10/11/2005
Some Things Never Change
Tab Hunter got together with Larry King last night to promote his new book, Tab Hunter Confidential : The Making of a Movie Star
KING: Did the studio -- in those days were the studios trying to get you to date people?HUNTER: Well, your job...
KING: And they want your picture in the paper with young single starlets?
HUNTER: Your job when you're under contract to a studio your job is to do as they say and, my gosh, what young kid wouldn't want to go out with, you know, on different dates and do this and that. But, Natalie had just -- I did two films with Warner Brothers, "Battle Cry" and then "Track of the Cat" for Bill Wellman, the Bob Mitchum film.
KING: I remember.
HUNTER: Then Warner thought what the heck we've got him under -- we've done two pictures, let's put him under contract. So, they put me under contract, exercised the option, and put me in a film with John Wayne and Lana Turner called "The Sea Chase."
But, "Battle Cry" went, it skyrocketed so they threw me, they said we've got to do something with this kid and Natalie had just finished "Rebel" with Jimmy so we got to do something with her.
So, they threw us together and they were going to make us into the Myrna Loy/William Powell of the '50s I guess. I don't know. And we were on every magazine and thrown into all the PR stuff you could possibly imagine.
Isn't it refreshing "those days" of contracts and life in the closet are over?
Related
Tab Hunter Interview [cnn larry king live]
Photo of Hunter and Roddy McDowall (above) from Tab Hunter Confidential : The Making of a Movie Star
(thanks Alan)
Posted 10:47 AM EST by Andy in Books, Film & TV | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
Tab's attitude last night on Larry King is the same as the attitude that's reflected in his book (which is a good read nonetheless).
Tad is still handsome for 74 years old, but his mind-set is stuck in the past. He has become so comfortable with a lifetime of denial and hypocrisy that he sees the current gay movement as "pushing it" in those poor heterosexual's faces. I would not be surprised if he's even a conservative Republican.
On the one hand he says that his credo is to “be true to yourself” and “if other people don’t like it, that’s their problem.” But he also says that gay people shouldn’t "push it in people's faces." And by pushing it he means gay pride, gay parades, gay marriage, gay anything really. Other than the sex, being gay makes him terribly uncomfortable.
In his book he says he doesn’t understand gay pride. "Why would anyone be proud of just being what they are?" What he fails to understand is that gay pride is a way of overcoming gay shame.
Another of his sayings (in the book) is “A stiff prick has no conscience.” Which is yet another part of the denial. An excuse to justify the public lie to hide the private horny behavior. He became comfortable with that, too.
He’s somewhat like an old black man who grew up sitting at the back of the bus, became comfortable with that and accepted it for himself, and today doesn’t approve or understand young black people who want to sit in the front.
Then add Catholic guilt, denial and hypocrisy to the mix as well.
I’m not faulting Tab for behaving the way he did in the 1950's and early 1960's. He had to, or his career would have been taken away from him. Those WERE different times back then. I’m just disappointed that his thinking hasn’t progressed very far since then.
When I complained about this to a friend who has met Tab several times (through Tab's former agent Dick Clayton) my friend summed it up simply, “Tab was in the Hollywood closet all his life and now in his 70’s it’s hard for him to change.”
Like a lot of old folks, I guess.
xo Alan
Posted by: Alan | Oct 11, 2005 11:34:41 AM
Jeez, who cares about Tom Cruise. Gay or straight isn't that his business? It's not like Cruise is a politician or religious leader bent on hurting gay people.
If he is gay, it's really sad that he would orchestrate such public theater; of course, it's also sad for the women who would agree to be co-conspirators in this.
BTW, what's up with Hayden C. and those photos of him romping on the beach with the beautiful brunette? Given how open he's been with being gay, why would he suddenly grow a beard? The guy is young and wealthy. He must have serious coin from the Star Wars films. So, at this stage in his life, why play the game?
Posted by: Jase | Oct 11, 2005 11:51:02 AM
For the most part I think Alan captures it well. I saw that interview as well, and with equal turns could not figure out if it was just that Larry King is an horrific interviewer or if Tab Hunter was really just disconnected from current day reality. Either way I feel sorry for the guy.
Posted by: hoyaboy | Oct 11, 2005 12:24:51 PM
Behaviorally speaking, I think Tab is being true to who and what he is. Yes, times have changed, but if anyone out there has a grandparent (70 yrs old or older) that you are in communication with you may see similar traits. Using terms that we never use anymore and associating to social behavior that we just don’t understand in our current day. We are talking about a generation that on a time-line is twice removed from the period we are currently living in. I’d be willing to bet that the next generation of people, the generation in early elementary school today, will someday look at this time in history and wonder why there was resistance to same-sex marriage.
Posted by: Slate | Oct 11, 2005 1:12:19 PM
..."In his book he says he doesn’t understand gay pride. "Why would anyone be proud of just being what they are?" What he fails to understand is that gay pride is a way of overcoming gay shame. "
I'm from the generation halfway between his and most of the readers here (I suspect). I too am suspect of the whole "Pride"-thing. "Gay" is not my number-one self-identifier, and the street-theater of Pride Fests, parades and such seem more like parody than liberation.
And I reject the concept of "gay shame"...how insulting! I still remember when being gay was "illegal" as a status-crime. When if could get your thrown-out of college, or be legally-barred from a profession. I would suggest that a little historical and social perspective be applied BERFORE critcizing another person's comfort-boundries.
Posted by: Ted B. | Oct 11, 2005 1:59:41 PM
Tab Hunter is speaking with People Magazine's Jess Cagle on Oct 17th at The Center: http://www.outprofessionals.org/
Posted by: serendipity | Oct 11, 2005 3:23:59 PM
Larry King's interview of Tab Hunter was a scripted promo for Turner Classic Movies given the number of perfectly timed video clips from his movies. Tab opened the interview by saying that he wanted to "set the record straight" by writing his autobiography before someone else exposed his closeted affairs. A Hollywood insider actually got through on the phone with the book in-hand and asked Tab about all of the "tricks" he failed to mention in the book. Tab responded like a seasoned pro and said "he mentioned the important ones" (like Anthony Perkins). Some enterprising writer will no doubt fill in the blanks, and soon. Tab Hunter was indeed a beautiful young man who was Hollywood Royalty. While both he and Larry King sound totally out of touch, Tab is doing his best to preserve his image gracefully. Each of us should aspire to look as great as he does at 73. Even though he is an actor by trade, he appeared genuinely content with his life and career which I found refreshing.
Posted by: Johnny Lane | Oct 12, 2005 1:17:26 AM
nice sausage he's got there!
Posted by: borut | Oct 12, 2005 10:00:49 AM
Tab's book is an interesting read, but I do agree with the observation that he is likely a conservative. Also, I will never understand why so many gay people feel the need to say so firmly that being gay is not their #1 self-identifier. First, people who feel gay pride are not saying gayness is THEIR only self-idenifier, either. Second, self-identification is an illusion anyway; you are who you are and you are WHAT you are. There is no sensible way to deny that certain aspects of a person's being---like gender and like sexuality---are so basic to every other aspect of a person's being it's impossible to weed them out and compartmentalize them neatly and say, "THAT does not define me." Can you honestly imagine a heterosexual saying, "I'm straight but I'm not defined by that?" Please. People like Tab Hunter had the luxury of distancing themselves from gayness in order to live a high life (different from people who did or do it to survive). He goes so far out of his way in his book to harp on what a rugged outdoorsman he is and relegate his gayness to a few randy references sandwiched between commentary on his appreciation for people's "rock-solid values" it calls to mind a contortionist. Not specifically gay, but one part of the book that was unintentionally funny to me was how he awkwardly forces an anti-anti-war comment into the tail end of his story in order to then write about his soldier brother's death in Vietnam and to ask "why him and not me?" Why? Because even though you write that protesters should love America or leave it (he does write this), you weren't the one who signed up to fight in Vietnam. You didn't sign up, and you weren't born too poor to sneak out of it. So you spent the latter part of the '60s in the French Riviera making bad foreign films, screwing Nureyev when your understanding boyfriend was out to run an errand and partying with rich snobs anywhere but in the U.S.A. A dick has no conscience, eh? Well, that's Tab for you---a dick with no conscience. There are some fascinating details in the book, but nothing remotely juicy (settling old scores about alleged dog abuse aside), and I was left feeling his real life story is as bland as the image he cultivated.
Posted by: Matthew Rettenmund | Oct 31, 2005 11:01:23 PM