Tab Hunter (1931-2018)
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 at 12:12AM by Nathaniel R
Tab at the beach in the early '50sApologies that we didn't say our goodbyes to one of Hollywood's best hunks, Tab Hunter, in a timelier fashion.
Tab's real name was Arthur Kelm but back in the studio days almost everyone got a catchier name to boost their celebrity appeal... and you can't really beat Tab Hunter for a memorable name, can you? (Sometimes we wonder why actors don't do that now. Benedict Cumberbatch as a stage name and so many actors use their real names even if their real name is long and hyphenated and hard to imagine on a marquee!).
Though born in New York his sun-kissed blonde beauty was a perfect fit for sunny California and Hollywood and he rose through the ranks quickly in films. Despite a few well regarded performances peppered throughout his career he was never considered a particularly strong actor and his fame diminished with time. Until recently but we'll get to that in a minute.
Tab Hunter and Dorothy Malone in "Battle Cry" from 1955, the year that made him a big star.
Yours truly first learned of him in the 1980s due to young me's obsession with Natalie Wood (my first actressexual fixation). The studio though they'd make a terrific onscreen couple and threw them together for back-to-back pictures in 1956 -- Burning Hills and The Girl He Left Behind -- because each had had big hits the year before. Teenage Natalie, already a star, was hot off of her first Oscar nomination for Rebel Without a Cause, ample proof that her child-star status would transfer well to adult stardom. Tab had had two huge hits in 1955 (Battle Cry and The Sea Chase). While his films didn't endure like Natalie's (with the arguable exception of Damn Yankees!), Warner Bros was passionate about his bankability...
I've always loved these promo pictures of The Girl He Left Behind. Yet another visual example of how much Natalie clearly loved the gays!
Tab wanted a third round with Natalie but didn't get the Tony part he wanted in West Side Story (1961). His career waned by the mid 60s and he turned to television and films made outside of Hollywood. But he's had two comebacks of a kind. In the 80s he was used very well multiple times for camp and nostalgia appeal by John Waters and other filmmakers; he's the flustered "Reproduction" teacher in Grease 2! Then in 2005 he came out, acknowleding that the career long rumors were true, and released his autobiography. Ten years later we got the entertaining documentary Tab Hunter: Confidential.
Tony & Tab were a couple in the mid 50s. Management didn't like it! That doc is currently streaming on Netflix and if you haven't yet seen it and love Old Hollywood, you really must. It's packed with interesting stuff about Tab's ever-evolving career (he really tried everything -- film, stage, tv, leaving Hollywood and coming back to it, etcetera). It's also a fascinating document of closeted actors in Old Hollywood delving into the fake studio-arranged romances and his real on again / off again relationship with fellow star Anthony Perkins (Psycho).
Goodbye beautiful man! Thanks for leaving the world a better place than you found it.
Reader Comments (8)
The book is also a terrific, quick read, all about beards and homophobia and Hollywood. I think I have only seen him "Grease 2" and "Polyester", but he was a quite pretty to look at
Rest in Peace
My first time with Tab Hunter was in Paul Bartel's Lust in The Dust in which he is sort of a parody of Clint Eastwood and is subject of dispute between Divine (yes, the one from John Waters films) and Lainie Kazan in a Western landscape. Then I went to discover the magnificent young man of movies like Damn Yankees and That Kind of Woman.
He was born in the wrong period, when the old star system was already bankrupt and the type of actor emerging changing. Actors without talent or of little talent or with a talent to be developed were perfect for the old studios age. Even more being as beautiful as he was. We can remember actors who had long contracts with studios with a similar profile in the cinema golden age (1930-1950).
They not only changed the names, they changed the actors' appearance, their biographies, dates of birth, they tested genres of films, they developed personas and a fashion style that the star would have also in personal life. And they interfered in the romantic life, preferring the contracted actors in relationship with each other, instead of with stars of other companies. I imagine how the careers of today's beautiful actors, good actors, like Zac Efron, Garrett Hedlund and Orlando Bloom would be, in the era of the great studios. The top photo summarizes what Tab Hunter appears to have been in life and was in his movies, sexy and cute at the same time.
Tab also released albums -- they are pre-rock American standards. He actually sang quite well. My favorite is "Beautiful Baby" which I once sampled in one dj event. The audience did not know who it was but liked how his voice gelled with an electronic jazz beat.
Because of my love for Linda Darnell I discovered him early while just a kid in his first role of any real size in Island of Desire. He was a sun-kissed God-with the unfortunate nickname of Chicken- but woefully uncomfortable in his acting (an opinion he shared according to his book though he spoke very warmly of Linda Darnell and the help she provided to ease his way)
Natalie and he made a pleasant team even if the films they made together are programmers that both disdained (they referred to The Girl He Left Behind as The Girl with the Left Behind) but I can't see him being any more of an acceptable Tony than Richard Beymer was even if he could carry a tune.
The documentary is terrific but I really loved the book more because of the depth if was able to go into. Both are worthwhile.
He seemed to have enjoyed his life rather fully even with the rough patches and was active up until the end. All in all not a bad run.
Tab had a face and body made for the movies . The documentary is a must watch for anyone interested in the Hollywood dream factory in the studio era and gay history- no too mention a chance to see this beautiful charming man who aged gracefully
A lot of today's actors would benefit from the studio system that manufactured Tab- yes they might have tried to control their stars private life- but the studios knew how to showcase their talent in the best possible way. Hunter's career floundered after he left Warner Brothers who replaced with another but much duller blonde hunk Troy Donahue. Hunter of course came back to co-star with Devine in John Water's "Polyester" (1981) an ironic twist for a gay man who was forced to stay in the closet at the peak of his career.
The documentary on his life showcased a very intelligent, articulate, grounded, charistmatic person with a fascinating past and an unrepentant present. It's too bad one of the studios didn't pick him up after he left Warners because there was a lot of untapped potential there. Also, not a bad singer. Be at peace, handsome.
The first movie that I saw Tab Hunter in was "Ride The Wild Surf. I remember that I was a Teenager and it was during the Summertime, on an early morning. I rememer that there used to be an 8:30 AM movie. Then another one which came on at 10:00AM. Then one more at 3:30PM. I didn't catch the beginning, as I remember the part when they were lighting the firecrackers on the beach. Somehow it caught my eye and I thought "oh wow" because not only had I not seen a movie like it, I had yet to learn that there was an entire genre of movies dubbed as "Beach Films", going back to the first "Gidget" movie. I don't know if "Operation Bikini" is considered a "Beach Film" but I'm sure planning on purchasing it soon. The only movie that might come close to that one, that I had seen about two months earlier was 'Elvis Presley's "Kissin' Cousins". Unfortunately Tab Hunter didn't do any other "Beach Films". What a shame because he sure was gorgeous and a natural blond too, to boot. Unfortunately by the time I saw any of those films that genre had been over for years. It may have been over but it was fresh to me. That Tab, oh he was so handsome. I think he was my first Celebrity Crush.