I was shocked to learn that Raymond Burr (Perry Mason, Ironside, etc.) was most likely a homosexual. I didn’t know that Van Cliburn was homosexual until about 20 years ago. And I grew up in Fort Worth.
These are the types of “gays” that I can respect and be around. They are extremely private. I think it does their careers good.
Now, IF you are a Conservative in Hollywood you have to keep it to yourself. Or you will not get work. Except, maybe in a Clint Eastwood or Taylor Sheridan production.
I never knew about Raymond Burr. I heard that Cary Grant was a switch hitter. I also heard he was a tremendous alcoholic until he went through LSD therapy.
What surprised me was when I found out Little Joe(Bonaza) and Pa(Little House on the Prairie) was a chain smoker and alcoholic. He smoked four packs a day and was always drunk on set. Which led to an early death of Pancreatic cancer.
FYI, I still bring my lunch to work in an Alladin Bonaza 1968 lunch box. No, I don’t have the thermos.
Wasn't the fact he went to a homosexual Southern Baptist church a clue?
Word on the set was, “Don’t turn your back on Raymond Burr”.
I was shocked to learn that Raymond Burr (Perry Mason, Ironside, etc.) was most likely a homosexual. I didn’t know that Van Cliburn was homosexual until about 20 years ago. And I grew up in Fort Worth.
These are the types of “gays” that I can respect and be around. They are extremely private. I think it does their careers good.
I agree....it’s the ones who flaunt it that make me sick!
Good examples. My reference case has always been Jim Nabors. He was gay but, as far as I know, lived quietly and kept his private business private. Everyone knew he was gay. Nobody cared.
You may recall that he sang Back Home Again in Indiana at the Indianapolis 500 for many years, until he became too old to continue. He had a beautiful singing voice and he completely owned the song; this is the cover that most Hoosiers will still fondly recall today.
There was a one year break. Some idiot decided it was time to out Jim Nabors in the interests of normalizing homosexuality, and the people in charge of the 500 got nervous about how race fans would react. The apparent assumption — and it’s disappointing that the owners didn’t know better, but I guess too many decades of elite status had addled their brains — were afraid of what 300,000 drunken Hoosier rednecks might do when a gay man was introduced. They asked Nabors to step aside and brought in a ringer.
I was there that year, so I can tell you what 300,000 drunken Hoosier rednecks did when the replacement was introduced. Someone started a chant, “We Want Gomer, We Want Gomer.” It rolled in waves around the track. Gomer was back the next year, and remained until he got so feeble that he couldn’t even lip sync it anymore.
Jim Nabors never had any Indiana connection that I know of, aside from that annual appearance, and I don’t know how he first landed the gig. But I like to imagine that if he wasn’t properly Hoosierized before, he was fully baptised in Hoosier Hospitality that day and was one of us in spirit going forward. Of course, he broke out as an actor in Mayberry, North Carolina, and the USMC, so he was pretty well culturally acclimated to the real America.
It was well known in the acting community that Raymond Burr was gay. However, it was never public, by him or others. I can still respect his acting because he didn’t insist of pushing a gay agenda like today’s actors.