We recently published a gallery of images of actor Rock Hudson in anticipation of the new documentary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, and it got us thinking about another gay Hollywood legend.
Screen idol Ramon Novarro was one of the top box office attractions of the 1920s and early 1930s and is widely regarded as the first Latin American actor to become a major movie star.
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In the 2010 biography Beyond Paradise, historian André Soares walks readers through Novarro’s vast film career, where he shared the screen with the likes of Joan Crawford (Across to Singapore) and Greta Garbo (Mata Hari), featuring interviews with those who knew him best.
Sadly, Novarro’s shocking murder at the hands of two brothers posing as male prostitutes in 1968 has become one of the most talked-about tragedies in Hollywood history and has often overshadowed his acting career, which included over 50 film and TV appearances.
Without any further ado, click through for images of Novarro at the peak of his Hollywood fame…
KyleMichelSullivan
He was such a beautiful man. The camera loved him, and his co-stars shone brighter with him as their partner. Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, Norma Shearer… The chariot race in his Ben Hur is more exciting than the Charlton Heston version.
Fahd
For me, he´s no Rock Hudson or even Manu Ríos, but to each his time. And, of course, de gustibus non est disputandum.
The articles states the brothers involved in his murder were pretending to be male prostitutes, but I read somewhere that one of them actually was one. In any case, RIP Ramon Navorro.
eeebee333
Go to YouTube and search for ” Ramon Novarro Takes a Bath”.
Pietro D
His horrific end is the truly devastating part of the entire Ramon Novarro story> A very sad end!
JeffBaker
Oh, he was gorgeous! I have crushed on him for years!