Tab Hunter Confidential Page #7

or I'm afraid to do this.

But you've just got

to go (SPLASHING

SOUND) take the plunge.

ANNOUNCER:
"Porrait

of a Murderer,"

directed by Arhur Penn.

It was the true story

of Donald Bashor a man

who committed burglaries

and murdered these people.

It was a very powerful

piece of material.

Put than back right now.

I'm calling the police.

You're going to get arrested

for breaking and-- ah!

Oh!

He was frightening--

really frightening.

He played it so well

because it seemed to be

going against his own persona.

Here was Geraldine page from

the Actor's Studio in New York.

It was a whole different

way of working.

Tab kept up with her.

But I don't want to

bring you bad luck.

Bad luck?

You're my good

luck, my best luck.

This was big time.

This wasn't just some teenage

hearthrob who got a break.

Oh, I was proud of that show.

It was a good show.

Television was giving

me the opporunity

to do things that I could

not do in motion pictures,

with the most creative

people in the industry,

directors like

Sidney Lumet, John

Frankenheimer,

really good actors

and actresses and good writers.

I loved live television.

ANNOUNCER:
Tab Hunter.

Then it stared

to click, where he

was getting cast in

things that made sense,

and he was no longer a joke.

Come on!

Just me brand them.

I told you to

put that gun away.

Yes, sir.

I'd played heavy on

television but never in a flm.

It just was such

a good character.

It's a pathetic.

From now on, I'm going my

own way, me, Ed Hackett.

He's a complete psychopath.

I'm giving you an order.

You can go to hell!

He's a racist.

You mean to tell me you'd

marry that no-good half breed?

He's a murderer.

Mister, you made a mistake

in pulling that gun.

He's just waiting to explode.

Of all the flms I've done,

"Gunman's Walk" was some

of my best work as an actor.

After "Gunman's Walk," Hollywood

stared to see me in a new way.

I stared getting cast in

some very nice productions--

"They Game to Cordura," with

Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworh,

"The Pleasure of His

Company," with Fred

Astaire and Debbie Reynolds,

"That Kind of Woman,"

with Sophia Loren.

These wonderful flms were not

being made at Warner Brothers,

where I was under contract.

Warners would loan me out

for like $250,000 a picture.

Then they would pay

me my regular Warner

Brothers weekly salary, and they

would pocket the difference.

I was getting a little

upset about that.

The two flms that

Natalie and I did together

were both big hits.

So the studio went and put

us together in another flm.

Well, I read the script, and

I thought, I can't do this.

I turned it down because

I knew what I liked,

knew what I didn't like,

and I wanted to grow.

I'm not a puppet.

So I asked the studio

for my release.

Well, needless to say,

Jack Warner wasn't

about to have that happen.

And I said, well, Mr. Warner,

how much would it cost'?

And he said, if

you want out, you

pay us $100,000 for the

remainder of your contract.

That was a lot of money,

like a couple million today.

But to express myself and

be my own person, I fgured,

I've got to do it.

Products of Hollywood

are interchangeable

and ultimately replaceable.

Get outta here, Dad.

If you weren't half

drunk I'd throw you out.

Troy Donahue was a young actor.

He was one of Henry's clients.

Actually, Henry Wilson tried

to stick me with that name

before they gave me Tab Hunter.

Warner Brothers was trying

to make Troy Donahue

in the image of Tab Hunter.

They stared building

Troy's career

and have him a very good career.

You've been a good old wagon,

but you done broke down.

(WHISTLING SOUND) You're out,

and somebody else is in there.

Leaving Warner Brothers

was career suicide.

I thought there'd be opporunity

for me at other studios,

but that was not the case.

The days of studio

contracts were over.

I was now a freelance

actor on my own,

and my primary concern was

taking care of my mother.

I had a lot of responsibilities.

And it was tough to keep

your head above water.

I would do anything

to pay down my debt.

ANNOUNCER:
"Operation

Bikini," starring Tab Hunter.

My career was really

drying up in Hollywood.

So I would take

whatever was available.

I was no longer looking for

the keys to the kingdom.

ANNOUNCER:
"The Golden

Arrow," starring Tab Hunter.

Well, not many actors can say

that they rode a fying carpet.

When you have to live

and you need a job,

you'll accept what's there.

ANNOUNCER:
Tab

Hunter in a dual role

as a heroic security offcer

and a treacherous enemy agent.

"Birds Do It," with Soupy

Sales, that's a winner.

ANNOUNCER:
Tab

Hunter is Steamer.

He goes all the way for

everhing Hawaiian.

To this day, people are

still coming up and saying,

oh, I loved you in all

those beach movies!

I only did one.

That was "Ride the Wild Surf."

Everybody kept thinking

of me as this surfer.

And at that point, I

felt that I was a little

long in the tooth for that one.

I was 32 at the time.

They would have a son a little

Red Flyer wagon on our knees

with process shot behind us

of this mountainous wave.

And then a prop man

would be in front of us

With a bucket of water going

splash-splash, splash-splash.

Someone point me

toward the nearest bank.

This was called paying

the bills and keep working.

That's what it's all about.

ANNOUNCER:
"The

Tab Hunter Show--"

The television

series that I did,

This was bottom of the barrel.

But that's impossible.

This so-called comedy wound

up with a director who would

Say to us, come on, come on.

Faster!

Faster!

Fast is funny, but

faster is funnier.

When do you meet her?

Right now.

It was really bad stuff.

The bloom came off the rose.

My career was going

(WHISTLING SOUND).

Beat it, Tab.

Can't you see I'm busy'?

Without the protection

of the studio,

My boy-nex-door image

was in total free fall.

People could say and write

what they wanted, and they did.

If I had still been

under contract,

They'd have nailed it like that.

I was sick of Hollywood,

sick of the media,

And I had just about

lost faith in everhing.

As I was doing flms, I would

always run back to the stable.

The thing about being

alone on a horse,

it helps you divorce

yourself from yourself

because you're

working with an animal

that has a life of its own.

It's a marriage that's

quite marvelous.

I found that my touch of reality

in that unrealistic world

of Hollywood.

He was riding a jumper.

I was in awe of him

because of how he rode.

I was standing at the back gate,

and we just stared talking.

I didn't know who he was.

And he asked me questions

like, do I ride'?

And I said, oh, yeah,

I grew up on a horse.

He said, do you

ride jumping horses?

And I said, no,

I've not done that,

but the thought appeals to me.

And he said, I'd be willing

to teach you some jumping.

So I took him up on it.

And so we became

friends after that.

He didn't have

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes