Was Robert Walker gay?

I think his sexuality had something to do with his troubled nature

Has anyone ever had a more lookalike child?

Wow, you're right, r2 - that's pretty incredible. I'd never seen the son before.

I think of Charlie X when it comes to the son.

I disagree that Kelly does not come across as gay in "The Pirate," OP.

The stories are that he was deeply closeted but loved to fuck men.

It was fairly well known in Hollywood that Robert Walker was gay, but he was ordered by his studio to be married. He was one of many.

"It was fairly well known in Hollywood that Robert Walker was gay, but he was ordered by his studio to be married."

Not that this has any bearing on whether Walker was or was not gay, but didn't he and Jennifer Jones marry while they were in acting school in New York, before either one got involved in the film industry?

[quote]It was fairly well known in Hollywood that Robert Walker was gay, but he was ordered by his studio to be married. He was one of many.

Thanks for weighing in, Darwin Porter. I trust everything you have to say on these matters.

I'm confused by your post, r5. Was it Wagner who loved to fuck men or Kelly?

If he was gay, then bravo to Jones for leaving for a man who loved her. She took a lot of criticism for that, and people said it was her fault that Walker drank himself to death.

Well he DID marry Judy Garland (in "The Clock.")

Walker married again after Jones. I think that the girl was John Ford's daughter. Anyway, she left him pretty afterwards.

I don't know with any certainty of course whether he was gay or not but that's always been my gut feeling, that being that his sexuality was a component in his contentious nature.

p.s. There were two sons. Robert Jr & Michael. Michael looked like him in the face but had his mother curly dark hair. Robert Jr was a dead ringer for his dad.

p.p.s. Photo attached is of Michael. He died a few years ago. Robert is living.

Didn't Nancy Reagan give him and Peter Lawford some Class A blow jobs?

[quote]Didn't Nancy Reagan give him and Peter Lawford some Class A blow jobs ?

That's what Peter Lawford allegedly claimed and the story was repeated in Kitty Kelly's biography of Nancy.

I love The Clock, but if a man pursued a woman like that today he would be slapped with a restraining order.

It's even more fun to watch if you imagine it as a prequel to Strangers On a Train. In between the two movies he must have thrown Judy off a cliff.

The Clock is my favorite Judy Garland movie (Strangers on a Train is my favorite Robert Walker movie). Nice to see some love for it here - it always struck me as a little obscure and underrated.

I really used to believe he was devastated when he lost Jennifer Jones (it would be understandable) but now I'm starting to see that he could've actually been gay.

R16 I think that we can all agree we are all lovers of movies and movie stars.

I think the " The Clock" is not a believable story. Garland is good. She really could be a great actress if given the right part. But she deserved a better film than this war propaganda . Pair her with John Hodiak again . They were great together : his masculine manners complimented her woman-child act.

Re-watching THE CLOCK is fascinating today; so much has changed but yet so much is the same. I do wish the Met was a empty as it was when they wandered through the galleries.

By the way, Minnelli really imbued the film with a real NY-vibe. I love that you see black people in the crowd scenes; that was rare in those days on screen.

Walker comes across as very gay which is why Hitchcock hired him - Hitchcock was no fool.

[quote]By the way, Minnelli really imbued the film with a real NY-vibe. I love that you see black people in the crowd scenes; that was rare in those days on screen.

One of the things I love about the movie.

Believe it or not, The Clock was the only non-musical film Judy ever made for MGM.

She was such a great actress, you'd think LB Mayer might have seen the wisdom in letting her do one non-musical a year, which might have been so much less taxing (both physically and emotionally) and just as profitable.

R2, I think Robert Mitchum's boys looked very much like him. Also Jody McCrea, Joel's kid looked like his dad. I'll look for,some pics.

[quote] didn't he and Jennifer Jones marry while they were in acting school in New York, before either one got involved in the film industry?

Yes.

Nobody ever saw him drunk before Jennifer Jones left him. And she did it quickly and with no warning. He was stunned.

He thought they were a happy family. They had two kids, a nice house, their careers were doing well and out of nowhere she tells him she wants a separation. Then he finds out she's fucking the ugly but powerful Selnick to further her career. It's something that usually happens to women. The wives think their lives are wonderful and suddenly their husbands ask for a divorce; he's been fucking someone at work.

He also found that he pretty much owed his career to Selznick, not to his own talent. Selznick went behind the scenes to secure a contract for Walker at MGM. Selznick hired him to play opposite Jones and Jones told Waker she wanted a divorce. Selznick insisted Walker film take after take of love scenes with Jones. He was a sick fuck. Everyone in Hollywood knew what was happening.

Walker held out hope that Jones would return to him, but she didn't and he started drinking and having anger problems, particularly with authority figures like police.

Walker seemed to be getting better after some time at Menninger, but was killed by his psychiatrist. I think Marilyn Monroe had a similar death. In both cases, the psychiatrists were using heavy duty meds on them to "calm" them and were constantly around the patient or hired people to always be near the patient. Brian Wilson had a similar psychiatric treatment; his shrink lived with him and followed him around. Keep in mind, rehab didn't really exist until Betty Ford came forward with her addiction problem in the late 70s and the clinic named after her was started in 1982. Before that, celebs went into hospitals to dry out and were released, or were signed into private psychiatric facilities where they underwent intensive psychotherapy (focusing on the person's childhood) and given powerful drugs like Nembutal, Seconal and Sodium Amytal.

Walker's death was an avoidable tragedy. A friend of his claims he was at the house when Walker's psychiatrist insisted on injecting him with a sedative and that Walker appeared to be basically fine. He held Walker down while the doctor injected him and regretted it for the rest of his life.

Timothy Hutton resembled young Jim Hutton

Rbt Walker Jr was a little weird-looking. His head was big and shaped like an upside down triangle, but his body was really thin, with narrow shoulders which emphasized his big-headedness

I think he’s a very good actor. I’m watching Strangers on a Train as I type.

[quote] If he was gay, then bravo to Jones for leaving for a man who loved her.

Jennifer Jones was miserable with David O. Selznick. She basically sold herself to him in exchange for his making her a star.

I don't know if Robert Walker was gay or not, but I have always thought that in STRANGERS ON A TRAIN he looks EXACTLY like Kevin Spacey!! Those of you who are watching it now, look for the resemblance!

This whole thread, I thought we were talking about Joseph Cotton.

John Lahr (Bert's son) wrote that his mother's last words were "Joseph Cotton, what a man!" which he found confusing....

In case you haven't noticed, Walker played Bruno in Strangers on a Train as gay.

r28 r29 COTTEN, not Cotton.

There is a funny story that Peter Lawford is credited for telling. There was a period of time in the late 40s when he was very close to both Judy Garland and Robert Walker - for a time Peter Lawford was the one that they would call in the middle of the day and night got all of their crisises real or imagined - he was also the one that would drive them to therapy or help sober them up - he said something to the tune of “THEY are calling ME? I’m the most screwed up guy I know and I am the NORMAl one in this group?!”

I think he really was devastated when Jennifer left him. Now, could he also have been gay or bi? Sure. But as far as I know, there wasn't any gossip about that while he was alive.

Robert Walker, Alfred Hitchcock, and Farley Granger on the set of Strangers On A Train.