Seven LGBTQ Stars from Old Hollywood

we explore the lives of seven Hollywood stars from the past who were part of the LGBTQ community.

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor had a total of seven marriages, with six different men, and was even married to Richard Burton twice. There were also rumors of a relationship with Marilyn Monroe. However, what truly made her a gay icon was her activism in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite having many gay friends, she was married to several straight men.

Rudolph Valentino

In 1919, it was rumored that the studio arranged Rudolph Valentino’s marriage to Jean Acker to conceal his homosexuality. According to The New York Times, Jean regretted the marriage and even locked Rudolph out of their hotel room. Eventually, they divorced. He later met author Samuel Steward. Sadly, Rudolph passed away at the age of 31.

Anthony Perkins

Anthony Perkins is widely recognized for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). Later in his life, he married actress Berry Berenson and they had two children. However, he was also in a relationship with Tab Hunter for four years and Grover Dale for seven years.

Raymond Burr

Raymond Burr is famous for playing two iconic TV characters: Perry Mason and Ironside. In 1948, he married Isabella Ward. They lived with his mother and grandparents, but the marriage ended just a few months later. In 1960, he met Robert Benevides, an actor and veteran, on the set of Perry Mason. In the 1980s, the couple started a vineyard in California and remained together until Burr’s death in 1993.

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was known for her love of men and diamonds. Interestingly, this world-famous “maneater” was also gay. She had relationships with her acting coaches, Natasha Lytess and Paula Strasberg. Jane Lawrence’s book My Little Secret even claimed that the actress had a relationship with Monroe. Monroe also had encounters with Joan Crawford, Barbara Stanwyck, Marlene Dietrich, Brigitte Bardot, and Elizabeth Taylor. In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Marilyn seemed open to both blondes and brunettes.

Robert Reed

Playing the father in The Brady Bunch might give the impression of being straight, but Robert Reed, who portrayed Mike Brady on the show, was actually gay. He married Marilyn Rosenberger and had a daughter, but he kept his sexuality a secret to safeguard his career. His co-star Barry Williams said that Robert didn’t want to discuss it, and it remained an unspoken topic. Robert died in 1992.

Richard Pryor

Richard Pryor was married seven times and had seven children with six women, which might lead one to assume he was straight. However, in February 2018, his widow Jennifer Pryor told TMZ that her husband had an affair with Marlon Brando in the 1970s.