# New Movie About Liberace and Boyfriend? WTF? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 10, 2013, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582 "2013-03-10T23:05:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/41 "2013-03-11T23:56:24Z")
[And he’s single, ladies!](http://popcurious.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/1957_Anderson_Liberace-at-Home.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/42 "2013-03-12T01:17:55Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > You could also say they were your favorite guests on Merv Griffin if you wanted to see Merv get really quiet really quickly. I remembered another from that era, when you said “I just haven’t met the right girl.” That’s what Victor Buono (King Tut on Batman, stock company member in Robert Aldrich campy masterpieces) used to say, knowing that everyone fully understood the joke. Through my actor roomates way back when, I knew people who knew him, and all said withot reserve that he was a great person ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/43 "2013-03-12T01:33:51Z")
Matt Damon getting naked and playing a gay guy (_again_)? Count me in. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/44 "2013-03-12T07:03:04Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I was reading an article about the new Matt Damon movie (he plays Liberace’s boyfriend). My reaction-who is going to watch this? I mean, Liberace was liked by (mostly) middle-aged women-and he’s been gone for a long time. What makes the promoters think that this will appeal to the 18-25 audience? > I find the premise totally weird-it’s not like people didn’t know that Liberace was gay-so why, decades later, do they think there will be any interest in such a movie? Believe me, as a One Direction fan there are a MASSIVE amount of 18-25 year olds wishing to explore the issue. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/45 "2013-03-12T12:52:03Z")
Might I suggest that the same applied to David Bowie, back in the 70’s? I don’t think he would have been half so popular or interesting without the “is he gay? is he bisexual?” intimation. If he was just another straight, boring pussy hound, I sincerely think he would not have had so many female fans. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/46 "2013-03-12T13:21:41Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Liberace couldn’t have been gay. After all, in the 1950s he testified in a libel suit in a British court that he never had engaged in a homosexual act…and won. He wouldn’t lie about such a thing, would he? It wasn’t an act. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/47 "2013-03-12T15:20:35Z")
Only Liberace knew for sure when he became sexually active with men, but it’s not at all impossible that when he sued the tabloids he hadn’t actually gotten his gay on with others. He was in his late 30s at the time of the lawsuits, and while I have no idea if he was still in denial to himself about his sexuality I do know that he certainly wouldn’t have been the oldest guy ever to convince himself he was straight or bi; I’ve known plenty of guys as gay as gay can be, some even sexually active, who actually are that deep in denial. Per Thorson, and probably valid anyway, is that in his later years when he was richer than Croesus and bigger than ever careerwise and surrounded all the time by male dancers and gay was becoming more visible and even to a degree more acceptable and- perhaps most importantly- Mama Liberace was dead\*- Lee went wild. He was probably incomparably more promiscuous in his early 60s than he was when he was half that age (when he was living with his mother who accompanied him even on the road\*- and of course that put him just in time to be having promiscuous unprotected sex with other promiscuous partners just in time for the “gay cancer” outbreak. \*According to one of his former sister-in-laws [one of Brother George’s many wives] Mama L suspected her son’s orientation but was VERY not-cool with it, even once arranging for a call girl to visit his room. The family rarely talked about it, never around Liberace himself, and Liberace was at all out around George or the family (this being '50s/'60s). ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/48 "2013-03-12T19:03:19Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I know YOU’RE kidding, but the guy had millions of fans like my grandmother, who had absolutely no idea why such a wonderful man never found the right girl. My father was a huge admirer of Raymond Burr. I never told Daddy the truth about Burr, I’m not sure that he could have survived it. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/49 "2013-03-13T23:39:40Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My father was a huge admirer of Raymond Burr. I never told Daddy the truth about Burr, I’m not sure that he could have survived it. Wait. Raymond Burr was _gay_?! (Not a joke. I’d never heard that before.) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/50 "2013-03-14T01:29:25Z")
> [@Cayuga](#): > > Wait. Raymond Burr was _gay_?! > (Not a joke. I’d never heard that before.) Yep. Kind of a sick story: he really was married and divorced once, but to really give himself a beard he (with, I’m sure, some help from his publicist) made up a second wife and a son who were dead (!!!). This not only helped reinforce the straight lie, but explained why he didn’t date women: he was still traumatized from the deaths of his wife and child. In real life his private life was happier. He lived with another actor, Robert Benevides (never a successful one), for more than 30 years. They were a very open couple to their close friends, among the closest of whom was Barbara Hale, who played Della Street. [Interview with his partner](http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=3117), who still runs the vineyard the two started. (He was the heir to Burr’s very complicated estate [i.e. lots of assets, lots of debts], though Burr’s niece unsuccessfully challenged the will [greedy biatch].) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/51 "2013-03-14T01:37:40Z")
If the Liberace movie is a huge success, I really really really hope it doesn’t lead to a studio exec saying “It was about a flaming but closeted major star from the '60s and '70s leading a secret gay life while popular with the hicks… and it made money… alright, that squares it, greenlight our movie! _The Jim Nabors Story: Gomer Pile on the Homo Mile!_- see if Clay Aiken is available for the lead because he can sing, get Jim Parsons if he isn’t, and the other one had Damon so get Ben Affleck for the much younger boyfriend he met in the '70s and married on his 106th birthday a couple of months ago.” ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2013, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/52 "2013-03-16T10:24:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > If the Liberace movie is a huge success, I really really really hope it doesn’t lead to a studio exec saying “It was about a flaming but closeted major star from the '60s and '70s leading a secret gay life while popular with the hicks… and it made money… alright, that squares it, greenlight our movie! _The Jim Nabors Story: Gomer Pile on the Homo Mile!_- see if Clay Aiken is available for the lead because he can sing, get Jim Parsons if he isn’t, and the other one had Damon so get Ben Affleck for the much younger boyfriend he met in the '70s and married on his 106th birthday a couple of months ago.” Or, _ **Behind The Candelabra II - Armed and Fabulous** _ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/53 "2013-05-27T15:52:13Z")
Anybody else watch? First off: kudos to the most amazing performer in this- Matt Damon’s butt. Boyo is 42 but his ass doesn’t know it. Second, Michael Douglas, who absolutely _was_ Liberace- not just an imitation, you believed him as the character. It was also very brave for a man his age and in his physical shape to do as many unclothed and non-glamorous bedroom scenes as he did when he could have used a double. Ultimately, though, I saw the movie as a big “Meh”. I don’t consider Liberace:Thorson a love story but rather a dysfunctional relationship between rich old man and his ridiculously young concubine in which both tried to ignore the fact that it was first and foremost a money-for-sex relationship. Neither partner was likable and neither was blameless and it was ultimately fit for tabloid stories rather than a tragic romance novel. Thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/54 "2013-05-27T15:58:16Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > It was supposed to have a theatrical release, but Soderberg couldn’t get any studios interested. > > As for the subject, he’s a truly great director. He managed to make [a really enjoyable film about a male strip club](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1915581/reference) (naked Olivia Munn compensated very well for the naked guys), so I have no doubt that he’ll make a really enjoyable film about Liberace. I heard on NPR (actually, a BBC program that airs on my local NPR affiliate) that the studios weren’t interested in a movie that they felt would have an almost exclusively gay audience. :smack: :rolleyes: As for Michael Douglas dying, yes, he was diagnosed with cancer a while back but it appears to be in remission. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/55 "2013-05-27T17:09:35Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Anybody else watch? > > First off: kudos to the most amazing performer in this- Matt Damon’s butt. Boyo is 42 but his ass doesn’t know it. > > Second, Michael Douglas, who absolutely _was_ Liberace- not just an imitation, you believed him as the character. It was also very brave for a man his age and in his physical shape to do as many unclothed and non-glamorous bedroom scenes as he did when he could have used a double. > > Ultimately, though, I saw the movie as a big “Meh”. > > I don’t consider Liberace:Thorson a love story but rather a dysfunctional relationship between rich old man and his ridiculously young concubine in which both tried to ignore the fact that it was first and foremost a money-for-sex relationship. Neither partner was likable and neither was blameless and it was ultimately fit for tabloid stories rather than a tragic romance novel. > > Thoughts? Very well done from a technical standpoint – I mean, they missed nothing about the time or the people or Liberace’s fashion statements, all that was spot on. (Piece of Hollywood trivia: All the scenes of Liberace’s overdone mansion were actually recreated and filmed at ZsaZsa Gabor’s house. I love silly factlets like that.) The unexpected actors in supporting roles – Scott Bakula, goodgodamighty, I didn’t recognize him at all! Likewise Dan Ackroyd or Debbie Reynolds. All excellent, though with the prosthetics it was like Reynolds was being held hostage. Not a love story, no. They used one another in various creepy ways – who would want to make someone over like that? Who would consent to it? Last I heard Thorson was still in jail in Reno and facing more prison time. Possible second volume of his memoirs in the works – he claims to have been peripherally involved in the Wonderland Murders. I’m not sure I believe that as he is still living. (For those who aren’t sure what the Wonderland Murders were, see “Boogie Nights.”) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/56 "2013-05-27T17:30:13Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > As a historical footnote, I think a good film about this subject will show the behind-the-curtain agony of someone that famous who is forced to keep his private sexual life shrouded in secrecy. What happens when you spend your life in fear? What happens when you are always subject to blackmail and threats? For that matter, there are still many countries and places where being outed as Gay can lead to imprisonment or/or the death penalty. Fans of 1970s arena rock might like to read “The Grand Illusion” by former Styx bassist Chuck Panozzo, who is gay. The book is mostly about what it was like for him growing up gay in an Italian Catholic family in the 1950s and 1960s, being that way in the world of 1970s arena rock, and later his diagnosis with AIDS about 20 years ago. The book contains minimal profanity and no explicit descriptions of sexual activity or drug use, and would be suitable for readers of junior high age or older. Yeah, girls flashed him and threw their undergarments at him, despite having no idea that he was more interested in their boyfriends (assuming, of course, that the boyfriends were gay, KWIM?). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/57 "2013-05-27T17:33:56Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My father was a huge admirer of Raymond Burr. I never told Daddy the truth about Burr, I’m not sure that he could have survived it. My mother still has a hard time believing that Rock Hudson was gay. Not long before he announced that he had AIDS, he did a show with Doris Day, and my mom hollered to my dad to come in the room: “Wow, look at Rock Hudson. He’s really sick.” He was initially said to have liver cancer, which he may have had, but the truth was eventually revealed. This was before we even knew what really caused AIDS in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/58 "2013-05-27T17:39:54Z")
> [@TubaDiva](#): > > (Piece of Hollywood trivia: All the scenes of Liberace’s overdone mansion were actually recreated and filmed at ZsaZsa Gabor’s house. I love silly factlets like that.) [Recent video and “in its prime” video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMIzUShO-fA) of his real house in Las Vegas. It passed through several owners (most recently a catering company) and is now in foreclosure and disrepair, but the Liberace touches are still there. His favorite house was [The Cloisters](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvynxz_9r3A) in Palm Springs; it was a motel and diner when he bought it and remodeled it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/59 "2013-05-27T17:43:14Z")
When I lived in Mexico in the 1990s, I learned about [Juan Gabriel](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Gabriel), a pop singer (now in his 60s) who reminded me a lot of Liberace – including his appeal to 40-70-year-old women who thought he was such a sweet man. Anyway, I wonder if HBO has plans to show a dubbed version of the Liberace-Thorson film in Mexico. It might be quite a hit. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2013, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582/60 "2013-05-27T17:50:30Z")
A lot of youngsters got hip on Ray Charles after “Ray”. Maybe Liberace will get the same treatment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-movie-about-liberace-and-boyfriend-wtf/652582.md?page=4)