I would go out occasionally to a cockail party,
and I was fascinated by all of what I saw there.
There were a few guys dancing with a few guys,
a couple of gals dancing with a couple gals.
It was just a party, and people were
dancing and having a good time.
Paries like this were illegal.
And the nex think I know the cops came in.
Doors burst open, there they were.
They were arresting a bunch of queers.
They took us down to the police station.
I thought, oh, my god, this is terrible.
I thought, what would my mother think of my being arrested?
Will it affect this career that I'm trying to get
stared in the motion pictures?
An attorney, Harry Weiss, appeared.
He was well known for taking care
of situations like that with many, many Hollywood people.
And he said, you've got to be a lot sharper than you are.
You're in Hollywood now.
You want to be an actor and really laid down the law to me.
And then I was released.
I had no idea it was going to jump up and be
thrown at me years later.
He's the young fellow you've been waiting for,
ladies and gentlemen, Tab Hunter.
MAN: Six feet of rugged manhood can
stir the hear of every woman.
Oh, my goodness, I'm fabbergasted!
Tab Hunter.
MAN: How do you shave, Tab'?
With Gillette Super Speed of course.
Tab Hunter!
You tell me where I can fne Tab Hunter.
Well, you do pretty good.
Gee, thanks.
MAN: What do you like about Tab Hunter?
Well, (LAUGHING) quite a few things.
MAN (SINGING): That clean cut, unaffected Tab Hunter.
GIRLS: Tab!
MAN (SINGING): That All-American boy.
Shocking, but true story of a young man who found himself
overwhelmed by a strange compulsion.
Hello, I'm Tab Hunter, and I've got a secret.
Well, I would never have talked about my personal life
in the 1950s.
Something the matter, kid?
What?
Oh, no.
No, not a thing.
TAB HUNTER: I obviously was very closeted.
And I'm sure it's a very diffcult thing
to think, what's the problem?
But there was a problem.
It's been very diffcult for me my whole life
talking about that side of me.
For me to come out of myself like this
and to share all of this is exremely diffcult.
I've never been as open as I am with you
because it's been written about and what the heck?
You know, I'm an old man.
You know, this my life-- big deal.
(mum-nus)
(mum-nus)
When I count three, will all of the ladies in the audience
please go, (SIGHING).
Tab, when I was young, when I frst saw him,
looked-- beside acting, he just was amazing looking.
Whoa, this was like a fying saucer landed looking
like that cute-- beautiful, California surfer,
handsome that every single girl or boy wanted to make out with.
GIRL: Are you Tab Hunter'?
Uh, yeah-- yeah.
I think I've died and gone to heaven.
Kids and the fans just gravitated to him
just like a magnet.
He was so popular, and so many people just thought he was it.
And he was.
(LAUGHING) I'll bet.
He was as big as they could come.
He had the star quality and he had the x-factor.
Mr. Tab Hunter- Tab.
And in every picture they managed to take his shir off.
(mum-nus)
(mum-nus)
Hey, kid!
Nobody could take their eyes off Tab Hunter.
He was the All-American boy, and nobody sold that image better.
He was the good-looking sailor, or he
was the good-looking Marine, and he was the good-looking Air
Force pilot.
I did so many military flms that I
was waiting for the government to send me a pension.
I mean, my gosh, I was in uniform all the time.
Cigarette?
I saw him in "Battle Cry."
He played a young Marine with Dorothy Malone.
They did have a love scene.
It caused a lot of comment at the studio.
Let's take a dip in the pool.
We can't have one of our young Marines having
an affair with a married woman.
Oh, really?
(mum-nus)
(mum-nus)
I think you're the most beautiful woman I've ever met.
What was the one he did was Sophia Loren'?
ANNOUNCER: "That Kind of Woman--"
"That Kind of Woman," yeah, and of course,
I adored her too, and I thought, ooh, what a couple.
He doesn't look old enough to drink.
I'm old enough to do anything,
With his charm and good looks and his magnetic presence,
he was the embodiment of youthful American masculinity.
Thank you very much and thank you.
There he goes, the eligible bachelor from Hollywood.
By now I'm used to Tab Hunter, of course,
after all these years.
I grew up as Ar Gelien.
I was born in 1931-- July, 11,1931.
My mother's name was Gerrude Gelien.
She was from Hamburg, Germany.
I always used to say she was a poor-man's Marlene Dietrich.
She had two children-- my older brother,
Walt, who was 11 months older than me.
My mother and father did not get along at all.
He was terribly abusive to her.
Once my mother left my father, it
was a lot of burden, a lot of stress
for a single woman raising two children in those days.
She was very strict.
One moment she could be very explosive,