In his 1976 autobiography, Marlon Brando: The Only Contender, the late actor raised eyebrows by telling journalist Gary Carey, "Homosexuality is so much in fashion, it no longer makes news" (via Newsweek ). He went on to proudly boast, "Like a large number of men, I, too, have had homosexual experiences, and I am not ashamed. I have never paid much attention to what people think about me."
And Tyrnauer should know: His film profiled L.A. personality Scotty Bowers, who reportedly acted as a "confidante, friend, and pimp for Hollywood's closeted movie stars.". The threat of exposure was real and ever-present for these entertainers.
In October 2016, Vanity Fair effectively "outed" Boys Town actor Spencer Tracy by publishing an excerpt of the book, Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn, by William J. Mann. It was Scotty Bowers — the aforementioned "pimp for Hollywood's closeted movie stars" (via NPR ) — who first shared this particular piece of gossip with the author. Bowers claimed Tracy was one of several stars he "serviced" out of a gas station located on Hollywood Boulevard and North Van Ness Avenue, and he swore he slept with Tracy "on numerous occasions."
Although Psycho star Anthony Perkins was married to photographer Berry Berenson and had two children (via Entertainment Weekly ), he was reportedly "carrying on" with fellow actor Tab Hunter, as reported by BuzzFeed . This claim comes from artist Don Bachardy, who talked to author Charles Winecoff for the biography, Split Image: The Life of Anthony Perkins.
Marlene Dietrich had a lot more in common with Greta Garbo than a European accent and a career as an entertainer. The German cabaret singer and Touch of Evil star had a fondness for the same sex, and in a way, it makes perfect sense that the pair allegedly embarked on a secretive affair. In The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood (via The New York Times ), journalist Diana McLellan alleges that their relationship ended so poorly that Garbo "refused to acknowledge Dietrich's existence for the rest of their lives." Essentially, the star pulled a total Mariah Carey and pretended they had never met, even though they both also reportedly had relationships with poet Mercedes de Acosta and writer Erich Maria Remarque at the same time.
If reports are to be believed, North by Northwest star Cary Grant swung both ways. According to the documentary, Women He's Undressed, Grant used to shack up in "a Greenwich Village love nest" with Australian costume designer Orry-Kelly (via the New York Post ). That documentary — and Orry-Kelly's memoir on which it's based — paints Grant as a former vaudeville star who was forced to repress his sexuality in order to conform to the homophobic Hollywood studio system.
On the 30th anniversary of Rock Hudson's death on Oct. 2, 1985, People magazine interviewed Lee Garlington, a "retired stockbroker" who reportedly dated the legendary leading man between 1962 and 1965. "He was a sweetheart," Garlington said, claiming the romance blossomed from the moment their eyes first met. Hudson and Garlington would regularly attend film premieres together, and they always had female dates firmly affixed to their arms. "Nobody in their right mind came out," Garlington told the magazine. "It was career suicide. We all pretended to be straight."