He was married to Judy and the father to Liza — so by all accounts, Vincente Minnelli was already a gay man. But the Oscar-winning director is definitely labeled a queen in A Hundred or More Hidden Things, the new bio from Mark Griffin, who says, “Despite the fact that Minnelli was married to Judy Garland and three other women…it was generally assumed that he was a closeted gay man who, due to the societal conditioning of his era, felt compelled to marry and procreate. I was surprised to discover that the people I spoke to about all of this often provided dramatically conflicting anecdotes or opinions. It seems clear to me that on several levels, Minnelli was living in two different worlds.”
But we already knew Vincente was a ‘mo. In Emanuel Levy’s book Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood’s Dark Dreamer, the director is revealed as living as an openly gay man in New York before moving to Hollywood. Levy tried interviewing Liza about her father, who doted on the young girl; she refused. Because of the elephant in the room.
Pete
OK, let’s have names of his liasons if this is true. I have never seen a name associated with Minelli as his boyfriend, either for 10 years or 10 minutes. On the other hand, this would make Judy Garland so much more tragic, and loved by gays.
Sexy Rexy
I’ve only heard rumors. He was an amazing director – just look at the ballroom sequence in Madame Bovary.
alan brickman
He is also a brilliant director….
Queertyisthebest
Of course, any responsible gay person would tell you that openly speculating about a person’s sexuality is not only not cool, it’s sort of makes you an asshole, but this is Queerty, where it’s 8th grade every day, all day.
David Ehrenstein
According to several old — and gay — Hollywoodians I interviewed for my book Minnelli had numerous affairs with women. That doomed his marriage to Judy as much as her propensity of large quantities of contraolled substances ( or as Kay Thompson put it “Drug-a-roonies.”) I’m sure there was a chorus boy or two in there as well. But what marked him as gay was his “flamboyance.”
He wore make-up.
In the daytime.
And jewelry.
IOW he was the Johnny Weir of his day.
And one of the greatest directors in the history of the cinema.
ossurworld
Oh, please, the man lived fifty and sixty years ago…hardly a liberated gay age. He did what he had to in the world he inhabited.
Fitz
Maybe I am senile.. but I swear that I remember an interview with Liza in which she talked about walking in on her father while he was boinking some dude.
But this was 3000 years ago.
Lukas P.
Ever notice this? Liza’s last hubster David Guest looked lots like her dad.
Freakish kinda sorta deets: same cleft chin, voice, cheekbones, alopecia [hair loss], and penchant for other men?
History repeated itself, as often is the case.
Lukas P.
I meant David Gest.
Damn auto-correct gadget kicked in, unannounced.
Mickey
I always felt he was gay, but who knows? One thing is certain, he was an incredible talent and an amazing director–I am always a little stunned by the wide variety of movies he’s been responsible for.
Fitz
@Lukas P.: Oh come on… we all marry our parents.. the good, bad, and ugly parts. The few times we have gotten into a true down-and-out argument here, we call each other by our parent’s names in order to bring in both insight and levity.
terrwill
C,mon back then Hollywood was worse than an islamic country with all the arranged marriages that took place. High profile actor, actress, director or what ever married other party in a agreed upon scenario. I am sure David with his wealth of knowledge about all things Hollywood could probably let us know the terms and conditiona of the contracts………….
Marrying Judy Garland and producing Liza Minelli indicates he had to have some kindaabsolutley fablous Gay genes floating in his gene pool…….
Lukas: I am a trebbile spller!! : p how do you get some kind of auto correct to work while posting here on Qweirty?
Terry
@Fitz,
Liza didn’t walk in on her dad, she walked in on her first husband Peter Allen.
David Ehrenstein
— who was in the arms of her mom’s fourth husband, Mark Herron.
Lady Madonna
Dear Pete, If you want names, “Vicente Minelli: Hollywood’s Dark Dreamer” (one of the cited biographies and the first ever about Minnelli) names one, notably a retail-display designer named A. Lester Gaba. You can read his obituary at http://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/14/obituaries/lester-gaba-mannequin-artist.html?pagewanted=1
Lady Madonna
In any case, if anyone cares, the Levy-written biography declares Minnelli to be bisexual, as observed in the introduction to the book.
temporarygay
He was a homosexual, thats been proven. closet case closed.
Pete
@Lady Madonna: @Lady Madonna: @Lady Madonna:
The obit on Lester Gaba was very interesting. However, it nowhere states that Minelli gave him blowjobs, or even mentions Minelli.
Denny
WTF I am a straight male living on Capital hill in Seattle WA. I was diagnosed with AIDS in 2001 acquired while a lab tech in a Navy blood bank. I get so tired of all the F@@#$%n Qu&^%s with all their insecurities who need to identify with us some how. In order to do so they must make us Queer also. Thus, is probably the case with Minelli. I think the queers who need to do this need to grow up and find their own identity. D.S. Seattle WA PS. wish to reinforce what I just said, just post a negative comment.