Hollywood Gays (35 page)

A: I don’t imagine. But a body could read between the lines....

Q: Like when a westerner was described as a “confirmed bachelor”?

A: Yup. (Chuckles.) But no more Gary Cooper questions.

Q: How about Noël Coward? Was he a very good friend of yours?

A: He was a friend of Cary’s and became my friend too.

Q: Do you think the fact that he didn’t do a contractual marriage was because: (a) he was British and worked there, or (b) he was theatre rather than movies, or (c) he wasn’t only an actor?

A: Hunh! I’ll pick the easy one: (d) all of the above.

Q: It’s a good answer. But which one factor do you think most allowed him to last without a wife?

A: Let me...ponder. Unusual topic, this, but I don’t mind as much as....I think the most important thing was that the gent wasn’t an actor. First off, he was a writer, could always write for a living.

Q: On the other hand, a surprising number of Hollywood leading men and successful actors never took wives. Do you think such men simply had more guts or integrity?

A: What do you figure?

Q: Yes. Obviously I’m talking about non-heterosexual men.

A: If a man is for men, and it’s in most walks of life, I can buy that. Why fool somebody into your own life for appearances’ sake?

Q: But as you know, many such marriages are pre-planned, in show business.

A: We’ve all heard, yes.

Q: Was there pressure on you or Cary Grant to wed, in the ‘30s?

A: (Chuckles.) Believe it or not, there was a time when the studios didn’t want their hot properties to marry. It could have diminished their marquee value with the fans. We all heard tell of certain actresses, the “It” girls, with clauses in their contracts that they couldn’t become pregnant. So we heard. I never got to see or read such a contract.

Q: You wouldn’t get to. But after you and Grant, or Cary, had been together some time, wasn’t there pressure?

A: When said properties get on a bit in years, there is pressure, more pressure for a star who’s foreign-born. There were plenty of foreign-born ones then.

Q: You personally didn’t have much pressure?

A: Less than some.

Q: It’s said Paramount eventually got you two to stop cohabiting.

A: Is that so.... I’d prefer a different line of questioning—do you mind? (But smiles.)

Q: Of course. Do you think Cary Grant wants to be knighted?

A: By the Queen?

Q: By her.

A: (Chuckles.) I don’t think “Sir Cary” sounds quite right, do you? But who knows?

Q: “Sir Archibald” sounds more authentic.

A: Too late for that now, I’d say.

Q: Do you two keep in touch?

A: We, uh, don’t live on separate continents.

Q: I’ve heard more than once that Cary Grant was very close to Howard Hughes, yet Hughes discovered you, not him.

A: (Laughs.) I don’t know that there was ever anything to discover. It wasn’t a classic Hollywood scenario or anything like that. Just that one time on a golf course, he commented on my looks and said I should get into the movies. I don’t imagine he saw any outstanding talent in me.

Q: I think he was more impressed by what he could see. He also promoted Jane Russell, who has said that despite their much-publicized association or “relationship,” as the media prefer it, it was platonic.

A: Do you know Miss Russell?

Q: No, we have mutual friends in Montecito, a suburb of Santa Barbara, which is partly where I grew up. Was Howard Hughes bisexual?

A: You should go straight to the source.

Q: The source always proclaims he’s straight, quote-unquote. Besides, this one is dead.

A: Well, that’s that. We’ll never know.

Q: Some of you already do. Besides, a person being deceased doesn’t mean one will never know if they were heterosexual, homosexual, or both. You know what Noël Coward—Sir Noël—told me in Switzerland?

A: You have a home there?

Q: No, a cousin.

A: Do you speak the language?

Q: They have four official languages. I speak three, though Swiss German is very different from German German.

A: Like English and American.

Q: Like Sir Noël speaking English, compared to, say, [former Republican Senator] Jesse Helms. You went to college in North Carolina?

A: Yup. University of North Carolina.

Q: Engineering? (Nods.) But you gave it up for Hollywood, where Gary Cooper was.

A: (Laughs.) Yes, I did. Not necessarily for that reason.

Q:
Captain Kidd
(1945) was an interesting movie. I like most pirate movies—and the parrots, always. You do know your costars Charles Laughton and Henry Daniell had crushes on you?

A: (Laughs briefly.) Who says?

Q: Noël Coward did. Laughton told him.

A: Laughton was the real star of the picture.

Q: You were the hero. Mr. Mercy, correct?

A: Correct. Henry Daniell, eh? (Chuckles.)

Q: He was gay too, played the villain. Didn’t you know?

A: (Grins.) I knew. And he
always
played the villain. Mr. Laughton could go either way... cinematically speaking.

Q: If memory serves, you had a serving boy, or valet, named Cary?

A: Yes. I remember the first name, not the last. Or was it Gary? Hmm. Anyhow, Cary, the character, was my valet. And after I got all wet, he attended to me. But what you can’t know—I’m sure you want to know (grinning)—is that the logical thing would have been for him to towel me dry. (Pause.)

Q: To towel you off?

A: (Smiles.) That’s right. But our director, Rowland Lee, thought otherwise. Censorship, potential problems—if Cary toweled me off....

Q: And what went through your mind about Cary doing the job for you?

A: Something personal. But there it is. When there’s censorship, the mind sometimes does some sexy wandering, trying to outthink the fellows with the dirty minds! (Grins.)

Q: I regret I’ve never seen the 1935
She
with you in it. I have seen and much enjoyed the 1965 British remake.

A: Much better-looking actors anyway.

Q: No, you were stunning. Although the 1965 version had two gorgeous leads, Ursula Andress and John Richardson. She’s Swiss.

A: He’s not terribly good of an actor, but he’s one of the handsomest men. The English accent’s also very sexy.

Q: Yes. Did Cary Grant sound more British way back when?

A: (Laughs.) I don’t remember.

Q: It’s been said that you looked forty-something for decades.

A: Hopefully after I turned 40?

Q: Of course. You played a very convincing young sailor in one of the Astaire-Rogers musicals in the mid 1930s (
Follow the Fleet
, 1936).

A: Thanks. You liked
Ride the High Country?

Q: It’s become a cult film, to some. Oh, redundant. It’s a superior western, beautiful scenery.

A: Great scenery. How did I look?

Q: Very good. As lean as ever. Do you ever overeat?

A: Not usually.

Q: Did I hear or read that Howard Hughes was a friend of your family?

A: I’d rather talk about, but not dwell on,
Ride the High Country
.

Q: It’s since been recognized as outstanding in its genre, but at the time, MGM treated it as a programmer or a B-movie. Was that a shock or disappointment to you?

A: Yes. But that’s not why I withdrew (from movies).

Q: Why did the studio dump it? Westerns were big then.

A: (Clears throat.) I imagine it kind of had to do with me and Joel McCrea. Joel and me. We weren’t young, and Hollywood may throw testimonials for the old-timers, but it doesn’t much believe in them. Or accord them very much respect.

Q: Well, the following year,
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane
? was a surprise hit though Warner Brothers hadn’t accorded Davis or Crawford much belief or respect. I think they were referred to, in their fifties, as “broken-down old broads.”

A: Our picture didn’t have any extrinsic (sic) shock value, so it didn’t do so good as theirs did. Or as well. (Grins widely.)

Q: Were you looking forward to more leisure, and a country-club lifestyle?

A: Anyhow, it was time for a change. I could see everything was going young (on the screen), but mostly I lost interest.

Q: Why were country clubs, right in Los Angeles, so bigoted, and also biased against actors?

A: Old-fashioned, I reckon.

Q: Old-fashioned toward actors, and hateful toward all minority groups. Who’d want to be a part of that milieu?

A: Plenty of rich folks.

Q: Published accounts make it sound like you had to renounce your acting past, as though you’d belonged to some undesirable political party or something, instead of having been a successful actor and star.

A: It’s just different requirements.

Q: Is it true on your application papers you had to change your profession from “actor” to “oil investor”?

A: (Chuckles.) That’s kind of personal.

Q: Apart from the renowned religious and racial bias of so many upper-crust country clubs, I’ll bet they’re mighty homophobic.

A: Well, that’s off-limits.

Q: You mean being a gay country-club member?

A: (Smiles.) You’re a rocket. Maybe if a body’s bisexually inclined, they’ll give him an associate membership.

Q:
If
he’s a non-thespian.

A: Ouch. A bit harsh.

Q: They are.

A: Any other questions? It’s drawing short.

Q: What makes you laugh?

A: People’s pretensions.

Q: As in Hollywood or country clubs?

A: Off-limits.

Q: Who in movies do you particularly admire?

A: Anybody that’s pleased with what he’s done.

Q: The fact that you’re one of the richest men in show business, perhaps the richest ex-actor, does that count more with you than the almost 100 films?

A: Eh-heh (makes an embarrassed sound). It...sure gives me more security. (Chuckles.)

Q: Do you think you or Cary Grant has—I was given this question—discovered the secret of perpetual youth?

A: My goodness. Well, not I. Maybe Cary has. I just think it’s better to forget you ever were... were one—a youth. Don’t compare yourself now with yourself young. No good.

Q: No good can come of that?

A: Just regret. Even bitterness.

Q: And if you’re here now, it means you’ve survived.

A: Well, there’s a difference. A lot of it’s luck. There’s surviving in comfort and relative good health, and by comfort I mean no financial hardships. Or, at the other end, surviving and just hanging on in hardship or pain, even both. I wouldn’t want that.

Q: So has luck played the major part in your life?

A: In my life? That’s kind of personal....

Q: But you’re a public figure.

A:
Was.
In my career, luck had most everything to do with it. I can’t lay claim to too much of what came my way. The looks, I came with, the money, we had—of course, I augmented it, but that makes for a boring speech and we’re just about out of time. You know, I was warned about you, and yet I’ve enjoyed it. It’s been stimulating, in a nice way. A practical way. It’s been nice comparing notes with you.

Q: Thank you, likewise. I’ll definitely be viewing more of your movies, and enjoying them, I’m sure. I already have
Go West, Young Man
on videotape, but—

A: (Chuckles.) A Mae West fan?

Q: Who?

A: (Laughs.) That’s what I like to hear. I don’t need it to survive, but it’s pleasing to hear. You know, it was all so long ago now. You weren’t even near to being born. Most folks weren’t. (Shakes head in amazement.)