Mamie Van Doren says she was there for the gay community before Elizabeth Taylor
Van Doren has also remained outspoken about causes dear to her, serving as an early high-profile grand marshal for the LA Pride Parade in 1987 — at the height of the AIDS Crisis.
“Elizabeth Taylor came along trying to say that she was the first one that ever did anything for the community. And it was a very bad shock… I wasn’t invited to anything after that,” Van Doren explained. “So, the gay community got together and… put me in the parade and made me the queen.”
Van Doren said that, after Taylor took on the task of being a leader in the campaign to fight AIDS, she and other advocates were “iced out.” “A lot people — we were all the first ones — we’re all getting ready to go to this charity thing that [Taylor] had, and they called us and told us that we weren’t wanted. That was the end of it. I want to make it very clear in history, she was not the first one. She only did it after Rock Hudson died
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 48 | July 31, 2025 11:05 PM
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What is the dynamic here? She’s 94. Is People Mag reaching out to her proactively to interview her about…AIDS? In 2025?
Or is she inviting press to just “drop by” and find some big scoop? Who would waste their time answering such a call?
by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 29, 2025 6:34 AM
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Serious question. Are we supposed to know who she is??
by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 29, 2025 6:48 AM
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I admit I didn’t vote for her husband.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 29, 2025 6:49 AM
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Seems like an accurate account of non-profit org bullshit and charity gala attention seeking and social climbing. But I'm not going to slag Elizabeth Taylor.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 29, 2025 7:25 AM
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Elizabeth's estate continues to earn and donate money. And Mamie still cashes her SSI check at Von's.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 5 | July 29, 2025 8:04 AM
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R2 Turn your gay card in now.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 29, 2025 8:15 AM
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[quote]Serious question. Are we supposed to know who she is??
You're asking this on DL? Please.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 29, 2025 8:21 AM
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R5 - they show the wrong bottle to illustrate Passion for Men!
by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 29, 2025 8:23 AM
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[quote] Seems like an accurate account of non-profit org bullshit and charity gala attention seeking and social climbing. But I'm not going to slag Elizabeth Taylor.
I’m not going to slag off either of them, but it rings very true! Non-profits and charities are cutthroat.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 29, 2025 8:24 AM
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Are we ignoring the opening story of how Rock Hudson was not gay with her?
by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 29, 2025 9:55 AM
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Who were/are all of Mamie's gay friends?
by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 29, 2025 8:06 PM
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Mamie is somewhat of an icon. It's a shame her filmography leaves a lot to be desired. If only it were as exciting and illustrious as her personal life. She's like the novel Hollywood Babylon personified. Only a LOT more accurate (not 100% but still!).
Her last onscreen appearance was in a flop 2002 stoner comedy where she sexually harasses a couple of twenty something guys and gets topless in a hospital bed by having one of them give her breasts a sponge bath.
Marilyn may be the most famous of The Blondes (Monroe, Mansfield, Van Doren, Lake, Turner, Harlow, Baker and Dors, etc.) but Mamie had the biggest udders.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 29, 2025 8:25 PM
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Mamie got some good dick like Steve The Cock Cochran. But she said he liked it too rough. He was into big boobies before he then changed to teenagers.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 29, 2025 11:21 PM
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She also claims Howard Hughes had a tiny cock.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 29, 2025 11:23 PM
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I’m looking forward to her documentary.
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 17 | July 29, 2025 11:29 PM
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Can you see Sydney Sweeney as Mamie?
by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 30, 2025 1:06 AM
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She's extremely anti-Trump on social media, so I'll not hear a word against Mamie.
She says in the interview there's a new documentary, "Mamie Confidential," coming out later this year.
The only bad thing I've ever heard about her is she refused to meet John Waters when he wanted her in "Cry-Baby," saying, "I deserve better than Divine." Waters refers to her in interviews as "Mamie with her dirty makeup."
by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 30, 2025 1:42 AM
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R19, I wonder what she meant by that Divine comment since he was not in Cry Baby.
by Anonymous | reply 20 | July 30, 2025 2:18 AM
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“With Rock Hudson, they said he was gay at the studio… ‘You don’t have anything to worry about.’ But that’s not true. That was not true at all,” Van Doren recounted. “He came on to me, and in my book I told about having [on] a Crimmins skirt and him getting very passionate and rolling on the kitchen floor.”
by Anonymous | reply 21 | July 30, 2025 2:20 AM
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As others have said, I absolutely believe this to be the case and I aint going to shit on Liz or Mamie for it. Plus it's not like Liz was dictating this shit. It's just a popularity contest and Liz won out. Love both of them.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | July 30, 2025 2:25 AM
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R13 "Marilyn may be the most famous of The Blondes (Monroe, Mansfield, Van Doren, Lake, Turner, Harlow, Baker and Dors, etc.) but Mamie had the biggest udders."
And also the biggest brain. She was the one blond bombshell allowed to be smart. She absolutely steals High School Confidential
Offsite Linkby Anonymous | reply 23 | July 30, 2025 2:29 AM
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Aids needed someone of Lizs superstardom...Fair play to any celeb who stepped up, including Mamie (blanche was a fan of the Mamie Van Doran shoe collection). But a thousand celebs dont equal one Liz.
by Anonymous | reply 24 | July 30, 2025 4:17 AM
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He came on to me, and in my book I told about having [on] a Crimmins skirt and him getting very passionate and rolling on the kitchen floor.”
Maybe he liked the skirt more than her.
by Anonymous | reply 25 | July 30, 2025 6:42 AM
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Hudson pulled up in front of my parents’ new house in the San Fernando Valley in his convertible instead of the studio limo. When he came to the door to get me, a momentary flash of disbelief passed across his face. In the dress the studio had made for me, I looked like some kind of prom queen. It had a beaded, strapless bodice and a flared skirt with acres of crinolines. The studio’s idea was to make me look as innocent and schoolgirlish as possible. I felt a little foolish.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | July 30, 2025 6:44 AM
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We got out and walked to my front door. I turned, expecting a goodnight peck on the cheek. Instead, Rock said, “Have you got any coffee in there?"
When I went to the cupboard to take out the coffee cups, I felt Rock’s hands on my bare shoulders. He turned me toward him and kissed me. My first thought was that it would be a little smack on the mouth between friends. Instead, to my surprise, Rock gave me a deep, searching, passionate kiss and his body was pressed against mine. | could feel him hardening against me as the kiss grew more ardent. Soon we were breathing heavily and pawing each other.
As we necked, we slowly sank to the kitchen floor. I was lying half on top of Rock, helping him unzip his fly. When I got it open I realized that the boulder his agent had named him after must have been a big one: Rock was well-endowed. He rolled me over to get on top but suddenly found himself engulfed in a cloud of crinoline.
I tried to guide him inside me but couldn't reach him through the forest of underskirts. Rock let out a long sigh and his weight collapsed on top of me. He had cum.
by Anonymous | reply 27 | July 31, 2025 12:58 AM
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"He was gay but I was the only woman he would ever want to fuck."
I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for $800, Alex.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | July 31, 2025 1:33 AM
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She hit the jackpot with the plastic surgeon she found to do her face work. I don’t know how recent the picture at OP is; even if it’s from ten years ago, that’s a woman in her mid-eighties who could pass for late fifties.
by Anonymous | reply 29 | July 31, 2025 5:53 AM
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There was a thread about a week ago claiming women looked more youthful with short hair.
Just look at Mamie in the 1980s and then look at her 20 years later in the 2000s and you’ll see how wrong that poster was.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | July 31, 2025 6:15 AM
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You should check out her interview with Skipp E Lowe, the inspiration behind Martin Short’s Jiminy Glick. Skipp goes on and on about how he hates gays being in film or hearing about people who are gay. Mind you, he’s the biggest fag who ever fagged. A lot of self-hatred. She doesn’t agree with him one bit in it.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | July 31, 2025 6:25 AM
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When she was the Grand Marshall of the Weho Pride parade, she wore dirty, tattered lingerie and a ratty Korean fright wig. I used that look as for inspiration for Alberta in The Deliverance.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | July 31, 2025 6:34 AM
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that’s a woman in her mid-eighties who could pass for late fifties.
R29 - I can't agree.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | July 31, 2025 8:30 AM
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Hyperbole thy name is blind eldergays on Datalounge.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | July 31, 2025 8:57 AM
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As for who should play Van Doren in a potential biopic, Mamie has a definite opinion: Sydney Sweeney.
“I’ve watched her movies. She’s a good actress. She hasn’t had that one plum that she needs. And that one plum is my movie called ‘Mamie Van Doren.’ I’d love to have her play me,” she said.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | July 31, 2025 9:50 AM
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Elizabeth not only gave money to the cause, but she also gave us her fabulous personal life, which dominated the tabloids for decades. She was super glamorous, but she also kept it real in her own way, barely hiding her dysfunctional relationships and multiple marriages. Her husbands were ugly, but the drama was hot. I think Elizabeth always understood what the gays wanted.
There were also her close and enduring friendships with Montgomery Clift and Rock Hudson while she knew the truth about both of them. Most of all, she never asked for a pat on the back for her charity she just did it. She was much more "real" than her Hollywood peers in that sense. Her causes were never fake. Sorry to Mamie, although I always adored her for fashion, but the gays and Elizabeth go together like lube and poppers. Her bosoms were nice, but I'm sure straight men were more appreciative.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | July 31, 2025 9:12 PM
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Let's see, who would I want to represent my charity? Mamie Van Doren or Elizabeth Taylor?
by Anonymous | reply 39 | July 31, 2025 9:22 PM
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I remember Mamie saying that Liz would give her the side eye at Universal.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | July 31, 2025 9:31 PM
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Liz was never at Universal......
by Anonymous | reply 41 | July 31, 2025 9:38 PM
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Can’t believe she’s still alive.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | July 31, 2025 10:04 PM
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Old people say lots of things that don’t make sense
by Anonymous | reply 43 | July 31, 2025 10:23 PM
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Let's see, who would I want to represent my charity? Mamie Van Doren or Elizabeth Taylor?
Some people found Elizabeth just as tacky as Mamie.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | July 31, 2025 10:26 PM
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I like Mamie Van Doren - I really do - she's always come across well and a sharp woman.
But what exactly was she doing for the gay community? She was a grand marshall in the 87 gay pride parade - ok.
Some may see that more as a B-movie actress striving for adulation and praise rather than actually doing anything for AIDS and the gay community.
Liz did a LOT - and flexed her muscle in front of Nancy and Ronald Reagan and got huge A-listers to donate. Who is Mamie going to bring to the table? Is she going to testify in front of Congress?
Just because you were the grand marshall of a gay pride parade, that doesn't mean that you were a symbol or an activist for us. You got a chauffeured ride in a Cadillac down Sunset with people waving at you.
Not really equal, is it?
by Anonymous | reply 45 | July 31, 2025 10:38 PM
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The movie had a good AIDS joke. Is it from the book?
by Anonymous | reply 46 | July 31, 2025 10:47 PM
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oops sorry wrong thread. it was for bonfire of the vanities thread.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | July 31, 2025 10:47 PM
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r29: She should have gotten that hideous huge black mole removed. .
by Anonymous | reply 48 | July 31, 2025 11:05 PM
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