Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums#TBT: THEY DIED IN THE CLOSET
Katharine Hepburn (pictured above in Sylvia Scarlett)
The original gender-norm rebel, Hepburn was iconoclastic in her choices of film roles, her choice of mens clothing, and her lovers. Scotty Bowerss 2012 book Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars lays raw the sex lives of the bronze, golden, and silver ages of Hollywood. His decades as a procurer for the various colorful sexual personalities in Hollywood and Beverly Hills spell out in stark terms the specifics to which the gay rumors had only just alluded. Names are named, among them Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Cole Porter, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Vivien Leigh, Cary Grant, George Cukor, Anthony Perkins, and Rock Hudson. He claims to have arranged over 150 hook-ups for the Oscar-winning actress and claims that her famed relationship with Spencer Tracy was a sham. Is Bowers to be believed? Cynic, truth-seeker, and homosexual Gore Vidal insisted that Bowerss stories hold up. Christopher Harrity
Anthony Perkins
The dark and brooding boy next door had a secret, and that secret was that his boyfriend was the sunny and athletic boy next door Tab Hunter. Perkinss appeal was a sincere and vulnerable personality with a face that revealed emotions that lurked beneath the surface. He was an award-winning actor early in his career as well as a recording star with Billboard-charted hits. His fame exploded with the release of Hitchcocks Psycho, and forever after he was typecast as the disturbed young man. There are photos of Perkins and Tab Hunter on arranged double dates as they sit next to each other in movie houses with the girls flanking the outside. Everyone looks miserable. Off camera, Perkins suffered great anxiety over his sexual orientation and underwent therapy to help overcome his attraction to other men. He eventually married a woman, photographer Berry Berenson (who was a passenger on the hijacked American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center September 11, 2001), and fathered two sons, but according to TCM never fully overcame his personal demons and suffered the dismay of learning he was HIV-positive via a story in The National Enquirer. C.H.
Sally Ride
The first American woman in space, Ride had a long-term same-sex relationship, something that didnt become known until she died in 2012; her obituary listed her female partner, Tam OShaughnessy, as a survivor. Ride, who flew multiple space missions, was married to a man, fellow astronaut Stephen Hawley, when she met OShaughnessy; the revelation of their divorce coincided with her retirement from NASA. She was so eager to promote and protect the space agency, she might well have hidden her private life to help preserve its image, speculates biographer Lynn Sherr in the just-published Sally Ride: Americas First Woman in Space. Ride also had witnessed her lesbian sister, Bear, being forced out of a job in the clergy due to her sexual orientation, something else that may have kept the astronaut in the closet. Ride and OShaughnessy went on to found Sally Ride Science, an organization that encourages girls to pursue scientific careers. Their relationship was an open secret to employees there, known but not discussed, but Ride gave OShaughnessy permission to open her closet door posthumously. T.R.
The 6-foot-5 actor was the king of the dreamboats. His light comedy romps with Doris Day as well as his more serious films like Giant and Seconds allowed him to also be considered as a serious actor. His television series McMillan & Wife kept him on our screens once a week, and his last performances were on the campy, iconic Dynasty. Rock Hudson tried to play both sides of the closet. He was very out at his legendary pool parties. Folks such as Armistead Maupin have written about their sexual experiences with him. But he also married his agent Henry Wilsons secretary Phyllis Gates. Gates was revealed to be a lesbian later in The Advocate. The walls of the closet all but evaporated when Hudson began being seriously ill with AIDS. Even then he said it was from blood transfusions. Regardless, Hudsons death from AIDS complications resulted in enormous public awareness of the disease and as Morgan Fairchild said, Rock Hudsons death gave AIDS a face. C.H.
See More~
http://lgbtworld.info/
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
3 replies, 2690 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (13)
ReplyReply to this post
3 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
#TBT: THEY DIED IN THE CLOSET (Original Post)
sheshe2
Oct 2014
OP
LeftInTX
(25,552 posts)1. Raymond Burr - AKA Perry Mason
Behind the Aegis
(53,987 posts)2. Even sadder...
...people STILL die in the closet.
sheshe2
(83,898 posts)3. I know