Just recently we composed a theme devoted to the somewhat unsavory matter of suicide, based on Wikipedia’s long long long personal self-destruction listings. In slight contrast to the hackneyed expression about life being full of surprises, we quickly learned that so is death, considering how many famous names were thus identified without our previous awareness.
Being ever intrigued with new vistas to analyze, we then followed up by taking a look at Wikipedia’s even more extensive roster of confirmed gay gentlemen and lesbian ladies. To say we were astounded at times is one of those gross understatements for the ages – not only in respect to the huge unexpected quantity, but seeing many more specific individuals so categorized than we had remotely imagined.
According to Wikipedia, everyone shown as being on the gay or lesbian side is not exclusively oriented in that direction. The list actually includes any number of “both ways” venturers. On the other hand, those persons about whom mere rumor or innuendo has been put forward are expressly excluded. This rules out J. Edgar Hoover and his regular housemate Clyde Tolson, not to mention long term cohabitants Cary Grant and Randolph Scott, among others similarly suspected through sheer presumption.
Aside from the frequent “oh my gosh” and similar statements we uttered upon reviewing the roster, we couldn’t help but note the relative counts by field of occupational endeavor. The entertainment industry has amazingly produced the largest number of characters who’ve strayed across the supposed morality line, as either a full- or part-time practice. Whatever whys and wherefores brought about such conditions must remain a matter for our readers to resolve in their own minds. We’re not concerned here with conjectural reasoning, only cold numerical facts.
Our mini-list of nearly 150 readily recognizable people is headed by the actor/actress group, standing head, shoulders, torso, and waistline above all the rest. Even though the transgressive activities of Rock Hudson, Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, Jodie Foster, Farley Granger, Rosie O’Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, Tommy Kirk, Tallulah Bankhead, and a few others have been common knowledge for quite a while, we didn’t expect to find such roughshod, staunchly masculinish lads like Marlon Brando, Raymond (Perry Mason himself) Burr, Alec Guinness, and Laurence Olivier included. The same comment goes for the distaff side, with such names as Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, whose straightline bedroom affairs were a matter of public record, along with Kay Francis and the demure, matronly Spring Byington.
Moreover, what about male figures Dirk Bogard, Richard Chamberlain (TV’s Dr. Kildare), the strikingly handsome Montgomery Clift, the venerable John Gielgud, and Ramon Navarro of the first Ben Hur chariot race fame? Then there’s Robert Reed, the home-loving husband in the still-running Brady Bunch television series, rugged Latino gangster type Cesar Romero, David Ogden Stiers from M*A*S*H days, plus strong-willed character portrayers Monty Woolley and Clifton Webb.
Richard Deacon, comedy performer from the Dick Van Dyke show, appears on the list. So do the gifted James Dean, as well as Tab Hunter, Sal Mineo, and George Grizzard. We weren’t overly surprised about Paul Lynde, considering his effeminate on-screen mannerisms. Still, Alan Bates, Gene Raymond, and Anton Walbrook always impressed us as evidencing strict manliness.
British performers Denholm Elliott, Michael Redgrave, Dennis Price, John Inman, and the comedic Frankie Howerd’s presence startled us a bit, as did America’s Jack Cassidy, Richard Cromwell, and that lovable codger Will Geer. Nils Asther and Jack Smith round out the male actor array.
We registered some surprise at the inclusion of Nancy Kulp, the highly efficient, sex-starved Plain Jane from the Beverly Hillbillies series, and such more feminine types as Anne Heche, Drew Barrymore, and Angelica Jolie. We never expected Lily Tomlin, a true expert in sarcastic or semi-nut case characterization. The ladies’ roster closes with Alla Nazimova, whose stardom dates back to the 1920s.
Pop singers make up the next major entertainment complement. Elton John’s name wasn’t unexpected, nor were those of David Bowie and the sobbing vocalist Johnny Ray. However, Johnny Mathis’ presence gave us a jolt, especially due to his earlier outstanding track and field skills while attending San Francisco State.
Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, marvelous blues singers from the 1920s era, form part of the Butch crew. We already knew about k.d. lang, but Carmen McRae, Janis Joplin, Lesley Gore, Carly Simon, Joan Baez, and Dusty Springfield weren’t fully anticipated. Neither was the highly respected Ethel Waters or Paris’ entertainment sweetheart for many moons Josephine Baker.
Masterful word manipulator Lorenz Hart starts the composer/lyricist group, followed by Frederic Loewe, Aaron Copland, the inimitable Cole Porter, and Leonard Bernstein. The European continent gives us the His Magnificence Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Gian Carlo Menotti, plus England’s Benjamin Britten. There are three more men, namely Percy Grainger, Stephen Sondheim, and Michael Tilson Thomas, but no ladies in this sub-category.
The musician field gives us the coyly smiling, ring-adorned Liberace, whom we knew about all along, but not necessarily so for classical pianists Vladimir Horowitz and Van Cliburn. Jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton and Duke Ellington’s unmatchable arranger and keyboard artist Billy Strayhorn complete this portion of the list.
We finish off the entertainer crew with film directors George Cukor and Franco Zeffirelli, and two of the world’s most artful dancers, Rudolf Nureyev and the fabulous Isadora Duncan.
Next in line for numerical prominence come an impressive list of authors, dramatists, and poets, beginning with Truman Capote, whose mannerisms have always been a dead giveaway. His fellow literary gays include luminaries Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Thornton Wilder, and Tennessee Williams, not to mention Frenchmen Jean Genet, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Proust, and Cyrano de Bergerac, Ireland’s Brendan Behan, and Englishman Hugh Walpole, along with Americans Gore Vidal, William Inge, Edward Albee, James Baldwin, John Cheever, and Horatio Alger.
Writers focusing on more specialized matters include sex habits researcher Alfred Kinsey, world traveler and daredevil adventurer Richard Halliburton (one of our personal heroes for that), and British gay icon Quentin Crisp.
On the lesbian side of literary achievement we find Daphne du Maurier, who wrote Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, both subject pieces for Hitchcock movies, then the intriguing Gertrude Stein, Willa Cather, playwright Virginia Woolf (whose suicide method bordered on the fantastic, if anyone cares to look up the facts), Françoise Sagan, and smut writer Xaviera Hollander.
We can’t overlook the poets’ corner, whose homosexual makeup includes England’s romanticist Lord Byron, patriotism’s strong advocate Rupert Brooke, and A.E. Housman, with Americans Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson from the 19th century, followed by W.H. Auden, Hart Crane, and Allen Ginsberg from the 20th. The sole lesbian representative in this class is Katherine Lee Bates, lyricist of America the Beautiful.
What remains is a potpourri from various fields of endeavor, headed by artists Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo from the middle ages, and our modern Andy Warhol. Five athletes appear, chiefly male tennis star Bill Tilden and female court performers Helen Jacobs, Billie Jean King, and Martina Navratilova. Despite the requisite ruggedness for pro football action, David Kopay reigns as the sole representative from said sport.
We’ll finish off with a miscellany consisting of:
Fashion designers Christian Dior and Yves St. Laurent
U.S. Congressman Barney Frank
Former Rhodesian Prime Minister Iain Smith
Grossly unloved Senator Joe McCarthy’s legal sidekick Roy Cohn
Worldly renowned economist John Maynard Keynes
Alexander the Great
British Monarch Edward II, immortalized in Christopher Marlowe’s play
Ancient Roman Emperor Hadrian
France’s Marquis de Sade
American social reformer Jane Addams
Columnist Joseph Alsop
Lyndon Johnson’s deposed staffer Walter Jenkins
Beatles’ business manager Brian Epstein
Ex-Congressman Newt Gingrich’s daughter Candace
Serial murderer Jeffrey Dahmer
Chances are we may never fully recover from the numerous surprises experienced while perusing the Wikipedia list from end to end. Our biggest relief, however, stems from the fact that the names Errol Flynn and Frank Sinatra aren’t included. Had either one been the case, we’d most likely have done a series of frustration-motivated back flips and wound up in a completely knocked out condition.
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