Tab Hunter, star of Damn, Yankees and Hollywood icon of the 1950s, died Sunday night, just three days before his 87th birthday.
Allan Glaser, producer and Hunter’s partner, said he died from cardiac arrest caused by a blood clot in his leg.
Hunter quickly rose to teen heartthrob status in the '50s, thanks to his surfer-boy-next-door image that movie studios rushed to capitalize on.
In addition to Damn, Yankees, he starred in a great many other Hollywood films and even starred on the one-season series The Tab Hunter Show. He also topped the Billboard charts with his 1957 hit “Young Love,” followed closely by another hit, “Ninety-Nine Ways.”
He hid his homosexuality for years, but he had relationships with star Anthony Perkins and champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson before settling down with Glaser to begin a 35-year partnership in 1983. Hunter officially addressed rumors of his sexuality in his autobiography, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, and the documentary Tab Hunter: Confidential.
TheCelebrityCafe was lucky enough to interview Hunter in 20215 along with Glaser and documentary director Jeffrey Schwarz, which you can read here.