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Biography
Cleanup-rewrite|date=May 2010Infobox person| name = Tab Hunter| image = TabHunterApr10.jpg| caption = Hunter in April 2010| birth_name = Arthur Andrew Kelm| birth_date = Birth date and age|1931|7|11|mf=yes| birth_place = New York City|New York , United States | other_names =| occupation = Actor , writer, singing|singer | years_active = 1952–1996| spouse =| partner = Allan Glaser (1982–present)cite news| url= http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/18/fashion/sundaystyles/18tab.html | work=The New York Times | title=Did Success Spoil Tab Hunter? | first=William L. | last=Hamilton | date=September 18, 2005 | accessdate=April 9, 2010| website = http://www.tabhunter.com Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm ; July 11, 1931) is an American actor, singer, former teen idol and author who has starred in over forty major films.
Background
Hunter was born in New York to Charles Kelm and Gertrude Gelien. His parents were German immigrants - his father Jewish and his mother Lutheran.cite news| url= http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/movies/star-s-real-life-upstages-his-films-tab-hunter-looks-back-sadness-success-ahead.html | work=The New York Times | first=Bernard | last=Weinraub | title=A Star's Real Life Upstages His Films; Tab Hunter Looks Back on Sadness and Success and Ahead to a Book | date=September 9, 2003 Hunter's father was an abusive man and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced and his mother moved with her two sons to California.Citation needed|date=May 2010 She reassumed her maiden surname Gelien and changed her sons' name to that as well. As a teenager Hunter was a figure skating|figure skater ,cite book | first= John | last= Tobler | year= 1992 | title= NME Rock 'N' Roll Years | edition= 1st | publisher= Reed International Books Ltd | location= London | page= 38 | id= CN 5585 competing in both single skating|singles and pair skating|pairs , and a horseback rider.Citation needed|date=May 2010 He joined the Coast Guard at the age of fifteen, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty.cite web|url= http://www.uscg.mil/history/faqs/Tab_Hunter.asp |title=Tab Hunter at Coast Guard History
In later years Hunter's mother was institutionalized and underwent shock treatments, and he supported her financially until her death.Citation needed|date=May 2011
Career
Arthur Gelien was given the stage name "Tab Hunter" by his first agent, Henry Willson . The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson by Robert Hofler, published by Carroll & Graf, 2005, ISBN 0-7867-1607-X His good looks landed him a role in the film Island of Desire opposite Linda Darnell . However, it was his co-starring role as young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry (film)|Battle Cry , in which he has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door, that cemented his position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. His other hit films include The Burning Hills with Natalie Wood , That Kind Of Woman with Sophia Loren, ''Gunman's Walk With Van Heflin and The Pleasure Of His Company with Debbie Reynolds He went on to star in over forty major films and became a cult star in the 1980s appearing in "Lust in the Dust", "Polyester" and "Grease 2".
In September 1955, the tabloid magazine Confidential (magazine)|Confidential reported Hunter's 1950 arrest for disorderly conduct. The innuendo-laced article, and a second one focusing on Rory Calhoun 's prison record, were the result of a deal Henry Willson had brokered with the scandal rag in exchange for not revealing his more prominent client Rock Hudson 's sexual orientation to the public. Not only was there no negative effect on Hunter's career, but a few months later he was named Most Promising New Personality in a nationwide poll sponsored by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star by Tab Hunter with Eddie Muller, published by Algonquin Books, 2005, pp. 116-118 ISBN 1-56512-466-9 In 1956 he received 62,000 Valentines. Hunter, James Dean and Natalie Wood were the last of the actors placed under exclusive studio contract to Warner Bros.
Hunter had a 1957 hit record with the song " Young Love (1956 song)|Young Love ", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 record chart|chart for six weeks and became one of the larger hits of the Rock n' Roll era. . He also had the hit "Ninety-Nine Ways", which peaked at #11. His success prompted Jack Warner to enforce the actor's contract with the Warner Bros. studio by banning Dot Records , the label for which Hunter had recorded the single (and which was owned by rival Paramount Pictures ), from releasing a follow-up album he had recorded for them. He established Warner Bros. Records specifically for Hunter.
Hunter starred in the 1958 musical film Damn Yankees (film)|Damn Yankees , in which he played Joe Hardy of Washington D.C 's American League baseball club. The film had originally been a Broadway theatre|Broadway show, but Hunter was the only one in the film version who had not appeared in the original cast. The show was based on the 1954 best-selling book The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop . Hunter later said the filming was hellish because director George Abbott was only interested in re-creating the stage version word for word. Hunter was Warner Bros. top money grossing star from 1955 through 1959.
Hunter's failure to win the role of Tony in the film adaptation of West Side Story (film)|West Side Story prompted him to agree to star in a weekly television situation comedy|sitcom . On July 9, 1960, prior to the program's debut, he was arrested by Glendale, California police for allegedly beating his dog Fritz. His 11-day trial started in mid-October, a month after The Tab Hunter Show debuted on Sunday evenings on NBC . It was proved that the neighbor who initiated the charges had done so for spite when Hunter declined her repeated invitations to dinner, and he was acquitted by the jury. Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star , pp. 227-235 The Tab Hunter Show had moderate ratings (due to being scheduled opposite The Ed Sullivan Show) and was hence cancelled after one season, however it was a huge hit in the UK where it ranked as one of the top situation comedies of the year.
For a short time in the latter 1960s, Hunter settled in the south of France , where he acted in spaghetti western s. His career was revived in the 1980s, when he starred opposite actor Glen Milstead|Divine in John Waters (filmmaker)|John Waters ' Polyester (film)|Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel 's Lust in the Dust (1985). He is particularly remembered by later audiences as Mr. Stewart, the substitute teacher in Grease 2 , who sang "Reproduction." Hunter had a major role in the 1988 horror film '' Cameron's Closet . He also wrote and starred in Dark Horse (1992 film)|Dark Horse (1992).
A documentary about Tab's life called "Tab Hunter Confidential" is being developed by producers Allan Glaser, Neil Koenigsberg, and Jeffrey Schwarz of Automat Pictures .
In January 2012, Tab Hunter appeared opposite Joyce DeWitt in A. R. Gurney 's play Love Letters (play)|Love Letters at Judson Theatre Company in Pinehurst, North Carolina.
Personal life
Hunter's 2006 autobiography , Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star became a New York Times best-seller as did the paperback version in 2007. It is still currently in publication and was nominated for several prestigious writing awards. In the book he acknowledged his homosexuality , confirming rumors that had circulated since the height of his fame. According to William L. Hamilton of The New York Times , detailed reports about his alleged romances with very close friends Debbie Reynolds and Natalie Wood were strictly the fodder of studio publicity departments. As Wood and Hunter embarked on a well-publicized and groundless romance, promoting his apparent heterosexuality while promoting their films, insiders developed their own headline for the item: 'Natalie Wood and Tab Wouldn't'.See William L. Hamilton, "Did Success Spoil Tab Hunter? " The New York Times , September 18, 2005.
Hunter did become close enough with Etchika Choureau, his co-star in Lafayette Escadrille , and Joan Cohn, widow of Harry Cohn , to contemplate marriage, but thought he never could maintain a marriage and remained merely platonic friends with both women.
During Hollywood's studio era, Hunter says, life "was difficult for me, because I was living two lives at that time. A private life of my own, which I never discussed, never talked about to anyone. And then my Hollywood life, which was just trying to learn my craft and succeed..." The star emphasizes that the word 'gay' "wasn't even around in those days, and if anyone ever confronted me with it, I'd just kinda freak out. I was in total denial. I was just not comfortable in that Hollywood scene, other than the work process."See Tim Parks, "The many lives of Tab Hunter" Gay and Lesbian Times , December 15, 2005. "There was a lot written about my sexuality, and the press was pretty darn cruel," the actor says, but what "moviegoers wanted to hold in their hearts were the boy-next-door marines, cowboys and swoon-bait sweethearts I portrayed."
Hunter had long-term relationships with actor Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronald Robertson (figure skater)|Ronnie Robertson , before settling down with his partner of 30 years, Allan Glaser.cite news|url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/06/AR2005100601518_pf.html|title="The Celluloid Closet", October 9, 2005|publisher=washingtonpost.com|accessdate=January 7, 2009 | first=Louis | last=Bayard
Hunter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at Hollywood Boulevard|6320 Hollywood Blvd.
Filmography
div col|cols=2
The Lawless (1950)
Island of Desire (1952)
Gun Belt (1953)
The Steel Lady (1953)
Return to Treasure Island (1954 film)|Return to Treasure Island (1954)
http://vimeo.com/4768984 2009 Half-Hour TV Interview on The Creative Community
Persondata|NAME= Hunter, Tab |ALTERNATIVE NAMES= Kelm, Arthur Andrew |SHORT DESCRIPTION= |DATE OF BIRTH= 1931-7-11 |PLACE OF BIRTH= New York City , New York , United States|USA |DATE OF DEATH= |PLACE OF DEATH= DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Tab Category:1931 births Category:American film actors Category:American stage actors Category:American television actors Category:American male singers Category:Gay actors Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Jewish descent Category:Living people Category:Actors from New York Category:People from New York City Category:LGBT people from the United States Category:Dot Records artists
