FLMountainMan
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I know this is like shooting fish in a barrel, but I am shocked Connie didn't post this. This guy's story is weird, he starred in gay Appreciation films, called himself gay in an Advocate interview, but married a big band singer 20 years his senior.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...,1629359.story
Jack Wrangler, '70s gay Appreciation star, dies at 62
Email Picture
TLA Releasing / Associated Press
Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s-era Appreciation star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, died Tuesday.
The openly homosexual actor, who also carried on a decades-long relationship with singer Margaret Whiting, began in adult films but went on to a career in theater and cabaret.
Associated Press
April 9, 2009
Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s-era Appreciation star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, has died. He was 62.
Wrangler died Tuesday in New York City from complications of lung disease, said Lewis Tice, director of publicity and marketing for TLA Releasing, a distributor of gay-themed independent films.
DocumentaryHis life of sometimes surprising turns -- the openly gay star found decades-long love with singer Margaret Whiting -- was chronicled in the documentary "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon," released last year.
Born John Stillman in Beverly Hills, the son of TV producer Robert Stillman, Wrangler got his start performing in the religiously themed 1950s NBC series "The Faith of Our Children." He studied theater at Northwestern University.
As a young man, he was bartending and go-go dancing in the West Hollywood gay community when a role in a San Francisco play sent his career hurtling in a new direction -- under a new last name, borrowed from the label on his plaid work shirt.
His nude scene in the show led to modeling and a string of gay, and later straight, erotic films, where his steely blue eyes, muscled physique and open-shirted swagger made him a star.
"For me, I felt I needed some true grit in my life, y'know? I felt that I had this formal, white-handkerchief upbringing and that I was not going to survive in the world unless I got down and did something gritty," said Wrangler, who appeared in such sweaty escapades as "A Night at the Adonis" and "The Devil in Miss Jones: Part II," in the Palm Beach Post in a 2005 interview.
His rÃ
sumÃ
grew to include more than 80 adult films, spurring a 1984 autobiography called "The Jack Wrangler Story: What's a Nice Boy Like You Doing?" and a one-man off-Broadway show.
He met Whiting, a big band-era singer whose hits include "That Old Black Magic" and "Moonlight in Vermont," in the 1970s.
Their romance turned tabloid heads: She is 22 years his senior, and Wrangler continued to describe himself as gay even in an interview with the gay magazine the Advocate last fall.
Nonetheless, Wrangler told the Chicago Tribune in 1985 that the two saw "things the same way, comically, professionally and romantically." The pair eventually married.
He got out of Appreciation after meeting Whiting and turned his attention to theater and cabaret, crafting Whiting's cabaret acts and several shows around the legacy of songwriter Johnny Mercer, who had fostered her career.
He was credited with conceiving "Dream," a 1997 Broadway revue of Mercer songs that featured Whiting.
He also created and directed a show pairing Mercer songs with excerpts from "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," John Berendt's bestselling book about a murder in Mercer's hometown of Savannah, Ga.
Although recognition of his theater work seldom came without mention of his X-rated past, Wrangler told the Palm Beach Post that he had no regrets: "I was never ashamed of anything I did," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...,1629359.story
Jack Wrangler, '70s gay Appreciation star, dies at 62
Email Picture
TLA Releasing / Associated Press
Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s-era Appreciation star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, died Tuesday.
The openly homosexual actor, who also carried on a decades-long relationship with singer Margaret Whiting, began in adult films but went on to a career in theater and cabaret.
Associated Press
April 9, 2009
Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s-era Appreciation star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, has died. He was 62.
Wrangler died Tuesday in New York City from complications of lung disease, said Lewis Tice, director of publicity and marketing for TLA Releasing, a distributor of gay-themed independent films.
DocumentaryHis life of sometimes surprising turns -- the openly gay star found decades-long love with singer Margaret Whiting -- was chronicled in the documentary "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon," released last year.
Born John Stillman in Beverly Hills, the son of TV producer Robert Stillman, Wrangler got his start performing in the religiously themed 1950s NBC series "The Faith of Our Children." He studied theater at Northwestern University.
As a young man, he was bartending and go-go dancing in the West Hollywood gay community when a role in a San Francisco play sent his career hurtling in a new direction -- under a new last name, borrowed from the label on his plaid work shirt.
His nude scene in the show led to modeling and a string of gay, and later straight, erotic films, where his steely blue eyes, muscled physique and open-shirted swagger made him a star.
"For me, I felt I needed some true grit in my life, y'know? I felt that I had this formal, white-handkerchief upbringing and that I was not going to survive in the world unless I got down and did something gritty," said Wrangler, who appeared in such sweaty escapades as "A Night at the Adonis" and "The Devil in Miss Jones: Part II," in the Palm Beach Post in a 2005 interview.
His rÃ
He met Whiting, a big band-era singer whose hits include "That Old Black Magic" and "Moonlight in Vermont," in the 1970s.
Their romance turned tabloid heads: She is 22 years his senior, and Wrangler continued to describe himself as gay even in an interview with the gay magazine the Advocate last fall.
Nonetheless, Wrangler told the Chicago Tribune in 1985 that the two saw "things the same way, comically, professionally and romantically." The pair eventually married.
He got out of Appreciation after meeting Whiting and turned his attention to theater and cabaret, crafting Whiting's cabaret acts and several shows around the legacy of songwriter Johnny Mercer, who had fostered her career.
He was credited with conceiving "Dream," a 1997 Broadway revue of Mercer songs that featured Whiting.
He also created and directed a show pairing Mercer songs with excerpts from "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," John Berendt's bestselling book about a murder in Mercer's hometown of Savannah, Ga.
Although recognition of his theater work seldom came without mention of his X-rated past, Wrangler told the Palm Beach Post that he had no regrets: "I was never ashamed of anything I did," he said.
