Celebrity Biographies
tabhunter
He starred with John Wayne in “The Fox of the Oceans” and took part in numerous titles such as “Burning Hills”, “The Island of Desire”, “The Wages of Violence”, or “Polyester”. He died at his residence in Montecito (California) on July 8, 2018, when he had three days left to turn 87, as confirmed to The New York Times by his sentimental partner, Allan Glaser, who declares that he suffered a blood clot that climbed from a leg to a lung.
Born on July 11, 1931, New Yorker Arthur Andrew Kelm was the son of German immigrants. After being part of the Coast Guard for a few years, he began his journey in the cinema in 1950, changing his real name to Tab Hunter , at the suggestion of his first agent, after signing an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. . He soon became a teen idol after starring in Wish Island , opposite Linda Darnell , where he played a marine trying to survive with a nurse in the Pacific during World War II. He was other soldiers in the same fight in Beyond Tears , and in The Fox of the Oceans. She was on the run from the family of outlaws who had murdered his brother in Burning Hills , where he shared the screen with Natalie Wood .
He was at the height of popularity in 1956, when he received 62,000 Valentine’s Day cards. However, he clashed with studio executives when he tried to get them to buy the rights to the novel “The Prize for Success”, to such an extent that they ended up terminating his contract, and replacing him with another hottie, Troy Donahue . From that moment, his career sank, as titles for other companies, such as Hostile Guns or Dying Doesn’t Matter They did not have the same repercussion, especially due to the arrival of the Actor’s Studio generation, when more importance began to be given to the acting qualities than to the physique of the actors. He went on to have his own television show, The Tab Hunter Show, for a year, and succeeded as a singer with songs like “Young Love,” which topped the charts in 1957, during the rock’n’roll effervescence. .
In the 80s he resurfaced with Polyester , by John Waters , where he plays a leading man who charms a housewife, played by Divine , the director’s fetish actress. Shortly after, he was a substitute teacher in Grease 2 , an unworthy sequel to the great musical success of the 70s, where he takes advantage of his gifts for singing.
His homosexuality led to the 2015 Netflix documentary Tab Hunter Confidential , based on his autobiography. A few weeks before his death, JJ Abrams and Zachary Quinto announced that they will produce the feature film Tab & Tony , which will tell of his gay romance with Anthony Perkins , in 1950s Hollywood.