- Even more than MGM, Disney [in the early 1960s] was the most conservative studio in town... They were growing aware. They weren't stupid. They could add two and two together, and I think they were beginning to suspect my homosexuality. I noticed people in certain quarters were getting less and less friendly. In 1963, Disney didn't renew my option and let me go. But Walt personally let me return to do the final Merlin Jones movie, 'The Monkey's Uncle,' because those were moneymakers for the studio.
- In the 1960s, all my social life was underground gay bars. It was my own life. I kept it separate from work, where I went on publicity dates with Annette Funicello or Roberta Shore.
- In December 1964, I signed a contract for 'The Sons of Katie Elder' with John Wayne, but a week before shooting I went to a Hollywood party that the vice squad busted because of marijuana. I was handcuffed and photos of me got in the papers with headlines like 'Ex-Disney Child Star Arrested for Pot!' So Wayne and the producers fired me.
- [on why he quit acting] I got sick of it and I just stopped.
- I consider my teenage years as being desperately unhappy. I knew I was gay since I was a little kid, but I had no outlet for my feelings and I felt that I could not confide in anyone because of the fear of being discovered to who I really was. It was very hard to meet people and, at that time, there was no place to go to socialize. It wasn't until the early Sixties that I began to hear of places where gays congregated... When I was about 17 or 18 years old, I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't going to change. I was born homosexual and I had to accept that. I didn't know what the consequences would be if I came out, but I had the definite feeling that it was going to wreck my Disney career and maybe my whole acting career... and I turned out to be right. Eventually, I became involved with somebody and I was fired. Disney was a family film studio and I was supposed to be their young, leading man. After they found out I was involved with some guy, that was the end of Disney.
- After I was fired from Disney, I did some of the worst movies ever made and I got professionally involved with a manager who said it didn't matter what you did as long as you kept working. I wound up completely broke. I spent all my money on drugs to get out of the emotional pain I was in. I had no self-discipline or self-control and I almost died of a drug overdose a couple of times. It's a miracle that I'm still around. Finally, I said to myself, "to hell with the whole thing, to hell with show business. I'm gonna make a new life for myself", and I got off drugs, completely kicked all that stuff.
- [when asked about his contract termination with Walt Disney] Yeah, I picked somebody up. It was just one of those crazy things that I didn't know what I was doing; I used to swim in the public pool in downtown Burbank, and during the summer of 1963 I met this teenager and one thing led to another and we had an affair. And then he talked ... he either told a friend or told his parents about me, because his parents went down to the studio one day and Disney was confronted with this. I was on the set when I was suddenly called into Mr. Disney's office and there was this kid, this 15-year-old kid I was involved with, along with his angry-looking parents, Mr. Disney and a few executives. The kid's mother just yelled at me and threatened me. After coming clean about everything, they [the parents] thankfully didn't press sodomy charges, but that was the end of my contract. They [the studio] did not renew me.
- I thought Jane Wyman was a hard, cold woman and I got to hate her by the time I was through with Bon Voyage! (1962). Of course, she didn't like me either, so I guess it came natural. I think she had some suspicion that I was gay and all I can say is that, if she didn't like me for that, she doesn't like a lot of people.
- [on Fred MacMurray] I really liked him very much but the feeling wasn't mutual. That hurt me a lot and for a long time I hated him. It's hard not to hate somebody who doesn't like you. I was sort of looking for a father figure and I pushed him too hard. He resented it and I guess I was pretty repellent to him, so we didn't get along. We had a couple of blow ups on set ... He was a nice person, but I was just too demanding. I came on too strong because I desperately wanted to be his friend.
- This town [Hollywood] is full of right-wingers - the world is full of right-wingers - intolerant, cruel sons-of-bitches.
- I had some brief, very passionate encounters and as a teenager I had some affairs, but they were always stolen, back alley kind of things. They were desperate and miserable.
- Disney was a family film studio and I was supposed to be their young, leading man.
- [on Walt Disney] He was with Hedda Hopper, the legendary columnist. He put his arm around me, and he said 'This is my good-luck piece here' to Hedda Hopper. I never forgot that.
- I don't blame Disney for firing me. I was on drugs, and I was fooling around in ways totally incompatible with a family-oriented studio. I've accepted it. I've accepted the fact that my career was ruined by my behavior and no one and nothing else.
- I was caught having sex with a boy at a public pool in Burbank. We were both young, and the boy's mother went to Walt. I was high all the time. It was a terrible period in my life. So I can understand the studio letting me go.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content