I have a blast from the past for you today, Farley Granger, handsome actor from Hollywood's golden age.
We saw his great Hitchcock film
Strangers on a Train over the weekend. Farley plays a tennis star who inadvertently gets mixed up in murder with deranged Robert Walker. Here's Farley in his tennis shorts:
For my money, Farley Granger is one of the best looking men ever to come out of Hollywood. What a dreamboat. Here he is with Robert Walker:
The gay subtext in this film practically leaps off the screen. Two handsome, well groomed men meet on a train, one is a tennis star. They immediately take to each other and their lives will never be the same. You get the point. Several times, I thought they were about to kiss. Farley certainly knows something about a longing glance. If the film were made today, I believe they would have had a crazy affair, or at least a one night stand.
Farley was also in the Hitchcock film
The Rope, shown here with John Dall. That was another film with strong gay subtext. Two handsome, well groomed (notice a trend?) have a sophisticated dinner party in a chic Manhattan apartment. The only problem is, there's a dead body stashed in a trunk. I know, I know, the gays always had to kill somebody. It was the 40s and 50s. Farley appeared on
The Celluloid Closet to discuss Hollywood's treatment of gay characters.
Why was Farley so perfect in these movies? Talent and looks? Of course. Plus - surprise - he's gay. He wrote an autobiography a few years back,
Include Me Out, My Life from Goldwyn to Broadway. He discusses his various love affairs including Leonard Bernstein and Patricia Neal. Maybe it's more accurate to call him bisexual. He's still alive and kicking today. Here he is with his partner of many years, Robert Calhoun:
What a good-looking couple. Reportedly, they're still together today.
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