Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star Kindle Edition

This is a relatively honest autobiography by Tab Hunter starting with his childhood and ending at the time he finished the book. He addresses his less-than-perfect childhood, his entry into the Hollywood life, his acting career, his homosexuality, and his life experiences. It brings back such a different era when movie stars could never reveal their true sexuality and had to live their personal lives in pretty much a lie. I can’t imagine how difficult that was.He also addresses how, in Hollywood, you can be the star one day and the next, you could lose it all and no one in Hollywood will have anything to do with you. There is no down-and-dirty gossip in this book; Tab doesn’t talk trash about anyone and truth be told, I was hoping for some of that. His memory is very clear and the book is written in chronological order and kept my interest. It was a relatively quick read because of the good writing style.On a side note, there was one thread woven throughout the book – his financial situation. Here was a guy who never would have the responsibility of a wife or a family due to his sexuality, and he spent his money like water; primarily on his passion for horses. Once he made one dollar, he apparently spent 2 dollars. After a while, I just wanted to yell at him to stop the wasteful spending and put some away for a rainy day. He did support his mother until her death and did help support his brother’s wife and kids when his brother was killed in Vietnam but it just seemed like he was always a week away from the poor house.Overall, Tab Hunter seems like a good, fun, good-friend-type-of-guy and if you remember him from the 50’s and 60’s, this will be an enjoyable trip down memory lane.

I admit I'm a sucker for anything about Hollywood, especially Old Hollywood. Though never a particular fan of Tab Hunter,I have seen his movies and watched from afar. He came to my attention in the mid-Fifties when Confidential magazine wrotea scandal-mongering article about a supposed all-gay pajama party that Tab had attended. It may be hard for some people today to remember how AWFUL and DISGUSTING such activities were considered then. Now it would probably be a premise for a Hollywood movie! The fact that the pajama party was not even a reality, the mere breath of such a thing was enough to kill careers and drive some to suicide. I am sure that is when I realized the sexual feelings I was fighting off were something I would eventually stop resisting and evetually write about in protest about such mistreatment of a talented group of men. (One wonders if gay men in America now are as talented or have the need to succeed since they do not have so much to prove these days.) Tab Hunter's memoir is a terrific read, very level-headed and apparently honest. He shows the BS of Old Hollywood and recreates his starring roles and his dreary days in bad movies, his comeback in John Waters' camp films, and his affairs with the famous and others, candid without being salacious. Good for Tab for telling his story. I enjoyed every minute of it. --Daniel Curzon

First off: this is a book for readers who are probably over 60 now and still remember the golden age of Hollywood. You also need to have been a great movie star fan! Well, that was me. As young teens my friends and I swooned over Tab Hunter. I was happy to come across his autobiography -- a life story written by the person himself always exposes much more of his real personality than a researched biography written by someone else. I see most criticism in other reviews is levelled against his unwillingness to "expose all" about being gay, and gay Hollywood in general. I do not blame him. He handles the problem, which was a huge one for gay actors back then, with great sensitivity, and the story is not spoiled by what might have been exposés in bad taste. He himself battled for ages to keep the truth from his adoring public. Good for you, Tab.I found Tab's story extremely honest. What you see is what you get. Here and there (I think) he did gloss over the bits where he might have been a pain in the ass, but in general he is a most likable fellow.In no way could I keep track of the hundreds of names which crop up -- directors, friends, actors, screenwriters, producers, etc. But no matter. I learnt so much more about Art Gelien, aka Tab Hunter, as I had ever been able to learn as a teenager in South Africa. I think in Tab's heyday films reached us 2 - 3 years after being released, and the movie magazines were also months old by the time they reached our shores. (Not like today, when films open on almost the same day the world over!)I really enjoyed Tab's story. I admire him for being so nice about so many people. I cannot say that bitchy stories about people no longer around to defend themselves have ever endeared a writer to me. So, if you loved the movies in the 50's and 60's, you'll probably enjoy this candid autobiography.

I liked this book more than I thought I would. I grew up watching Tab Hunter and he was ingrained in my consciousness from the time I was about 10 and up. Then he disappeared as most stars do. I thought this was a very well-written book with all kinds of stories that were very enjoyable to read. I feel he was honest about himself, his family, his life in general. He took the hits and misses and still kept smiling. This book was much better than most of the Hollywood stories written. I walked away with a great deal of respect for the man.

I had never heard of Tab Hunter prior to reading this autobiography. I had only stumbled over images of him on Tumblr blogs of old Hollywood stars. The more I looked into his life the more interesting it became. I had just finished ‘The Lion of Hollywood’ – the life of Louis B Mayer and the MGM studio system. It was this system, albeit at Warner Brothers in this case, of which Tab Hunter was a part. Surprisingly the studio system can mean something abstract to a reader unless you read about someone on the other side of it – and that was where this autobiography came in useful.It is worth remembering that Tab Hunter (his screen name over which he had no control) or Art Gelien celebrated his 82nd birthday this year. He has suffered heart attacks and strokes but still battles on forever the optimist. This book was his testament and his attempt to get his side of the story out before a tabloid journalist decided to write a version based only on old newspaper reports and magazine ‘interviews’. The reader should bear in mind that a fair few of his contemporaries are still alive and if they aren’t their beneficiaries are and even the dead can make money for them. A lot of what he could have written would be unverifiable because it would be his word against theirs – who else would have been part of the encounter? I suspect the passage of time dims a lot of his memories of how a late teenager made his way in Hollywood in the 50s. The casting couch had men on it as well as women.Although an avid film lover, and his distant, cold, ever working German mother made sure he had every reason to flee to the cinema for a break from reality, Tab Hunter had no burning ambition to be an actor. He never attended acting school and found the whole thing off putting. His first sexual encounter was in a cinema when he was fourteen and it wasn’t his last. If you look at the photographs of him you can see why he was the object of so much interest even at so young an age. He was very, very attractive and the camera loved him. Acting was an extra. Louis B Mayer never worried if someone with that X factor could act – as long as they could perform they would find a slot for him. Tab Hunter fell into this box at Warners. They knew they had a product – now they just needed to package it. He was to be sold to the emerging teenage market.They didn’t do a very good job of it though. He peaked very young and although he wanted to learn the craft the studio wasn’t too concerned and loaned him out for quite hefty fees to other studios where he was contractually obliged to go. Whether he wanted to be in the film or what he thought of it were irrelevant. He was a successful product. With the studio system he was only paid a weekly salary which was peanuts compared to what the studio was earning from him.Likewise his singing career. He never wanted to be a singer – only ever sang in the shower according to himself. However a small record company felt they could cash in on his teenage girl popularity and run off a few records that were bound to sell. His voice is passable enough. Anyone who has had to endure Rod Stewart will find it a relief. He made a small fortune from a few songs which shocked him. The shock was the fact that the studio had first call on all income derived from the product ‘Tab Hunter’ so they took most of it. He was terribly unlucky.He is sometimes criticised for not ‘dishing the dirt’ on other closeted celebrities but he doesn’t seem the type of person to want to cause others discomfort. The gay liberation movement passed him by living as he did in Hollywood and spending years on the move where he could find any work. And even if he was aware of it he hadn’t the temperament or interest in marching. He was never open because making a living for him was very touch and go and he was robbed of his money by some very untrustworthy men that he had to start again on a regular basis. Basically he was just too trusting. If it hadn’t been for his manager he would have been left penniless. His repressed childhood with his overbearing mother didn’t lead to a grown man with healthy self esteem. He didn’t know what he was for most of his life and explains this. If he didn’t talk about it he didn’t have to confront it. When he was at his peak homosexuality was defined as a mental illness and a criminal offence. Even the Hollywood elite lived in fear of being exposed at a party.What I found fascinating in the book was the whole public persona that was fabricated by the studio for their product ‘Tab Hunter’. He recounts standing at a news stand in Hollywood with his unemployment cheque for $55 reading all about the wonderful life he was living and how the glamorous life of a Hollywood star was playing out for him. He’d never been interviewed but he was reading about his romantic interests, his family and where he was going to go next. As if he had any say in the matter. He spends a lot of time quoting articles from the enormously popular teen magazines of the time and how none of it bore any resemblance to reality. Makes you wonder how true anything you read about today is.Art Gelien is a nice man basically. He was much used and when of no more use as a cash cow he was disposed of. He never felt he became the actor he could have become because his looks always got in the way and no one could see beyond the face. He writes extensively about his love of horses from his youth and they figure quite a lot. The horsed grounded him but they cost him a lot of money too. Without that grounding he may have gone off the rails. He finally had the courage to out himself by starring with Divine in Polyester but even at that late stage he was castigated for kissing a man (albeit one in drag). After this he became much more settled in himself as a gay man but it was a very long journey.This is not a salacious book but it is a very interesting one. You will never read an interview with a Hollywood ‘star’ in the same light again.

I really enjoyed this book and read from cover to cover. Tab was one of the mot handsome men and I always kind of had a thing for him, so wanted to find out more about him and his life. The book was revealing but in no way sensationalist. Im so glad Tab wrote this book and we get to hear anecdotes about him working with some of the great stars. His writing was honest and I particularly enjoyed the earlier chapters about Tab growing up before he became Tab. Id recommend this book to anyone who thought Tab a heartthrob or anyone interested in the old Hollywood life.

This is one of the saddest tales of being gay I have ever read. He wouldn't admit to anything, not even being with men, not really. It is as anodine and dull as his career. I think this is the strangest confessional, where he admits to sharing old rich ladies with other gay men, but, you know, like gentlemen, to barely nodding to the loves of his life. Clearly being gay made him uncomfortable, but since everyone in his world knew he was from when he was twenty, this disgusting betrayal of honesty makes me mad

An interesting, if unchallenging autobiography from one of the very last living studio contract players.It's in no way a 'kiss and tell' romp. It is, however, a surprisingly revealing (and perhaps unintentional) account of the addictive pull of stardom from someone who stumbled into acting through striking good looks and virtually no talent, only later developing into a competent actor.A light, fun read that sheds light on the highly fickle nature of Hollywood. Recommended.

People like Tab Hunter cleared the way for the modern gay community and, after reading this book, I have the utmost respect for him as an individual.He has conducted himself with great dignity and I cannot begin to imagine how he coped with the constant probing into his private life when he was a "pin up" in the 50s.