TAB HUNTER: Sigh Guy

Films of the Golden Age
Issue Number 117
Summer 2024

“I don’t care if people like me or dislike me. I’m not on earth to win a popularity contest. I’m here to be the best possible human being I can be.”

Dreamy TAB HUNTER (1931-2018) stood out in film history as one of the hottest teen idols of the 1950s era. With blond, tanned, surfer-boy good looks, he was artificially groomed and nicknamed “The Sigh Guy” by the Hollywood studio system and rocketed to stardom as a love-torn soldier in the Warner Bros. epic BATTLE CRY (1955). Forced to hide his sexual life by “dating” stars/starlets such as Natalie Wood, his star faded by the early 1960s and was obliged to take on TV and “B” films. He took a huge chance appearing in underground sleazy John Waters’ first mainstream film POLYESTER (1982) co-starring drag performer Divine but it paid off and he briefly earned a new following.

For obtaining the issue or article on TAB HUNTER, please call SUBSCRIPTIONS at (866) 880-2108.