{"id":46653,"date":"2015-10-15T23:19:21","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T23:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owegopennysaver.com\/?p=46653"},"modified":"2015-10-17T23:24:38","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T23:24:38","slug":"tab-hunter-documents-his-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2015\/10\/15\/tab-hunter-documents-his-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Tab Hunter documents his life"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tab<\/a>

Tab and Natalie in The Girl He Left Behind – Warner Bros. (Photos provided by Tab Hunter)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Tab<\/a>

Tab Hunter.<\/p><\/div>\n

A decade after penning his best-selling 2005 autobiography, blonde-haired, blue-eyed 50s movie heartthrob Tab Hunter has transferred his life story to the big screen in the 90 minute documentary, \u201cTab Hunter Confidential.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been playing at film festivals this year to great reviews and this month will be opening in selected theaters around the country,\u201d said Hunter from his Santa Barbara home (see www.tabhunter.com for dates and locations).<\/p>\n

Originally from New York City, Hunter moved to California as a young boy with his mother. After his older brother taught him to ride at 12, horses would become Tab\u2019s life-long passion and indirectly lead the shy Catholic lad to Hollywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a stable boy with a shovel in my hands when I was noticed by Dick Clayton, James Dean’s agent,\u201d said Hunter, who found himself marooned on a deserted island with glamorous Linda Darnell in 1952\u2019s \u201cIsland of Desire,\u201d his first major feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cLinda was a Texas beauty and a huge star at the time. I was shaking with nerves when I had to kiss her during the screen test,\u201d Hunter recalled. \u201cBut she just said \u2018relax, I\u2019m good luck for new comers\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within a few years, after freelancing before signing with Warner Bros., Hunter was sharing top billing with leading ladies such as Natalie Wood, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner, and co-starring with actors such as Fred Astaire, Robert Mitchum and John Wayne.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly a few years earlier, I was admiring them from a movie theater seat,\u201d said Hunter. \u201cSuddenly, I was working with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Tab<\/a>

Tab Hunter Confidential movie poster.<\/p><\/div>\n

In the 1959 western \u201cThey Came to Cordura,\u201d Hunter worked with Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth, who Hunter remembers as a quiet beauty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought she was rather introverted and when you met her, you just wanted to put your arms around her and hold her. There was just something very touching about her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The movie, however, was catastrophic for co-star Dick York who suffered a severe back injury while filming. It would later force him to leave the \u201cBewitched\u201d TV series in 1969 and eventually end his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened towards the end of shooting when we were on a railroad handcart between St. George (Utah) and Las Vegas,\u201d recalled Hunter. \u201cBut he was a professional. I think he wore a brace to finish and had the support of everyone to get him through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunter also launched a musical career at the height of his fame after his 1957 hit \u201cYoung Love\u201d reached number 1 on the US music charts.<\/p>\n

\u201cI recorded it on a Saturday and when I heard it on the car radio the following week, I almost hit a palm tree on Sunset Blvd.,\u201d he recalled. But studio head Jack Warner wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe read me the riot act saying \u2018we own you for everything.\u2019 When I pointed out Warner\u2019s didn\u2019t have a recording company he said \u2018we do now\u2019 and he created Warner Bros. Records.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Hunter\u2019s star dimmed once he reached his 30s, he continued to work into the 1980s and experienced success again with the comedy \u201cPolyester\u201d and the western spoof \u201cLust in the Dust.\u201d<\/p>\n

A private person throughout his career, Hunter publicly acknowledged for the first time in his book and subsequent documentary that he has been gay all his life.<\/p>\n

Today, the 84-year-old actor remains pragmatic about his revelation.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always want to label you and I hate labels,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve never been comfortable in the public eye or discussing my private life. But life\u2019s a journey we are all on and I wanted to tell my complete story. What\u2019s important on that journey is the kind of person you are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 600 magazines and newspapers. Follow @TinseltownTalks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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