1
00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:31,966
I would go out occasionally
to a cocktail party,

2
00:00:32,032 --> 00:00:37,311
and I was fascinated by
all of what I saw there.

3
00:00:37,370 --> 00:00:39,145
There were a few guys
dancing with a few guys,

4
00:00:39,205 --> 00:00:42,379
a couple of gals dancing
with a couple gals.

5
00:00:42,475 --> 00:00:44,921
It was just a party,
and people were

6
00:00:44,978 --> 00:00:48,516
dancing and having a good time.

7
00:00:48,615 --> 00:00:50,390
Parties like this were illegal.

8
00:00:54,187 --> 00:00:57,532
And the next think I
know the cops came in.

9
00:00:57,624 --> 00:01:00,230
Doors burst open,
there they were.

10
00:01:00,293 --> 00:01:02,773
They were arresting
a bunch of queers.

11
00:01:05,398 --> 00:01:10,074
They took us down to
the police station.

12
00:01:10,170 --> 00:01:15,677
I thought, oh, my
god, this is terrible.

13
00:01:15,742 --> 00:01:22,023
I thought, what would my mother
think of my being arrested?

14
00:01:22,082 --> 00:01:24,722
Will it affect this career
that I'm trying to get

15
00:01:24,818 --> 00:01:28,789
started in the motion pictures?

16
00:01:28,855 --> 00:01:31,495
An attorney, Harry
Weiss, appeared.

17
00:01:31,558 --> 00:01:33,094
He was well known
for taking care

18
00:01:33,193 --> 00:01:35,673
of situations like that with
many, many Hollywood people.

19
00:01:38,598 --> 00:01:42,410
And he said, you've got to be
a lot sharper than you are.

20
00:01:42,502 --> 00:01:43,480
You're in Hollywood now.

21
00:01:43,536 --> 00:01:49,214
You want to be an actor and
really laid down the law to me.

22
00:01:49,275 --> 00:01:52,552
And then I was released.

23
00:01:52,612 --> 00:01:54,592
I had no idea it was
going to jump up and be

24
00:01:54,681 --> 00:01:58,390
thrown at me years later.

25
00:01:58,451 --> 00:01:59,953
He's the young fellow
you've been waiting for,

26
00:02:00,053 --> 00:02:03,933
ladies and gentlemen,
Tab Hunter.

27
00:02:04,023 --> 00:02:05,127
MAN: Six feet of
rugged manhood can

28
00:02:05,191 --> 00:02:06,795
stir the heart of every woman.

29
00:02:06,860 --> 00:02:09,568
Oh, my goodness,
I'm flabbergasted!

30
00:02:09,629 --> 00:02:10,334
Tab Hunter.

31
00:02:10,430 --> 00:02:11,602
MAN: How do you shave, Tab'?

32
00:02:11,698 --> 00:02:13,302
With Gillette Super
Speed of course.

33
00:02:13,366 --> 00:02:14,071
Tab Hunter!

34
00:02:15,301 --> 00:02:17,144
You tell me where I
can fine Tab Hunter.

35
00:02:17,237 --> 00:02:18,045
Well, you do pretty good.

36
00:02:18,104 --> 00:02:18,878
Gee, thanks.

37
00:02:18,938 --> 00:02:20,144
MAN: What do you like
about Tab Hunter?

38
00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,379
Well, (LAUGHING)
quite a few things.

39
00:02:23,276 --> 00:02:23,913
MAN (SINGING): That clean
cut, unaffected Tab Hunter.

40
00:02:23,977 --> 00:02:24,751
GIRLS: Tab!

41
00:02:26,946 --> 00:02:28,823
MAN (SINGING): That
All-American boy.

42
00:02:31,718 --> 00:02:34,528
Shocking, but true story of
a young man who found himself

43
00:02:34,587 --> 00:02:37,431
overwhelmed by a
strange compulsion.

44
00:02:37,490 --> 00:02:40,630
Hello, I'm Tab Hunter,
and I've got a secret.

45
00:02:40,727 --> 00:02:43,037
Well, I would never have
talked about my personal life

46
00:02:43,096 --> 00:02:44,769
in the 1950s.

47
00:02:44,831 --> 00:02:46,606
Something the matter, kid?

48
00:02:46,666 --> 00:02:47,371
What?

49
00:02:47,467 --> 00:02:48,172
Oh, no.

50
00:02:48,268 --> 00:02:49,542
No, not a thing.

51
00:02:49,602 --> 00:02:52,139
TAB HUNTER: I obviously
was very closeted.

52
00:02:52,238 --> 00:02:54,184
And I'm sure it's a
very difficult thing

53
00:02:54,240 --> 00:02:56,516
to think, what's the problem?

54
00:02:56,576 --> 00:02:57,714
But there was a problem.

55
00:03:00,647 --> 00:03:02,684
It's been very difficult
for me my whole life

56
00:03:02,782 --> 00:03:06,252
talking about that side of me.

57
00:03:06,319 --> 00:03:07,992
For me to come out
of myself like this

58
00:03:08,087 --> 00:03:11,261
and to share all of this
is extremely difficult.

59
00:03:11,324 --> 00:03:13,361
I've never been as
open as I am with you

60
00:03:13,459 --> 00:03:16,804
because it's been written
about and what the heck?

61
00:03:16,863 --> 00:03:18,001
You know, I'm an old man.

62
00:03:18,097 --> 00:03:20,873
You know, this my
life-- big deal.

63
00:03:20,934 --> 00:03:30,548
(mum-nus)

64
00:03:30,610 --> 00:03:33,819
When I count three, will all
of the ladies in the audience

65
00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,326
please go, (SIGHING).

66
00:03:36,382 --> 00:03:38,419
Tab, when I was young,
when I first saw him,

67
00:03:38,518 --> 00:03:44,332
looked-- beside acting, he
just was amazing looking.

68
00:03:44,390 --> 00:03:47,166
Whoa, this was like a
flying saucer landed looking

69
00:03:47,227 --> 00:03:52,176
like that cute-- beautiful,
California surfer,

70
00:03:52,232 --> 00:03:58,012
handsome that every single girl
or boy wanted to make out with.

71
00:03:58,071 --> 00:03:58,845
GIRL: Are you Tab Hunter'?

72
00:03:58,905 --> 00:03:59,747
Uh, yeah-- yeah.

73
00:03:59,839 --> 00:04:03,719
I think I've died
and gone to heaven.

74
00:04:03,810 --> 00:04:06,347
Kids and the fans
just gravitated to him

75
00:04:06,412 --> 00:04:08,414
just like a magnet.

76
00:04:08,514 --> 00:04:13,554
He was so popular, and so many
people just thought he was it.

77
00:04:13,653 --> 00:04:14,688
And he was.

78
00:04:14,754 --> 00:04:16,358
(LAUGHING) I'll bet.

79
00:04:16,422 --> 00:04:20,302
He was as big as
they could come.

80
00:04:20,393 --> 00:04:24,933
He had the star quality
and he had the x-factor.

81
00:04:25,031 --> 00:04:27,204
Mr. Tab Hunter- Tab.

82
00:04:28,668 --> 00:04:32,377
And in every picture they
managed to take his shirt off.

83
00:04:32,438 --> 00:04:33,815
(mum-nus)

84
00:04:33,906 --> 00:04:35,351
Hey, kid!

85
00:04:35,408 --> 00:04:37,854
Nobody could take their
eyes off Tab Hunter.

86
00:04:37,910 --> 00:04:41,915
He was the All-American boy, and
nobody sold that image better.

87
00:04:42,015 --> 00:04:44,017
He was the good-looking
sailor, or he

88
00:04:44,083 --> 00:04:46,529
was the good-looking Marine,
and he was the good-looking Air

89
00:04:46,586 --> 00:04:48,224
Force pilot.

90
00:04:48,288 --> 00:04:50,131
I did so many
military films that I

91
00:04:50,223 --> 00:04:53,500
was waiting for the government
to send me a pension.

92
00:04:53,559 --> 00:04:56,369
I mean, my gosh, I was
in uniform all the time.

93
00:04:56,429 --> 00:04:57,430
Cigarette?

94
00:04:57,530 --> 00:04:59,908
I saw him in "Battle Cry."

95
00:04:59,966 --> 00:05:03,413
He played a young Marine
with Dorothy Malone.

96
00:05:03,469 --> 00:05:04,607
They did have a love scene.

97
00:05:08,107 --> 00:05:09,950
It caused a lot of
comment at the studio.

98
00:05:10,043 --> 00:05:11,420
Let's take a dip in the pool.

99
00:05:11,477 --> 00:05:13,479
We can't have one of
our young Marines having

100
00:05:13,579 --> 00:05:15,058
an affair with a married woman.

101
00:05:15,114 --> 00:05:16,252
Oh, really?

102
00:05:16,316 --> 00:05:17,021
(mum-nus)

103
00:05:17,116 --> 00:05:19,926
I think you're the most
beautiful woman I've ever met.

104
00:05:19,986 --> 00:05:22,523
What was the one he
did was Sophia Loren'?

105
00:05:22,622 --> 00:05:23,999
ANNOUNCER: "That
Kind of Woman--"

106
00:05:24,090 --> 00:05:27,299
"That Kind of Woman,"
yeah, and of course,

107
00:05:27,393 --> 00:05:30,863
I adored her too, and I
thought, ooh, what a couple.

108
00:05:30,930 --> 00:05:33,103
He doesn't look
old enough to drink.

109
00:05:33,166 --> 00:05:35,942
I'm old enough to do anything,

110
00:05:36,002 --> 00:05:41,213
With his charm and good looks
and his magnetic presence,

111
00:05:41,307 --> 00:05:45,915
he was the embodiment of
youthful American masculinity.

112
00:05:45,978 --> 00:05:47,355
Thank you very
much and thank you.

113
00:05:47,447 --> 00:05:49,984
There he goes, the eligible
bachelor from Hollywood.

114
00:05:57,090 --> 00:05:59,195
By now I'm used to
Tab Hunter, of course,

115
00:05:59,258 --> 00:06:01,238
after all these years.

116
00:06:01,294 --> 00:06:02,932
I grew up as Art Gelien.

117
00:06:06,866 --> 00:06:12,373
I was born in 1931 --
July, 11,1931.

118
00:06:12,472 --> 00:06:15,510
My mother's name
was Gertrude Gelien.

119
00:06:15,608 --> 00:06:19,112
She was from Hamburg, Germany.

120
00:06:19,178 --> 00:06:23,627
I always used to say she was
a poor-man's Marlene Dietrich.

121
00:06:23,683 --> 00:06:25,560
She had two children--
my older brother,

122
00:06:25,651 --> 00:06:30,293
Walt, who was 11
months older than me.

123
00:06:30,356 --> 00:06:32,131
My mother and father did
not get along at all.

124
00:06:32,191 --> 00:06:35,968
He was terribly abusive to her.

125
00:06:36,028 --> 00:06:38,235
Once my mother
left my father, it

126
00:06:38,331 --> 00:06:39,969
was a lot of burden,
a lot of stress

127
00:06:40,032 --> 00:06:44,481
for a single woman raising
two children in those days.

128
00:06:44,537 --> 00:06:46,414
She was very strict.

129
00:06:46,506 --> 00:06:48,508
One moment she could
be very explosive,

130
00:06:48,574 --> 00:06:53,284
and the other moment she could
be terribly tender and dear.

131
00:06:53,379 --> 00:06:56,360
My mother worked like a dog.

132
00:06:56,416 --> 00:06:59,761
She held, sometimes, two jobs.

133
00:06:59,852 --> 00:07:01,490
She wanted to create
an environment

134
00:07:01,554 --> 00:07:04,831
of a family and a
home, and that was very

135
00:07:04,891 --> 00:07:06,871
important to her and to us.

136
00:07:09,695 --> 00:07:14,872
I was lost as a kid in
many ways-- introverted.

137
00:07:14,934 --> 00:07:19,144
And I was extremely shy.

138
00:07:19,238 --> 00:07:22,515
I was never comfortable
around people.

139
00:07:22,575 --> 00:07:24,680
It made me very nervous.

140
00:07:24,744 --> 00:07:27,782
My brother was
quite the opposite.

141
00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:29,587
My brother I looked
up to a great deal

142
00:07:29,682 --> 00:07:33,323
because he could handle
every situation very well.

143
00:07:33,386 --> 00:07:35,730
He was always prompting me on.

144
00:07:35,788 --> 00:07:38,496
Otherwise I'd have stayed in
my shell much, much longer.

145
00:07:41,794 --> 00:07:44,968
We were raised as Catholics.

146
00:07:45,064 --> 00:07:48,910
My mother put us in parochial
school, where we had nuns.

147
00:07:48,968 --> 00:07:51,244
She just was really,
really concerned

148
00:07:51,304 --> 00:07:53,750
about our own development--
mental, physical,

149
00:07:53,806 --> 00:07:56,787
and spiritual.

150
00:07:56,876 --> 00:07:59,322
I loved going to church.

151
00:07:59,378 --> 00:08:01,881
I did sing in the choir.

152
00:08:01,948 --> 00:08:05,725
Benediction was always wonderful
to me, and mass was in Latin,

153
00:08:05,785 --> 00:08:07,731
and I loved that.

154
00:08:07,787 --> 00:08:09,926
It was a good place to
go and become a part

155
00:08:09,989 --> 00:08:11,525
of something that moved me.

156
00:08:11,624 --> 00:08:14,628
ANNOUNCER: It's "The Black
Swan," starring Tyrone Power,

157
00:08:14,727 --> 00:08:17,674
in his lustiest role as
the daring Captain Waring.

158
00:08:17,730 --> 00:08:20,267
Of course I went to
movies all the time.

159
00:08:20,333 --> 00:08:22,540
I lived at the movies.

160
00:08:22,635 --> 00:08:24,273
There was an aura
about movie stars.

161
00:08:24,337 --> 00:08:26,112
It was quite wonderful.

162
00:08:26,172 --> 00:08:27,480
They were total escapism.

163
00:08:27,573 --> 00:08:30,213
I loved that.

164
00:08:30,276 --> 00:08:34,088
Movies was a world away.

165
00:08:34,146 --> 00:08:38,253
I did feel I was
different from other boys.

166
00:08:38,317 --> 00:08:42,857
The word gay was not
around when I was a kid.

167
00:08:42,955 --> 00:08:48,735
They used derogatory
terms- fairy, queer.

168
00:08:48,794 --> 00:08:51,832
And I might even have
said that about someone,

169
00:08:51,931 --> 00:08:54,241
not wanting to be
different, wanting

170
00:08:54,300 --> 00:08:56,906
to be like everyone else.

171
00:08:56,969 --> 00:08:59,074
I was always taught
if there's something

172
00:08:59,138 --> 00:09:02,779
bad just push it from your
mind, push it from your mind.

173
00:09:02,842 --> 00:09:05,516
So I never confronted those
things, even though it was

174
00:09:05,611 --> 00:09:07,215
there and was very powerful.

175
00:09:10,683 --> 00:09:13,357
I hated myself.

176
00:09:13,452 --> 00:09:15,261
I went to confession.

177
00:09:15,321 --> 00:09:17,801
And this one priest made me feel
like I was the most miserable

178
00:09:17,857 --> 00:09:18,733
person that ever lived.

179
00:09:21,694 --> 00:09:26,803
After my confession I fled
from the church completely,

180
00:09:26,866 --> 00:09:30,370
even though it was
something I really loved.

181
00:09:30,469 --> 00:09:34,178
I came away from that
more fearful than ever.

182
00:09:40,179 --> 00:09:45,629
I when John Burroughs Junior
High School with Arthur Gelien.

183
00:09:45,685 --> 00:09:50,395
It with as if magic had
dropped into the school.

184
00:09:50,489 --> 00:09:53,595
Honestly, the girls would
not leave him alone.

185
00:09:53,659 --> 00:09:56,663
They had never seen
anybody so handsome.

186
00:09:56,729 --> 00:09:59,266
They were just mesmerized.

187
00:09:59,365 --> 00:10:01,072
Girls were very
attracted to me,

188
00:10:01,167 --> 00:10:04,011
and it made me
extremely uncomfortable

189
00:10:04,070 --> 00:10:08,849
when people would carry on
in any way, shape, or form.

190
00:10:08,908 --> 00:10:13,118
If he tried to walk down the
hall, he simply was mobbed.

191
00:10:13,212 --> 00:10:16,716
There were times that he'd have
to run into an empty classroom

192
00:10:16,782 --> 00:10:20,389
and lock the door to
get away from the girls.

193
00:10:20,453 --> 00:10:24,060
I don't know how he survived.

194
00:10:24,123 --> 00:10:28,071
The attention at school was
so disruptive that I just felt

195
00:10:28,127 --> 00:10:30,573
I needed some sort of escape.

196
00:10:30,630 --> 00:10:33,304
So I decided to join
the Coast Guard.

197
00:10:33,399 --> 00:10:34,434
I just had wanderlust.

198
00:10:38,237 --> 00:10:41,548
My mother and I had a big
argument just prior to my

199
00:10:41,607 --> 00:10:44,053
joining the Coast Guard.

200
00:10:44,110 --> 00:10:48,752
Kelm was my father's
name-- Charles Kelm.

201
00:10:48,814 --> 00:10:54,127
My earliest memory was my
father abusing my mother,

202
00:10:54,220 --> 00:10:57,724
and my brother and I crying.

203
00:10:57,790 --> 00:10:59,895
I had no recollection
of my father after that.

204
00:10:59,959 --> 00:11:01,666
My mother never wanted
to talk about him.

205
00:11:01,761 --> 00:11:03,399
In fact, you'd mention
his name and she

206
00:11:03,462 --> 00:11:04,270
would literally shudder.

207
00:11:07,099 --> 00:11:10,478
I at times wished
that we had a father.

208
00:11:10,569 --> 00:11:15,018
I kept saying Charlie probably
wasn't that bad after all.

209
00:11:15,074 --> 00:11:16,781
And my mother said, oh, really?

210
00:11:16,842 --> 00:11:18,981
Then I think you should go
to New York and see him.

211
00:11:21,847 --> 00:11:26,193
And when I was on liberty in
New York, I had his address,

212
00:11:26,285 --> 00:11:28,060
and I knocked on the door.

213
00:11:28,120 --> 00:11:31,158
And this woman says, yes'?

214
00:11:31,257 --> 00:11:33,362
And I said, is
Charles Kelm here?

215
00:11:33,426 --> 00:11:35,736
And she said, no.

216
00:11:35,795 --> 00:11:41,438
And beyond her I could see
a figure sitting in a chair.

217
00:11:41,500 --> 00:11:45,448
And I said to her, well, would
you tell him that his son

218
00:11:45,504 --> 00:11:48,041
came by to say hello?

219
00:11:48,140 --> 00:11:49,175
And she said, yes.

220
00:11:49,275 --> 00:11:50,618
And she slammed the
door in my face.

221
00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:57,491
I knew that that was my
father sitting in that chair.

222
00:11:57,550 --> 00:12:02,431
And I could tell that he
didn't want to see me.

223
00:12:02,521 --> 00:12:04,398
I was devastated.

224
00:12:04,490 --> 00:12:07,198
And I just walked in
the snow for hours.

225
00:12:10,129 --> 00:12:13,633
The Coast Guard found out I was
under age and discharged me.

226
00:12:13,699 --> 00:12:15,235
And then when they
discharged me,

227
00:12:15,334 --> 00:12:16,836
I went back down to Los Angeles.

228
00:12:22,208 --> 00:12:23,846
I worked as a delivery man.

229
00:12:23,909 --> 00:12:26,048
I worked wrapping presents
at Brothers

230
00:12:26,145 --> 00:12:26,919
in Hollywood.

231
00:12:26,979 --> 00:12:30,324
I worked at the Orange Julius
stand on Hollywood Boulevard.

232
00:12:30,382 --> 00:12:31,656
I did an awful lot of jobs.

233
00:12:35,921 --> 00:12:40,028
My brother was the one who
introduced me to horses.

234
00:12:40,092 --> 00:12:43,301
I wanted to do whatever
my brother did.

235
00:12:43,395 --> 00:12:45,671
And then my brother went on,
of course, to other things,

236
00:12:45,731 --> 00:12:48,439
but I stayed with the horses.

237
00:12:48,534 --> 00:12:53,142
I loved being around the horses
when they were in their stalls.

238
00:12:53,205 --> 00:12:54,206
I loved the smell of them.

239
00:12:54,273 --> 00:12:55,445
I loved working around them.

240
00:12:55,541 --> 00:12:57,418
I loved riding.

241
00:12:57,510 --> 00:13:02,323
And I got a job mucking
out and being at the barn.

242
00:13:02,381 --> 00:13:04,224
When the horse
came into my life,

243
00:13:04,283 --> 00:13:07,162
they totally consumed my life.

244
00:13:07,253 --> 00:13:09,961
One weekend at the
barn, Dick Clayton

245
00:13:10,055 --> 00:13:13,434
came out, who was an
actor at the time,

246
00:13:13,526 --> 00:13:16,166
with an actress by
the name of Ann Blyth.

247
00:13:16,228 --> 00:13:18,037
And they were doing
a photo layout

248
00:13:18,097 --> 00:13:20,270
for one of the movie magazines.

249
00:13:20,366 --> 00:13:24,974
Well, I was fascinated, so I
just stood there and watched.

250
00:13:25,037 --> 00:13:29,213
And then Ann left, and I got
to talking to Dick afterwards,

251
00:13:29,275 --> 00:13:31,721
and we became friendly.

252
00:13:31,777 --> 00:13:35,486
Dick never came on to me
like a lot of people did.

253
00:13:35,581 --> 00:13:39,085
I never felt a hidden
agenda from Dick Clayton

254
00:13:39,151 --> 00:13:43,691
because I just felt so
comfortable with him.

255
00:13:43,789 --> 00:13:46,668
I never had a man in
my life like that.

256
00:13:46,759 --> 00:13:48,261
And he was the one
who first planted

257
00:13:48,327 --> 00:13:51,934
the seed for me-- how would
you feel about being an actor'?

258
00:13:51,997 --> 00:13:56,139
And I thought, oh, wow,
that'd be terrific.

259
00:13:56,235 --> 00:13:58,044
I did start thinking about it.

260
00:13:58,103 --> 00:14:00,049
But I didn't know what
to do, where to begin,

261
00:14:00,105 --> 00:14:01,584
how to get started
in the business.

262
00:14:05,010 --> 00:14:10,050
Henry Wilson was an agent
for a lot of young actors.

263
00:14:10,149 --> 00:14:14,928
Henry had a stable of
stars- Guy Madison,

264
00:14:14,987 --> 00:14:18,958
Rory Calhoun, Rock Hudson.

265
00:14:19,024 --> 00:14:21,971
Henry Wilson was
a big-deal agent.

266
00:14:22,027 --> 00:14:27,670
And it seemed like every actor
he touched became a big star.

267
00:14:27,766 --> 00:14:30,576
And he had a certain
style of client,

268
00:14:30,636 --> 00:14:33,082
and he was the one who
would take the pretty boys

269
00:14:33,138 --> 00:14:35,641
and make stars out of them.

270
00:14:35,708 --> 00:14:39,212
Dick Clayton said I want
you to me Henry Wilson.

271
00:14:39,311 --> 00:14:43,020
You know, he doesn't have
the most sterling reputation.

272
00:14:43,115 --> 00:14:44,788
And I went there and met him.

273
00:14:44,850 --> 00:14:47,160
You know, he was giving
you the look and the stare

274
00:14:47,219 --> 00:14:47,924
and all that.

275
00:14:48,020 --> 00:14:49,363
I'm not an idiot.

276
00:14:49,455 --> 00:14:52,163
I could see what
was going on there.

277
00:14:52,224 --> 00:14:56,070
Oh, yeah, Henry would put the
make on me every now and then.

278
00:14:56,161 --> 00:14:59,108
Occasionally his knee would push
against your knee or something

279
00:14:59,164 --> 00:15:00,837
like that.

280
00:15:00,900 --> 00:15:02,038
Well, I just wasn't interested.

281
00:15:02,134 --> 00:15:05,604
I mean, Henry was an amusing,
fun person to go out with once

282
00:15:05,671 --> 00:15:08,345
in a while, but that was it.

283
00:15:08,407 --> 00:15:09,750
Henry was certainly not my type.

284
00:15:13,312 --> 00:15:15,758
We were sitting in
his office, and he

285
00:15:15,814 --> 00:15:17,760
said the name's gotta go.

286
00:15:17,816 --> 00:15:19,625
So he said we've got
to tab you something.

287
00:15:19,685 --> 00:15:22,393
So that's how Tab came about.

288
00:15:22,488 --> 00:15:26,095
And I showed horses--
hunters and jumpers.

289
00:15:26,158 --> 00:15:27,637
And Henry said, that's
it-- Tab Hunter.

290
00:15:27,693 --> 00:15:29,570
That's a good name.

291
00:15:29,662 --> 00:15:35,112
I can just see my new name,
Tab Hunter, on the marquee.

292
00:15:35,167 --> 00:15:39,115
I remember having a few drinks,
and I was feeling no pain.

293
00:15:39,171 --> 00:15:44,450
I said, I'm going to be
a movie star. (LAUGHING)

294
00:15:44,510 --> 00:15:47,787
Art Gelein became Tab Hunter.

295
00:15:47,846 --> 00:15:51,157
The new name was hard for
me to get used to though.

296
00:15:51,216 --> 00:15:53,355
And then Henry said, well, once
you see it on "pay to the order

297
00:15:53,419 --> 00:15:57,128
of," it won't be so bad.

298
00:15:57,222 --> 00:16:01,932
He was a man who was eager,
excited, and enthusiastic,

299
00:16:02,027 --> 00:16:03,631
and wanted it.

300
00:16:03,696 --> 00:16:05,403
Boy, it sure did come fast.

301
00:16:05,464 --> 00:16:07,410
ANNOUNCER: A lush,
topical paradise

302
00:16:07,466 --> 00:16:09,275
beyond your wildest
most romantic dreams.

303
00:16:12,237 --> 00:16:17,778
The first interview I had was
for "lsland of the Desire."

304
00:16:17,876 --> 00:16:20,322
So they sent me to
meet the director.

305
00:16:20,379 --> 00:16:24,759
He looked up and said,
that's the boy I want.

306
00:16:24,817 --> 00:16:26,125
And he asked me to
take off my shirt.

307
00:16:26,218 --> 00:16:28,357
I was really embarrassed.

308
00:16:28,420 --> 00:16:31,526
I then did a screen
test with Linda Darnell.

309
00:16:31,590 --> 00:16:33,797
She was a very big name.

310
00:16:33,892 --> 00:16:37,533
Oh, I was a nervous wreck
doing a screen test.

311
00:16:37,596 --> 00:16:38,574
She said, don't worry.

312
00:16:38,630 --> 00:16:41,110
I'm good luck for newcomers.

313
00:16:41,166 --> 00:16:44,375
And they said, now you take her
in your arms and you kiss her.

314
00:16:44,470 --> 00:16:45,813
I took her in my arms
and I kissed her.

315
00:16:49,174 --> 00:16:51,120
(LAUGHING) I kissed her.

316
00:16:51,176 --> 00:16:51,881
She looked at me.

317
00:16:51,977 --> 00:16:53,684
And they said, cut,
and she pinched me,

318
00:16:53,779 --> 00:17:01,630
and she said, that was
nice. (LAUGHING) Audience

319
00:17:01,687 --> 00:17:03,530
response was phenomenal.

320
00:17:03,622 --> 00:17:06,466
Critics, ha, they hated.

321
00:17:06,525 --> 00:17:08,061
You're out of your mind!

322
00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:09,434
Darn right.

323
00:17:09,495 --> 00:17:11,532
This blasted
island's got me loco.

324
00:17:11,630 --> 00:17:12,904
I got roasted.

325
00:17:12,965 --> 00:17:14,000
Hello, Hawaii.

326
00:17:14,099 --> 00:17:15,373
Hello, America.

327
00:17:15,434 --> 00:17:16,435
Hello, England.

328
00:17:16,502 --> 00:17:17,810
Hello, anybody!

329
00:17:17,870 --> 00:17:20,976
He doesn't
demonstrate any shred

330
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:22,849
of acting ability in that film.

331
00:17:22,941 --> 00:17:25,421
I was born too late, and
I've got a lot to learn.

332
00:17:25,477 --> 00:17:28,253
My mother and I did go
to a screening of it.

333
00:17:28,313 --> 00:17:29,621
The lights came up.

334
00:17:29,681 --> 00:17:35,029
My mother said, you were lousy.

335
00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:40,126
I was so bad in the movie
that I couldn't get arrested.

336
00:17:40,192 --> 00:17:43,002
It was a long spell
between "Island

337
00:17:43,062 --> 00:17:46,009
of Desire" and my next job.

338
00:17:46,065 --> 00:17:50,070
The only parts I could
get were grade-Z movies.

339
00:17:50,169 --> 00:17:51,341
Interpreting
hieroglyphics was part

340
00:17:51,403 --> 00:17:53,349
of my archaeological studies.

341
00:17:53,405 --> 00:17:59,117
I felt that I was a B actor
trapped in that genre of film,

342
00:17:59,211 --> 00:18:02,556
and there was no way out.

343
00:18:02,648 --> 00:18:03,490
Hello, Pop!

344
00:18:03,549 --> 00:18:05,859
TAB HUNTER: Acting was
something that Dick Clayton

345
00:18:05,918 --> 00:18:08,592
was always on my case about.

346
00:18:08,687 --> 00:18:10,132
This isn't something
that just happens.

347
00:18:10,189 --> 00:18:12,829
You've got to work.

348
00:18:12,891 --> 00:18:18,034
There's so much to learn and so
much to tap inside of myself.

349
00:18:18,097 --> 00:18:21,306
And I wanted to go
on to the next step.

350
00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,244
And he arranged for
me to do "Our Town."

351
00:18:24,336 --> 00:18:28,648
It was important for me to do
it because it was great material

352
00:18:28,707 --> 00:18:33,019
and a chance to grow.

353
00:18:33,078 --> 00:18:36,355
Marilyn Erskine, a Broadway
actress, who was very good,

354
00:18:36,415 --> 00:18:39,726
did not want to do
"Our Town" with me.

355
00:18:39,785 --> 00:18:44,461
George was a marvelous
part for a young actor.

356
00:18:44,556 --> 00:18:47,867
But Tab Hunter playing George?

357
00:18:47,926 --> 00:18:50,463
Well, I didn't see that.

358
00:18:50,562 --> 00:18:54,169
And so I was a little bit
concerned because that's such

359
00:18:54,233 --> 00:18:57,544
an important part of the play.

360
00:18:57,603 --> 00:18:59,742
We did a read through.

361
00:18:59,805 --> 00:19:01,614
And after we
finished the reading

362
00:19:01,707 --> 00:19:04,483
she agreed to do it with me.

363
00:19:04,543 --> 00:19:08,582
She said, OK, young man, we've
got a lot of work ahead of us.

364
00:19:08,647 --> 00:19:10,593
Let's get to it.

365
00:19:10,649 --> 00:19:14,927
Well, I wanted him to be
comfortable within himself

366
00:19:14,987 --> 00:19:17,797
that he can do this.

367
00:19:17,890 --> 00:19:22,361
Tad had that desire
to really be good.

368
00:19:22,427 --> 00:19:26,273
I saw an actor who
grew and grew, getting

369
00:19:26,331 --> 00:19:29,540
better and better and better.

370
00:19:29,635 --> 00:19:31,637
TAB HUNTER: The only thing
I really could rely on

371
00:19:31,737 --> 00:19:35,549
were my instincts
and my feelings.

372
00:19:35,607 --> 00:19:39,419
And they won't lead
you too far astray.

373
00:19:39,478 --> 00:19:42,186
And Tab was just fabulous.

374
00:19:42,281 --> 00:19:43,089
He was George.

375
00:19:45,784 --> 00:19:48,287
The play was extremely well
received, got good notices--

376
00:19:48,353 --> 00:19:51,960
the first good notices I
ever received in my life.

377
00:19:52,024 --> 00:19:55,494
From that, it sort
of whet the appetite.

378
00:19:55,594 --> 00:19:58,404
I came away from that
experience realizing

379
00:19:58,463 --> 00:20:00,136
that I wanted to be an actor.

380
00:20:04,770 --> 00:20:08,274
The studios ran Hollywood.

381
00:20:08,340 --> 00:20:12,720
Hollywood was MGM,
Paramount, 20th Century

382
00:20:12,811 --> 00:20:16,657
Fox, Warner Brothers.

383
00:20:16,715 --> 00:20:21,926
It was just a society in
unto itself, Warner Brothers.

384
00:20:22,020 --> 00:20:25,558
It was the best studio,
so we were very proud.

385
00:20:25,657 --> 00:20:29,127
But you did not cross
to cross Jack Warner.

386
00:20:29,194 --> 00:20:32,505
Colonel Warner- Colonel Jack
Warner, ladies and gentlemen.

387
00:20:32,564 --> 00:20:34,168
You know, Warner was
quite a character.

388
00:20:34,233 --> 00:20:35,439
He really was.

389
00:20:35,534 --> 00:20:38,913
He looked like Lucifer with
a little mustache of his.

390
00:20:39,004 --> 00:20:40,847
Ha, you son-of-a-bitch.
(LAUGHING)

391
00:20:40,906 --> 00:20:43,910
When you had a guy like
Jack Warner on your side,

392
00:20:44,009 --> 00:20:45,454
you had the whole
Warner Brothers

393
00:20:45,510 --> 00:20:47,285
operation on your side.

394
00:20:47,346 --> 00:20:49,485
You were in business.

395
00:20:49,548 --> 00:20:51,084
The studio contract
was really good

396
00:20:51,183 --> 00:20:54,289
because of the security of it.

397
00:20:54,353 --> 00:20:57,300
At Warner Brothers,
they had acting classes,

398
00:20:57,356 --> 00:20:59,495
singing, dancing.

399
00:20:59,558 --> 00:21:03,267
And I said, Henry, I
really need to go to work.

400
00:21:03,362 --> 00:21:05,740
And Henry sent out wired
to different producers

401
00:21:05,831 --> 00:21:07,435
saying Tab Hunter's available.

402
00:21:07,499 --> 00:21:10,446
And he arranged for me to
meet <i>,</i> casting

403
00:21:10,502 --> 00:21:12,311
director of Warner Brothers.

404
00:21:12,371 --> 00:21:14,851
And I got a call
from the studio.

405
00:21:14,906 --> 00:21:16,681
They took out an
option that they

406
00:21:16,742 --> 00:21:18,949
might put me under contract.

407
00:21:19,044 --> 00:21:22,651
And your first picture will
be with John Wayne in and Lana

408
00:21:22,714 --> 00:21:24,921
Turner in "The Sea Chase!"

409
00:21:25,017 --> 00:21:26,690
, more coffee.

410
00:21:26,752 --> 00:21:27,730
Yes, sir.

411
00:21:27,786 --> 00:21:30,392
All I had to say in
the film was, yes, sir.

412
00:21:30,455 --> 00:21:31,160
Yes, sir.

413
00:21:31,256 --> 00:21:32,030
Thank you.

414
00:21:32,090 --> 00:21:33,626
Everybody, sir.

415
00:21:33,725 --> 00:21:35,204
"The Sea Change" was
an all right film,

416
00:21:35,260 --> 00:21:36,762
but I had nothing to do in it.

417
00:21:36,862 --> 00:21:37,704
I was very disappointed.

418
00:21:40,766 --> 00:21:43,406
Jack Warner was looking
at rushes of the film,

419
00:21:43,468 --> 00:21:45,607
and a director by the
name of William Wellman,

420
00:21:45,704 --> 00:21:49,208
"Wild Bill" Wellman, happened
to see a couple of my scenes

421
00:21:49,274 --> 00:21:52,949
and said, I want that
kid for my next picture.

422
00:21:53,045 --> 00:21:54,752
And the next picture
was "Track of the Cat"

423
00:21:54,813 --> 00:21:55,655
with Robert Mitchum.

424
00:21:55,747 --> 00:21:58,591
The place is just
crawling with dreams.

425
00:21:58,650 --> 00:22:00,857
Do you have any, kid'?

426
00:22:00,952 --> 00:22:03,057
I go along Mitch very well.

427
00:22:03,121 --> 00:22:05,761
He had great sense of
humor and was full of hell.

428
00:22:05,824 --> 00:22:08,430
I really like him a lot.

429
00:22:08,493 --> 00:22:11,599
Well, the first big film
I did at Warner Brothers

430
00:22:11,663 --> 00:22:15,167
was a film called "Battle Cry."
"Battle Cry" was the biggest

431
00:22:15,267 --> 00:22:18,441
picture Warner's had that year.

432
00:22:18,503 --> 00:22:23,179
They tested me nine times for
the role of Danny Forrester.

433
00:22:23,275 --> 00:22:26,484
Sorry, I-- I felt
kind of itchy.

434
00:22:26,578 --> 00:22:28,922
I wasn't the only one
who tested for that role.

435
00:22:28,980 --> 00:22:29,924
Kiss me.

436
00:22:29,981 --> 00:22:30,686
Can't hear.

437
00:22:32,951 --> 00:22:37,263
Warner's tested Jimmy Dean
and Paul Newman for the role.

438
00:22:37,322 --> 00:22:39,802
They still couldn't
make up their mind.

439
00:22:39,858 --> 00:22:43,362
So they said, well, we'll
give this kid one more test.

440
00:22:43,462 --> 00:22:46,671
The morning I left
to go to the test

441
00:22:46,765 --> 00:22:48,073
my mother stopped
me at the door,

442
00:22:48,133 --> 00:22:49,407
and she said, think positive.

443
00:22:49,468 --> 00:22:52,278
See yourself in this role.

444
00:22:52,337 --> 00:22:56,012
And she said, if it's
meant to be, it will be.

445
00:22:56,108 --> 00:22:58,315
I thought I was so bad
in that test I went home

446
00:22:58,377 --> 00:23:00,516
and was ready to kill myself.

447
00:23:00,612 --> 00:23:02,956
And that was the test
that got me the role.

448
00:23:03,014 --> 00:23:05,494
Give me a cheeseburger
and a cup of coffee.

449
00:23:05,550 --> 00:23:08,053
And, uh, how about a
piece that apple pie too.

450
00:23:08,153 --> 00:23:09,791
I just liked the role.

451
00:23:09,855 --> 00:23:11,459
It reminded me of my brother.

452
00:23:11,523 --> 00:23:16,063
He was a very straightforward,
decent human being.

453
00:23:16,161 --> 00:23:19,040
Any guy in the world would be
lucky to have you for a wife.

454
00:23:19,131 --> 00:23:21,737
The film was very successful.

455
00:23:21,800 --> 00:23:23,609
It was a major hit
for Warner Brothers.

456
00:23:23,668 --> 00:23:25,113
ANNOUNCER: "Battle
Cry," the Warner

457
00:23:25,170 --> 00:23:29,676
Brothers story of the Marines,
having its world premier.

458
00:23:29,741 --> 00:23:32,881
I started getting so much
recognition for doing it

459
00:23:32,978 --> 00:23:35,458
that I was offered the
seven-year contract

460
00:23:35,514 --> 00:23:36,959
with Warner Brothers.

461
00:23:37,015 --> 00:23:38,517
I thought, whoa.

462
00:23:38,583 --> 00:23:40,529
Tab Hunter!

463
00:23:40,585 --> 00:23:44,089
And when that came on, it
was like you struck a match,

464
00:23:44,189 --> 00:23:45,361
and off it went.

465
00:23:45,424 --> 00:23:47,904
ANNOUNCER: Hollywood pays
tribute to bright, new stars

466
00:23:47,993 --> 00:23:48,801
of tomorrow.

467
00:23:48,860 --> 00:23:52,069
Awards go to blue-eyed
and blond Tab Hunter.

468
00:23:52,164 --> 00:23:56,977
They translated everything
into box office receipts.

469
00:23:57,035 --> 00:24:01,347
Jack Warner saw
box-office gold in Tab.

470
00:24:01,406 --> 00:24:03,443
Once I was under
contract to them,

471
00:24:03,542 --> 00:24:05,886
all this publicity
came out on me,

472
00:24:05,944 --> 00:24:08,447
and the publicity
exceeded the product.

473
00:24:08,547 --> 00:24:10,823
ANNOUNCER: Actor Tab
Hunter signs autographs

474
00:24:10,882 --> 00:24:13,522
in the time-honored way.

475
00:24:13,585 --> 00:24:16,464
They were selling
the All-American boy.

476
00:24:16,555 --> 00:24:18,535
Take him home to mother.

477
00:24:18,590 --> 00:24:20,433
It was a nice wholesome image.

478
00:24:20,525 --> 00:24:21,731
How do you feel
about dancing tonight?

479
00:24:21,793 --> 00:24:22,498
Are you ready'?

480
00:24:22,594 --> 00:24:24,699
A little awkward,
but I guess I'm ready.

481
00:24:24,763 --> 00:24:27,767
He was everywhere.

482
00:24:27,866 --> 00:24:30,312
We were being bombarded
with Tab's presence.

483
00:24:30,368 --> 00:24:35,511
And I was delighted because he
was so exciting to be watching.

484
00:24:35,574 --> 00:24:38,680
ANNOUNCER: America's
favorite sweethearts,

485
00:24:38,743 --> 00:24:41,223
Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood.

486
00:24:41,279 --> 00:24:42,622
Natalie Wood was the
sweetest little thing

487
00:24:42,714 --> 00:24:43,818
that ever came down the road.

488
00:24:43,882 --> 00:24:44,587
I loved her.

489
00:24:44,649 --> 00:24:45,821
She was like my kid sister.

490
00:24:45,917 --> 00:24:49,057
You really got it
made, haven't you?

491
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:50,497
TAB HUNTER: She had
been a very successful

492
00:24:50,589 --> 00:24:52,796
in "Rebel Without a
Cause" with Jimmy Dean,

493
00:24:52,891 --> 00:24:57,203
and I had been successful
in "Battle Cry."

494
00:24:57,262 --> 00:24:59,037
Warner Brothers put us together.

495
00:24:59,097 --> 00:25:02,772
They wanted to make us
into the new "dream team."

496
00:25:02,834 --> 00:25:04,609
We went along with
it, of course.

497
00:25:04,669 --> 00:25:07,809
ANNOUNCER: Tab
Hunter, Natalie Wood.

498
00:25:07,906 --> 00:25:09,214
And they had a
great time together.

499
00:25:09,274 --> 00:25:10,082
She adored him.

500
00:25:10,141 --> 00:25:13,520
I never met a gal
with such spunk.

501
00:25:13,612 --> 00:25:16,786
ROBERT WAGNER: He was on
fire, and she was on fire.

502
00:25:16,848 --> 00:25:17,952
They traveled a lot together.

503
00:25:18,016 --> 00:25:20,860
They went on tours together.

504
00:25:20,952 --> 00:25:22,454
TAB HUNTER: Oh, my gosh,
there were thousands

505
00:25:22,521 --> 00:25:23,329
and thousands of kids.

506
00:25:27,158 --> 00:25:29,035
He looked like he loved
being a movie star,

507
00:25:29,127 --> 00:25:30,401
and he was a good one.

508
00:25:30,462 --> 00:25:32,669
ANNOUNCER: Warner Brothers stars
Natalie Wood and tab Hunter

509
00:25:32,764 --> 00:25:36,712
plant a Christmas parade for the
annual Toys for Tots campaign.

510
00:25:36,768 --> 00:25:39,112
But I knew Tab
first from his music.

511
00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:43,713
TAB HUNTER: The
recording career came

512
00:25:43,808 --> 00:25:48,018
about when Randy Wood
of Dot Records said,

513
00:25:48,113 --> 00:25:50,286
how would you like to record?

514
00:25:50,348 --> 00:25:53,693
I said, I'd love it.

515
00:25:53,785 --> 00:25:55,822
Randy had me come over there.

516
00:25:55,887 --> 00:25:58,731
I cut the record.

517
00:25:58,823 --> 00:26:01,429
Randy yelled out, that's it.

518
00:26:01,493 --> 00:26:02,972
It's gonna be a hit.

519
00:26:08,366 --> 00:26:10,869
(SINGING) --for every
boy and girl there's just

520
00:26:10,969 --> 00:26:14,610
one love in this
whole world, and I-hi

521
00:26:14,673 --> 00:26:19,554
kno-ho I-hi-I found mine.

522
00:26:20,645 --> 00:26:22,784
It became the number
one song in the nation.

523
00:26:22,847 --> 00:26:23,791
(SINGING) Young love.

524
00:26:23,848 --> 00:26:24,792
Young love.

525
00:26:24,849 --> 00:26:25,793
First love.

526
00:26:25,850 --> 00:26:27,796
First love.

527
00:26:27,852 --> 00:26:30,799
When "Young Love" hit
number one on the pop charts,

528
00:26:30,855 --> 00:26:33,529
it knocked Elvis
out of number one

529
00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:36,573
and stays for a month
and a half at the top

530
00:26:36,661 --> 00:26:39,608
of the national charts.

531
00:26:39,664 --> 00:26:42,770
Jack Warner blew his stack.

532
00:26:42,834 --> 00:26:46,543
He said, we own
you for everything.

533
00:26:46,605 --> 00:26:48,778
He had totally prohibited
me from recording

534
00:26:48,873 --> 00:26:51,046
for Dot any longer.

535
00:26:51,109 --> 00:26:54,454
And I said, but Mr. Warner, you
don't have a recording company.

536
00:26:54,546 --> 00:26:55,820
And he said, well, we do now.

537
00:26:55,880 --> 00:26:58,087
And, they started Warner
Brothers Records for me.

538
00:26:58,183 --> 00:27:04,657
[MUSIC- TAB HUNTER, "NINETY NINE
WAYS"]

539
00:27:07,192 --> 00:27:11,334
Tab had a real genuine
reporting career.

540
00:27:11,396 --> 00:27:13,774
He was not a one-hit wonder.

541
00:27:13,865 --> 00:27:16,573
He released dozens of
singles and albums.

542
00:27:16,635 --> 00:27:20,640
It was phenomenal, and it
was noticed by everyone.

543
00:27:20,739 --> 00:27:27,554
(SINGING) What a wonderful
wedding there will be.

544
00:27:27,612 --> 00:27:34,996
What wonderful day
for you and me.

545
00:27:35,086 --> 00:27:38,033
He came along at a
very brilliant time.

546
00:27:38,089 --> 00:27:41,070
It was the beginning of the
teenage revolution in America.

547
00:27:43,995 --> 00:27:47,374
He had a million and one
crushes from the largest group

548
00:27:47,465 --> 00:27:50,275
of teenagers that has
ever lived in the United

549
00:27:50,335 --> 00:27:52,337
States, the baby boomers.

550
00:27:54,673 --> 00:27:58,485
They were the ones who would
make a career overnight,

551
00:27:58,576 --> 00:28:00,419
and they certainly
did with mine.

552
00:28:00,478 --> 00:28:01,252
I can't help it.

553
00:28:01,312 --> 00:28:03,918
I've got a very bad
case of Tab Hunter-itis.

554
00:28:03,982 --> 00:28:06,258
I know just how you feel.

555
00:28:06,317 --> 00:28:08,854
I had Tab's
pictures on my wall.

556
00:28:08,953 --> 00:28:11,297
We all did.

557
00:28:11,356 --> 00:28:14,963
My wall was covered with
pictures of Tab Hunter.

558
00:28:15,026 --> 00:28:19,236
Young girls just
were crazy about him.

559
00:28:23,201 --> 00:28:27,206
The minute they took a
look he became their guy,

560
00:28:27,305 --> 00:28:30,309
and he was marketed
to those people.

561
00:28:30,375 --> 00:28:32,480
It was the movie
magazines that really

562
00:28:32,544 --> 00:28:37,015
made him a huge star, more than
the films that he was making.

563
00:28:37,115 --> 00:28:39,493
TAB HUNTER: The kids
kept demanding all of it,

564
00:28:39,551 --> 00:28:43,363
so I would get things like "Tab
Hunter Buys a Hat," "Tab Hunter

565
00:28:43,455 --> 00:28:47,767
Drives a Car," "Tab
Hunter Cleans a Window,"

566
00:28:47,826 --> 00:28:52,468
"Tab Hunter Goes to the
Beach-J' wee! (LAUGHING)

567
00:28:52,530 --> 00:28:56,307
One of the magazines
had a contest,

568
00:28:56,367 --> 00:29:01,367
and I won a date in Hollywood
with Tab Hunter in 1956.

569
00:29:06,578 --> 00:29:07,852
Was I nervous?

570
00:29:07,912 --> 00:29:10,256
I could hardly breathe.

571
00:29:10,348 --> 00:29:15,297
When I first saw Tab Hunter,
I was very intimidated.

572
00:29:15,353 --> 00:29:22,237
And he smiled, and that
smile was just truly magical.

573
00:29:22,327 --> 00:29:25,001
Tab Hunter was the
heartthrob that I had

574
00:29:25,063 --> 00:29:28,374
seen in the movie magazines.

575
00:29:28,433 --> 00:29:33,075
And we had dinner and dancing.

576
00:29:33,171 --> 00:29:35,708
I could not believe,
Jo-Ann, here you

577
00:29:35,774 --> 00:29:37,253
are dancing with Tab Hunter.

578
00:29:40,044 --> 00:29:45,050
My date was over, and
he gave me a kiss.

579
00:29:45,116 --> 00:29:47,960
I felt like
Cinderella, and I had

580
00:29:48,052 --> 00:29:50,760
a kiss from my Prince Charming.

581
00:29:50,855 --> 00:29:53,665
It was a dream-come-true.

582
00:29:53,725 --> 00:29:57,867
In the 1950s love and
marriage was the ideal theme.

583
00:29:57,929 --> 00:30:01,240
It's not always very real.

584
00:30:01,299 --> 00:30:05,111
The studios had a system.

585
00:30:05,203 --> 00:30:10,983
And they always wanted their
starlets to go out on a date

586
00:30:11,042 --> 00:30:13,648
with a beautiful, handsome boy.

587
00:30:13,711 --> 00:30:17,818
And the one they
chose was Tab Hunter.

588
00:30:17,882 --> 00:30:21,420
He was a guy that all the
girls wanted to go out with.

589
00:30:21,486 --> 00:30:23,261
0f course I wanted to meet
Tab Hunter because he was

590
00:30:23,321 --> 00:30:26,530
the big young male star
at Warner Brothers,

591
00:30:26,624 --> 00:30:30,071
and I was the big female
star at Columbia Pictures.

592
00:30:30,128 --> 00:30:33,234
And so we had to date.

593
00:30:33,298 --> 00:30:35,005
He was a gentleman.

594
00:30:35,099 --> 00:30:37,875
He always came around
and opened the doors.

595
00:30:37,936 --> 00:30:39,540
He picked up checks.

596
00:30:39,604 --> 00:30:41,948
And my parents liked him.

597
00:30:42,006 --> 00:30:42,711
It was fun.

598
00:30:42,807 --> 00:30:45,287
We did all sorts of things.

599
00:30:45,343 --> 00:30:49,052
We did all the things that
normal people do on dates.

600
00:30:49,147 --> 00:30:53,459
But we had a third person who
was a photographer with us.

601
00:30:53,518 --> 00:30:58,024
He was the kind of boy every
mother would want to have

602
00:30:58,122 --> 00:31:00,762
married into her family.

603
00:31:00,825 --> 00:31:02,532
He had an honesty.

604
00:31:02,627 --> 00:31:04,937
He had a simplicity.

605
00:31:04,996 --> 00:31:08,705
He a certain strength
of character.

606
00:31:08,800 --> 00:31:11,974
He would not let anybody down.

607
00:31:12,036 --> 00:31:15,916
We got along great because
he was always fun and sweet.

608
00:31:16,007 --> 00:31:21,286
And he wasn't after me,
so he wasn't on the make.

609
00:31:21,346 --> 00:31:24,156
And women like that.

610
00:31:24,215 --> 00:31:28,721
I really was a very naive,
young, innocent girl,

611
00:31:28,820 --> 00:31:32,927
and I would never think that the
most handsome boy would be gay.

612
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:37,164
TAB HUNTER: I
would never discuss

613
00:31:37,228 --> 00:31:38,832
my private life with anyone.

614
00:31:41,733 --> 00:31:44,907
I was able to get close to
them, but I never really went

615
00:31:45,003 --> 00:31:46,641
that deep in the relationship.

616
00:31:49,807 --> 00:31:54,847
I had the ability to
live behind this wall.

617
00:31:57,749 --> 00:32:01,356
And you only allow people
to break the barrier

618
00:32:01,419 --> 00:32:02,955
if you feel you
can confide in them

619
00:32:03,054 --> 00:32:06,001
and you want to have
that friendship.

620
00:32:06,057 --> 00:32:08,936
INTERVIEWER: What was your first
relationship with another guy?

621
00:32:09,027 --> 00:32:11,064
Pfoof.

622
00:32:11,162 --> 00:32:14,700
(LAUGHING) The first
relationship I had

623
00:32:14,766 --> 00:32:19,215
was when I was ice skating
with a fellow skater.

624
00:32:19,270 --> 00:32:21,546
INTERVIEWER: Can you
tell me about that?

625
00:32:21,606 --> 00:32:23,108
What do you want to know'?

626
00:32:23,207 --> 00:32:24,441
(LAUGHING) I always
loved figure skating.

627
00:32:24,442 --> 00:32:24,441
(LAUGHING) I always
loved figure skating.

628
00:32:24,442 --> 00:32:31,553
(LAUGHING) I always
loved figure skating.

629
00:32:32,116 --> 00:32:38,089
I competed in the regionals,
and I went to the nationals.

630
00:32:38,189 --> 00:32:42,501
I enjoyed just being on the ice.

631
00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:48,374
He was a very good skater and a
very strong competitor as well.

632
00:32:48,433 --> 00:32:51,971
A lot of his friends were
ice skaters- champion ice

633
00:32:52,070 --> 00:32:53,674
skaters with the Ice Capades.

634
00:32:53,738 --> 00:32:55,684
Mouseketeers, meet
Ronnie Robertson.

635
00:32:55,740 --> 00:32:56,514
Hi, Ronnie!

636
00:32:56,574 --> 00:32:57,279
Hi, Mouseketeers.

637
00:32:57,375 --> 00:33:00,652
Hi, Bob.

638
00:33:00,712 --> 00:33:04,683
Ronnie Roberson was known
as a great technician.

639
00:33:04,749 --> 00:33:09,459
His skating was different
than anybody else's skating.

640
00:33:09,554 --> 00:33:12,091
And he could spin faster
than anybody in the world.

641
00:33:12,156 --> 00:33:14,033
Nobody ever spun that well.

642
00:33:14,125 --> 00:33:15,627
He was a major talent.

643
00:33:18,429 --> 00:33:21,603
We had an attraction
for one another.

644
00:33:21,666 --> 00:33:26,115
And I drove him home one
evening after a skiing session.

645
00:33:26,170 --> 00:33:28,673
Next thing, we were
in a relationship.

646
00:33:32,643 --> 00:33:34,316
I'm sure there was
talk about Ronnie

647
00:33:34,412 --> 00:33:38,053
and myself in the skating
world, particularly

648
00:33:38,116 --> 00:33:40,392
if you've got a talent and
people are jealous of it.

649
00:33:43,321 --> 00:33:47,326
There were times when I was
certainly stressed hearing

650
00:33:47,425 --> 00:33:50,031
things that had been said.

651
00:33:50,094 --> 00:33:57,706
But you learn when you're in the
public eye to compartmentalize.

652
00:33:57,769 --> 00:34:00,272
A big issue as
that Tab was around.

653
00:34:00,338 --> 00:34:04,548
And the political game at that
time is you don't do that.

654
00:34:04,642 --> 00:34:07,521
There was one skater
that didn't like the fact

655
00:34:07,612 --> 00:34:10,388
that Ronnie and I were
friends and took a skate blade

656
00:34:10,448 --> 00:34:11,552
to my new car and
just went right

657
00:34:11,616 --> 00:34:13,596
down the side, (SCRATCHING
SOUND) to the paint.

658
00:34:16,487 --> 00:34:21,266
Tab came to the championships
with Ronnie Roberson.

659
00:34:21,325 --> 00:34:23,134
Ronnie was told
that he would not

660
00:34:23,194 --> 00:34:28,200
win the championships unless
Tab would not come along.

661
00:34:28,299 --> 00:34:31,246
And Ronnie said,
it didn't matter.

662
00:34:31,302 --> 00:34:33,475
He wanted him there.

663
00:34:33,538 --> 00:34:36,712
And Ronnie skated- oh,
magnificent performance.

664
00:34:42,346 --> 00:34:44,383
The fact that I was
there with Ronnie

665
00:34:44,482 --> 00:34:52,196
might have hurt his ability to
win, and he should have won.

666
00:34:57,895 --> 00:35:02,867
My mother never really approved
of the Hollywood stuff.

667
00:35:02,934 --> 00:35:06,438
Being private was
very important to her.

668
00:35:06,537 --> 00:35:09,848
She only visited me on a set
twice in all of the years

669
00:35:09,907 --> 00:35:12,911
I was in the business.

670
00:35:13,010 --> 00:35:15,115
She did one interview
for a magazine,

671
00:35:15,179 --> 00:35:18,285
but it was like pulling
teeth to get her to do that.

672
00:35:18,349 --> 00:35:19,987
People would say,
oh, Mrs. Gelien,

673
00:35:20,051 --> 00:35:21,997
aren't you excited about Tab'?

674
00:35:22,053 --> 00:35:23,828
And my mother would
say, yes, it's nice,

675
00:35:23,888 --> 00:35:27,836
but Walter's the
intelligent one.

676
00:35:27,892 --> 00:35:31,271
My mother was always
a very intense woman.

677
00:35:31,362 --> 00:35:34,070
She had a lot of
pressure in her life.

678
00:35:34,132 --> 00:35:37,170
She was very high strung.

679
00:35:37,268 --> 00:35:38,440
While I was doing
"Battle Cry" I was

680
00:35:38,536 --> 00:35:41,983
in touch with my mother a lot.

681
00:35:42,039 --> 00:35:45,646
And I noticed a change
in her behavior.

682
00:35:45,710 --> 00:35:49,351
She would fly off the
handle rather quickly.

683
00:35:49,413 --> 00:35:51,757
She was ranting
on behind a closed

684
00:35:51,816 --> 00:35:54,695
door in the bathroom in German.

685
00:35:54,785 --> 00:36:01,066
And she ran out into the street
and collapsed in my arms.

686
00:36:01,125 --> 00:36:05,596
It just got more out of control
and more out of control.

687
00:36:05,663 --> 00:36:13,707
My mother totally lost it,
and I had to commit my mother

688
00:36:13,804 --> 00:36:14,578
to a mental institution.

689
00:36:18,809 --> 00:36:20,789
And it was very difficult to do.

690
00:36:24,515 --> 00:36:26,893
And on the way there I
said, Mom, please try

691
00:36:26,984 --> 00:36:27,985
to understand what I'm saying.

692
00:36:28,085 --> 00:36:30,622
I really feel bad about this.

693
00:36:30,688 --> 00:36:32,861
And she said, I know.

694
00:36:32,957 --> 00:36:35,665
<i>I know.</i>

695
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,764
I had to commit my mother.

696
00:36:38,829 --> 00:36:40,934
I mean, there was
nothing else that I

697
00:36:40,998 --> 00:36:43,979
could think should be done.

698
00:36:49,340 --> 00:36:54,050
She had to have 37
electroshock treatments.

699
00:36:54,145 --> 00:36:57,649
I went down there to
see her, of course.

700
00:36:57,715 --> 00:37:01,561
I remember walking in,
and she was lying in bed,

701
00:37:01,652 --> 00:37:05,156
and they shaved her head where
she had all the treatments.

702
00:37:05,223 --> 00:37:12,334
And as I walked in she said,
why did you do this to me'?

703
00:37:15,032 --> 00:37:19,811
She was very fragile when I went
to see her, but she was better.

704
00:37:19,870 --> 00:37:23,909
When I saw my mother,
as helpless as she was,

705
00:37:24,008 --> 00:37:25,646
I swore that she would
never have to work

706
00:37:25,710 --> 00:37:26,711
another day in her life.

707
00:37:29,547 --> 00:37:31,390
Hello, I'm Tab Hunter.

708
00:37:31,482 --> 00:37:33,155
Did you know that mental
illness claims more

709
00:37:33,217 --> 00:37:35,561
victims than any other disease?

710
00:37:35,653 --> 00:37:36,495
That's right.

711
00:37:36,554 --> 00:37:39,501
One American in every 10 is
suffering from some disabling

712
00:37:39,557 --> 00:37:40,695
mental or emotional disorder.

713
00:37:43,594 --> 00:37:49,601
In the 1950s being gay was
absolutely not acceptable.

714
00:37:49,700 --> 00:37:52,510
It was against the law.

715
00:37:52,570 --> 00:37:56,609
It was considered
a mental disease.

716
00:37:56,707 --> 00:38:01,213
There were very
devastating consequences.

717
00:38:01,279 --> 00:38:04,817
You couldn't have a
life being gay back

718
00:38:04,915 --> 00:38:11,423
in the '50s Tab would
be foolish not to hide,

719
00:38:11,522 --> 00:38:14,230
or he would not have a career.

720
00:38:14,292 --> 00:38:15,828
What do you think of your
dinner date here, Tab?

721
00:38:15,926 --> 00:38:17,098
She's very lovely, I must say.

722
00:38:17,194 --> 00:38:17,899
ANNOUNCER: Isn't She?

723
00:38:17,962 --> 00:38:18,667
Oh.

724
00:38:18,763 --> 00:38:21,744
The public saw me as one
person, and I was another.

725
00:38:21,799 --> 00:38:24,245
I didn't feel good about myself.

726
00:38:24,302 --> 00:38:28,512
Hollywood's most eligible
bachelor, Mr. Tab Hunter!

727
00:38:30,474 --> 00:38:34,012
TAB HUNTER: I never felt that
I deserve a lot of that stuff

728
00:38:34,111 --> 00:38:36,557
that was happening.

729
00:38:36,614 --> 00:38:39,720
You were rewarded for
pretending that you

730
00:38:39,784 --> 00:38:40,956
were someone you're not.

731
00:38:46,424 --> 00:38:52,773
Henry Wilson was a good agent,
but people outgrow one another.

732
00:38:52,830 --> 00:38:55,504
Then Dick Clayton
became an agent.

733
00:38:55,599 --> 00:38:59,308
I signed with him immediately
because I could trust him,

734
00:38:59,403 --> 00:39:00,245
and he was family.

735
00:39:02,907 --> 00:39:05,945
I told Henry I was leaving him.

736
00:39:06,010 --> 00:39:08,012
He was furious.

737
00:39:08,112 --> 00:39:11,616
Henry was very, very upset.

738
00:39:11,682 --> 00:39:13,184
In fact, because of
that, I'm sure it's

739
00:39:13,284 --> 00:39:16,891
why he turned over that story to
"Confidential" magazine on me.

740
00:39:19,790 --> 00:39:24,466
In the 1950s the magazine that
you had to be most concerned

741
00:39:24,528 --> 00:39:26,405
about was "Confidential."

742
00:39:26,497 --> 00:39:29,034
Oh, "Confidential" was
the talk of Hollywood

743
00:39:29,133 --> 00:39:30,578
because everyone was
afraid that if there

744
00:39:30,634 --> 00:39:32,671
was a skeleton in the
closet, it would be released.

745
00:39:32,770 --> 00:39:34,807
God knows I love you.

746
00:39:34,872 --> 00:39:37,045
But I won't let Ned
nor Kay or anyone else

747
00:39:37,141 --> 00:39:39,985
run our lives, Cary.

748
00:39:40,044 --> 00:39:43,184
"Confidential"
magazine, they had

749
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:45,658
some information
on Rock that was

750
00:39:45,716 --> 00:39:48,219
very damaging to his career.

751
00:39:48,319 --> 00:39:51,300
And they were going to print it.

752
00:39:51,355 --> 00:39:56,304
Rock Hudson was the biggest
star that Henry Wilson ever had.

753
00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:59,739
He built Rock, and that
was his meal ticket.

754
00:39:59,830 --> 00:40:00,831
He was gonna protect that.

755
00:40:03,401 --> 00:40:06,678
To save Rock, Henry
gave "Confidential"

756
00:40:06,737 --> 00:40:10,184
the story about me when I'd
been arrested when I was just

757
00:40:10,241 --> 00:40:13,620
starting out in the business.

758
00:40:13,711 --> 00:40:15,713
Inside the magazine
the article read,

759
00:40:15,813 --> 00:40:21,286
"Tab Hunter caught at a
limp-wristed pajama party."

760
00:40:21,352 --> 00:40:24,993
I would say I was
thrown under the bus.

761
00:40:25,055 --> 00:40:27,535
When the magazine
came out, I was

762
00:40:27,591 --> 00:40:30,071
sure that my career was over.

763
00:40:30,161 --> 00:40:32,801
I took Natalie to
the Academy Awards.

764
00:40:32,863 --> 00:40:34,137
That was about the
time-- a little

765
00:40:34,198 --> 00:40:36,576
after the "Confidential"
had come out.

766
00:40:36,667 --> 00:40:39,705
The press of the world was
there photographing us.

767
00:40:39,770 --> 00:40:43,650
And one guy yelled out,
smile pretty this way, Tab.

768
00:40:43,741 --> 00:40:48,212
This is for the next issue
of "Confidential" magazine.

769
00:40:48,279 --> 00:40:50,225
Jack Warner, god
bless him, he turned

770
00:40:50,281 --> 00:40:53,990
me right back to the cameras
and said, just remember this.

771
00:40:54,084 --> 00:40:57,554
Today's headlines,
tomorrow's toilet paper.

772
00:40:57,621 --> 00:40:58,622
Everybody was nervous.

773
00:40:58,722 --> 00:41:02,260
But in those days they
could cover those things up.

774
00:41:02,359 --> 00:41:06,000
So if you are a money
maker for a studio,

775
00:41:06,063 --> 00:41:08,509
they are going to
protect that image

776
00:41:08,566 --> 00:41:11,843
like there is no tomorrow.

777
00:41:11,902 --> 00:41:16,851
The press knew just
about everything,

778
00:41:16,907 --> 00:41:19,615
and they kept it to themselves
when it was to their advantage

779
00:41:19,710 --> 00:41:22,657
and to the advantage
of the studios.

780
00:41:22,713 --> 00:41:28,356
It was a gentleman's agreement--
just keep it out of the press

781
00:41:28,419 --> 00:41:30,922
and don't make waves.

782
00:41:30,988 --> 00:41:32,797
Jack Warner and
I never discussed

783
00:41:32,890 --> 00:41:36,531
my sexuality whatsoever.

784
00:41:36,594 --> 00:41:39,575
I was making a lot
of money for them.

785
00:41:39,630 --> 00:41:43,305
As long as I didn't destroy this
image that they were creating,

786
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:44,936
that was important to them.

787
00:41:47,571 --> 00:41:50,780
They created this persona.

788
00:41:50,841 --> 00:41:54,653
That was your job
to be that persona.

789
00:41:54,745 --> 00:41:57,123
You played the
game, so to speak,

790
00:41:57,181 --> 00:41:59,684
if that's what they want.

791
00:41:59,783 --> 00:42:02,593
I did sign a contract,
and I was willing to do

792
00:42:02,653 --> 00:42:06,829
whatever they wanted me to
do to fulfill that contract.

793
00:42:06,924 --> 00:42:08,926
Don't you ever
think about marriage?

794
00:42:08,993 --> 00:42:10,836
All the time, Ernie.

795
00:42:10,928 --> 00:42:12,601
That's what keeps me single.

796
00:42:13,998 --> 00:42:16,501
I thought of marriage
a number of times

797
00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:20,446
because it's expected of you.

798
00:42:20,504 --> 00:42:22,950
When I did the film
"Lafayette Escadrille,"

799
00:42:23,007 --> 00:42:25,715
that's when I first
met Etchika Choureau.

800
00:42:25,809 --> 00:42:27,288
She stopped me
dead in my tracks.

801
00:42:27,344 --> 00:42:30,518
She was gorgeous.

802
00:42:30,614 --> 00:42:32,616
And we hit it off immediately.

803
00:42:32,683 --> 00:42:34,458
She didn't speak
a word of English.

804
00:42:34,518 --> 00:42:37,220
My French was just awful.

805
00:42:37,221 --> 00:42:39,064
I can't remember
what we talked about because

806
00:42:39,156 --> 00:42:40,863
he did not speak one word of French

807
00:42:40,958 --> 00:42:42,835
and I only spoke three words of English.

808
00:42:43,894 --> 00:42:47,239
I don't know how we communicated...
undoubtedly with our eyes.

809
00:42:48,532 --> 00:42:51,911
But in any case,
we got on like a house on fire.

810
00:42:53,170 --> 00:42:55,150
And he was irresistible.

811
00:42:56,206 --> 00:42:59,585
I usually can think of
a lot of things to say.

812
00:42:59,677 --> 00:43:03,284
Suddenly I can't say anything.

813
00:43:03,347 --> 00:43:05,827
We had wonderful
times together,

814
00:43:05,883 --> 00:43:09,092
and I was drawn closer
and closer to her.

815
00:43:09,653 --> 00:43:13,863
Yes, I had heard
that Tab was homosexual.

816
00:43:15,492 --> 00:43:22,876
I think it was a soul-searching
period of time about his sexuality.

817
00:43:24,101 --> 00:43:26,741
It must have been very painful for him.

818
00:43:27,538 --> 00:43:34,547
You know, actors often...always...
have two faces.

819
00:43:37,915 --> 00:43:41,385
I did feel discomfort, and I
did feel a little bit of guilt

820
00:43:41,452 --> 00:43:42,931
also.

821
00:43:43,020 --> 00:43:45,864
But I did seriously think
of marrying Etchika.

822
00:43:47,958 --> 00:43:50,461
I was flattered
to have been chosen, of course.

823
00:43:51,528 --> 00:43:53,337
If I was to marry Tab,

824
00:43:53,397 --> 00:43:54,603
it would have been for love.

825
00:43:55,265 --> 00:43:56,938
I would inevitably have never

826
00:43:57,034 --> 00:43:59,139
accepted to share
him with someone else.

827
00:44:00,704 --> 00:44:02,911
And I certainly
would not have married him

828
00:44:02,973 --> 00:44:05,977
to protect him
and hide his homosexuality.

829
00:44:07,878 --> 00:44:10,188
I think Tab was too good of a man.

830
00:44:11,582 --> 00:44:13,892
He would have never accepted
such a thing.

831
00:44:15,319 --> 00:44:19,290
It would have been a lovely story
if it could have been rewritten.

832
00:44:22,459 --> 00:44:24,996
She went back to Paris.

833
00:44:25,095 --> 00:44:28,099
I just couldn't commit to her.

834
00:44:28,165 --> 00:44:32,841
It wouldn't have been
right to be with Etchika.

835
00:44:32,936 --> 00:44:37,612
I felt that if you were with
a man, you were sinning.

836
00:44:37,675 --> 00:44:40,781
And if you were with a
woman, you'd be lying.

837
00:44:47,418 --> 00:44:52,390
Tony and I met at the pool
of the Chateau Marmont.

838
00:44:52,456 --> 00:44:56,563
He was in California doing
"Friendly Persuasion."

839
00:44:56,627 --> 00:44:58,629
I don't want to die.

840
00:44:58,696 --> 00:45:01,870
I don't know if I could
kill anyone if I tried.

841
00:45:01,965 --> 00:45:03,103
He was a good actor.

842
00:45:03,167 --> 00:45:04,942
ANNOUNCER: What is there
about Tony Perkins that

843
00:45:05,002 --> 00:45:07,039
made the young people
of America acclaim him

844
00:45:07,137 --> 00:45:09,413
as their star of the future?

845
00:45:09,473 --> 00:45:11,612
I'd been in the
business longer,

846
00:45:11,675 --> 00:45:15,782
but I respected the fact that
he'd done Broadway plays.

847
00:45:15,846 --> 00:45:18,520
I thought he was
very intelligent,

848
00:45:18,615 --> 00:45:21,619
and he was just fun to be with.

849
00:45:21,685 --> 00:45:23,790
We just kind of hit it off.

850
00:45:23,854 --> 00:45:25,299
[MUSIC- ANTHONY PERKINS,
"MOONLIGHT SWIM"]

851
00:45:29,193 --> 00:45:32,299
And I went up to
his room with him.

852
00:45:32,362 --> 00:45:37,243
That's when Tony and I got
together for the first time.

853
00:45:37,334 --> 00:45:40,474
And that's when we
started seeing each other.

854
00:45:40,537 --> 00:45:43,177
When I first saw Tab
and Tony I knew that they

855
00:45:43,240 --> 00:45:45,550
were more than friends.

856
00:45:45,642 --> 00:45:47,087
It was pretty obvious.

857
00:45:49,980 --> 00:45:53,018
I had a wonderful
relationship with him.

858
00:45:53,083 --> 00:45:55,222
I did trust him.

859
00:45:55,319 --> 00:45:58,163
I was comfortable with him.

860
00:45:58,222 --> 00:46:01,101
Tony and Tab were
totally different.

861
00:46:01,191 --> 00:46:02,363
Tony was East Coast.

862
00:46:02,426 --> 00:46:05,100
Tab was West Coast.

863
00:46:05,195 --> 00:46:08,506
Tab was very macho.

864
00:46:08,565 --> 00:46:13,275
Tony was very
sensitive, introverted.

865
00:46:13,370 --> 00:46:15,850
Well, I would see
him quite a lot.

866
00:46:15,906 --> 00:46:19,183
And he would stay to my place,
lived there for a while,

867
00:46:19,243 --> 00:46:21,780
got an apartment
around the corner.

868
00:46:21,879 --> 00:46:22,983
And then I would go back East.

869
00:46:23,046 --> 00:46:25,890
I'd say with Tony at his place.

870
00:46:25,949 --> 00:46:28,395
I knew that he was
very dedicated to being

871
00:46:28,452 --> 00:46:29,988
an actor in Hollywood.

872
00:46:30,087 --> 00:46:32,089
And the most promising
male star of tomorrow

873
00:46:32,189 --> 00:46:36,638
is the fine young
actor, Tony Perkins.

874
00:46:36,693 --> 00:46:39,640
TAB HUNTER: Tony was very
concerned about his image

875
00:46:39,696 --> 00:46:41,801
and doing the right thing.

876
00:46:41,865 --> 00:46:45,813
They would go to a lot of
pains not to be seen together.

877
00:46:45,869 --> 00:46:48,076
TAB HUNTER: At first, when
Tony and I used to go out,

878
00:46:48,138 --> 00:46:50,140
we would go out together.

879
00:46:50,240 --> 00:46:52,049
But he would get recognized.

880
00:46:52,109 --> 00:46:54,055
I would get recognized.

881
00:46:54,111 --> 00:46:55,283
He felt very uncomfortable.

882
00:46:55,379 --> 00:46:58,826
I always did too because
the idea of two young actors

883
00:46:58,882 --> 00:47:01,419
around together might
start some talk.

884
00:47:01,485 --> 00:47:02,486
(SINGING) Yes, I'm in love.

885
00:47:05,322 --> 00:47:07,359
Don't tell a soul.

886
00:47:07,457 --> 00:47:08,492
TAB HUNTER (SPEAKING):
Natalie Wood

887
00:47:08,592 --> 00:47:09,764
and I would go to a premiere.

888
00:47:09,827 --> 00:47:10,965
Then we'd go to
Ciro's afterwards.

889
00:47:11,061 --> 00:47:13,405
We'd be photographed dancing.

890
00:47:13,463 --> 00:47:15,773
Then we would leave, and
she'd go out the back door.

891
00:47:15,833 --> 00:47:18,109
She'd have a date
with Dennis Hopper.

892
00:47:18,168 --> 00:47:19,476
And I'd go see Tony.

893
00:47:19,570 --> 00:47:24,178
(SINGING) Shh, don't
let it get around.

894
00:47:24,241 --> 00:47:29,190
(SPEAKING) Tony and I did
go on couple dates together:

895
00:47:29,246 --> 00:47:32,090
Tab and Tony and I
went out together.

896
00:47:32,149 --> 00:47:34,755
I suppose I was a beard.

897
00:47:34,818 --> 00:47:36,923
But I was happy to
be a beard because we

898
00:47:36,987 --> 00:47:40,298
were having a good / I knew the
game, and we were playing it.

899
00:47:43,160 --> 00:47:46,937
In the fan magazines there would
being a picture of Tab and I.

900
00:47:46,997 --> 00:47:49,341
And then in the next page
there'd be a picture of Tony

901
00:47:49,433 --> 00:47:53,108
and I doing something else,
but never just Tab and Tony.

902
00:47:53,170 --> 00:47:55,172
(SINGING) Shh, don't
let it get around.

903
00:48:06,216 --> 00:48:09,925
I did feel that Tab and
Tony had a real relationship.

904
00:48:10,020 --> 00:48:12,523
I could see them together:

905
00:48:12,623 --> 00:48:14,660
But it was a painful
relationship,

906
00:48:14,725 --> 00:48:15,669
at least for Tony.

907
00:48:19,730 --> 00:48:24,201
Tony was more in love with
Tab than Tab was with him.

908
00:48:24,301 --> 00:48:27,248
Whenever Tab and Tony
got into a fight,

909
00:48:27,304 --> 00:48:30,478
Tony would come to
my house and cry

910
00:48:30,540 --> 00:48:33,987
on my shoulder about
how mean Tab was.

911
00:48:34,044 --> 00:48:38,049
My relationship with Tony, I
never discussed with anyone.

912
00:48:38,148 --> 00:48:40,321
And if one of my so-called
friends or my friends

913
00:48:40,384 --> 00:48:44,764
would mention it, I probably
would have gone berserk.

914
00:48:44,855 --> 00:48:46,459
I would have hated
it and denied it

915
00:48:46,523 --> 00:48:48,901
emphatically--
(EXPLOSION SOUND) where I

916
00:48:48,992 --> 00:48:51,029
could blow it up very quickly.

917
00:48:51,094 --> 00:48:53,131
Tony, as the audience
ovation indicates,

918
00:48:53,230 --> 00:48:55,608
your career is certainly
going full steam ahead.

919
00:48:55,699 --> 00:48:59,511
Tony was on his way to
being a pretty big star.

920
00:48:59,569 --> 00:49:04,040
Tony's career was most important
to him, more than anything.

921
00:49:04,107 --> 00:49:06,053
He could be extremely charming.

922
00:49:06,109 --> 00:49:08,453
But I think he had a
hidden agenda, as far

923
00:49:08,545 --> 00:49:11,856
as his career was concerned.

924
00:49:11,915 --> 00:49:17,695
You never really
knew Tony 100%.

925
00:49:17,754 --> 00:49:20,564
There was always
a secretive side,

926
00:49:20,624 --> 00:49:24,834
and he was a bit of a game
player with people's minds.

927
00:49:24,928 --> 00:49:25,906
Can't you see it's a brush-off?

928
00:49:25,963 --> 00:49:27,101
They're trying me
out at a position.

929
00:49:27,197 --> 00:49:28,505
They know I can't play it!

930
00:49:28,565 --> 00:49:30,442
Just as soon as I make a few
errors, they're gonna drop me!

931
00:49:30,534 --> 00:49:33,174
Can't you see it?

932
00:49:33,236 --> 00:49:35,546
TAB HUNTER: The first
live television show

933
00:49:35,605 --> 00:49:38,984
I did was "Fear Strikes Out."

934
00:49:39,076 --> 00:49:41,613
I played Jimmy Piersall.

935
00:49:41,712 --> 00:49:46,092
He was a ball player
who had mental problems.

936
00:49:46,149 --> 00:49:50,962
Tony caught my performance and
told me how much he liked it.

937
00:49:51,054 --> 00:49:52,829
I confided in Tony
that I wanted Warner

938
00:49:52,889 --> 00:49:56,564
Brothers to buy the project for
me to make a movie out of it.

939
00:49:56,626 --> 00:49:59,163
One evening we were playing
ping pong on a terrace,

940
00:49:59,262 --> 00:50:02,766
and he said, oh, by the
way, Paramount just bought

941
00:50:02,833 --> 00:50:05,473
"Fear Strikes Out" for me.

942
00:50:05,569 --> 00:50:07,549
And it just was like, whoa.

943
00:50:10,273 --> 00:50:11,911
He had mentioned
it to the studio,

944
00:50:11,975 --> 00:50:13,852
and they got it for him.

945
00:50:16,613 --> 00:50:19,617
He was a very ambitious young
man and a very fine actor

946
00:50:19,683 --> 00:50:21,856
and he should be working.

947
00:50:21,952 --> 00:50:28,892
But I did feel
betrayed by that move.

948
00:50:28,959 --> 00:50:32,236
When, Jimmy-- when that's
all you ever cared about.

949
00:50:32,295 --> 00:50:33,137
And you're killing me.

950
00:50:33,196 --> 00:50:34,504
You've been killing
me for years.

951
00:50:34,598 --> 00:50:35,770
Yes, you have.
And it's too much.

952
00:50:38,869 --> 00:50:41,475
He was very good in the film.

953
00:50:41,538 --> 00:50:44,348
But our relationship
was strained after that.

954
00:50:47,711 --> 00:50:50,715
He told me that
his studio didn't

955
00:50:50,814 --> 00:50:54,990
want him to see me anymore.

956
00:50:55,052 --> 00:50:57,726
We saw less and
less of each other,

957
00:50:57,821 --> 00:51:00,495
and we just sort of grew apart.

958
00:51:05,629 --> 00:51:10,305
"Damn Yankees" was
a huge Broadway hit.

959
00:51:10,367 --> 00:51:13,746
Jack Warner bought
"Damn Yankees" for me.

960
00:51:13,837 --> 00:51:16,681
It was the first really
good project for me

961
00:51:16,740 --> 00:51:19,050
from Warner Brothers.

962
00:51:19,142 --> 00:51:22,180
Jack Warner brought in
the whole New York cast,

963
00:51:22,245 --> 00:51:26,216
except for the lead, and
he wanted me to do that.

964
00:51:26,316 --> 00:51:28,819
I was the only outsider in it.

965
00:51:28,885 --> 00:51:31,764
It needed some
sparkle, which he had.

966
00:51:31,855 --> 00:51:33,801
What's the story on this kid'?

967
00:51:33,857 --> 00:51:38,738
This Tab Hunter was
like a breath of spring.

968
00:51:38,829 --> 00:51:40,331
WOW!

969
00:51:40,397 --> 00:51:42,741
The director was George Abbott.

970
00:51:42,833 --> 00:51:45,313
He didn't want me at all.

971
00:51:45,368 --> 00:51:47,348
He wanted Don Murray.

972
00:51:47,404 --> 00:51:50,749
Warner said, I want you
to the use Tab Hunter.

973
00:51:50,841 --> 00:51:53,447
He's the biggest
star at my studio.

974
00:51:53,510 --> 00:51:56,218
Every one of his
pictures is popular.

975
00:51:56,279 --> 00:51:58,418
Tab was certainly at
the top of his game.

976
00:52:01,418 --> 00:52:04,456
George Abbott and
I did not get along.

977
00:52:04,554 --> 00:52:06,397
The first time I met him
was at the read through.

978
00:52:06,456 --> 00:52:09,096
The whole New York
cast was sitting there.

979
00:52:09,192 --> 00:52:11,229
And after I read a
few lines, he said,

980
00:52:11,294 --> 00:52:13,240
I want you to read it like this.

981
00:52:13,296 --> 00:52:16,243
And he gave me a line reading,
which actors do not like.

982
00:52:16,299 --> 00:52:18,802
I want to exercise the escape
clause which is to take place

983
00:52:18,902 --> 00:52:21,712
on the 24th, which is today.

984
00:52:21,771 --> 00:52:25,275
So I read it the
way he wanted me to.

985
00:52:25,375 --> 00:52:27,082
We went on, and he
stopped me about two

986
00:52:27,144 --> 00:52:29,124
or three or four times.

987
00:52:29,212 --> 00:52:32,352
And finally, I just
had had enough.

988
00:52:32,415 --> 00:52:34,759
So I stopped, and I said, Mr.
Abbott, from what I gather,

989
00:52:34,818 --> 00:52:36,024
you'd like me to do
it the way Stephen

990
00:52:36,119 --> 00:52:37,894
Douglas did it on Broadway.

991
00:52:37,954 --> 00:52:38,659
He said, yes, yes.

992
00:52:38,755 --> 00:52:39,756
That's exactly
what I would like.

993
00:52:39,823 --> 00:52:41,962
I said, well, I
thought Stephen Douglas

994
00:52:42,058 --> 00:52:47,872
had a magnificent voice, but
I thought he was a real stick.

995
00:52:47,931 --> 00:52:49,911
If I play the
character, first of all,

996
00:52:49,966 --> 00:52:52,276
he's got to be human being.

997
00:52:52,335 --> 00:52:54,337
That was the wrong
thing to tell him.

998
00:52:54,437 --> 00:52:56,815
Oh, I'm honest, but,
uh, I'm dumb too.

999
00:52:56,907 --> 00:53:00,377
He closed his script, said,
thank you all very much.

1000
00:53:00,443 --> 00:53:04,323
He got up and left the room,
and I was fired off the picture.

1001
00:53:04,414 --> 00:53:06,587
Jack Warner went
to Abbott and said,

1002
00:53:06,650 --> 00:53:07,754
I bought it for Tab Hunter.

1003
00:53:07,817 --> 00:53:09,353
Tab Hunter's going to do it.

1004
00:53:09,452 --> 00:53:11,955
You don't say no to Jack Warner.

1005
00:53:12,022 --> 00:53:12,898
OK, you win.

1006
00:53:12,989 --> 00:53:14,297
Get a uniform.
-You mean it?

1007
00:53:14,357 --> 00:53:15,335
- I mean it.
-Wow!

1008
00:53:15,425 --> 00:53:16,130
I made it!

1009
00:53:16,193 --> 00:53:17,069
(mum-nus)

1010
00:53:17,160 --> 00:53:18,935
Sol did the film,
but it was difficult,

1011
00:53:18,995 --> 00:53:21,999
knowing that he'd never wanted
me right from the start.

1012
00:53:22,098 --> 00:53:30,040
(SINGING) Whatever
Lola wants, Lola gets.

1013
00:53:30,106 --> 00:53:34,111
And Gwen Verdon- Gwen
always called me like a New

1014
00:53:34,177 --> 00:53:36,020
York cab driver-- Tab Huntah.

1015
00:53:36,112 --> 00:53:37,955
(LAUGHING) I loved it.

1016
00:53:40,517 --> 00:53:43,225
The choreographer
was Bobby Fosse.

1017
00:53:43,320 --> 00:53:46,267
You can't get any
better than that.

1018
00:53:46,323 --> 00:53:48,428
Bobby Fosse made me
look like I could dance,

1019
00:53:48,491 --> 00:53:49,595
even though I have
two left feet.

1020
00:53:49,659 --> 00:53:51,639
And he said, don't
worry about it, Tab.

1021
00:53:51,695 --> 00:53:52,537
You'll be fine.

1022
00:53:52,629 --> 00:53:54,131
You see, Mr., uh, Mr.--

1023
00:53:54,197 --> 00:53:56,973
Uh, Hardy-- uh, Joe Hardy.

1024
00:53:57,033 --> 00:54:01,345
I just felt like I wanted
to take him in my arms.

1025
00:54:01,404 --> 00:54:04,613
Well, he was perfect
for the role.

1026
00:54:04,708 --> 00:54:06,551
He was delicious
in it, and I think

1027
00:54:06,643 --> 00:54:09,749
that Mr. Abbott was very very
satisfied with him ultimately.

1028
00:54:09,813 --> 00:54:11,156
All right, a carton
of Winstons, and Tab,

1029
00:54:11,214 --> 00:54:12,522
thanks a million.
-Thank you very much.

1030
00:54:14,484 --> 00:54:18,125
He was always, always
trying to be better.

1031
00:54:20,757 --> 00:54:23,260
Probably at that time his
looks got in the way a bit.

1032
00:54:23,360 --> 00:54:23,759
I've had a great
evening. really I have.

1033
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:26,639
I've had a great
evening. really I have.

1034
00:54:26,730 --> 00:54:28,403
I'll never forget it.

1035
00:54:28,498 --> 00:54:31,308
The era that Tab
got kind of stuck in

1036
00:54:31,368 --> 00:54:34,815
was that era when we were all
very attracted to the Brando

1037
00:54:34,871 --> 00:54:37,511
angst and the Jimmy Dean angst.

1038
00:54:37,574 --> 00:54:41,283
You're tearing me apart!

1039
00:54:41,378 --> 00:54:44,757
TAB HUNTER: Warner Brothers
had Jimmy as the rebel,

1040
00:54:44,848 --> 00:54:46,691
and they had me as
the all-American boy.

1041
00:54:46,750 --> 00:54:50,061
So they had their bases covered.

1042
00:54:50,120 --> 00:54:52,566
They did discuss me for the
Jimmy Dean role in "Rebel

1043
00:54:52,622 --> 00:54:56,331
Without a Cause."

1044
00:54:56,426 --> 00:54:59,066
Can you imagine that? (LAUGHING)

1045
00:54:59,129 --> 00:55:01,769
He didn't get the opportunities
with some of those parts

1046
00:55:01,865 --> 00:55:03,640
that he could've done very well.

1047
00:55:03,700 --> 00:55:07,147
And they were terribly
complicated people.

1048
00:55:07,203 --> 00:55:08,648
And one of the great
assets of Tab Hunter

1049
00:55:08,705 --> 00:55:10,378
was the fact that he
didn't look like a terribly

1050
00:55:10,440 --> 00:55:12,477
complicated person.

1051
00:55:12,575 --> 00:55:15,749
You know, it's a curse
and it's a blessing

1052
00:55:15,812 --> 00:55:19,988
to have that kind of career
where they think that you are

1053
00:55:20,083 --> 00:55:23,553
that infectious smile or
you are that person that

1054
00:55:23,620 --> 00:55:26,601
jumps off the screen to them.

1055
00:55:26,656 --> 00:55:30,103
Tab had a very
difficult time trying

1056
00:55:30,160 --> 00:55:36,167
to prove that behind this
face there really is a talent.

1057
00:55:36,266 --> 00:55:41,648
ANNOUNCER: Playhouse 90,
tonight starring Tab Hunter.

1058
00:55:41,738 --> 00:55:43,911
TAB HUNTER: The director
Arthur Penn said, there's

1059
00:55:43,973 --> 00:55:45,816
a great script I've just read.

1060
00:55:45,909 --> 00:55:48,549
It was called "Portrait
of a Murderer."

1061
00:55:48,611 --> 00:55:50,215
He said, will you do it?

1062
00:55:50,280 --> 00:55:52,760
I said, oh, I don't think so.

1063
00:55:52,816 --> 00:55:55,092
Live television?

1064
00:55:55,151 --> 00:55:58,291
That would clear
the hell out of me.

1065
00:55:58,355 --> 00:56:00,995
I was awfully guilty of
saying, I can't do that,

1066
00:56:01,091 --> 00:56:03,230
or I'm afraid to do this.

1067
00:56:03,293 --> 00:56:04,465
But you've just got
to go (SPLASHING

1068
00:56:04,527 --> 00:56:06,336
SOUND) take the plunge.

1069
00:56:06,429 --> 00:56:09,103
ANNOUNCER: "Portrait
of a Murderer,"

1070
00:56:09,165 --> 00:56:11,304
directed by Arthur Penn.

1071
00:56:11,368 --> 00:56:16,147
It was the true story
of Donald Bashor a man

1072
00:56:16,206 --> 00:56:20,586
who committed burglaries
and murdered these people.

1073
00:56:20,677 --> 00:56:23,021
It was a very powerful
piece of material.

1074
00:56:23,113 --> 00:56:24,456
Put than back right now.

1075
00:56:24,514 --> 00:56:25,458
I'm calling the police.

1076
00:56:25,515 --> 00:56:28,018
You're going to get arrested
for breaking and-- ah!

1077
00:56:28,118 --> 00:56:28,892
Oh!

1078
00:56:35,692 --> 00:56:39,037
He was frightening--
really frightening.

1079
00:56:39,129 --> 00:56:41,336
He played it so well
because it seemed to be

1080
00:56:41,398 --> 00:56:44,402
going against his own persona.

1081
00:56:44,501 --> 00:56:47,448
Here was Geraldine page from
the Actor's Studio in New York.

1082
00:56:47,504 --> 00:56:50,007
It was a whole different
way of working.

1083
00:56:50,073 --> 00:56:52,053
Tab kept up with her.

1084
00:56:52,142 --> 00:56:53,678
But I don't want to
bring you bad luck.

1085
00:56:53,743 --> 00:56:54,448
Bad luck?

1086
00:56:54,544 --> 00:56:56,751
You're my good
luck, my best luck.

1087
00:56:56,846 --> 00:56:58,382
This was big time.

1088
00:56:58,481 --> 00:57:03,453
This wasn't just some teenage
heartthrob who got a break.

1089
00:57:03,520 --> 00:57:04,555
Oh, I was proud of that show.

1090
00:57:04,654 --> 00:57:06,634
It was a good show.

1091
00:57:06,689 --> 00:57:08,726
Television was giving
me the opportunity

1092
00:57:08,825 --> 00:57:12,466
to do things that I could
not do in motion pictures,

1093
00:57:12,529 --> 00:57:16,238
with the most creative
people in the industry,

1094
00:57:16,332 --> 00:57:18,437
directors like
Sidney Lumet, John

1095
00:57:18,501 --> 00:57:21,482
Frankenheimer,
really good actors

1096
00:57:21,538 --> 00:57:24,314
and actresses and good writers.

1097
00:57:24,374 --> 00:57:27,355
I loved live television.

1098
00:57:27,410 --> 00:57:28,684
ANNOUNCER: Tab Hunter.

1099
00:57:28,745 --> 00:57:30,884
Then it started
to click, where he

1100
00:57:30,947 --> 00:57:34,394
was getting cast in
things that made sense,

1101
00:57:34,451 --> 00:57:36,624
and he was no longer a joke.

1102
00:57:36,719 --> 00:57:37,424
Come on!

1103
00:57:37,520 --> 00:57:38,225
Just me brand them.

1104
00:57:38,288 --> 00:57:41,235
I told you to
put that gun away.

1105
00:57:41,291 --> 00:57:44,431
Yes, sir.

1106
00:57:44,527 --> 00:57:49,374
I'd played heavy on
television but never in a film.

1107
00:57:49,432 --> 00:57:51,912
It just was such
a good character.

1108
00:57:51,968 --> 00:57:53,606
It's a pathetic.

1109
00:57:53,703 --> 00:57:56,411
From now on, I'm going my
own way, me, Ed Hackett.

1110
00:57:56,473 --> 00:57:58,316
He's a complete psychopath.

1111
00:57:58,408 --> 00:57:59,944
I'm giving you an order.

1112
00:58:00,043 --> 00:58:01,488
You can go to hell!

1113
00:58:01,544 --> 00:58:02,682
He's a racist.

1114
00:58:02,745 --> 00:58:05,385
You mean to tell me you'd
marry that no-good half breed?

1115
00:58:05,448 --> 00:58:06,722
He's a murderer.

1116
00:58:06,783 --> 00:58:08,319
Mister, you made a mistake
in pulling that gun.

1117
00:58:11,988 --> 00:58:13,524
He's just waiting to explode.

1118
00:58:16,226 --> 00:58:20,368
Of all the films I've done,
"Gunman's Walk" was some

1119
00:58:20,430 --> 00:58:23,877
of my best work as an actor.

1120
00:58:23,933 --> 00:58:29,713
After "Gunman's Walk," Hollywood
started to see me in a new way.

1121
00:58:29,772 --> 00:58:33,652
I started getting cast in
some very nice productions--

1122
00:58:33,743 --> 00:58:38,852
"They Game to Cordura," with
Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth,

1123
00:58:38,915 --> 00:58:40,360
"The Pleasure of His
Company," with Fred

1124
00:58:40,416 --> 00:58:43,954
Astaire and Debbie Reynolds,
"That Kind of Woman,"

1125
00:58:44,020 --> 00:58:46,296
with Sophia Loren.

1126
00:58:46,356 --> 00:58:49,701
These wonderful films were not
being made at Warner Brothers,

1127
00:58:49,792 --> 00:58:51,635
where I was under contract.

1128
00:58:51,694 --> 00:58:57,167
Warners would loan me out
for like $250,000 a picture.

1129
00:58:57,267 --> 00:58:59,213
Then they would pay
me my regular Warner

1130
00:58:59,269 --> 00:59:04,412
Brothers weekly salary, and they
would pocket the difference.

1131
00:59:04,474 --> 00:59:08,854
I was getting a little
upset about that.

1132
00:59:08,945 --> 00:59:11,289
The two films that
Natalie and I did together

1133
00:59:11,347 --> 00:59:13,827
were both big hits.

1134
00:59:13,883 --> 00:59:17,092
So the studio went and put
us together in another film.

1135
00:59:17,186 --> 00:59:21,157
Well, I read the script, and
I thought, I can't do this.

1136
00:59:21,224 --> 00:59:24,068
I turned it down because
I knew what I liked,

1137
00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:27,039
knew what I didn't like,
and I wanted to grow.

1138
00:59:27,130 --> 00:59:29,076
I'm not a puppet.

1139
00:59:29,132 --> 00:59:33,308
So I asked the studio
for my release.

1140
00:59:33,369 --> 00:59:34,848
Well, needless to say,
Jack Warner wasn't

1141
00:59:34,904 --> 00:59:38,351
about to have that happen.

1142
00:59:38,408 --> 00:59:41,218
And I said, well, Mr. Warner,
how much would it cost'?

1143
00:59:41,311 --> 00:59:43,587
And he said, if
you want out, you

1144
00:59:43,646 --> 00:59:48,755
pay us $100,000 for the
remainder of your contract.

1145
00:59:48,818 --> 00:59:52,595
That was a lot of money,
like a couple million today.

1146
00:59:52,655 --> 00:59:56,193
But to express myself and
be my own person, I figured,

1147
00:59:56,259 --> 00:59:58,762
I've got to do it.

1148
00:59:58,861 --> 01:00:02,866
Products of Hollywood
are interchangeable

1149
01:00:02,932 --> 01:00:05,572
and ultimately replaceable.

1150
01:00:05,668 --> 01:00:07,170
Get outta here, Dad.

1151
01:00:07,236 --> 01:00:11,685
If you weren't half
drunk I'd throw you out.

1152
01:00:11,741 --> 01:00:14,847
Troy Donahue was a young actor.

1153
01:00:14,911 --> 01:00:17,391
He was one of Henry's clients.

1154
01:00:17,447 --> 01:00:19,927
Actually, Henry Wilson tried
to stick me with that name

1155
01:00:20,016 --> 01:00:21,654
before they gave me Tab Hunter.

1156
01:00:24,253 --> 01:00:26,290
Warner Brothers was trying
to make Troy Donahue

1157
01:00:26,389 --> 01:00:28,596
in the image of Tab Hunter.

1158
01:00:28,691 --> 01:00:31,035
They started building
Troy's career

1159
01:00:31,094 --> 01:00:34,871
and have him a very good career.

1160
01:00:34,931 --> 01:00:37,434
You've been a good old wagon,
but you done broke down.

1161
01:00:37,533 --> 01:00:39,979
(WHISTLING SOUND) You're out,
and somebody else is in there.

1162
01:00:42,572 --> 01:00:46,714
Leaving Warner Brothers
was career suicide.

1163
01:00:46,776 --> 01:00:49,086
I thought there'd be opportunity
for me at other studios,

1164
01:00:49,145 --> 01:00:53,491
but that was not the case.

1165
01:00:53,583 --> 01:00:57,030
The days of studio
contracts were over.

1166
01:00:57,086 --> 01:01:01,557
I was now a freelance
actor on my own,

1167
01:01:01,624 --> 01:01:06,164
and my primary concern was
taking care of my mother.

1168
01:01:06,262 --> 01:01:07,900
I had a lot of responsibilities.

1169
01:01:07,964 --> 01:01:11,741
And it was tough to keep
your head above water.

1170
01:01:11,801 --> 01:01:13,405
I would do anything
to pay down my debt.

1171
01:01:13,469 --> 01:01:17,576
ANNOUNCER: "Operation
Bikini," starring Tab Hunter.

1172
01:01:17,640 --> 01:01:21,281
My career was really
drying up in Hollywood.

1173
01:01:21,344 --> 01:01:24,223
So I would take
whatever was available.

1174
01:01:24,313 --> 01:01:27,260
I was no longer looking for
the keys to the kingdom.

1175
01:01:27,316 --> 01:01:30,763
ANNOUNCER: "The Golden
Arrow," starring Tab Hunter.

1176
01:01:30,820 --> 01:01:35,701
Well, not many actors can say
that they rode a flying carpet.

1177
01:01:35,792 --> 01:01:38,932
When you have to live
and you need a job,

1178
01:01:38,995 --> 01:01:40,269
you'll accept what's there.

1179
01:01:40,329 --> 01:01:41,865
ANNOUNCER: Tab
Hunter in a dual role

1180
01:01:41,964 --> 01:01:47,073
as a heroic security officer
and a treacherous enemy agent.

1181
01:01:47,136 --> 01:01:51,346
"Birds Do It," with Soupy
Sales, that's a winner.

1182
01:01:51,441 --> 01:01:53,387
ANNOUNCER: Tab
Hunter is Steamer.

1183
01:01:53,443 --> 01:01:56,287
He goes all the way for
everything Hawaiian.

1184
01:01:56,345 --> 01:01:58,120
To this day, people are
still coming up and saying,

1185
01:01:58,181 --> 01:02:01,458
oh, I loved you in all
those beach movies!

1186
01:02:01,517 --> 01:02:03,394
I only did one.

1187
01:02:03,486 --> 01:02:05,693
That was "Ride the Wild Surf."

1188
01:02:05,788 --> 01:02:08,769
Everybody kept thinking
of me as this surfer.

1189
01:02:08,825 --> 01:02:10,532
And at that point, I
felt that I was a little

1190
01:02:10,626 --> 01:02:12,503
long in the tooth for that one.

1191
01:02:12,562 --> 01:02:15,873
I was 32 at the time.

1192
01:02:15,965 --> 01:02:20,141
They would have a son a little
Red Flyer wagon on our knees

1193
01:02:20,203 --> 01:02:24,310
with process shot behind us
of this mountainous wave.

1194
01:02:24,373 --> 01:02:25,852
And then a prop man
would be in front of us

1195
01:02:25,908 --> 01:02:29,117
with a bucket of water going
splash-splash, splash-splash.

1196
01:02:29,212 --> 01:02:31,214
Someone point me
toward the nearest bank.

1197
01:02:31,314 --> 01:02:34,090
This was called paying
the bills and keep working.

1198
01:02:34,150 --> 01:02:35,595
That's what it's all about.

1199
01:02:35,651 --> 01:02:37,756
ANNOUNCER: "The
Tab Hunter Show--"

1200
01:02:37,820 --> 01:02:39,857
The television
series that I did,

1201
01:02:39,922 --> 01:02:41,731
this was bottom of the barrel.

1202
01:02:41,824 --> 01:02:43,269
But that's impossible.

1203
01:02:43,326 --> 01:02:46,705
This so-called comedy wound
up with a director who would

1204
01:02:46,763 --> 01:02:47,969
say to us, come on, come on.

1205
01:02:48,064 --> 01:02:48,769
Faster!

1206
01:02:48,865 --> 01:02:49,673
Faster!

1207
01:02:49,732 --> 01:02:52,110
Fast is funny, but
faster is funnier.

1208
01:02:52,201 --> 01:02:53,680
When do you meet her?

1209
01:02:53,736 --> 01:02:55,773
Right now.

1210
01:02:55,872 --> 01:02:57,510
It was really bad stuff.

1211
01:02:57,573 --> 01:02:59,382
The bloom came off the rose.

1212
01:02:59,442 --> 01:03:01,115
My career was going
(WHISTLING SOUND).

1213
01:03:01,210 --> 01:03:02,188
Beat it, Tab.

1214
01:03:02,245 --> 01:03:04,350
Can't you see I'm busy'?

1215
01:03:04,413 --> 01:03:06,791
Without the protection
of the studio,

1216
01:03:06,883 --> 01:03:11,332
my boy-next-door image
was in total free fall.

1217
01:03:11,387 --> 01:03:16,496
People could say and write
what they wanted, and they did.

1218
01:03:16,559 --> 01:03:19,233
If I had still been
under contract,

1219
01:03:19,295 --> 01:03:23,175
they'd have nailed it like that.

1220
01:03:23,266 --> 01:03:28,614
I was sick of Hollywood,
sick of the media,

1221
01:03:28,704 --> 01:03:30,809
and I had just about
lost faith in everything.

1222
01:03:33,492 --> 01:03:36,701
With a bucket of water going
splash-splash, splash-splash.

1223
01:03:36,796 --> 01:03:38,798
Someone point me
toward the nearest bank.

1224
01:03:38,898 --> 01:03:41,674
This was called paying
the bills and keep working.

1225
01:03:41,734 --> 01:03:43,179
That's what it's all about.

1226
01:03:43,235 --> 01:03:45,340
ANNOUNCER: "The
Tab Hunter Show--"

1227
01:03:45,404 --> 01:03:47,441
The television
series that I did,

1228
01:03:47,506 --> 01:03:49,315
this was bottom of the barrel.

1229
01:03:49,408 --> 01:03:50,853
But that's impossible.

1230
01:03:50,910 --> 01:03:54,289
This so-called comedy wound
up with a director who would

1231
01:03:54,347 --> 01:03:55,553
say to us, come on, come on.

1232
01:03:55,648 --> 01:03:56,353
Faster!

1233
01:03:56,449 --> 01:03:57,257
Faster!

1234
01:03:57,316 --> 01:03:59,694
Fast is funny, but
faster is funnier.

1235
01:03:59,785 --> 01:04:01,264
When do you meet her?

1236
01:04:01,320 --> 01:04:03,357
Right now.

1237
01:04:03,456 --> 01:04:05,094
It was really bad stuff.

1238
01:04:05,157 --> 01:04:06,966
The bloom came off the rose.

1239
01:04:07,026 --> 01:04:08,699
My career was going
(WHISTLING SOUND).

1240
01:04:08,794 --> 01:04:09,772
Beat it, Tab.

1241
01:04:09,829 --> 01:04:11,934
Can't you see I'm busy'?

1242
01:04:11,997 --> 01:04:14,375
Without the protection
of the studio,

1243
01:04:14,467 --> 01:04:18,916
my boy-next-door image
was in total free fall.

1244
01:04:18,971 --> 01:04:24,080
People could say and write
what they wanted, and they did.

1245
01:04:24,143 --> 01:04:26,817
If I had still been
under contract,

1246
01:04:26,879 --> 01:04:30,759
they'd have nailed it like that.

1247
01:04:30,850 --> 01:04:36,198
I was sick of Hollywood,
sick of the media,

1248
01:04:36,288 --> 01:04:38,393
and I had just about
lost faith in everything.

1249
01:04:44,630 --> 01:04:49,306
As I was doing films, I would
always run back to the stable.

1250
01:04:49,368 --> 01:04:52,577
The thing about being
alone on a horse,

1251
01:04:52,671 --> 01:04:57,484
it helps you divorce
yourself from yourself

1252
01:04:57,543 --> 01:04:59,045
because you're
working with an animal

1253
01:04:59,145 --> 01:05:02,183
that has a life of its own.

1254
01:05:02,248 --> 01:05:06,219
It's a marriage that's
quite marvelous.

1255
01:05:06,318 --> 01:05:09,458
I found that my touch of reality
in that unrealistic world

1256
01:05:09,522 --> 01:05:10,296
of Hollywood.

1257
01:05:13,659 --> 01:05:16,162
He was riding a jumper.

1258
01:05:16,228 --> 01:05:20,176
I was in awe of him
because of how he rode.

1259
01:05:20,232 --> 01:05:23,441
I was standing at the back gate,
and we just started talking.

1260
01:05:23,536 --> 01:05:25,641
I didn't know who he was.

1261
01:05:25,704 --> 01:05:28,742
And he asked me questions
like, do I ride'?

1262
01:05:28,841 --> 01:05:32,812
And I said, oh, yeah,
I grew up on a horse.

1263
01:05:32,878 --> 01:05:34,551
He said, do you
ride jumping horses?

1264
01:05:34,613 --> 01:05:36,286
And I said, no,
I've not done that,

1265
01:05:36,382 --> 01:05:39,659
but the thought appeals to me.

1266
01:05:39,718 --> 01:05:43,325
And he said, I'd be willing
to teach you some jumping.

1267
01:05:43,389 --> 01:05:45,426
So I took him up on it.

1268
01:05:45,524 --> 01:05:50,200
And so we became
friends after that.

1269
01:05:50,262 --> 01:05:52,071
He didn't have
all the trappings,

1270
01:05:52,131 --> 01:05:55,669
I didn't think, that
a star would have.

1271
01:05:55,768 --> 01:05:57,213
He was very real person.

1272
01:06:03,075 --> 01:06:07,023
It was the first long-term
relationship that I ever had.

1273
01:06:07,079 --> 01:06:09,081
We were together for
about seven years.

1274
01:06:13,385 --> 01:06:16,025
Hollywood turned
their back on him.

1275
01:06:16,088 --> 01:06:21,367
And I realized what it must
be like to be very popular

1276
01:06:21,427 --> 01:06:25,534
and to be very unpopular.

1277
01:06:25,598 --> 01:06:28,204
I certainly
commiserated with him.

1278
01:06:28,267 --> 01:06:30,907
But he didn't ever want
to talk about it much.

1279
01:06:30,970 --> 01:06:32,950
ANNOUNCER: Tab has been
out of town for a while.

1280
01:06:33,005 --> 01:06:36,179
Now he's back, just horsing
around, waiting for the day

1281
01:06:36,275 --> 01:06:38,255
he's discovered again.

1282
01:06:38,310 --> 01:06:41,314
I was very concerned.

1283
01:06:41,413 --> 01:06:46,055
So I bought space in "Variety"
to just tell people hello.

1284
01:06:46,118 --> 01:06:47,756
Is there any possibility
of you getting

1285
01:06:47,820 --> 01:06:49,424
job somewhere around here?

1286
01:06:49,488 --> 01:06:50,831
I just wanted people
to know that I wasn't

1287
01:06:50,923 --> 01:06:52,766
dead, that I'm still alive.

1288
01:06:52,825 --> 01:06:55,533
And a couple responses- really
sweet people-- said, yeah,

1289
01:06:55,628 --> 01:06:57,801
get lost, or yeah, drop dead.

1290
01:06:57,863 --> 01:07:00,901
Tab Hunter, who was every
high school girl's idea

1291
01:07:01,000 --> 01:07:03,037
of a dream boat--
he was a boy who

1292
01:07:03,135 --> 01:07:05,274
never seemed to get any older.

1293
01:07:05,337 --> 01:07:07,146
Well, he has.

1294
01:07:07,206 --> 01:07:10,050
Well, I might as well have
been a relic from the silent era

1295
01:07:10,142 --> 01:07:11,815
because people
wanted real people

1296
01:07:11,877 --> 01:07:16,758
in real situations, no more
Hollywood made-up personas.

1297
01:07:16,849 --> 01:07:18,624
We want to be free to ride
our machines without being

1298
01:07:18,684 --> 01:07:19,492
hassled by the man.

1299
01:07:21,854 --> 01:07:24,528
TAB HUNTER: The new actors
were anti-establishment,

1300
01:07:24,623 --> 01:07:28,730
and I was apple pie
and All-American.

1301
01:07:28,794 --> 01:07:30,831
It would have
taken some director

1302
01:07:30,896 --> 01:07:34,343
to give him the kind of a
part that would make everybody

1303
01:07:34,400 --> 01:07:36,710
look at him in a new way.

1304
01:07:36,802 --> 01:07:38,975
In order to make the
change, he would have had

1305
01:07:39,038 --> 01:07:42,645
to do something really radical.

1306
01:07:42,708 --> 01:07:44,984
This was a low-budget
horror film--

1307
01:07:46,512 --> 01:07:49,152
--made on a show string.

1308
01:07:49,214 --> 01:07:52,252
It needed a very
handsome debonair man

1309
01:07:52,351 --> 01:07:53,989
who would love women to death.

1310
01:07:58,190 --> 01:08:00,033
Tab Hunter would
be the last person

1311
01:08:00,092 --> 01:08:02,732
you would expect to do that.

1312
01:08:02,828 --> 01:08:07,174
TAB HUNTER: "Sweet Kill"
was certainly way out there.

1313
01:08:07,232 --> 01:08:11,078
I did it because the movie roles
were just not coming along.

1314
01:08:14,440 --> 01:08:18,252
Tab was so much a part
of that Eisenhower era.

1315
01:08:18,344 --> 01:08:22,383
The '50s, as an era, was
repudiated in the '60s.

1316
01:08:22,448 --> 01:08:24,086
Young people are
the only people

1317
01:08:24,183 --> 01:08:26,356
in this whole country that
have saved the soul of America.

1318
01:08:31,023 --> 01:08:34,368
It was a completely
changed world.

1319
01:08:34,426 --> 01:08:39,466
America was at war with itself
as well as at war with Vietnam.

1320
01:08:42,368 --> 01:08:46,748
My brother was in military
medical evacuations.

1321
01:08:46,805 --> 01:08:49,411
He had joined the Navy.

1322
01:08:49,475 --> 01:08:53,651
He wound up in Vietnam,
as so many young men did.

1323
01:08:56,615 --> 01:09:00,722
I was at a horse show at the
Cow Palace in San Francisco.

1324
01:09:00,786 --> 01:09:03,062
And I was sitting on my horse
at the back gate waiting

1325
01:09:03,122 --> 01:09:05,500
for the announcer to
announce my horse Nob Hill

1326
01:09:05,591 --> 01:09:08,902
and myself for the next
entry into the arena.

1327
01:09:08,961 --> 01:09:11,305
And I saw a man in
military uniform coming,

1328
01:09:11,397 --> 01:09:18,372
and he walked over to me, and
he said, are you Art Gelien?

1329
01:09:18,437 --> 01:09:23,910
I just want to tell you your
brother was killed in Vietnam.

1330
01:09:23,976 --> 01:09:26,115
I thought, why him?

1331
01:09:26,178 --> 01:09:27,885
Why not me'?

1332
01:09:27,980 --> 01:09:29,425
Walt was married, and
he had seven children.

1333
01:09:32,851 --> 01:09:38,358
I remember taking the moment,
closing my eyes, and saying,

1334
01:09:38,457 --> 01:09:42,428
Walt, I'm gonna win
this class for you.

1335
01:09:45,030 --> 01:09:46,634
And my horse won the
class that night.

1336
01:09:49,501 --> 01:09:53,176
And then afterwards I
went back to the barn.

1337
01:09:53,272 --> 01:09:58,984
And when I was in the stall with
my horse, I totally lost it.

1338
01:09:59,044 --> 01:10:02,355
I was scared of my own shadow.

1339
01:10:02,448 --> 01:10:05,156
My brother was the one who
opened the doors of life

1340
01:10:05,217 --> 01:10:07,595
for me.

1341
01:10:07,686 --> 01:10:09,222
I really looked
up to him so much.

1342
01:10:15,961 --> 01:10:20,808
My mother was very stoic
about my brother's death.

1343
01:10:20,866 --> 01:10:25,406
She was getting better,
but it took a while.

1344
01:10:25,504 --> 01:10:27,177
I was very concerned
about her well-being,

1345
01:10:27,239 --> 01:10:29,617
and I would see her a great
deal more than I had when I was

1346
01:10:29,708 --> 01:10:32,746
running around with the movies.

1347
01:10:32,845 --> 01:10:36,156
I found her a little
apartment in Long Beach.

1348
01:10:36,215 --> 01:10:37,819
Whatever she need, I
would be there for her.

1349
01:10:40,886 --> 01:10:44,163
Well, I made a promise to my
mother to take care of her.

1350
01:10:44,223 --> 01:10:47,397
And I definitely was
going to keep it.

1351
01:10:47,493 --> 01:10:49,939
I had to create
work in some way.

1352
01:10:52,498 --> 01:10:53,841
I discovered dinner theater.

1353
01:10:56,435 --> 01:10:59,644
Dinner theater was a place where
people could come and stuff

1354
01:10:59,738 --> 01:11:02,878
their faces, then sit back,
and while they were getting

1355
01:11:02,941 --> 01:11:07,481
to belch, watch the show they
you were doing. (LAUGHING)

1356
01:11:07,579 --> 01:11:10,788
They were becoming
very, very popular.

1357
01:11:10,883 --> 01:11:14,854
There was a stigma attached
to working dinner theaters.

1358
01:11:14,920 --> 01:11:20,734
They said that it was the place
that old actors went to die.

1359
01:11:20,793 --> 01:11:22,329
I was making more
money at dinner theater

1360
01:11:22,427 --> 01:11:25,135
than I was waiting for a picture
now and then in Hollywood,

1361
01:11:25,230 --> 01:11:28,074
that's for sure--
six weeks here,

1362
01:11:28,133 --> 01:11:32,946
eight weeks there, four weeks
here, all over the country.

1363
01:11:33,038 --> 01:11:36,918
I felt I had to keep going once
you put yourself in that gear.

1364
01:11:36,975 --> 01:11:40,684
I was on the road constantly.

1365
01:11:40,779 --> 01:11:42,258
INTERVIEWER: Your
story in "Here Lies

1366
01:11:42,314 --> 01:11:43,952
Jeremy Troy," which
is at the Grand

1367
01:11:44,049 --> 01:11:45,153
Dinner Theater in Anaheim--

1368
01:11:45,217 --> 01:11:45,922
That's right.

1369
01:11:45,984 --> 01:11:46,985
We'll be there for eight weeks.

1370
01:11:47,085 --> 01:11:49,588
It's right opposite the
entrance to Disneyland.

1371
01:11:49,655 --> 01:11:54,297
It's a very lonely,
lonely existence.

1372
01:11:54,393 --> 01:11:56,600
You perform in front
of 1,500 people,

1373
01:11:56,662 --> 01:12:00,633
and you go home to a hotel
room in the middle of nowhere

1374
01:12:00,732 --> 01:12:03,076
by yourself.

1375
01:12:03,135 --> 01:12:07,015
Working at dinner theater
was very exhausting.

1376
01:12:07,105 --> 01:12:10,882
And doing that every single
night took a toll on me.

1377
01:12:10,943 --> 01:12:12,650
I wore myself right
into the ground

1378
01:12:12,744 --> 01:12:15,953
to the point of where
I had a heart attack.

1379
01:12:16,014 --> 01:12:19,826
I was sure that it
could be the end.

1380
01:12:23,655 --> 01:12:26,192
I was wondering if I was
going to be able to make it,

1381
01:12:26,291 --> 01:12:29,329
and I was praying a lot.

1382
01:12:29,428 --> 01:12:33,433
I did give up dinner
theater after that.

1383
01:12:33,498 --> 01:12:36,479
I learned to try to relax a bit.

1384
01:12:36,535 --> 01:12:39,072
I learned to be grateful
for every moment

1385
01:12:39,171 --> 01:12:40,013
and thankful- thankful.

1386
01:12:46,178 --> 01:12:48,624
I love the church.

1387
01:12:48,680 --> 01:12:50,853
I love my religion.

1388
01:12:50,949 --> 01:12:54,396
But I still just felt
like I was such an outcast

1389
01:12:54,453 --> 01:12:55,261
because of my sexuality.

1390
01:12:59,658 --> 01:13:01,194
It took a long time for
me to find my way back.

1391
01:13:04,863 --> 01:13:07,343
It was so peaceful,
and it was so important

1392
01:13:07,399 --> 01:13:11,745
that I try to be a part of it.

1393
01:13:11,837 --> 01:13:15,512
And I struck up a conversation
with a priest who I felt

1394
01:13:15,574 --> 01:13:18,555
I can really communicate with.

1395
01:13:18,644 --> 01:13:20,487
I told him I was a
Catholic, and I told him I

1396
01:13:20,545 --> 01:13:24,687
had some terrible reservations.

1397
01:13:24,750 --> 01:13:26,855
He was so receptive.

1398
01:13:26,919 --> 01:13:31,026
And he really made me
feel better about myself.

1399
01:13:33,759 --> 01:13:40,301
He was discovering something
about his own truth.

1400
01:13:40,399 --> 01:13:45,041
For a man to have to live
in someone else's presuming

1401
01:13:45,103 --> 01:13:50,815
about who you should love,
how do you ever know yourself?

1402
01:13:50,909 --> 01:13:54,755
He was going to go where
his heart told him to go.

1403
01:13:57,416 --> 01:14:02,525
By going back to my church
and my beliefs, that really,

1404
01:14:02,587 --> 01:14:07,696
really helped me through
a very difficult period.

1405
01:14:07,759 --> 01:14:12,265
And little by little, I just
felt the weight of the world

1406
01:14:12,364 --> 01:14:13,570
was lifted from me.

1407
01:14:21,940 --> 01:14:23,942
I knew Tab is an
image, you know'?

1408
01:14:24,042 --> 01:14:26,318
And that was the thing that
was so very important to me

1409
01:14:26,378 --> 01:14:28,915
and why I so much wanted
him to be in Polyester."

1410
01:14:28,981 --> 01:14:30,824
It's Todd, honey.

1411
01:14:30,916 --> 01:14:31,917
Todd?

1412
01:14:31,984 --> 01:14:33,361
Todd Tomorrow?

1413
01:14:33,452 --> 01:14:35,728
John Waters called me up
on the telephone and said,

1414
01:14:35,787 --> 01:14:39,325
I've got a script I'd like you
to read for a film with Divine.

1415
01:14:39,424 --> 01:14:40,869
What do you think, sweetheart?

1416
01:14:40,926 --> 01:14:43,736
Oh, it's very high brow, Todd.

1417
01:14:43,795 --> 01:14:45,297
And then he said,
how would you feel

1418
01:14:45,397 --> 01:14:47,741
about kissing a

1419
01:14:47,799 --> 01:14:50,302
(LAUGHING) And I
just said, I'm sure

1420
01:14:50,402 --> 01:14:53,713
I've kissed a hell
of a lot worse.

1421
01:14:53,772 --> 01:14:56,446
John's films were outrageous.

1422
01:14:56,508 --> 01:14:59,352
I prayed that he would never
go watch "Pink Flamingos."

1423
01:14:59,444 --> 01:15:01,321
Happy birthday, fatso.

1424
01:15:01,413 --> 01:15:02,357
Oh!

1425
01:15:02,414 --> 01:15:03,449
And he did.

1426
01:15:03,515 --> 01:15:05,961
How could anyone be
filthier than Divine'?

1427
01:15:06,018 --> 01:15:10,489
Even then, he didn't
say, oh, well, never mind.

1428
01:15:10,589 --> 01:15:13,195
He was unafraid.

1429
01:15:13,258 --> 01:15:15,864
I remember an agent
saying to me at the time,

1430
01:15:15,927 --> 01:15:17,873
you can't do that film.

1431
01:15:17,929 --> 01:15:20,967
And my response was,
what have I got to lose'?

1432
01:15:21,033 --> 01:15:22,842
Where's my career now'?

1433
01:15:22,934 --> 01:15:24,743
I thought this will
be a lot of fun.

1434
01:15:24,803 --> 01:15:27,079
Why don't you show me
your bedroom, honey'?

1435
01:15:27,139 --> 01:15:28,083
Mother may I'?

1436
01:15:28,140 --> 01:15:28,948
Yes, you may.

1437
01:15:29,007 --> 01:15:29,781
Ooh!

1438
01:15:29,841 --> 01:15:32,845
I could only afford
him for one week.

1439
01:15:32,944 --> 01:15:35,550
I'm sure it was the least
Tab Hunter was ever paid,

1440
01:15:35,614 --> 01:15:39,426
and it was by far the most
I had ever paid anybody.

1441
01:15:39,484 --> 01:15:42,693
Doing a film for John, you
got to find a spot on the floor

1442
01:15:42,788 --> 01:15:46,167
where you can sit down between
takes-- cold pizza at 2:00

1443
01:15:46,224 --> 01:15:47,532
AM. (mum-nus)

1444
01:15:47,626 --> 01:15:48,900
Are you my little flesh pot?

1445
01:15:48,960 --> 01:15:50,132
Mm-hmm.

1446
01:15:50,195 --> 01:15:52,197
It was the first
time ever we had

1447
01:15:52,297 --> 01:15:54,470
quote, "a real
movle star" come ln

1448
01:15:54,533 --> 01:15:57,514
and work with my movie stars.

1449
01:15:57,569 --> 01:16:01,039
Tab made out with
Divine who was in drag.

1450
01:16:01,139 --> 01:16:04,177
People could not
believe their eyes.

1451
01:16:04,242 --> 01:16:07,416
That's why the movie worked
because they together

1452
01:16:07,512 --> 01:16:10,220
were a great screen couple.

1453
01:16:10,315 --> 01:16:12,090
A couple of people said,
oh, don't worry about it.

1454
01:16:12,150 --> 01:16:14,687
Nobody's gonna see this film.

1455
01:16:14,753 --> 01:16:15,959
The movie came out.

1456
01:16:16,054 --> 01:16:17,397
It was a hit.

1457
01:16:17,489 --> 01:16:19,969
And it definitely
revitalized my career.

1458
01:16:20,025 --> 01:16:22,972
Mr. Tab Hunter, yay!

1459
01:16:23,028 --> 01:16:24,905
Well, there was a
whole new audience

1460
01:16:24,996 --> 01:16:27,033
that never heard of Tab Hunter.

1461
01:16:27,099 --> 01:16:28,442
Now, what is the
best time of the month

1462
01:16:28,533 --> 01:16:31,241
for a woman to conceive?

1463
01:16:31,336 --> 01:16:33,475
I feel like a new old
face or an old new face.

1464
01:16:33,538 --> 01:16:35,575
So I'm getting my toe in the
door to start all over again.

1465
01:16:35,674 --> 01:16:37,551
It's very exciting

1466
01:16:37,609 --> 01:16:39,714
Tab was serious
about his career.

1467
01:16:39,778 --> 01:16:41,621
But he never took
himself that seriously.

1468
01:16:41,713 --> 01:16:43,056
DR. ERNO: Tab, what do
you do for a living?

1469
01:16:43,115 --> 01:16:45,288
Well, Erno, I'm a
Hollywood movie star,

1470
01:16:45,383 --> 01:16:48,387
and I've been in over 40 films,
and I lived in Beverly Hills.

1471
01:16:48,453 --> 01:16:49,659
That sounds exciting.

1472
01:16:49,754 --> 01:16:52,963
He found himself amusing.

1473
01:16:53,058 --> 01:16:55,561
When you have a sense
of humor about yourself,

1474
01:16:55,627 --> 01:16:57,231
people appreciate
you in another way.

1475
01:17:01,700 --> 01:17:04,806
I wanted to work
with Divine again.

1476
01:17:04,870 --> 01:17:08,818
I had come up with the idea
of doing a Western comedy.

1477
01:17:08,874 --> 01:17:10,854
It was called
"Lust in the Dust."

1478
01:17:10,909 --> 01:17:13,082
ANNOUNCER: Tab Hunter
is the stranger.

1479
01:17:13,945 --> 01:17:18,655
And Divine is Rosy Valdez.

1480
01:17:18,750 --> 01:17:19,524
Come and get it.

1481
01:17:19,584 --> 01:17:21,359
I turned over every
stone I possibly

1482
01:17:21,419 --> 01:17:25,060
could trying to get "Lust
in the Dust" going forward.

1483
01:17:25,123 --> 01:17:27,660
The first time I
saw Tab in person

1484
01:17:27,759 --> 01:17:29,204
was when he walked
into my office

1485
01:17:29,261 --> 01:17:32,367
at Fox to pitch
"Lust in the Dust."

1486
01:17:32,430 --> 01:17:36,469
Tab still had that star quality.

1487
01:17:36,568 --> 01:17:38,775
And I mentioned the
project to Allan.

1488
01:17:38,837 --> 01:17:43,013
And he hit on it right away and
said, what a wonderful idea.

1489
01:17:43,108 --> 01:17:45,452
Once Tab left the
meeting, I thought, yeah,

1490
01:17:45,510 --> 01:17:48,889
"Lust in the Dust" could work.

1491
01:17:48,980 --> 01:17:53,122
I knew I could trust
him almost immediately.

1492
01:17:53,185 --> 01:17:56,792
I found Allan very
attractive, very bright,

1493
01:17:56,855 --> 01:17:59,563
and I wanted to spend
more time with him.

1494
01:17:59,658 --> 01:18:01,968
Tab started calling me.

1495
01:18:02,027 --> 01:18:03,506
And I thought
initially it was just

1496
01:18:03,595 --> 01:18:06,872
a follow up about "Lust in the
Dust," but it went beyond that.

1497
01:18:10,302 --> 01:18:13,442
Tab was 30 years
older and I was.

1498
01:18:13,505 --> 01:18:15,109
I was 23.

1499
01:18:15,173 --> 01:18:17,346
Tabb was 53.

1500
01:18:17,442 --> 01:18:19,786
But once we did
connect, I couldn't

1501
01:18:19,844 --> 01:18:22,825
imagine us not being together.

1502
01:18:22,881 --> 01:18:26,158
And then the more our
personal relationship grew,

1503
01:18:26,218 --> 01:18:31,327
the more I was determined
to get that movie done.

1504
01:18:31,389 --> 01:18:33,596
I tried to get it
going at Fox, and there

1505
01:18:33,692 --> 01:18:34,898
was a little bit of
interest, but they

1506
01:18:34,993 --> 01:18:37,473
ultimately passed on it.

1507
01:18:37,529 --> 01:18:41,033
Tab said to me I should get
involved and produce this.

1508
01:18:41,132 --> 01:18:44,579
Well, that would mean having
to leave my secure job

1509
01:18:44,636 --> 01:18:49,984
at Fox, which I did.

1510
01:18:50,041 --> 01:18:53,420
People told me I was taking a
big risk leaving the studio.

1511
01:18:53,511 --> 01:18:55,388
But I had a hunch
that my future would

1512
01:18:55,480 --> 01:18:59,121
be better with Tab, so I left.

1513
01:18:59,184 --> 01:19:02,529
He single-handedly raised
all the money for that film.

1514
01:19:02,587 --> 01:19:04,191
You got it all wrong, honey.

1515
01:19:04,256 --> 01:19:06,395
You've been cheap all your life.

1516
01:19:06,491 --> 01:19:07,196
Cheap?

1517
01:19:07,259 --> 01:19:09,603
I was the sister of Divine.

1518
01:19:09,694 --> 01:19:11,640
This furniture is cheap.

1519
01:19:11,696 --> 01:19:13,698
I looked like a
drag queen, you know'?

1520
01:19:13,765 --> 01:19:16,871
(LAUGHING) I think
that was the idea.

1521
01:19:16,935 --> 01:19:21,406
My love scene with Tab
Hunter- we were in a shower.

1522
01:19:21,506 --> 01:19:22,280
It was delicious.

1523
01:19:25,677 --> 01:19:29,352
The first film I ever appeared
in was "Lust in the Dust."

1524
01:19:29,414 --> 01:19:32,452
That set, in particular, had a
real sense of frivolity and fun

1525
01:19:32,550 --> 01:19:33,255
about it.

1526
01:19:33,351 --> 01:19:35,854
And I remember being
struck by Tab's naturalism

1527
01:19:35,920 --> 01:19:40,198
and how effortlessly everything
he was doing was coming across.

1528
01:19:40,258 --> 01:19:42,295
Victory shifts from man to man.

1529
01:19:42,394 --> 01:19:43,566
Deuteronomy'?

1530
01:19:43,628 --> 01:19:45,301
Homer.

1531
01:19:45,397 --> 01:19:49,174
Everybody was sort of
playing it larger than life.

1532
01:19:49,234 --> 01:19:52,010
"Lust in the Dust"
was well received,

1533
01:19:52,070 --> 01:19:58,214
and it certainly opened doors
for us to do other things.

1534
01:19:58,276 --> 01:20:01,314
ALLAN GLASER: Tab
definitely had a value.

1535
01:20:01,413 --> 01:20:07,125
I got a lot of meetings just
because Tab was attached.

1536
01:20:07,218 --> 01:20:09,027
We were doing these
independent projects,

1537
01:20:09,087 --> 01:20:13,365
and Tab's celebrity helped
me raise the financing.

1538
01:20:13,425 --> 01:20:15,905
It was a very
productive time for us.

1539
01:20:15,960 --> 01:20:20,568
For me, it was a challenge to
make it work, which I enjoyed.

1540
01:20:20,632 --> 01:20:23,078
But not so much for Tab.

1541
01:20:23,134 --> 01:20:24,738
He didn't find that
same excitement

1542
01:20:24,803 --> 01:20:28,250
that I found in trying to
get these projects going.

1543
01:20:28,306 --> 01:20:29,910
Well, I never paid a
lot of attention what

1544
01:20:29,974 --> 01:20:31,078
was happening in Hollywood.

1545
01:20:31,142 --> 01:20:32,314
I let Allan do all
of that because he

1546
01:20:32,410 --> 01:20:33,548
was really good at it.

1547
01:20:33,611 --> 01:20:34,316
How are you'?

1548
01:20:34,412 --> 01:20:35,356
Tab Hunter.

1549
01:20:35,413 --> 01:20:40,624
By this time, Tab wasn't
too happy to continue acting.

1550
01:20:40,685 --> 01:20:45,464
Tab was still getting offers,
but he turned 90% of everything

1551
01:20:45,523 --> 01:20:47,059
he was offered down.

1552
01:20:50,528 --> 01:20:54,635
People were coming out, and
that was their choice to do so,

1553
01:20:54,699 --> 01:20:57,305
and I respect that.

1554
01:20:57,369 --> 01:21:03,684
Personally, I didn't want my
sexuality to define who I was.

1555
01:21:03,775 --> 01:21:06,278
I just didn't talk about.

1556
01:21:06,344 --> 01:21:09,120
It's not my comfort zone.

1557
01:21:09,180 --> 01:21:12,821
I was point-blank asked
about my sexuality.

1558
01:21:12,884 --> 01:21:16,593
Wasn't it difficult
to be in a closet?

1559
01:21:16,688 --> 01:21:21,159
Some of the press occasionally
would cross that boundary,

1560
01:21:21,226 --> 01:21:23,172
I'm entitled to have
that line there,

1561
01:21:23,228 --> 01:21:28,541
and if I don't want to share
that with you, I won't.

1562
01:21:28,633 --> 01:21:30,169
I think it probably
means I finally made it.

1563
01:21:30,235 --> 01:21:32,112
I mean, you can't be a star
without having a gay rumor out

1564
01:21:32,203 --> 01:21:34,046
there, can you'? (LAUGHING)

1565
01:21:34,139 --> 01:21:35,846
In some respects,
the business is

1566
01:21:35,907 --> 01:21:38,183
still like it was in the '50s.

1567
01:21:38,243 --> 01:21:41,452
It may be a lot more
socially acceptable to be gay.

1568
01:21:41,546 --> 01:21:44,049
But I know several
people who are very

1569
01:21:44,149 --> 01:21:48,154
prominent in this industry who
feel, perhaps legitimately,

1570
01:21:48,219 --> 01:21:51,496
that if they came out it would
affect their box office appeal.

1571
01:21:51,556 --> 01:21:55,936
Let's put it this way, fellas,
a Gillette shave turns a trick.

1572
01:21:56,027 --> 01:22:01,568
For someone who is the fantasy
for women all across America

1573
01:22:01,666 --> 01:22:06,172
and the world, to come
out in the public and say,

1574
01:22:06,237 --> 01:22:12,085
I'm gay and expect to play
leading men is an issue.

1575
01:22:12,177 --> 01:22:14,521
It's still tricky.

1576
01:22:14,579 --> 01:22:18,083
Every actor who has a
secret, like being gay,

1577
01:22:18,183 --> 01:22:21,323
there's a part of us that
are afraid of Hollywood.

1578
01:22:21,386 --> 01:22:25,766
We're afraid to be
who we are completely.

1579
01:22:25,857 --> 01:22:28,838
That's a hard life to lead.

1580
01:22:28,893 --> 01:22:32,932
After decades of being in
the public eye, all I wanted

1581
01:22:33,031 --> 01:22:35,204
was my privacy.

1582
01:22:35,266 --> 01:22:40,045
In order to achieve that, I just
withdrew from it all for good.

1583
01:22:47,078 --> 01:22:49,080
My life had been very transient.

1584
01:22:51,716 --> 01:22:55,186
I never thought
of settling down.

1585
01:22:55,253 --> 01:22:58,700
But then Allan came
into my life and just

1586
01:22:58,756 --> 01:23:00,258
opened up whole new vistas.

1587
01:23:03,895 --> 01:23:06,535
We're so much of a
part of each other

1588
01:23:06,598 --> 01:23:09,306
now because we have been
together for so long.

1589
01:23:09,400 --> 01:23:11,437
And it's just one
of those things.

1590
01:23:11,503 --> 01:23:14,177
It works.

1591
01:23:14,272 --> 01:23:17,378
Allan's a very
stabilizing influence.

1592
01:23:17,442 --> 01:23:21,049
I have a wonderful
relationship with Allan that's

1593
01:23:21,112 --> 01:23:24,719
grown over SO-some years.

1594
01:23:24,782 --> 01:23:28,059
This is really an
incredible person that I

1595
01:23:28,119 --> 01:23:28,995
want to spend my life with.

1596
01:23:35,193 --> 01:23:38,504
What brings Tab pleasure
on a daily basis,

1597
01:23:38,596 --> 01:23:42,408
and I can sum it up in
one word, is Harlow.

1598
01:23:42,467 --> 01:23:44,913
This old cow, look at her.

1599
01:23:44,969 --> 01:23:49,850
ALLAN GLASER: Harlow, Tab's
horse, is what gives Tab joy.

1600
01:23:49,941 --> 01:23:52,319
This is what makes me happiest.

1601
01:23:52,377 --> 01:23:55,017
This is where I really
feel more at ease

1602
01:23:55,113 --> 01:23:56,786
than I would anywhere else.

1603
01:23:56,848 --> 01:23:58,794
It's getting up in
the morning, having

1604
01:23:58,850 --> 01:24:03,162
to go clean out that stall,
having to groom that horse.

1605
01:24:03,221 --> 01:24:06,031
Whoa, listen to
your belly growl!

1606
01:24:06,124 --> 01:24:09,264
That sounds like a pretty good
life-- riding horses and just

1607
01:24:09,327 --> 01:24:11,102
kind of cooling his heels.

1608
01:24:11,162 --> 01:24:14,109
OK move your tush, sweetheart.

1609
01:24:14,165 --> 01:24:15,667
He's a better man than I am.

1610
01:24:15,733 --> 01:24:18,839
I try to stay away from
anything weighing 1,400 pounds

1611
01:24:18,903 --> 01:24:22,077
and has a brain the
size of a walnut.

1612
01:24:22,173 --> 01:24:26,019
When you have a passion
that fulfills you,

1613
01:24:26,077 --> 01:24:31,618
you don't look to other
areas to fill you up.

1614
01:24:31,716 --> 01:24:35,926
Tab is an incredible
horseman and always has been,

1615
01:24:36,020 --> 01:24:40,469
and that is a career in itself.

1616
01:24:40,525 --> 01:24:44,667
Well, my acting career I look
at as being all in the past.

1617
01:24:44,729 --> 01:24:48,939
I loved it, bud I love
where I am now in my life.

1618
01:24:49,033 --> 01:24:50,910
And I am happy to be forgotten.

1619
01:24:57,275 --> 01:24:59,812
Tab's attitude to
his Hollywood career

1620
01:24:59,911 --> 01:25:01,948
is been there, done that.

1621
01:25:02,046 --> 01:25:05,050
He calls it his past life,
which drives me nuts.

1622
01:25:05,116 --> 01:25:07,062
I found this is at flea market.

1623
01:25:07,118 --> 01:25:09,325
It's something that
he could embrace,

1624
01:25:09,420 --> 01:25:10,421
but he doesn't care to do it.

1625
01:25:10,521 --> 01:25:11,226
He did it.

1626
01:25:11,289 --> 01:25:13,269
He let go of it.

1627
01:25:13,358 --> 01:25:16,362
He doesn't even want to
see himself on television.

1628
01:25:16,427 --> 01:25:21,035
If he's laying in bed and an
old movie of his comes on,

1629
01:25:21,099 --> 01:25:23,579
he doesn't stop for one second.

1630
01:25:23,635 --> 01:25:24,670
Forget it.

1631
01:25:24,769 --> 01:25:26,271
ALLAN GLASER: He just
flips through the channel

1632
01:25:26,371 --> 01:25:29,511
like it was a dog food
commercial and keeps going.

1633
01:25:29,574 --> 01:25:31,383
Well, a-- a boy's best
friend is his mother.

1634
01:25:34,912 --> 01:25:37,017
We were casting
"Lust in the Dust,"

1635
01:25:37,081 --> 01:25:39,925
and there was this character
named Hardcase Williams.

1636
01:25:39,984 --> 01:25:44,330
And I thought Tony Perkins
would be perfect for that role.

1637
01:25:44,422 --> 01:25:48,768
ANNOUNCER: 22 years later,
Norman Bates is home.

1638
01:25:48,826 --> 01:25:51,534
"Psycho ll" had just come out.

1639
01:25:51,629 --> 01:25:54,803
Tony was getting a tremendous
amount of publicity.

1640
01:25:54,899 --> 01:25:56,936
Tab was having a
career resurgence

1641
01:25:57,001 --> 01:26:00,847
at the same exact
time Tony Perkins was.

1642
01:26:00,938 --> 01:26:05,444
He said, Tony Perkins--
do you know him'?

1643
01:26:05,510 --> 01:26:08,389
(LAUGHING) I said,
yeah, Allan, I know him.

1644
01:26:08,479 --> 01:26:13,656
(LAUGHING) I contacted
Tony, went up

1645
01:26:13,751 --> 01:26:16,527
to his house up on Mulholland.

1646
01:26:16,587 --> 01:26:20,057
I hadn't seen him
in a long while.

1647
01:26:20,124 --> 01:26:23,469
His wife Mary answered the door.

1648
01:26:23,528 --> 01:26:26,008
Tony had married, had a family.

1649
01:26:26,097 --> 01:26:29,306
And I presented Tony
with the script.

1650
01:26:29,367 --> 01:26:31,074
And he said he really
would like to do it,

1651
01:26:31,169 --> 01:26:33,115
but he just didn't think it
was the right project for him

1652
01:26:33,171 --> 01:26:35,378
at the time.

1653
01:26:35,473 --> 01:26:38,818
And Tony and I said
goodbye that afternoon,

1654
01:26:38,876 --> 01:26:42,085
and that was the last
time that I saw Tony.

1655
01:26:42,180 --> 01:26:45,525
AIDS has taken the life
of actor Anthony Perkins.

1656
01:26:45,616 --> 01:26:50,497
He died Saturday at
his Los Angeles home.

1657
01:26:50,555 --> 01:26:55,004
I never felt that Tony was
struggling with his identity.

1658
01:26:55,059 --> 01:26:59,166
And when I did hear of it, I
was really quite surprised.

1659
01:26:59,230 --> 01:27:05,374
Maybe he was deep down unhappy
with himself about being gay

1660
01:27:05,470 --> 01:27:08,280
and wanted to change that.

1661
01:27:08,339 --> 01:27:10,876
His choice was right
for him, and it's

1662
01:27:10,975 --> 01:27:14,787
all part of a person's growth.

1663
01:27:14,846 --> 01:27:19,659
Tony was who he was, or
maybe he wanted to be.

1664
01:27:19,717 --> 01:27:22,095
That was good enough for me.

1665
01:27:22,186 --> 01:27:26,726
I had no right- no one does--
to be judgmental or to second

1666
01:27:26,824 --> 01:27:28,303
guess his pursuit of happiness.

1667
01:27:31,162 --> 01:27:35,474
There are an awful lot of
people who have feelings,

1668
01:27:35,533 --> 01:27:39,345
and they're in conflict
with themselves.

1669
01:27:39,403 --> 01:27:44,409
And it's a terribly difficult
thing to have to go through.

1670
01:27:44,509 --> 01:27:46,614
I think you have to
be true to yourself.

1671
01:27:52,717 --> 01:27:56,859
My mother never said
I love you a lot.

1672
01:27:56,921 --> 01:28:02,963
But she'd show it when
you'd least expect it.

1673
01:28:03,060 --> 01:28:04,869
My mother and I are
sitting on the back terrace

1674
01:28:04,929 --> 01:28:07,910
having breakfast one
morning after church.

1675
01:28:07,965 --> 01:28:09,911
And she leaned over and kissed
me on the cheek and said,

1676
01:28:09,967 --> 01:28:12,573
I love you very much.

1677
01:28:12,637 --> 01:28:13,672
I was in a good place with her.

1678
01:28:13,771 --> 01:28:14,476
I know that.

1679
01:28:14,572 --> 01:28:18,418
And she was in a
good place with me.

1680
01:28:18,476 --> 01:28:19,420
I miss her.

1681
01:28:26,450 --> 01:28:31,092
There's something
well-grounded about Tab.

1682
01:28:31,155 --> 01:28:35,968
That's why he's lasted all
these years is that he's real.

1683
01:28:36,060 --> 01:28:36,765
He's like the earth.

1684
01:28:36,828 --> 01:28:39,638
He's solid.

1685
01:28:39,730 --> 01:28:44,236
He's happy in his own
special way to live his life,

1686
01:28:44,302 --> 01:28:46,748
and he's had a happy life.

1687
01:28:46,804 --> 01:28:48,579
He chose that right road.