Tab Hunter, the actor who found fame in the 1950s as a Hollywood heartthrob but who was forced to cover up his gay sexuality, has died aged 86. A Facebook account for Tab Hunter Confidential, a recently released documentary about him, posted the news, but did not give a cause of death.
Born Arthur Andrew Kelm in 1931, Hunter broke into movies in the 1950 film noir The Lawless after a spell in the coastguard as a teenager: he was given his screen alias by agent Henry Willson, who specialised in the pretty-boy “beefcake” stars of the time, such as Rock Hudson, Chad Everett, and Troy Donahue.
Having made an impression in his swimming trunks in Island of Desire, Hunter became one of the last studio contract players, after signing a seven year deal with Warner Bros. He starred as Joe Hardy in the 1958 musical Damn Yankees! and was paired twice with fellow contract star Natalie Wood in The Burning Hills and The Girl He Left Behind. Hunter also scored a number one hit in 1957 with Young Love.
However, he was forced to disguise his sexual orientation and relationships with Anthony Perkins, star of Psycho, and figure skater Ronnie Robertson. After years of innuendo and gossip column speculation – including a notorious story in scandal sheet Confidential magazine that he had attended a “pajama party” – he came out in his 2005 autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star.
As the counter-culture gathered steam in the 1960s, Hunter’s clean-cut appeal dropped from favour, though he did appear in small roles in films such as Evelyn Waugh satire The Loved One (1965), spaghetti western Vengeance is My Forgiveness (1968), the Roger Corman produced thriller Sweet Kill (1972), and Paul Newman western The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972). TV proved a fertile environment, with The Tab Hunter Show premiering in 1960 followed by a string of TV movies.
A career revival of sorts was triggered by his casting in Polyester, the hitherto-underground John Water’s 1981 paean to all things cheesy-50s; Hunter starred alongside Waters regulars Divine and Mink Stole. Hunter followed it up with Lust in the Dust, a comedy western directed by Paul Bartel.
In 2015, Hunter’s autobiography was turned into a documentary, Tab Hunter Confidential, by Jeffrey Schwarz; it was produced by Hunter’s longterm partner Allan Glaser, who survives him.
