1950s film star, teen heartthrob was later ‘happy to be forgotten’
Actor and singer Tab Hunter, whose blond, all-American good looks made him a matinee idol and poster boy for Eisenhower-era optimism, has died. He was 86.
Just three days shy of his 87th birthday, the 1950s heartthrob went into cardiac arrest on Sunday after a blood clot in his leg travelled to his lung, said Allan Glaser, Hunter’s husband of 35 years, describing his death as “sudden and unexpected.”
Born Arthur Gelien on July 11, 1931, in New York City, Hunter moved with his family to California after his mother divorced her abusive husband.
He was a shy introvert who nevertheless sang in the church choir and was a competitive figure skater. Shamed by a priest at 15 when he confessed his homosexuality, he lied about his age to join the U.S. Coast Guard. And when his age got him discharged, Hunter then moved to Los Angeles, where he was while working as a stablehand. An agent came up with a new name, and Tab Hunter made his film debut in the 1950 western The Lawless. In 1952, he earned his first starring role in Island of Desire.
Hunter’s career took off almost immediately, earning him roles as servicemen who mesmerize the women around him.
Hunter auditioned 10 times for the role that made him a marquee star, the 1955 military drama Battle Cry. It was a box office success that earned him a seven-year contract with Warner Bros.
Around the same time, his recording of “Young Love” knocked Elvis Presley from the No. 1 spot on the charts.
Meanwhile, Hunter hid his relationships with championship skater Ronnie Robertson and actor Anthony Perkins. He was arrested when police raided a gay house party, but the studio scuttled the story. Publicly, he was romantically linked to Natalie Wood and French actress Etchika Choureau.
By the late 1950s, Hunter enjoyed critical success with starring roles in That Kind of Woman, Gunman’s Walk and the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Damn Yankees. Convinced he could pursue a more satisfying career outside Warner’s control, he bought out his contract. But Hunter’s career never recovered from that bold move. He spent the 1960s in a short-lived TV sitcom and typecast in B-movies to pay the bills.
Though Hunter landed a costarring role opposite Paul Newman in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean in 1972, he spent much of that decade touring non-stop with a dinner theatre troupe.
The rigours of that life wore him out, and he stopped after a heart attack.
In 1981, camp director John Waters called Hunter with an offer: to play drag star Divine’s love interest in an outrageous comedy called Polyester. The quirky film was a hit and revived Hunter’s career.
A year later, he appeared as a substitute biology teacher in Grease 2 and in 1985, he and Divine co-starred in Paul Bartel’s western Lust in the Dust.
After that, Hunter withdrew from public life. Glaser said that Hunter was a religious man who worked with animals and paralyzed veterans. “He was a tremendous human being. If he could do anything to better someone else’s life, he would,” Glaser said.
In his later years, Hunter was often quoted as saying, “I am happy to be forgotten.”