history lessons

J. Edgar Hoover Probably Wasn’t Much Of A Cross-Dresser, Claims Biographer Dustin Lance Black

I didn’t find a lot of proof that Hoover cross-dressed. I think it was more a form of homophobia against him. Do I think J. Edgar Hoover was gay? Yes. Do I think he cross-dressed? No. I think that was just one of the ways people tried to bash him because they probably had the sense that he was gay. Did he ever put on a dress? Hell, I put on my mom’s undergarments when I was a kid. I didn’t find much credible evidence that Hoover went out socially dressed up in women’s clothes. But a script is 90 percent research about the person, and then so much about yourself ends up being in there, too. Anyone who says a movie about history is a historical document is crazy. It’s a document that incorporates who that person was and who I am now.

—Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black to Oliver Stone on FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the subject of his new film

Jump to 11 Comments

By: max simon
On: Oct 15, 2010
Tagged: Cross-dressing, dustin lance black, J. Edgar Hoover, lance black, Movies

Email This

11 Comments

No. 1 · Devon
That’s actually true though…He might have been so deep in the closet he was finding christmas presents, but the stories about him prancing around in ladies’ lingerie were just a joke that got taken seriously and eventually really, really caught on. Kinda like that whole “Napoleon was a midget” thing.

Oct 16, 2010 at 3:15 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 2 · Shouldn't certain gay sites & their commenters stop bullying gays too? ( John from England)
@Devon:

But wasn’t he a midget? What’s your proof? V interested!

Oct 16, 2010 at 3:56 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 3 · Devon
@Shouldn’t certain gay sites & their commenters stop bullying gays too? ( John from England):

>>But wasn’t he a midget?<<

http://europeanhistory.about.c.....height.htm

He was actually around 5'6-5'7, the same height as Tom Cruise. Definitely not a giant but still a perfectly normal sized man. Basically there were differences between British and French measurements and the British thought he was 5'2. That's where the whole pocket-sized Napoleon meme got started.

[img]http://xb1.xanga.com/c65b420204c70272541729/w35148382.jpg[/img]

Oct 16, 2010 at 4:18 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 4 · Adam
It’s pretty well documented that Truman Capote made up the thing about cross-dressing (or at least that he took credit for it.)

I saw Mr. Black speak at a local university, he’s quite an amazing person.

Oct 16, 2010 at 4:19 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 5 · David Ehrenstein
I’ve never taken the cross-dressing story seriously. Hoover was much too repressed even to dress up in private, much less show up at a gay party in drag as the story would have it.

Oct 16, 2010 at 2:22 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 6 · reason
Hoover was a dangerous psychopath and traitor. He was more worried about blackmailing presidents and politicians to strengthen his power than doing his job. He also used the power of his position to go on witch hunts, and terrorize citizens.

Oct 16, 2010 at 2:54 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 7 · Jimmy
So far back in the closet he was practically in fucking Narnia.

Oct 16, 2010 at 2:58 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 8 · JumpingUp
Poor Jimmy from Indiana. Obama is the homophobe and Glenn Beck is defending gays. Must be hard to live in a world where reality intrudes on your comfortable fantasies.

Oct 16, 2010 at 8:47 pm · @Reply · Flag
No. 9 · damon459 · Member · 181 comments
@JumpingUp: Glen Beck defending gays wow someone’s been watching to much faux news lol

Oct 17, 2010 at 1:19 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 10 · JumpingUp
Nope. Look it up on Towleroad, faux Damon. Just this week he called the Bronx attacks a new kind of evil. Queerty ignored the story even though it was everywhere else.

Oct 17, 2010 at 6:53 am · @Reply · Flag
No. 11 · Lefty · Member · 47 comments
Hey, Dustin! Why the long face?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Love him really :p

Oct 17, 2010 at 11:09 am · @Reply · Flag