TAB HUNTER: Sigh Guy

Tab and Natalie Wood were Warner Bros. two biggest young stars when paired romantically for two consecutive films, this one being the light comedy THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND (1958)
Tab hit stardom and teen idolatry, amid some controversy, as a soldier who falls for a Navy officer’s wife (Dorothy Malone) in BATTLE Cry (1955)

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.

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