The Golden Age of Hollywood gave us many of the biggest icons of the 20th Century. But did you know the film industry’s queer culture existed even before that famous HOLLYWOODLAND sign went up in 1923, and half of Tinseltown kept their identities a secret to safeguard their careers? So, here are some Old Hollywood stars you probably didn’t know were LGBTQ. You might know some, but we guarantee some intriguing surprises.
James Dean
James Dean was a Hollywood Giant who forever changed pop culture as the first true Rebel Without a Cause. Jimmy only made three films before tragically losing his life in his Porsche Spider in 1955. He was 24. While Dean dated women, including Natalie Wood, rumors he was gay circulated in his heyday and persist today.
Several authors claim James Dean was involved with Rogers Brackett, the advertising executive. More shockingly, Jimmy’s friend Stanley Taggart insisted the star had an affair with fellow rebel Marlon Brando.
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando married four women, and some claim he fathered 17 children. However, in addition to his alleged affair with James Dean, the Hollywood heavyweight reportedly had encounters with Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, Sir John Gielgud, and even Bob Dylan.
In 1976, Brando told a French journalist that he had been with men but stated, “I am not ashamed.” In a later Vulture interview, composer Quincy Jones said Brando also slept with James Baldwin, Marvin Gaye, and one very famous comedian…
Elizabeth Taylor
Though Elizabeth Taylor married eight times to seven men — including doomed soulmate Richard Burton twice — she’s alleged to have had relations with Marilyn Monroe. But that’s not the reason she became a celebrated gay icon.
The English actress is loved for her dedicated and passionate activism regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Liz had many close relationships with gay men, although that was probably because she’d married half the straight men on the planet!
Cary Grant
Cary Grant was born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, and became one of Hollywood’s greatest leading men. He was a ladies’ man who married five times and had a daughter. However, Gillian Armstrong’s documentary Women He’s Undressed reveals Cary met Australian costume designer Orry-Kelly in New York in 1925. They became lovers and lived together on and off for nine years.
Cary Grant also lived with fellow actor Randolph Scott for 12 years in a Los Feliz mansion nicknamed “Bachelor Hall.” Rumors have long swirled that the pair were involved romantically.
Judy Garland
Judy is the ultimate gay icon. Her father, Francis Gumm, was a closeted gay man, and the family moved to California after he seduced young local Minnesotan men. Judy always preferred the company of gay men, hung out in gay bars, and the LBGTQ phrase “A friend of Dorothy” is named after her Wizard of Oz character.
She also kept marrying gay men — Vincent Minnelli, her tour promoter Mark Herron, and finally, singer Mickey Deans. In Tinseltown, she allegedly spent the night with her friend Marilyn Monroe after giving in to Marilyn’s many propositions.
Sir Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness is best known for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: A New Hope. But did you know that Sir Alec kept his orientation away from the media and out of the public eye for the entirety of his seven-decade career?
Only after the veteran English actor of stage and screen passed away was it revealed he was a card-carrying member of the LBGTQ+ community. According to his biographers, Guinness’ family and close friends always knew he was gay.
Joan Crawford
Lucille Fay LeSueur, aka Joan Crawford, was one of Old Hollywood’s biggest stars. She married four times and adopted five children. But while Crawford was known as a maneater, she had an insatiable appetite for both men and women. Joan had dalliances with Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Kirk Douglas, Barbara Stanwyck, Greta Garbo, and Marilyn Monroe.
Her lifelong arch-nemesis Bette Davis once quipped Joan slept with everyone in Hollywood except Lassie! You can learn more about her lifelong rivalry with Bette Davis in Ryan Murphy’s FX series Feud.
Ramón Novarro
After Rudolph Valentino passed away, hunky Mexican-American actor Ramón Novarro became Hollywood’s go-to Latin lover, playing the title role in the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. Ramón was also gay and had several relationships with men, including with Hollywood news writer Herbert Howe and composer Harry Partch but he always struggled with his secret life.
Tragically, in 1968, decades after Navarro’s career fell from grace, Paul and Tom Ferguson called Novarro, offering their services in exchange for cash. Ramón let the two brothers into his home, whereupon they robbed him and took his life.
Spencer Tracy
During his 40-year career, Spencer Tracy was known as a tough-guy womanizer and was linked to Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Hedy Lamarr, Myrna Loy, and Gene Tierney. But, for the last 25 years of his life, he had a long, studio-engineered lavender relationship with Katharine Hepburn… a relationship they never consummated.
But behind the scenes, Tracy often stayed at George Cukor’s house for days on end, getting up close and personal with the director’s male friends. He’s also rumored to have been in a long-term relationship with All the King’s Men actor John Derek.
Katharine Hepburn
Gorgeous Katharine Hepburn enjoyed a 60-year career and a long relationship with frequent co-star Spencer Tracy. While they loved each other and were inseparable, screenwriter Larry Kramer and LGBTQ+ activist said, “Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were both gay. They were publicly paired together by the studio. Everyone in Hollywood knows this is true.”
Hollywood “arranger” Scotty Bowers claims he set Hepburn up with over 150 women but that she would see them once or twice before quickly tiring of them.
