Tab Hunter is a few minutes late coming home, and his partner, Allan Glaser, who produced an autobiographical documentary about Hunter and has been his mate for three decades, wonders out loud where he’s been and why he doesn’t come into the front bedroom where the television is to see this amazing thing. A longtime equestrian, Hunter, it turns out, was with his new filly Skylark in Santa Ynez, and he’s already guessed what’s on TV. “Is it that commercial for our movie on TCM?” he asked.
Glaser seems disappointed; his surprise is ruined. “I taped it,” he said. “It’s the first time it ran.” Hunter joins me on a comfortable bench at the end of a bed and sits back. He looks tired and calm, but he has his characteristic questioning gaze turned on, which seems both skeptical and naïve. Long ago, Hunter perfected a disarmingly brash method of self-introduction. “Tab Hunter,” he always says to strangers, thrusting his hand out to shake, the gesture immediately leveling, reassuring. The day I visit, he plops unceremoniously down without the handshake. The commercial comes up on the screen, and Glaser explains to me how the Turner Classic Movie folks negotiated the deal when technically there are no commercials on the station. “They wanted Tab to go on the movie cruise,” said Glaser, referring to a summer sea cruise that TCM hosts with stars and directors of older Hollywood in attendance. “And we said, yes, if you’ll run the commercial for our movie. Voilà.”
Meanwhile a fast montage of images plucked from the trailer for the documentary Tab Hunter Confidential fills the screen, iconic gay celebs like John Waters and George Takei testifying to the past glories of Tabmania, followed by Tony (Psycho) Perkins, whose appearance becomes a confessional moment in the film — though Hunter’s autobiography of the same title first revealed their oft-rumored relationship. Then come a number of funny moments: 1950s girls swooning and Hunter ducking a marriage question by Tennessee Ernie Ford. My favorite is a twinned set of clips. “Hi, I’m Tab Hunter, and I’ve got a secret,” says Hunter in high-irony mode, appearing on the famous Garry Moore-hosted quiz show I’ve Got a Secret, followed by a strange unattributed quote from contemporary Tab Hunter, addressing an unknown interviewer, “I think you have to be true to yourself,” he said. “I’ve never been as open with anyone as I am with you.”