“Forgotten Hollywood”- What Lola Wanted…

Posted on July 9, 2018 by raideoman1 | No Comments

Manny P. here… 

“`Tab Hunter was the actor and singer who became a heartthrob for millions of teenagers in the 1950s with such films as Battle Cry and Damn Yankees!. And, decades later, Tab received newfound attention when revealing he was gay. The actor’s savvy timing of his announcement provided positive movement towards acceptance of the lifestyle by society.

“`Born Arthur Andrew Kelm, his on-screen moniker was fabricated by Henry Willson, a talent agent who imaged the personas of Rock Hudson and Rory Calhoun.  While visiting New York,  he saw Broadway plays and became interested in acting.  With no dramatic training, Hunter was hired for a small part in the drama, The Lawless. Soon, his handsome face and muscular build appeared on magazine covers. Warner Brothers, quite savvy to the increasingly important youth market, signed him to a contract.

“`He started appearing with top stars, including Van Heflin, Rita Hayworth, Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire, Natalie Wood, Clint Eastwood, and Debbie Reynolds, Tab’s big break was a lead in the 1958 musical, Damn Yankees!, an adaptation of the hit Broadway musical with Gwen Verdon and Ray Walston in their Tony-winning roles, and the original director, George Abbott, sharing direction with Stanley Donen.

“`His career involved stints on television, European flicks, and youth-oriented fare.  Ride the Wild Surf capitalized on the beach-party series of films. He garnered small parts in The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean and Grease 2. In the 1980s, he won new fans by appearing in cult movies with Divine, a 300-pound transvestite, most notably in John Waters’ Polyester and Paul Bartel’s Lust in the Dust, which was co-produced by Hunter.

“`The enigmatic Tab Hunter was 86.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Monday, July 9th, 2018 at 10:43 am and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


Bookmark this post:
Digg Del.icio.us Reddit Furl Google Bookmarks StumbleUpon Windows Live Technorati Yahoo MyWeb



Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.