ball on "The Lucy Show" -- her "Wildcat" co-star Keith Andes and Clint Walker, both of whom were years younger than ageless Lucy.

I wonder if Willson knew Don Loper?

Lucy and Clint

Keith Andes was in an episode of The Rifleman where he kidnapped teenaged Mark McCain and manhandled him through most of the episode. Andes did some nudes early in his career.

[quote]Anybody feel the same about their bodies?

I do. I prefer the burly fit-fat type over an overly-worked out gym rat any day.

And he was Lucy's leading man in Wildcat.

Aldo Ray had a non-sex role in the 1979 porno Western "Sweet Savage" long after his career had hit the skids. I was also aware that he'd let bigwigs blow him for roles when he was starting out. Here's an AI pic of what I imagine he looked like naked and middle-aged.

wtf...

When I first watched "Clash by Night," I was both disturbed and aroused by that scene of Keith Andes strangling girlfriend, Marilyn. He should've re-enacted that scene with Lucy.

Rock's executive cocksucker was Ed Muhl - you can see his name in the Universal logo of the late 50's/early sixties as the globe spins around.

Ray was at Columbia - as the poster above said, under the aegis of George Cukor - not sure who the executive there could have been.

Rock and Ed discussing meat size.

Edd 'Kookie' Byrnes

I fell into an Edd Byrnes rabbit hole yesterday. This boy was a cool cat.

Kookie was a manwhore in his early days. I don't know how much he charged but he charged my boyfriend $20 for an 8x10 photo of him at a meet and greet.

I don't quite get it now but when I was child looking on as my parents watched 77 Sunset Strip I was highly aroused by Edd "Kookie" Byrnes. He was my first erotic fantasy at the age of about 6. I fantasized tying him to our dining room table and having my way with him....though I'm not sure what I would have meant back then about having my way with him. Maybe smothering him in kisses? Maybe without his shirt and socks on.

Benny climbs Clint like a tree lol @0:32

Was Jack Benny really gay?

R457 At six-years-old you had the makings of either a dominant top or a pocket-size psychopath.

R459, according to one of the great works of Hollywood gossip, Flesh & Fantasy (Penny Stallings, 1978), no, Benny was not gay. He was particularly fond of one of his co-stars, Ann Sheridan. Mary Benny confronted Ann at a party and snapped "Miss Sheridan, Jack wouldn't trade my little finger for your whole body." When Mary told Jack about this, he murmured, "That's right, doll." He would have been cleaned out in a divorce, after all.

Well R459 no one has ever come forward to confirm the rumor and you know what they say - A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes. He was so respected in Hollywood no one would say a bad word about him. In minimizing his ethnicity and sexuality, the Benny character managed to transcend those categories rather than deny them.

He was really homely too. Like Vincente Minnelli if he were shorter and dumpier.

Meaning Henry, not Jack Benny…

Ray is so handsome and hunky in Pat and Mike. I heard it was Cukor sucking him off. And then he got into Cukor's the Marry Kind with Judy Holliday. Lew Ayres went to Cukor's home as Cukor was dialogue coach on All Quiet. Said Cukor had a reputation and he was nervous but Cukor was the perfect gentleman. Why Ray and not Ayres? Ayres was beautiful.

The Marrying Kind

Keith Andes was cast opposite Glynis Johns in her eponymous short-lived (cancelled after 13 eps) Desilu sitcom.

I love Aldo Ray. Especially in We're No Angels.

Universal executive Ed Muhl was instrumental in giving Hudson good parts and then officially granting him star status at that studio.

Sometimes it pays to put out.

All of these men were so much more attractive than modern young actors.

^Agreed.

I would have instantly popped wood climbing Clint like that.

The wingspan alone...

What's 45 minutes of your life when it can earn you stardom?

...and kill your soul.

[quote]Even the hunks (Redford, Reynolds) weren't that hunky.

Wait. What?

Tom Irish

Where does Jeffrey Hunter fit in all this?

^His chumminess with Willson client Robert Wagner, for starters.

Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner were 20th Century Fox contract players and frequently paired together in mid-tier pictures.

Yea R478 right up inside my flat ass.

You're right R478. He fits neatly into this thread.

Hunter was Hollywood's idea of what Jesus looked like.

I was watching Mchale's Navy on one of those wire vagina channels. They had a hot muscly guy on. Blond. I bet Henri tried to get his molly meathooks on that one.

R465 Ayres was already cast. Cukor had no power on the film, he was dialogue director.

Sometimes two good looking Hollywood hunks can just be friends...

But what's the fun in that?

Jack Benny used to go in disguise to a nude beach with Marilyn Monroe.

Jeanne Carmen. 🙄

I read Carmen's biography written by her son and it was full of lies and exaggerations. Still, I liked her. She had an interesting life.

Well, there have been quite a few lies and exaggerations in this thread...

A young Chad Everett In George Cuckor's The Chapman Report (1962) He's a waterboy and Claire Bloom is thirsty

^ I bet ol' George was thirsty, too

Did he tap that?

another Wilson client Ty Hardin was also in The Chapman Report

Wow, this thread is pushing the Hollywood Gays into overdrive.

There are no gays in Hollywood anymore, just guys who are too busy to date like Pedro Pascal

Aldo Ray had no problem getting naked for others.

from a syndicated gossip columnist:

R494, see R179.

r484, I don't know about any hunky blondes on McHale's Navy, but hunky shirtless brunette Edson Stroll kept this little gayling watching every single week.

Edson also played Prince Charming in some awful Three Stooges movie about Snow White, with no shirtless scenes. What a waste.

R499 It appears that I don't need to. Besides I don't go through 300+ posts on a thread before I comment. So, something is repeated. What's the problem? And I'll wager you that many here are seeing it for the first time at R494

Have we talked about William Reynolds, who played Jane Wyman's asshole son in ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS? He was discovered by a talent scout at 21, but said scout isn't named on WR's Wikipedia entry.

He was phenomenally good-looking in a WASP country club way. And lived to be 90.

Tks R500 Another actor I never heard of before (pic). I really think I like this era of beefcake the best. I've learned a lot from reading through the posts here.

R503 you might be interested in the documentary Beefcake

I liked Willy on McHale's Navy - he had the nicest ass and was really handsome. Plus, he's the only cast member still living.

R502 Love that Reynolds guy. He truly was gorgeous. I remember him from the FBI.

Hey tks R504. I actually saw it. LOVED it.

I liked when Jesus Jeffrey Hunter cured that old woman's leprosy and also gave her a hair and makeup makeover!

I think the blonde's name on McHale's Navy was Gary Vinson. He was not quite a hunk, but he was cute.

Edson Stroll was gorgeous. He was shirtless in every episode for a while. And then some idiot producer said cover him up. Ratings went down and he was once again shirtless, IIRC.

Vinson killed himself after an allegation of messing around with underage girls.

I recognize Edson Stroll and William Reynolds from "The Twilight Zone." Reynolds was in one of the weaker episodes, "The Purple Testament," and Stroll was in two fan favorites, "Eye of the Beholder" and "The Trade-Ins."

What is known about Edson Stroll's personal life?

One word...Stewpot.

R513 Stewpot? I've never heard that word in this context. Please explain what it means....thank you.

R514, for you.

Haha, R420, first time watching Wagon Train since I was a little kid in the 60s-70s (didn't make an impression on me, unlike The Rifleman), somewhere around the COVID shutdown, first thing I noticed was Ward Bond's ass.

Maybe Robert Horton teased Ward about his beefy ass, and Bond couldn't take it?

Keith Andes had the most wonderful speaking voice.

One of the things I hate about postmodern film/TV is the lack of distinctive, manly voices. Not Pitt, not Clooney, sure as hell not DiCaprio, etc.

On the other hand I could happily listen to Andes, Robert Fuller, Richard Anderson (are there gay rumors about him? He's always set off my gaydar), Chuck Connors, John McIntire, Raymond Burr, Charles Drake (mmmmm), or Jim Davis all day, every day.

[quote]r517 = I could happily listen to Andes

Oh, wow, R518, never knew Andes sang! I'm off to YouTube!

R485 Where did I say he was going to be cast by Cukor? He was going to Cukor's house to be coached. Sorry if my post was confusing. He was simply nervous that Cukor was going to put the moves on him. Ayres then went on to give maybe the best performance of his career under Cukor's direction in Holiday. If you see the first film version of Holiday which is wonderful and on youtube in a beautiful print the actor Monroe Owsley who originated the role of the alcoholic brother on Broadway repeats his role in this film. He is nowhere near as good as Ayres. Ann Harding and Mary Astor are terrific in this version. The fly in the ointment is Ames who is pretty mediocre in the Grant role. You have no idea why either Harding or Astor are so taken with him. As much as I love Kate, Harding is better in this role.

FWIW, Keith Andes’ sons Mark and Matt were prominent L.A. based studio musicians in the 60s/70s,and were aLao original members of Spirit. They then later formed Jo Jo Gunne.

Pointless much?

I hate Keith Andes's speaking voice. He sounds like a radio announcer. He doesn't sound like a regular person. I mean, it may be a sonorous voice, but I don't like when an actor doesn't sound natural.

[quote] Where did I say he was going to be cast by Cukor? He was going to Cukor's house to be coached. Sorry if my post was confusing. He was simply nervous that Cukor was going to put the moves on him.

You said, "Why Ray and not Ayres?" There could be a lot of reasons, including that he wasn't interested in Lew Ayres. But I was just pointing out that Cukor, fresh from New York and working on (I think) his first film, not as the director...might not deem it wise to come on to the leading man of the film. He was probably going to be on his best behavior, so as not to jeopardize his first break.

By contrast, when he was making Pat and Mike, he was an established director, an older man who could get away with coming on to an unknown actor (which Lew Ayres wasn't, even then).

Jeez R153. His tallywacker looks like it's hanging out of his jeans taking the sun!

Keith Andes is far sexier in motion than he is in photo stills (where he looks like a marionette).

I have to wonder why Keith's management didn't change his surname since Andes sounds like undies.

That's a stretch.

Keith Undies......I like it!

His name just makes me think og a South American mountain range, or mints.

If anything, "undies" makes it sexier.

[quote]Jeez [R153]. His tallywacker looks like it's hanging out of his jeans taking the sun!

I know, right! Watching Laramie is like a guessing game as to how many scenes John Smith's VPL will be displayed.

[quote]Maybe Robert Horton teased Ward about his beefy ass, and Bond couldn't take it?

Either that, or he offered it up to Horton on the low and was rebuffed.

Speaking of these actors who had beefy asses, I'm shocked that Willson never got his hands on James Garner. Not only was he gorgeous, but that man had a giant ass (in a GOOD way).

William Reynolds did a looking back feature in the extras of All That Heaven Allows. Good looking older man.

[Quote] I think the blonde's name on McHale's Navy was Gary Vinson. He was not quite a hunk, but he was cute.

[Quote] Vinson killed himself after an allegation of messing around with underage girls.

Looks like the poor man's Doug McClure

James Garner, gorgeous as he was, didn't quite fit the Willson mold, as he was always way more of a man than a muscular pretty pin-up boy.

Correct me if I'm wrong but he never seemed to have spent time as a male ingenue. In the film Sayonara (as Brando's sidekick) and on Maverick, he was already a fully-formed grown up.

[quote]he was already a fully-formed grown up

With fully-formed, round, protruding buttocks.

Great ass on that boy.

Garner started off on Cheyenne when he was 25, and at that early age he did sort of fit the Willson mold.

James Garner, a man among men, a sterling progressive.

[quote]Richard Anderson (are there gay rumors about him? He's always set off my gaydar)

He's on an episode of The Virginian that's on as I type (along with full-lipped hottie Skip Homier). Never thought about whether or not he was gay, but he did have a nice set of nuts.

And Mrs. James Garner was on the set every day when JG did a scene with Doris Day. Smart Girl.

They really don't make 'em like James Garner anymore. He was the "total package" as they say.

^Agreed. Trivia from his movie "Marlowe"...mss

[italic]In the nightclub, Marlowe (James Garner) takes a sip of wine and, smirking, judges it to be "impertinent... even baroque." These were the exact words which a character in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge (published a year earlier) had used to describe Garner's butt in an excerpt from an obtuse film journal which appeared in the novel. Obviously, this was an inside joke and from Garner's smarmy delivery of what was otherwise a pointless remark, he was very much in on the gag.[/italic]

Bob Horton is "Hipped for Girls."

Mrs. James Garner should have kept a vigilant eye out for that tramp, Lauren Bacall. Our girl, Betty, guest starring on The Rockford Files, was somehow able to lure James from his marriage bed for a short time. Quite the scandal at the time. Lauren and Jim dallied around before he finally came to his senses and headed back to the Mrs.

[quote]He's on an episode of The Virginian that's on as I type (along with full-lipped hottie Skip Homier).

Skip Homeier was the poor man's Keith Andes.

I always had a crush on Skip Homeier

He had serious BDF. And those lips...

Chad Everett for the win.

George Nader

Was Robert Conrad one of Willson's conquests? (I know he was a bum chum of Elvis...)

Another cutie pie who had his career derailed by a powerful movie executive was the star of "The Outlaw." The exclusive contract that bound Jack Buetel to eccentric Howard Hughes kept him from being loaned out to other studios for some big productions, one being the Monty Clift role in "Red River." Hughes refused all offers for Jack's services and fatally destroyed the momentum that had come from his big debut.

Now, I'm not one to gossip so you didn't hear this from me, but word on the street was Howard had developed an unhealthy obsession for Jack and would allegedly summon Jack to his inner sanctum for some sexy times which Jack endured in the hopes that Howard would loosen his grip (so to speak) and let him become the star that he should have been. Instead, Jack was eventually freed from the contract bondage and went on to a diminished career, making sporadic appearances in movie and TV roles. Too bad that Jack didn't meet Willson first.

Jack resembles a lesbian Tyrone Power

The problem was Jack B. couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. THE OUTLAW is, aside from the controversy over Russell's breasts, weirdly homoerotic, which may be due to Hughes' repressed desires for Jack.

Gary Vinson sporting something in his pants. He took his own life after being diagnosed with HIV

^^linky stinky

Has anyone mentioned John Derek? I used to get him confused with John Saxon.

I will never understand why men who are suspected of being or are definitively gay, get married not once, but TWICE. Gary Vinson was married twice. [italic]I get the first one.[/italic] Why the second?

Are we sure all these men that have been married once, twice, and sometimes three times are actually gay? Or is it just a lot of wishful thinking?

another chad and then I'll stop trolling

John Derek, born Derek Delevan Harris, signed with Henry Willson and David O. Selznick, and was given the name "Dare Harris" for his first two pictures with Selznick. Then he joined the US Army and went off to war. Upon his return, he signed with Columbia Pictures and made a splash in "Knock on Any Door" (with Humphrey Bogart), under his new name, John Derek.

He rose up the ranks alongside that other Willson client, Rock Hudson, but unlike the ambitious Hudson, Derek just didn't enjoy acting and never bothered to develop his skills. He quit acting to pursue photography and directing. Third wife, Linda Evans, supported him financially with her income from "The Big Valley."

I just watched "All the King's Men" the other night and John Derek really stood out in it. Dark and handsome and he displayed his fine hairy chest in several scenes.

(r559) I got the info on Gary from Dorothy Provine, who appeared with him on the series "The Roaring 20's" I knew her long after her 60's career, after she'd married and pretty much retired. However, she and Gary apparently remained in contact until his passing.

I loved Dorothy Provine! Remember her as being one of the top series actresses from that era.

(r564) Of all the Warners actresses being promoted in the early 60's, Dorothy Provine had the most talent and a real star quality. It is a mystery why her career never took off more. She gave it up while only in her early 30's, married happily and never looked back. A loss, alas, for audiences.

George Nader was hot as hell. And gay!

I only know Dorothy Provine from Its a Mad Mad Mad World. She was cute in that.

It is a mystery why her career never took off more

Her name rhymed with Bovine.

[quote]I only know Dorothy Provine from Its a Mad Mad Mad World

Pinky!!!

Provine on "The Roaring 20's"

[quote]Third wife, Linda Evans, supported him financially with her income from "The Big Valley."

And then he dumped her for 16-year-old Bo!

Of all the Warners actresses being promoted in the early 60's

R565 Who else were they promoting?

well this filled up faster than I thought it would.

One of the best threads I've seen in months.

How many of the “Wilson Boys” are still alive?

[quote]r572 = [R565] Who else were they promoting?

Connie Stevens, Stefanie Powers, Suzanne Pleshette, etc.

(576) Diane McBain

Don Murray of Bus Stop fame worked in the waning days of Westerns in a series called The Outcasts which ran from the fall of '68 to the spring of '69..

[quote]"Jemal David and Earl Corey. One black, one white; one ex-Union soldier, one ex-Confederate officer; one ex-slave, one ex-slave owner. Together, they are the Outcasts."

Yeah so it didn't last long. But damn, Murray was still handsome with that hairy chest. Sidenote: Murray, but not Marilyn, was nominated for the Academy Award for Bus Stop.

Murray said most of the actors on Bus Stop came from Broadway, like him, and were frustrated when Marilyn would blow scenes because she couldn't remember lines. But, he said, she was an amazing actress which only became apparent when the snippets of scenes were pieced together in the editing room. He was a hunk. .

Not only did John Derek dump Linda for Bo, but he dumped his second wife, Ursula Andress, for Linda. AND he was a Republican!

[quote]I know, right! Watching Laramie is like a guessing game as to how many scenes John Smith's VPL will be displayed.

R531, I need to go back through the episodes to see if the Smith VPL episodes were filmed by the same director (Lesley Selander, Joseph Kane, or Francis Lyon, who directed the most episodes).

^Have fun, and don't play a drinking game finding the scenes. You'll be drunk after the second episode!

[quote](along with full-lipped hottie Skip Homier).

R541, I should've put Skip on the list of men with wonderful, distinctive voices I posted upthread somewhere. I love his voice, and yes, he WAS a nice, slim hottie.

R580, I believe it was Andress who dumped Derek for Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Dorothy Provine's music is available on a couple of CDs and they are a lot of fun to listen to. Of course I still have the original LPs - but the CD sound is much better.

On one of those Hollywood Access type shows during the DYNASTY first run.....someone asked Linda Evans if she was ever mistaken for Bo Derek.

Linda said: "Yes usually when my hair is a mess and I'm not wearing any makeup or dressed up. When someone asks me if I'm Bo Derek, I always say 'Yes.'"

[quote]Of course I still have the original LPs

Of course.

[quote]I think the blonde's name on McHale's Navy was Gary Vinson. He was not quite a hunk, but he was cute.

He was hunky enough!

Thank you to whoever posted those Dorothy Provine clips! I always enjoyed watching that program as a kid with my parents, who were teens back in the Roaring Twenties. Oh, how they loved that series.

I'd honestly forgotten how musically talented Provine was. Adorable! And I'd also forgotten Gary Vinson was on the series. Rex Reason and Donald May were very hot daddy leads.

With all the musical segments and period details, it must have been a relatively expensive series to produce. Funny to think that if we had a comparable period-nostalgic series now it would take place in the 1990s.

r563, I must be dense but are you saying that Dorothy Provine personally told you that Gary Vinson was gay? And what was the scandal about exactly that ended his career?

He wasn't one of Willson's boys, but something about Jim Drury ('The Virginian') really pumps my 'nads.

*Everyone* and his brother got a western.

(r590) Yes. After she and her husband and son moved to Washington state, we became friendly. Because I worked in the field of HIV/AIDS, we talked a lot about people she knew. She discussed how Gary was forced, by Warners, to live a different life in order to be "presented" in the way they wanted in the 1960's. Dorothy said that Gary loved acting and was willing to do anything to have that career, although it never really gelled. While he married, he continued to see guys on the side and to battle substance abuse because of his frustration at not being successful or to be himself. They had stayed in touch because Dorothy was one of the few people to whom he felt comfortable sharing his real self. When he killed himself because of what at the time (1984) was a death sentence, she was heartbroken. She said they'd spoken on the phone about two weeks earlier.

I had a little boy crush on Dorothy, Hayley and Annette.

(r590) She also said that Blake Edwards was the nastiest person she ever worked with in Hollywood. She was in "The Great Race" and referred to him as a "sadistic, cruel, vicious, closeted monster..."

Lily Olay

R595, thanks for the dirt!

What the fuck is he wearing?

Jack Warner couldn't stand Dorothy Provine because she was a fighter like Bette Davis. He brought her back to Warner Bros. for The Great Race so that she could be an even bigger cunt than Natalie Wood.

New thread!