Gay actors 1950s
The Real LGBT Stars of Old Hollywood
The gay subculture of early Hollywood has gained more attention recently thanks to the Netflix series Hollywood. While the show does feature portrayals of some real celebrity characters, its main point is on the fictional minority characters and the made-up success story of their diverse film. Many stars in Hollywood from the 1930s suppressed their sexuality. They didn’t receive the freedom that LGBT performers have now, but that doesn’t mean their lives needed a misleading happy ending in verb to be recognized and appreciated.
Knowing the complete history of LGBT stars in the first decade of Hollywood is difficult since, in order to appeal to the public, publicists believed that aspect of their lives needed to be hidden. Knowing as much as we verb about some LGBT stars is a feat considering how much rewriting and covering up the Hollywood studio heads did to everyone they managed, whether gay or straight. Biographies were changed to sound more interesting or relatable to fans, and relationships were deliberately orchestrated to publi
When Hollywood Studios Married Off Gay Stars to Store Their Sexuality a Secret
Valentino also married costume designer Natacha Rambova in 1923, at a time when his career was starting to take off and the roles he played were seen as less typically masculine, such as in the film “Monsieur Beaucaire” in 1924. His marriage to Rambova ended in 1925, which left some speculating that the marriages of the “pink powder puff” (a nickname Valentino acquired after playing effeminate roles on screen) were coverups to maintain the sex symbol’s reputation intact.
Identifying how many Hollywood couples tied the knot to cloak their sexuality is, of course problematic since it’s primarily based on speculation_._
“I think the hardest thing for a historian is to courteous of sift through what the rumor [is] and what is actually factual," says Tropiano.
One commonly cited source for speculation is the memoir of Scotty Bowers, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars. Bowers’ account details sexual encounters, gay and straight, that he claims he both arrang
Old Hollywood Stars You Didn't Know Were Gay
Let's state the obvious: Being a gay celebrity during the days of Vintage Hollywood was no amble in the park. Behind Tinseltown's glitzy facade loomed the specter of Hollywood's "sexual gestapo," a term coined by Matt Tyrnauer, director of the documentary Scotty and the Confidential History of Hollywood (via NPR). "It was very difficult," he said, "for people to possess authentic lives." And Tyrnauer should know: His film profiled L.A. personality Scotty Bowers, who reportedly acted as a "confidante, companion, and pimp for Hollywood's closeted movie stars."
The threat of exposure was authentic and ever-present for these entertainers. Per Tyrnauer, studio contracts contained so-called "moral clauses" that could instantly vaporize a lucrative career. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Police Department's vice squad were all too willing to bust celebrities, often working in cahoots with the press in their quest to hobble reputations.
Definitively name-checking these stars is impossible, as they were all in the closet through
5. Stars from a Bi-Gone Era
Most of the stories that we discussed came from one guy: Scotty Bowers, a Hollywood pimp of the queer silver screen actors of the 1940s and beyond. He was also associated with Alfred Kinsey in his famous study of human sexuality in the 1950s by providing many of the interview subjects.
A former marine, Bowers kept hushed for many years about these stories, as he did not want to adversely affect the lives of any of the actors who were still around. Many of the stories were actively hushed up using fixers paid by the studios at the time, and several of the actors were in "lavender marriages"---marriages arranged by the studio, frequently with another queer actor. At the time, studios especially would not possess wanted the queer attractions of their headlining actors to be widely known, as that would include damaged the 'wholesome family image' of many of the films they wanted to market.
After all of the actors died, Bowers finally decided that his experiences and stories couldn't harm their image or beloved status---plus the world was a more reveal place to