Detailing Tab Hunter's Closeted Stardom

Fresh Air | By Terry Gross

Published November 6, 2005 at 11:00 PM CST

Detail from the cover of <i>Tab Hunter Confidential</i>. — Detail from the cover of *Tab Hunter Confidential*.

Actor and singer Tab Hunter's new book, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, reveals his long-secret status as a homosexual in Hollywood.

Hunter was a teen heartthrob in the 1950s and 1960s, starring in over 50 films that included Damn Yankees and That Kind of Woman. He also recorded a hit record, Young Love.

But he began life as Art Gelien, a shy but talented young man who was turned into a star.

In the 1980s, Hunter experienced renewed popularity as he took roles in cult movies by iconoclastic directors, from John Waters' Polyester to Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust.

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