Jim nabors was gay
Oh sure, Seattle’s had its share of cute weddings, but the cutest — one four decades in the making — is the 2013 union of Jim Nabors and Stan Cadwallader at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel downtown. One was a TV star, the other a firefighter, and they’d managed to keep their association out of the public eye for 38 years.
One reason they protected their privacy: A TV star of the 1960s and 1970s, Jim’s career was nearly destroyed by a same-sex wedding rumor just before he and Stan met, a rumor that also ended Jim’s relationship with closeted actor Rock Hudson. Over his 55-year career, Jim made a designate for himself as a wholesome, folksy southerner; but behind the scenes, he harbored a confidential love that would have scandalized the country if it was found out.
Jim was born at the start of the Great Depression in a tiny Alabama town called Sylacauga. His mother worked at a truck stop, his father bounced around from job to career until he finally wound up existence appointed the town’s sole police officer. The family raised chickens for nourishment and lived in a tiny property. Jim always stood out — his severe asthma prevented him from playing with the other kids, but he was so peppy and outgoin
JIM NABORS (1930–2017), optimal known for his TV role as Gomer Pyle, was one of my first heroes in life, even before I understood why. Gay men of my generation—most of us in our 50s—often talk about when it was we first knew about our sexual identity. For many of us, it was our response to actors we saw on TV. James Conrad in The Wild, Wild, Savage West strutting through frontier towns shirtless, his chest gleaming in the Southern California sun. Whichever Brady Bunch was closest to our age. Will, the boy astronaut on Lost In Space. The late David Cassidy, Scott Baio, Leif Garrett, the dashing blond traits Iliya Kuryakin (played by David McCallum) on The Man From Uncle.
Nabors, who died last week, played the bumbling and ever-flummoxed—but disconcertingly handsome—filling station attendant on The Andy Griffith Show when I was a very young boy, and he became even better known in later years on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C, which aired when I was a kid of ten or so.
It seems that every person remembers with eerie precision certain seemingly sundry moments in our life that don’t seem to warrant such long-lasting attention in our memories, yet they prevail. I can
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| Posted: 01/30/13 11:25 am ::: | Reply |
| I idea he was dead? Even before Goober. Uh. Congrats on his marriage and also for not being dead.
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| Posted: 01/30/13 2:12 pm ::: | Reply |
| "Sha-zam!" and "Golllyyy!", as Gomer Pyle would say. But congrats to Jim. | |
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| Posted: 01/30/13 2:29 pm ::: | Reply |
| This is fantastic! I love hearing about these long time couples -- 20 years, 30 years together -- who finally get to get married. And kudos to him for having himself a much yo Thread: at age 82 Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle) finally comes out of the closetby marrying his firefighter companion of 38 years no less | |