Tab Hunter: how Hollywood’s boy next door became a gay icon

The actor, who died Sunday at the age of 86, kept his sexuality a secret at a time when the industry wasn’t ready for an openly gay heartthrobHollywood heartthrob Tab Hunter, the beloved boy-next-door of 1950s Warner Brothers classics like Battle Cry, The Burning Hills and Damn Yankees, died Sunday at the age of 86.

A blonde, square-jawed and wholesome symbol of mid-century American masculinity, Hunter, born in 1931 as Arthur Gelien, was gay but kept his sexuality a secret for the bulk of his career, until coming out in his 2005 autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star.Related: Tab Hunter, 1950s Hollywood heart-throb, dies aged 86

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