Porn star. AIDS activist. Chain smoker. However you remember “rumored bisexual” Jack Wrangler, his library of 85 adult flicks will certainly cement him as an industry legend. And, at the personal level, perplexing. Said Wrangler in an interview long before his death from lung disease: “I just couldn’t live the gay lifestyle; it’s too hard to live. I’m very competitive, and with two guys having the same kind of thoughts, it’ll always be too hard for me. With a woman, there are different kinds of challenges because [ women ] come from a different place. Your interactions [ with women ] are always going to be surprising and different, whereas with a guy it’s one-on-one. It was just too hard; I tried it.” Above, the trailer for GayVN-winning documentary Wrangler, Anatomy of an Icon. [Examiner]
dgz
another porn article! gah! make it stop!
Dick
In his final interview last fall, Jack said he was not straight, not bi-sexual, he was gay.
hardmannyc
I think he was gay but he was really in love with Margaret Whiting, and who could blame him? He was easily the best-looking of the first, post-Stonewall generation of gay porn stars. I murdered sooooo many babies spilling their innocent seed because of him.
Jeff
Man I remember Jack from YEARS AGO! (Yea I’m old)
I was a cocktail waiter at “The Ninth Circle” in NYC in the early 80’s and jack used to come in all the time. He was a really nice guy. Later he got a but shady after falling in with Margeret Whiting but in the 80’s Jack was a sweetheart and HOT AS HELL! (Personal experience!) Good memories of him from back then. Funny thing was know why hus dick looked so big? Because he was short.
Will Miss Ya Jack.
HaplessOrphan
Why did you link to The Examiner, which as best I can tell, is a loosely strung together blog. For a moment I wasn’t sure that this story was even legit. Not that I endorse HIM as an arbiter of TRUTH, but why not link to Musto on the Village Voice, a book that covered Wrangler’s career when it was happening.
All in all, a sad loss of another voice of the 1970s generation. Also, he leaves behind a fascinating and complex biography and body (no pun intended) of work that just begs for further study.
HaplessOrphan
@Dick: Agreed. As far as I know he never said that he was bisexual, just that he was in love with Margaret.
Anthony in Nashville
The Advocate article from last year left me very confused because he said he was gay but married a woman because he thought men were too competitive.
Whatever floats your boat……
David
Y’know doing the quotes around bisexual is kind of tacky. We queers above all should be a little careful about how we label others. Mr Wrangler seems as though he was a complicated fellow who somehow found happiness with…gasp!!! a talented and interesting woman, to imply that makes him shady sucks. Isn’t the point that we all get to work our lives out? to be content, fulfilled and happy? and aren’t we just a little tired of all the people out there who know what is best for us? Mr Wrangler was more than a porn star. For men of my generation, the few that have made it this far, he is an icon that represents a moment when so many things seemed possible, when finally after years of hiding we could come out. A time when sex was exciting and, for lack of a better word, glamorous-instead of dull and dangerous. I expect someone like Bill O’Reilly to smirk and shrug. Not my queer brothers. With this passing I feel like another piece of a long ago life disappears. Miss Whiting has my sympathy
Bob Lablah
I think the number of comments on this article reflects the devastation inflicted on the gay community by the man-made disease AIDS. I know there is no proof to back up this belief but in my mind it is etched in stone AIDS was a man-made disease because of the communities it wiped out. The gays, homeless and poor/drug addicted populations were it’s INTENDED target. All else amounted to nothing more than collateral damage.
Jack Wrangler was a porn icon. He passing is like the equivalent of Madonna passing with so few left to remember her if you can relate. It is obvious many of his fans are no longer with us. I spent all day yesterday waiting to see how many commnets would be posted by today because I am sure word would have gotten out about his passing. Somehow I am not shocked by how few there are.
Mark F.
Too bad about Jack’s early death, but his life is not exactly a model for young gay men. His inability to deal with his homosexuality and his weird marriage (why wasn’t his wife just content to have him as a best friend?) were sad.
jason
Fascinating comments from Jack Wrangler. He makes the valid point about the male-male paradigm being one dimensional and sex-oriented. The problem isn’t so much in the form of the orientation that exists in men who desire other men. Rather, the problem is in the combining of the two promiscuities. Man + man is conducive to promiscuity.
You only have to look at the behavior of men in all-male sex clubs as they venture from one brain-dead, silent sexual encounter to the next. They’re like drug addicts hauling their carcasses from one fix to another.
vixlad
@Dick: Do you know where I can find and read that article where he stated that he was a Gay man and not bi or straight?
badleroybrown8
@David:
No, his whole life paints him as a little bit shady … including the nasty straight porn movies that he made. I don’t understand why he could not just admit that he was bisexual … his action speak louder than his words.
Your preaching about ‘my queer brothers and sisters’ is totally offensive.