These 13 Hollywood stars had to conceal their true identities just to stay employed.
Ramon Novarro
Although he became one of MGM’s most successful silent era stars (taking top billing in the studio’s epic 1925 Ben-Hur), underneath his romantic leading-man persona Ramon Novarro privately grappled with the incongruities between his homosexuality and the Catholicism of his childhood.
Novarro was gay, and many biographies note that he relied on his Catholic faith during his personal battles. He largely kept his private life discreet and MGM continued to cast him in glossy leading-man parts.
Charles Laughton
Charles Laughton was a highly regarded Hollywood actor who won an Oscar for his role in The Private Life of Henry VIII. He went on to star in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Witness for the Prosecution.
Laughton married actress Elsa Lanchester in 1929. While they stayed together until his death, Lanchester recalled him confessing his homosexuality to her early in their marriage. She further details his affairs with men and the struggles of their unusual marriage privately.
Montgomery Clift
Montgomery Clift was recognized as Hollywood’s leading dramatic actor. Movies like Red River, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity and I Confess earned him respect. His sensitive and nuanced acting made Clift stand out as a new kind of leading man in Hollywood during the 40s and 50s.
Throughout his life, his romantic relationships included both men and women, but he largely kept this private. Movie publicity still portrayed him as a traditional leading man and ladies’ man, and many of his friends shielded his love life from scrutiny.
Unlike many other closeted celebrities, Clift never married as a public show of heterosexuality. And Clift’s life demonstrates that it was possible for a major star to carry on a fairly private life while maintaining a very public persona.
James Dean
From his breakout role in East of Eden to his tragic death after Rebel Without a Cause, James Dean became one of Hollywood’s most iconic youthful leading men. What he did in his private life away from the cameras has been subject to debate however, especially regarding his relationships with men and women.
Dean and actress Pier Angeli had a widely publicized romance when both were just coming up in the film industry. There have been numerous later allegations disputing how physical their relationship became, and how much of it was concocted by Hollywood media.
James Dean died in 1955 before he could ever publicly address rumors about his sexuality and relationships. Therefore any statements about his private life should be considered speculation and not concrete facts.
Rock Hudson
When it comes to protecting a male star’s straight image, Rock Hudson offers one of Hollywood’s most straightforward illustrations of the studio system’s power. Agent Henry Willson manufactured Hudson’s public image as a handsome leading romantic actor while hiding Hudson’s homosexuality from the general public.
Hudson’s private life was put at risk in 1955 when Confidential magazine posed a threat of exposure. Allegedly, Willson threw reporters off Hudson’s trail by supplying evidence that other clients were gay. Soon after, Hudson wedded Willson’s secretary, Phyllis Gates, in a ceremony reportedly orchestrated by Willson.
Cesar Romero
An actor whose career spanned six decades, Cesar Romero played dashing leading men, Latin lovers, and eventually served as the Joker on Batman. Romero never married and had an extremely private personal life.
Samuel Garza Bernstein’s 2025 biography depicts Romero as gay, while noting that Romero avoided the sham marriages and orchestrated romance plots pursued by some of his peers. As Romero kept his personal life very private and rarely spoke about his sexuality, the evidence we have is indirect, not a direct statement from him.
William Haines
William Haines was one of MGM’s biggest stars throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was also openly dating Jimmie Shields for many years, eventually catching the attention of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer.
Per most retellings of William Haines’s career, Mayer demanded that Haines break things off with Shields and marry someone to preserve his wholesome screen image or be fired from MGM. Haines refused and chose Shields instead.
His refusal marked the unofficial end to his Hollywood acting career. Haines and Shields remained partners for many years, and Haines went on to find success as an interior designer.
George Nader
George Nader was groomed as a potential Universal leading man in the 1950s and was even marketed as a potential successor to actors like Rock Hudson. Off screen however, Nader was openly living with his boyfriend Mark Miller who would later become very involved with Hudson himself both professionally and privately.
George Nader’s sexuality was not publicly revealed during his time as a studio star. Sources from Hollywood during that time period even account for Universal managing him as a second-string Hudson and going out of their way to uphold his male leading-man image.
Instead of saying Universal traded Nader out for Hudson’s safety, it’s safer to say Nader simply fell into place in the same studio system that managed many gay leading men’s private lives.
Tab Hunter
Tab Hunter rose to be one of Warner Bros.’ most popular teen idols in the 1950s. His blond hair, boy-next-door roles, and clean-cut looks made him an instant pin-up favorite for American girls. While privately he pursued relationships with other men, that fact had to stay concealed.
Hunter publicly confirmed his romance with co-star Anthony Perkins. Whispers were circulating back then about female stars making strong advances on Hunter, claims that probably served to bolster the heterosexual image Warner Bros. demanded he uphold.
He later spoke about the immense strain of leading a dual existence. Hunter’s career is proof of how studios could market their actors’ love lives while keeping other relationships out of their publicity tactics.
Anthony Perkins
Anthony Perkins rose to prominence as a teen idol in the 1950s before becoming a cultural icon playing Norman Bates in Psycho. While he maintained a straight public persona, he had romantic encounters with men in his youth, notably including Tab Hunter and dancer Rudolf Nureyev.
Perkins later entered into therapy to attempt to become heterosexual. Sources indicate this therapy took place in the early 1970s, rather than suggesting a continuous, decades-long battle with his sexuality.
Perkins married photographer and actress Berry Berenson in 1973. They remained together until his death in 1992.
Van Johnson
Van Johnson rose to popularity as one of MGM’s top stars in the 1940s, especially after becoming a leading romantic and musical man during World War II.
He married Eve Abbott, who had formerly been married to actor Keenan Wynn, in 1947 shortly after Abbott divorced Wynn.
Abbott later claimed that MGM orchestrated her and Johnson’s marriage to squelch rumors about Johnson’s homosexuality. Their marriage lasted until 1968, throughout which MGM marketed Johnson as a pure American leading man.
Farley Granger
Farley Granger was best known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock films Rope and Strangers on a Train. For a considerable time after finishing his work in movies, Granger chose to keep his romantic life under wraps. However, eventually Granger came out as bisexual.
Granger slept with men and women throughout his life, including co-star Arthur Laurents. He spoke about his sexuality with far more openness later in life than he would have been allowed to during the height of his studio system career.
Sal Mineo
Sal Mineo rocketed to teen-idol status with his role as Plato in Rebel Without a Cause. Mineo earned an Academy Award nomination for his gritty performance. Audiences loved Mineo’s sensitive acting style and youthful good looks.
Mineo would become much more open about his sexuality later in life. Michaud’s biography details Mineo’s romantic history with both men and women. Mineo was reported to be openly gay by the Los Angeles Times by the 1970s.
Mineo became involved with gay theatre later in his career. He directed and starred in many pieces which dealt directly with issues of sexuality such as Fortune and Men’s Eyes.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
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