Out actor Tab Hunter says in an op-ed
that he never got to say goodbye to Anthony Perkins.
Hunter's secret love affair with
Perkins, recounted by Hunter in his 2005 memoir Tab Hunter
Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, is the subject of an
upcoming film, titled Tab & Tony.
In his memoir, Hunter, who turns 87 on
July 11, recollects affairs he had with Hollywood star Anthony
Perkins (Psycho) and figure skater Ronnie Robertson, and how
he met Alan Glaser, his partner of over 35 years.
Perkins died in 1992 at the age of 60
in Los Angeles of AIDS-related pneumonia.
Hunter said that he was introduced to
Perkins by a friend.
“We just chatted and got on and soon
we were starting to see each other,” Hunter
said.
Hunter said that Paramount executives
told Perkins he could no longer see Hunter.
“Despite the opposition we did
continue seeing each other. I remember one summer we took a little
beach house with his family and friends. It was quite wonderful.
But it was always out of the public eye,” Hunter said.
The relationship fizzled after Perkins
got Paramount to buy a movie that Hunter was working on at Warner
Brothers.
“It made a difference to our
relationship. I felt betrayed; I was really disappointed by that,”
he said. “It was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back.
We sort of separated. I guess we just outgrew each other and then we
lost touch for a while.”
Perkins married Berinthia “Berry”
Berenson in 1973. They had two children.
“When he died, it was very sudden. I
heard that he was ill, I called and was told he’d just passed away.
I never got the chance to see him again,” Hunter said.