It’s difficult for us to comprehend what it’s like to have to keep some aspects of ourselves hidden from the rest of the world.
Unfortunately, that’s what this great star had to do for the majority of his life.
Tab Hunter, famed for his blond, clean-cut good looks, featured in a number of films and was a popular Hollywood heartthrob in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the rage among bobbysoxers in the 1950s, and his biggest hit was Damn Yankees; others may also recall him from The Lives and Times of Judge Roy Bean.
He was born in Manhattan, New York City, in 1931. He lied about his age when he turned 15 in order to join the United States Coast Guard. Tab gained the moniker Hollywood while serving with the Coast Guard due to his love of movies. Tab remained home and watched movies after work while his coworkers went to the pub.
When Tab was 17, he was introduced to the famed agency of Henry Willson, the genius behind the 1950s beefcake fad. Willson has previously discovered male celebrities such as Robert Wagner and Rock Hudson.
“Acting skill was secondary to chiseled looks and a superb body,” Hunter claimed in his book Tab Hunter Confidential of Willson’s criteria.
Tab Hunter’s “Malibu beach boy features” were a great fit for Hollywood, and the dazzlingly gorgeous actor became one of the 1950s’ most famous adolescent idols.
“I was somewhat of a byproduct. I was plunged into it and questioned where one served their apprenticeship. I was one of those who had to learn by doing. “I picked it up on the job,” he explained.
Yet Tab’s sudden fame was not without complications. It was nearly impossible for him to negotiate his life as a homosexual actor in the 1950s since the United States was a highly conservative society at the time.
Tab Hunter was a seasoned actor who was adored by his loving fans for his good looks and ability. He was a Hollywood darling in his day, and he had a slew of female followers.
However, like many homosexual performers at the time, he was obliged to conceal his actual personality and sexuality in order to avoid a scandal that would jeopardize his career. He was compelled to pursue a number of relationships in the shadows in order to keep them hidden from the public before finally coming out and meeting his future husband.
Tab Hunter said that when he was older and believed he could do so securely, he worked as a closeted homos*xual guy in Hollywood in the 1940s.
Hunter once told The Hollywood Reporter that it was preferable to “get it from the horse’s mouth.”
Later in life, the late actor married his longtime love, Allan Glaser.
Glaser was a successful film producer, and he and Hunter enjoyed a lovely marriage. He previously had a relationship with Glaser. Hunter, on the other hand, was in a covert relationship with fellow actor Anthony Perkins.
The scandalous love affair between the Hollywood heartthrobs had been rumored for decades, and Tab finally decided to reveal the truth.
UNSPECIFIED – CIRCA 1970: Photo of Tab Hunter Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
“We simply spoke and got along, and soon we were starting to see each other.” But it was tricky; we couldn’t just go out for dinner or watch a movie together because we were both so popular at the time. I didn’t tell anyone about my personal life at the time. Nobody’s dang business, in my opinion,” he said.
One of the primary reasons he chose to go public was when his husband, Allan Glaser, warned him that someone was intending to publish a book on Hunter’s life. The actor decided that he would rather be the one to reveal his hidden romances to the public.
In an interview, the actor revealed that he had known he loved guys since he was a teenager. But, because of the historical period, he would never have confessed or been happy with being branded “gay.”
Throughout his career, fellow actor Dick Clayton persuaded him to meet with Henry Wilson, an agent described as a “gay svengali” who was connected to other homosexual performers, including Rock Hudson.
Wilson helped Hunter secure a couple of parts before landing the lead in 1955’s “Battle Cry,” which catapulted the young performer to stardom. He rose to prominence as Hollywood’s bad boy, his visage appearing on magazine covers throughout the country.
Its popularity won him a seven-year deal with Warner Bros. Natalie Wood, his “Burning Hills” co-star, was introduced to him at the firm.
Warner Bros. paired the two young stars, and they looked to be in a love relationship in public. They were assigned to attend award shows and other functions together. Around the same time, Hunter was said to be close to actress Debbie Reynolds and was inundated with fan letters from female fans.
All of his public outings and purported romances were PR tricks. Hunter was even detained at a pajama party during the height of his popularity, with the majority of the attendees being gay males.
Hunter was having an affair with Anthony Perkins, an actor best remembered for his part in “Psycho,” while pretending to date Wood. Hunter stated of the relationship:
“Tony and I had a fantastic friendship. We had a lot of double dates.”
He had more covert relationships throughout the years, and no rumors or controversies seemed to have an impact on his work. There were subsequently suspicions that Hunter’s old agent, Wilson, had leaked the news of the star’s sexuality to the press.
Hunter later married Glaser, and the pair resided in a modest home on Santa Barbara’s outskirts.
Once Hunter’s success began to wane in the 1960s, they moved away from the spotlight. They were content with their decision to live modestly and away from Hollywood. Hunter emphasized to the New York Times in 2005 that achievement is not the main aspect of life.
Hunter died at his lovely house, where he lived with Glaser. It was later revealed that the 86-year-old actor died of a heart attack caused by a blood clot in his lungs.
