men on film

PHOTOS: Classic Hollywood stars who would’ve been popular on the apps

By Editors September 8, 2013 at 3:21pm · Updated on January 29, 2024

Classic Hollywood may have been a gay old place, but most gay actors were forced to hide their true identities for fear of career suicide. While that’s tragic enough, it’s also sad that these handsome men were often groomed to within an inch of their lives by the studio system.

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We’ve searched for pics that some of our favorite actors of yesteryear — many of who played gay characters or were straight allies — might have posted if they were on the apps.

Click through to feast your eyes on the photos. Which one(s) would you have tapped, woofed, or DM’d?

Paul Newman

Considered by many to be Hollywood’s most classically handsome actor, Newman ascended to stardom with his searing portrayal of closeted Brick in 1958’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He also scored major gay cred by trying for years to film Patricia Nell Warren’s heartbreaking novel The Front Runner, in which he hoped to play the gay track coach.

Clark Gable

He will eternally be known as the King of Hollywood. The rumor that he had gay director George Cukor fired from Gone With The Wind because he knew the truth about Gable’s hustler past has become tinsel town legend.

James Dean

The archetypal Hollywood bad boy. The homoeroticism in his scenes with Sal Mineo in the seminal drama Rebel Without A Cause is off the charts. Plus, Dean was a kept and, according to some, very naughty boy in the years before he achieved stardom.

Laurence Olivier

Considered by his peers as the greatest actor of the 20th century, Olivier was rumored to have had a sexual liaison with comic actor Danny Kaye, was close friends with gay icons such as John Gielgud and Noel Coward, plus he was part of one of classic Hollywood’s most homoerotic scenes  when he bathed with Tony Curtis in Spartacus.

Gregory Peck

Best-known for his Oscar-winning portrayal of stalwart Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, there was nothing overtly gay about Peck but the sensitivity he brought to his characters continues to keep us enthralled. A respected humanitarian, Peck would have likely been an ally for LGBTQ+ equality.

Marlon Brando

The man who changed movie acting forever played a repressed gay military instructor in 1967’s Reflections in a Golden Eye. Rumors of same-sex liaisons followed Brando throughout his swift rise to stardom, particularly due to his close friendship with actor Wally Cox and this notorious photo.

Gene Kelly

Sorry Fred Astaire, Gene gets our vote for Hollywood’s greatest dancer. I mean, take a look at how he filled out those sailor pants in On The Town. Kelly’s gayest cred comes with directing the Barbra Streisand behemoth musical Hello Dolly! and his wistful turn in the Olivia Newton-John vehicle Xanadu.

Robert Redford

Whether you’re gay or straight, you probably swooned over Redford’s romantic leading man turn as Hubbell Gardner in The Way We Were. Props to him for playing a closeted actor in Inside Daisy Clover in 1965, at a time when playing gay was career suicide.

Rudolph Valentino

Hollywood’s first male sex symbol, Valentino’s sexual orientation was always suspect. He’s rumored to have had a clandestine affair with “sexual renegade” Samuel Steward and there are unsubstantiated claims he had an affair with fellow silent star Ramon Navarro, whom he reportedly gifted with an art deco dildo.

Cary Grant

Longtime roommate of handsome actor Randolph Scott, the versatile leading man was frequently dogged by rumors he was bisexual. When comic Chevy Chase joked that Grant was gay, he sued for slander.

Montgomery Clift

In a nutshell, Clift was the tortured gay patron saint of classic Hollywood. Although he had affairs with women, Clift’s inability to live openly undoubtedly led to his addictions and, ultimately, his early demise.

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19 Comments*

  • Stache1

    This was a great. Wally Cox though? Lol After looking at his picture my bets are Wally is very well endowed if that story is to be believed.

  • balehead

    So sad that gays live for this shit…..

  • Cam

    @balehead:

    Really? Kind of the way straights live for a nip slip from Brittany Spears or making Miley Cyrus the biggest story in the country? Yeah, gays are SO weird aren’t they?

  • Cam

    And then of course there is always THIS picture of Marlon Brando.

    http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m926m2UxOA1ry4t6no1_1280.jpg

  • MikeE

    @balehead: What’s far sadder is your apparent inability to just let it go. You really HAVE to get a dig in, don’t you?

    You’re a funny one, constantly accusing the “queens” on Queerty of being “bitchy”, and yet, here you are criticizing people, being the quintessential “bitchy queen” you seem to loathe so much in others. I see some internalized esteem issues floating not too far below the surface with you. Really, get some professional help.

  • jkb

    @balehead: Would you rather we live for abusing children, torturing animals, damaging property? Pray tell, what should we live for in your universe?

  • hudson

    @Cam: oh my!

  • hudson

    a fun article and i had no idea Gene Kelly was such a looker! Kinda Hugh Jackmanish. woof! The young Marlon Brando is still the hottest thing Hollywood ever produced, imho. Before he ballooned.

  • Horse Lips

    This balehead dude is obviously suffering from some mental illness. Best to just ignore him/her.

  • Derek Williams

    Every one of these a personal favourite. Curious that Dirk Bogarde and Rock Hudson were not included. Future such galleries will undoubtedly include Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Kevin Klyne, Tom Selleck, Matt Damon and Michael Douglas.

  • DickGreenleaf

    Brando and Wally Cox were lifelong friends since childhood. After Brando’s death his children had his ashes mixed with Wally’s(bequeathed to Brando) so they would always be together.

  • Pup

    I would have TOTALLY hit on Gregory Peck and Gene Kelley. Woof, they were hot with some scruff.

  • krystalkleer

    huff and puff and blow yer wad awaaaay!
    http://getoffmydress.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-king-of-all-queens.html

  • Michael David Barber

    The gentleman I thought was most handsome is not even on this list; Tyrone Power.

  • GeriHew

    I suspect there are at least as many bisexual men as monosexual men in that little list.

  • Stache1

    @Cam: As much as i’d like to see that photo as true i think this is where it’s actually from.
    http://prntscr.com/1qdbsq

  • Jairo Mendez

    Me Parece estar Viendo a Marlon Brando Como Ese Teniente Homosexual, Enamorado de ese Joven, y Apuesto Soldado, en ” Reflejos en un Ojo Dorado” Inolvidable.

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