We belatedly began reading Andre Soares' biography of silent screen lover, Ramon Novarro, Beyond Paradise. We admit to being drooling fools over any tidbits of gay gossip surrounding Old Hollywood, so our hopes were high for a dishy, juicy read. What we found instead was a sad, complex, still utterly fascinating tale of a very complicated man.
Obligations to a large, traditional Mexican family; an almost obsessive devotion to his Catholic faith; the pressures of being one of the world's biggest stars; and a serious drinking problem all combined to make Ramon Novarro perhaps the most deeply conflicted of Hollywood's closeted gay actors. The lives of William Haines (Novarro's contemporary at MGM) and even Rock Hudson are comparatively happy when placed next to Novarro's often-tortured existence.
Novarro's slide into obscurity and old age denied him the chance of becoming a mythical figure like his chief rival, Valentino. That changed -- drastically -- when Novarro was found beaten to death in 1968, and two male hustlers (brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson) whom Novarro had invited over for sex were charged with the heinous crime.
Ramon Novarro suddenly achieved instant mythic status, but not in the way he would have ever wanted in his lifetime; the man who starred in the original Ben-Hur (1926) and was on-screen lover to everyone from Garbo to Crawford to Shearer was now portrayed as a lecherous homosexual who choked to death on a dildo rammed down his throat by sleazy hustlers.
Soares' often-heartbreaking book restores Novarro's personal and professional reputation, as well as doing its best to debunk such sordid rumors and untruths as the dildo story (perpetrated in the admittedly entertaining Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger). Soares is fair and sympathetic to his subject, but Novarro doesn't emerge as completely likable; it's not a whitewash, but it's not a hatchet job, either -- a tribute to Soares' unbiased research and writing.
Oddly out of print, you can find this excellent biography online for very reasonable prices. Highly recommended.
Ramon was so handsome. His death happened shortly after I first arrived in Calif. Nasty business that. I believe I read not too long ago that the older brother/hustler was released from prison. I think the younger one did less time?
ReplyDeleteThe cast iron phallus was a gift from Valentino so the story goes.
I believe that both were paroled relatively early, and are both back in prison on unrelated rape charges.
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