It’s Pride Month and we are celebrating it here at the Garden! And what better way to do that than with THE PAIRS THAT NEVER WERE and two of Classic Hollywood’s finest queer actors?
If HBO or Discovery Plus did a programme called ‘Hollywood’s Most Troubled’, Montgomery Clift would probably be featured in the fourth episode, after Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Gail Russell. His life very nearly overshadowed his talent and legacy but not quite. His long list of moody and broody young men, in such films as Red River (1948), From Here To Eternity (1953), and Raintree County (1957) are embedded in film history. His Method approach was revolutionary, alongside his contemporaries Marlon Brando and James Dean, and while his personal life may have suffered behind the scenes, it may also have informed his work, which is, of course, a double-edge sword.
The same can be said, to a certain extent, about Tab Hunter. The ‘Sigh Guy’ may have started out as a teen idol but he proved to be more than just a pretty boy with a ridiculous nickname in such films as The Lawless (1950), They Came To Cordura (1959) and That Kind of Woman (1959), all of which saw him come up against industry giants, namely in Cordura, which I covered here. He was also quite the singer, scoring an early US and UK number one with ‘Young Love’ in 1957. Around this time, Hollywood had started to concoct stories and fake romances in order to keep him in the closet. It didn’t work.
Montgomery Clift and Tab Hunter’s sexualities were the subject of much gossip, mockery and pain and I wish Hollywood and the world had been kinder to them. I wish they could have experienced the joy of seeing themselves represented on screen in so many shows and films, like we do know. Clift’s death in 1966 came after a lifetime of heartache; Hunter died in 2018 with his husband of 35 years by his side.
I would love to have seen play queer characters and fully express themselves. Perhaps they could have played a couple in some sort of summer romance movie. An angsty one, of course, with lots of brooding going around. Or a Western! Red River is famously queer-coded, why not a sequel?
The Old Hollywood Garden 
So sad these actors had to lead double lives. I’m glad times have changed. I will have to check out more of Tab Hunter’s movies.
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Yes, an absolute shame. I’m happy Tab got to live his truth.
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I honestly didn’t notice TH when I watched “The Lawless”. May have to watch it again. At least I’ll have the pleasure of seeing Gail Russell if I do. 😊
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Oh, isn’t Gail Russell just great? Very underrated.
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To my eyes, she’s the most beautiful of all actresses. Some of her earliest performances were sort of painful, but I’d say by 1947 she had become a very fine actress. Very good in “The Lawless”. It’s tragically sad, however, that her road toward becoming a good actress also led her to alcoholism and early death. : (
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Yes, very tragic indeed. A heartbreaking Hollywood story if there ever was one.
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