The Eternal Macho Man Is Outed

The Eternal Macho Man Is Outed

First it was Rock Hudson. Then there were these rumours about Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power, which turned out to be largely true. Now it appears even Burt Lancaster, the man made famous by his clinch in the sand with Deborah Kerr in the 1953 film, From Here to Eternity, was homosexual. Or at least, going by his three marriages, swung both ways.

In the era of gay man as object of affection, perhaps this is no longer shocking news, but for millions who remember Lancaster as the ultimate macho man, it is as surprising as hearing rumours of Ricky Martin being gay.

And how do we know but thanks to J. Edgar Hoover (who regarded the From Here to Eternity scene as deeply immoral), whose FBI kept a watch on Lancaster, who was regarded as a liberal in Hollywood. According to the agency's surveillance records, reported in The Sunday Times, he attended a homosexual orgy with Rock Hudson and 250 US marines. The FBI covered Lancaster's activities, beginning in 1955 when a New York informant reported seeing the actor at a gay party with a man. The files were kept in an FBI bunker in Virginia by Kate Bufford, whose biography Burt Lancaster An American Life was published last week in New York. The records are now kept in the University of Southern California library.

In January 1960, under the heading Hollywood Vice, there was a report of a joint police and military raid on the home of a ``millionaire dillitante (sic) who frequents the Hollywood night spots and is a notorious homosexual. At his mansion, surrounded by high wire fence and guarded with a $10,000 electric alarm and shocking system, have been organised large-scale homosexual orgies at which guests were required to register their names and at which many of them were surreptitiously photographed,'' says the FBI report.

The report alleged that the raid was organised by the American military because the orgy was once attended by an unnamed admiral, 50 marines from the 29 Palms marine base east of Los Angeles and another 200 marines from nearby Camp Pendleton. ``Also among the many prominent individuals revealed as participants in these orgies were the actors Rock Hudson and Burt Lancaster.''

There has been gossip in the gay community about Lancaster, but it did not appear in print before his death in 1994. In fact, there was much speculation about the sexuality of Oscar-winning actors Jodie Foster and Kein Spacey, both of whom have refused to comment on their preference. Another person who was hounded by these rumours was Keanu Reeves, who was even married off to DreamWorks' partner David Geffen.

There has also been much speculation in Hollywood about the sexuality of singer Ricky Martin, and very few are openly gay like Rupert Everett, who played the Madonna's gay lover in the recently-released The Next Best Thing. Bufford, who was the first to go into the official archives, said:``I know what the FBI believed, but I do not claim to know all the truth. But his rages, his promiscuity and mood swings show some kind of conflict or confusion about sexual identity at least.''