Remembering Farley Granger
Silver screen legend Farley Granger (Rope, Strangers on a Train) passed away on March 27, 2011 in Manhattan, at the age of 85. We had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Granger in 2007 for a “Catching Up” feature in Weekly about his time as AS THE WORLD TURNS’s Earl and his memoir, Include Me Out. The outspoken and witty Mr. Granger shared quite a few memories and insights about being gay in Hollywood that we didn’t have room to print at the time.
Soap Opera Weekly: In approaching writing a memoir, did you have to walk a fine line in telling stories without outing someone?
Granger: The people that I did talk about, in no instances was it outing anyone. For instance, I talk about an affair I had many years ago with Leonard Bernstein. After that, he married, but it was not exactly a secret that Leonard had affairs with men, as well as loving his wife throughout his life. So, I didn’t really out anybody.
Weekly: Was it harder to be gay in Hollywood back then, or is it harder now because the media seems to know so much more and have a salacious intent?
Granger: I think it was harder then, because the threat of it destroyed careers. They can speculate about Tom Cruise forever, and it doesn’t seem to hurt his career. I have no idea what the truth of that is, so I’m not trying to say anything about him, but it hasn’t hurt his career and certainly didn’t hurt Richard Gere‘s career, or other people’s. In the book, there’s a story that I tell: [working on] my very first movie [The North Star], when I was 17, I met this nice man. He came up to me in the hall of the studio and said, I think, “You’re doing very good work,” and he introduced [himself to] me. I didn’t recognize his name. It meant something, but it didn’t mean a thing to me! I said, “What do you do? Are you working on the film?” And he said, “Well, I’m writing a few tunes for it.” It was Aaron Copland, one of the foremost composers in America, who was both writing a score for it, and writing songs with Ira Gershwin. When I got out of the Navy four years later, I went to see Lewis Milestone, who directed my first two films before I went into the Navy. He said, “Aaron’s in town doing The Red Pony. You ought to go over and say hello.” I did, and he invited me out to dinner. We had a great time. A couple of days after, I was called in to Samuel Goldwyn‘s office, and Goldwyn just sat there — like Buddha…or not like Buddha; he wasn’t benevolent-looking, but like a great stone statue — with one of his vice presidents. He started in about, “You were seen having dinner with Aaron Copland the other night. You can’t do that, he’s a known homosexual. You can’t be seen with any homosexuals.” I wasn’t particularly a rebel or anything at the time, but I just blew up right then and there. On the spot. I said, “You can’t tell me who I can be seen with. He’s one of the foremost composers in America!” and then I turned to Goldwyn and said, “Furthermore, I’m here in this studio, where you hired him to write the score for the movie!” I just turned around and marched out of the office.
Weekly: What was your social scene like back then? Was it like Hollywood is now?
Granger: My first and dearest friends were musicians, and I just loved them and had more fun with them than anyone else. I didn’t like the idea of going to a pool party at George Cukor’s house, where it was all just young men. I liked women too much, as well. That’s 50 percent of the population! I never fell in with any cliques, so it was easy for me not to have any problem.
Weekly: While you were still on ATWT in 1988, the show had one of the very first openly gay characters on daytime, Hank Eliot. Did you ever see it coming that soaps would start handling gay storylines?
Granger: By then, it had started happening in movies, and it started happening in the theater. So, it was inevitable that it would happen on soaps. But I had no idea that it would happen as rapidly as it did. I guess everything happens faster now than when I was a youngster, so now we’re fully aware of it. There are still people who are afraid to come out in Hollywood. I don’t know what it’ll take. [Maybe] it’ll take a big movie star. It’ll probably take a big sports figure or big politician more than a movie star. Actors have always been much more liberal and accepting about it, and less concerned with each other’s sexuality as a talking point.
Weekly: If you could leave readers with one last thought about the book and all of your accomplishments throughout your life, what would that be?
Granger: What I tried to make the book do was transfer the joy of my accomplishments. When it all goes right — film, theater and television — and you’re all wonderful, there’s no thrill like it. That, and the fact that I tried to tell plenty stories of people I knew. I didn’t want it to be dark. I didn’t want it to be tortured. I wanted it to be fun.
In 2009, Granger’s ATWT leading lady, Eileen Fulton (ex-Lisa) shared that he was her first celebrity crush! Read about that here.
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