Forgot to add two famous black entertainers who married men during their long lives but later lived completely openly as lesbians:
Alberta Hunter- an interesting broad on a number of levels, not the least of which was that she completely left show business while still getting big bookings (she became a nurse at 59 and by lying about her age [to avoid mandatory retirement at 65] she worked in hospitals until she was 80]), then pulled off a comeback at the age of 82 and emerged bigger than ever. She married when she was young but the love of her life was Lottie Taylor with whom she lived for many years.
Jackie “Moms” Mabley (born Loretta Aiken)- the mother of two children before she was 15 (both illegitimate and probably conceived in rape) she later married but never lived with her husband. Her gayness was an open secret and as an old woman she sometimes even incorporated it into her act when she wasn’t being filmed or recorded. (Some of her early material- my favorite is the cuckoo clock story.)
Hey, just because you don’t get turned on by alcoholic chain-smoking wheelchair-bound stroke victims who are twice your age doesn’t mean that some people don’t. It could have been true love and not the fact she was a millionaire (and it’s possible O.J. really didn’t remember where he got that cut on his hand).
If the letters had been written in say, 1904, or whatever, and by an overly emotional, very sentimental personthen MAYBE you could argue about style. But not in 1934, by someone as no-nonsense as Eleanor Roosevelt.
BTW, was she also rumored to have had an affair with a member of FDR’s cabinet, or am I remembering wrong?
Back to the topic-did anyone mention poet Adrienne Rich yet?
Oh, and “Miss Jane Hathaway”, Nancy Kulp. She was married for what she described as “off and on for about ten years”, but was openly gay by the time she died. (Her co-star Buddy Ebsen was so conservative and homophobic than in his only novel the main character pukes after seeing two men kiss; he also did ads for her Republican opponent when Nancy ran for Congress in Pennsylvania {*Nancy baby I love ya, but you’re too liberal for me… so I’m supporting ____" [even though as a resident of California he couldn’t vote for either one], causing a major and understandable falling out.)
Dick Sargent said in an interview that he and Sheila Kuehl (of Dobie Gillis fame) considered getting married in the early 1960s to be each others beards, but never did.
Agnes Moorehead was married for a while and had a son but by the end of her life her lesbianism was an open secret. (Debbie Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher claims that Debbie and Agnes were an item, though Debbie, who admits they were the best of friends, has never confirmed the romantic part of the relationship.)
Hey, if you think Wikipedia is wrong, fix it. Or, as those of us who are active on Wikipedia say, {{sofixit}}. That said, the article currently states that allegations of his hunchbackedness are “likely complete fabrications”. You may have been looking at since-fixed vandalism.
No, I watched a biography last night on him. They had a recording of him calling her his common law wife. For what its worth, his friends at the time said he was never much interested in women, but Marry was different, he really loved her. She said he came out to her about being gay when they had know each other for nine years and had been living together for years.
