Tab Hunter Confidential (Tab Hunter) – In the 1940s, Frank Sinatra was the heartthrob (ask your mom). The girls swooned. He ruled the radio, then movies, and was a frequent TV guest. Arguably, his successor was Tab Hunter, certainly at the movies. Ask your sisters (or your moms). Hunter was a hunk, a muscular, tall, blue-eyed “pretty boy” who could almost act. OK, I am being generous. He was not a good actor but he looked good. Others, like Rock Hudson (the names were manufactured), Tony Perkins, and (later) Troy Donohue, were more talented but just as pretty. There was plenty of room at the theaters for these products of the studio system.
In those days, the studios (most notably Warner Brothers, Paramount and 20th Century Fox) hired these actors, put them on contract, picked their projects, chose their co-stars, and cranked out movie after movie. The actors were well paid but not like the stars of today. They were “studio players,” who essentially owned them. Occasionally, they would “loan” them out to another studio, take a fee for it, but just pay the actors their usual salary.
Tab Hunter not only topped the box office, he also recorded albums and even had a number one hit with “Young Love.” He squired young female stars around Hollywood, the most noteworthy of whom was Natalie Wood. By all accounts, he was a really good guy. Sweet, kind, gentlemanly, respectful, fun and shy, Tab (born Arthur Gelien) was constantly in the public eye. Impressively, he was also a nationally competitive ice skater as well as master horsemen. In fact, horses had always been a major part of his life, and the studios took advantage of that. Tab starred in several westerns. But he looked great in uniform, too, so he played soldiers and sailors. He also appeared in one surfer flick, even though many fans swear it was more. The one thing almost all of these films had in common: he went shirtless. He was the Matthew McConaughey of his day.
Hunter was partnered with many of the starlets of that era from the previously mentioned Natalie Wood to Debbie Reynolds to Sophia Loren. Critics never liked him but his acting did improve. Only later in his career did he get meatier roles but not before he left Warner Brothers, lost the protection of their PR departments, and found himself less in demand.
All along, Hunter was protecting a secret, one that could have completely derailed his career. Hunter was gay and very entrenched in the closet. Except for one incident early in the ‘50s when he was arrested at a “pajama party,” he closely guarded his secret. If revealed, his career would be over; there was no doubt about that. But while the secret was well held (except for a former agent who tried to “out” him in Confidentialmagazine), Hunter maintained some real relationships. The most notable of his love interests was Tony Perkins (of Psycho fame) but that was by no means the only one. He was never reckless. He even came close to marriage once, with his French co-star Etchika Choureau from Lafayette Escadrille (a 1958 “spaghetti western” so-starring Clint Eastwood), but he couldn’t betray his true sexual orientation.
In 2005, Hunter’s biography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, was published. While Hunter had never felt comfortable talking about his sexuality, when he got wind of another writer planning to write a book about him, he decided to do it himself. His longtime partner and former Fox executive, Allan Glaser, convinced Hunter to turn his book into a documentary. And this is it. Directed by documentary specialist, Jeffrey Schwartz, the film is feature length.
It has been making the rounds of several film festivals and has won best documentary in Miami, San Diego and Cleveland. If a story about a gay, retired actor can win Cleveland … .
I had the pleasure of seeing this yesterday at the San Diego Cinema Society with Schwartz, Glaser and Hunter in attendance. Hunter looks great for 83, and he seems to be a wonderful, well-grounded man who is comfortable with his story being out there for everyone. When you get a chance to see Tab Hunter Confidential, do it. In the meantime, go rent or Netflix a couple of Hunter’s films to see what 1950s movies were like.