Tab Hunter

“In my personal life, I was quite a different Boy Next Door than the one Mr. and Mrs. Middle America imagined me to be.”

“John Wayne treated me fine, but that macho stuff turns me off. It's not real.”

“Without a doubt, my sexuality was something that I just never discussed, especially in the 1950s.”

“I learned denial from my mother. I just never confronted things and if anybody did, I just would go crazy.”

“I'm very grateful for this road that I've been on - it's been a good one. It's been a tough one at times, too.”

“The people that really were important, that mattered, had a great foundation. I had no training. I had to learn while doing, and it was really difficult.”

“I said, God, the press and people, they just really hate me and I'm really trying. Geraldine Page said, Listen to this, Tab. If people don't like you, that's their bad taste.”

“My sexuality is only a thread of the tapestry of my life.”

“There are a lot of people who have the same fears and problems I had as a young man growing up. You read about it all the time. If you can help someone in some way, terrific.”

“Divine was like a 400-pound beached whale. He was one of my favorite leading ladies, I've got to tell you. He was really terrific.”

“I was born in New York. I grew up in San Francisco, Long Beach, and Los Angeles.”

“People believe what they want to believe.”

“I turned into a workaholic to the point of where my health was in jeopardy.”

“I knew Jimmy Dean. He tested for 'Battle Cry'. Paul Newman tested for 'Battle Cry'. I did nine tests to finally get that role.”

“I lived a very don't-ask, don't-tell life.”

“I'd work for John Waters again, because he's so off the wall.”

“I don't care about being in the public eye.”

“I feel closest to God with a pitchfork full of crap in my hands. I'm serious!”

“I love singing. You know, my mother always used to encourage me, 'Sing, sing,' and I was in a choir in church, yes.”

“My nickname, when I was 15 years old in the Coast Guard, they called me 'Hollywood' because I went to the movies all the time. It was such great escapism. That's why I ran away from home.”