Role models of greatness.

Here you will discover the back stories of kings, titans of industry, stellar athletes, giants of the entertainment field, scientists, politicians, artists and heroes – all of them gay or bisexual men. If their lives can serve as role models to young men who have been bullied or taught to think less of themselves for their sexual orientation, all the better. The sexual orientation of those featured here did not stand in the way of their achievements.

Wednesday, March 10, 2021

Cary Grant & Randolph Scott - Part I

Deeply closeted Hollywood Lovers

Cary Grant and Randolph Scott


Cary Grant & Randolph Scot share an intimate moment outside their Santa Monica beach house (1930s).

Though he married women five times, movie star Cary Grant (1904-1986) enjoyed many gay relationships during his early career in New York and Hollywood. His most famous same-sex romance was with fellow actor Randolph Scott (1898-1987), the rugged star of numerous westerns.



Grant and Scott met at Paramount Studios in 1932 and were immediately attracted to each other. Soon after, they moved in together, sharing a house at 2177 W. Live Oak Drive near Griffith Park in Hollywood. The arrangement was explained away by studio public relations agents as a way for two young actors to “cut costs and share expenses,” even though both men could easily afford their own homes. Even after Grant’s studio-arranged marriage to Virginia Cherrill, the two men continued to bear a torch for each other; just a few months into Grant's marriage, he attempted suicide. After a 13-month marriage, in a 1935 divorce settlement, Cherrill received $50,000, which was equivalent to 50% of their community property at the time. Grant moved back in with Scott.

Randolph Scott


Randolph Scott (above), beyond handsome.

Between liaisons with other men and women, Grant and Scott’s relationship endured, well known to their colleagues in the industry. In the late 1930s, Grant and Scott occupied a Santa Monica beach house at 1019 Ocean Front (since renumbered – now 1039). In fan magazines, they were  photographed together in domestic bliss, wearing aprons and cavorting pool side or on the patio. According to Grant’s biographer, they believed their public openness and flamboyance would raise them above suspicion of homosexuality. The public bought it, and Grant enjoyed a screen career as a suave ladies’ man for the next three decades, while Randolph Scott made popular westerns, always playing rugged, masculine characters.

Don’t miss My Favorite Wife (1940 - available from NetFlix), a film featuring Grant and Scott as co-stars in a screwball comedy. In this trailer for the movie, Scott appears with Cary Grant at the 1:45 mark.

14 comments:

  1. Cary I always new he was Gay, I Love Him One hot Man. Randolph Scott I was not sure off, love him too.

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    1. Neither was I, strangely enough!
      But my late father couldn't get enough of him in his westerns. And refused to believe the rumours about him and Cary Grant. Which only amused my late mother and I all the more!

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  2. While I definitely prefer to believe Grantand Scott were lovers, I note that after they stopped living together, neither had a known gay relationship. Scott in fact had a very long marriage to a woman that lasted until his death.

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    1. Marriage means nothing. My gay brother was married to a woman for 45 years. It was never consummated - she was a ‘front’ (sometimes referred to here in the UK as a beard). She approached my brother in the mid 1970’s and said ‘I know you’re gay but I want to get married and don’t want to have sex’ so he went ahead with it and lived a lie (thinking it was good for his career) his entire life. Very sad.

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    2. that is sad. i am glad queer relationships are slowly becoming more normalized so less people have to or feel the need to live a repressed life in order to fit in with society. just randomly came across this page going on a little random research spree on queer history within the film industry.

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  3. From your blogger: True, but both men became far too famous to risk continuing affairs with men. Scott's two children were adopted, and several of Grant's wives flat out said he was gay.

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  4. Just looking at the loving intimate photos of the two of them,as a bisexual African American woman I can almost feel the tenderness between the two of them. So private yet so personal.

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  5. There are several other photos of the two of them together that, in my mind, leave no room for doubt. The way that they physically interact so closely and so "at home" with each other, the way that they look at each other is so loving.

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  6. Thank you so much for your blog.
    Hugs from France

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  7. I'll always find it sad that society,for generations, dictated whom one should or shouldn't be attracted to or love.
    Natural human nature cannot be dictated, we are who we are! Live and love!

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    1. Unfortunately, it still does in many part of this country.

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  8. Grant was married so many times because he was looking for a mother that he was robbed as a child. I’m surprised his therapy with LSD didn’t push him out of the closet.

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  9. What ever they were they were good actors I enjoy watching there movies 🙏🏻

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