Inner turns outer: Tab tells all!

Sun tanned, towhead Art Gelien was 15 when a talent scout spotted him at a posh horse ranch frequented by movie stars. He was shoveling manure to earn money to ride horses, his teenage passion. "Hey, kid: you've movie star material," he was told by the Hollywood scout who spotted him. "Keep in touch."
Four years later Gelien was re-christened Tab Hunter by Henry Willson, the gay talent agent responsible for "inventing" Rock Hudson, Rory Calhoun, and Troy Donahue. ("We've got to tab him something. What does he like to do?" "He's a hunter." "That's it. Tab Hunter.")
For New York-born Tab it was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Movies in the 1950s were in competition with TV programming, which debuted in 1948. A new lucrative audience market was needed by the film industry, and soon found: teenagers, especially teenage girls. Tab was soon under contract to Warner Brothers, fluttering hearts, female and male.
(Other gay/bisexual stars: legendary James Dean, a friend of Hunter's, and Anthony Perkins, Tab's on-again, off-again lover. Montgomery Cliff, Roddy MacDowell, George Nader.)
Tab found himself marketed in fan magazines and press as Sigh Guy, Swoon Boat, All-American Boy, Boy Next Door, and, ironically, Hollywood's Most Eligible Bachelor. "I've had so many labels slapped on me that you'd think I was a billboard," he quips in his new bio "Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star."
Tab, of course was gay (no big secret then or now). Confidential, a notorious gossip magazine tried to out Tab, who had been at an innocuous "homo pajama party" raided by the vice cops in 1950. (Hudson was spared similar magazine exposure by a tattle-tailing trade off that axed the career of gay film actor Nader. Other casualties, thanks to Confidential were George Maharis, Johnny Ray, and "lesbo" Lizabeth Scott.)
Hunter's bio — named "Confidential" to thumb nose the scandal mag — is an easy-read account of a guy who comes across as easy going. In it he discusses his Catholic upbringing, his dealings with his mentally unstable, platitudinous mom, his love of horses and figure skating, and his struggle through diligent study and hard work to be taken as a serious actor. (He acted with Lana Turner, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, Natalie Wood, Bob Mitchum, and John Wayne.)
Tab recounts his gay life in a gentlemanly fashion. There are no shocking revelations, no dirt for dirt's sake. Readers learn nothing new that hasn't been shared in other Hollywood bios or histories — maybe Tab's affair with ballet great Rudolph Nureyev.
There's no question Hunter — blond, blue eyed, perfect teeth, great physique — was something wonderful to behold — with or, preferably, without his shirt. There are 205 photos of him (mostly small size) spread out over 378 pages (including beefcake shots from "Tomorrow's Man," a gay soft-core monthly).
Apart from acting, had Hunter not made it as a box office heartthrob, he may well have become an Olympic skating contender or an Ice Capades star. (He skated the lead role in a Hallmark production of "Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates," and was good enough to be paired in the production opposite ice skating great Dick Button.) He was briefly tempted to abandon acting for a career in skating or with horses.
Little known, too, is that Hunter, who had a pleasant church choir-trained voice, turned pop singer briefly and had a six-week, chart-toping hit record, "Young Love," which — much to Elvis Presley's chagrin — bumped The King from the limelight. Tab's recording career — two albums and a couple dozen songs — was kaboshed by Warner Brothers.
Hunter's 50-plus film tally began with a one-line walk-on in "The Lawless" (1950), and includes "Island of Desire" (1952), his first beefcake acting ho-hummer, and such films of genuine merit as "Battle Cry," the Academy Award-nominated "Damn Yankees," and "Lafayette Escadrille." His last film, "Rita" came out in 2003.
Most gays remember Tab in John Water's "Polyester" and "Lust in the Dust," playing opposite satin-sofa-presence Divine. These vehicles revitalized Hunter's moribund film acting career — a career that had been relegated to cranking out Italian films, occasional TV, Broadway and stock company appearances.
"I was on the road doing a play, and John Waters called and asked me to do 'Polyester,'" confides Tab. "My agent said, 'You can't do that!' But I had a wonderful mother, and she used to say, 'You're in a really weird business with many strange people. Whenever you're in doubt, just stop and listen to your inner.' My inner said, Go do it."
At 74, Tab still does it.