TAB HUNTER

All the things that happen to people in the industry today, the actors, what they have to put up with, all the people wanting to know every single moment of their lives - I think it's really sad.

I said, God, the press and people, they just really hate me and I'm really trying. Geraldine Page said, Listen to this, Tab. If people don't like you, that's their bad taste.

Hollywood cools, and when it cools you have to go to where the work is. I ran off to Italy to do spaghetti westerns.

I'd work for John Waters again, because he's so off the wall.

The people that really were important, that mattered, had a great foundation. I had no training. I had to learn while doing, and it was really difficult.

I knew Jimmy Dean. He tested for 'Battle Cry'. Paul Newman tested for 'Battle Cry'. I did nine tests to finally get that role.

People place such importance on the external. It's disgusting.

Rock Hudson wasn't my type. He's a great guy and had a great sense of humor.

I learned denial from my mother. I just never confronted things and if anybody did, I just would go crazy.

I wasn't an actor. They they take the externals. Here I was, a kid thrown into Hollywood with a brand-new name, starring in motion pictures.

I lived a very don't-ask, don't-tell life.

A lot has been written about Tony Perkins and myself and I figured, Let's get it straight. I had a relationship with Tony for two to three years, but those are only threads in the tapestry of my whole life.

I don't care whether people like me or dislike me. I'm not on earth to win a popularity contest. I'm here to be the best human being I possibly can be.

John Wayne treated me fine, but that macho stuff turns me off. It's not real.

I turned into a workaholic to the point of where my health was in jeopardy.

People believe what they want to believe.

I did Polyester, and I don't regret one minute of it. It was wonderful.

I lived in those old movie houses as a kid. I just loved them. What total escapism for someone.

People think that because you might have a feeling toward another male that you don't enjoy women. I love women. I love being around them. But when we'd go out together, we'd kind of almost go out in disguise. Not in disguise, but in a baseball cap and sunglasses.

There would be no Tab Hunter if it were not for Dick Clayton.

My nickname, when I was 15 years old in the Coast Guard, they called me 'Hollywood' because I went to the movies all the time. It was such great escapism. That's why I ran away from home.

I really didn't talk about my sexuality until I wrote my autobiography.

I hate labels.

Without a doubt, my sexuality was something that I just never discussed, especially in the 1950s.

I love singing. You know, my mother always used to encourage me, 'Sing, sing,' and I was in a choir in church, yes.