Film Superstar Tab Hunter Speaks About Marilyn Monroe

I had the incredible opportunity to spend some time with Mr. Tab Hunter in his Montecito, CA home yesterday.

Mr. Hunter is a star of stage, screen, and television, and he has appeared in more than fifty films, including Damn Yankees in 1958 and the cult classic Lust in the Dust in 1985. He's also known for his #1 hit record, Young Love, from 1958. One of his "titles" from the 1950s was "The Sigh Guy."

Mr. Hunter talked with me about his experiences working in films in Hollywood, and about the people he'd shared the screen with, including Sophia Loren, Debbie Reynolds, and of course Natalie Wood.

Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Move Star, is Mr. Hunter's autobiographic, and it was released in 2005. In his book, Mr. Hunter reveals what it was like to be a 1950s-era star—to be created, packaged, and sold to the American public, shaped and controlled by the studio system that ran Hollywood until the 1970s.

Watch below Mr. Hunter's appearance on "What's My Line?"

Tab Hunter Meets Marilyn Monroe:

I of course asked Mr. Hunter if he'd ever met Marilyn Monroe, and their paths did cross in the early 1950s at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Both were there for a Hollywood event, and upon meeting, Mr. Hunter told Marilyn, "I loved you in Clash By Night. No one wears a pair of Levis like you," to which Marilyn replied, (spoken in Mr. Hunter's best Marilyn impersonation) "Thank you, Tab."

Below: Mr. Tab Hunter and me in his Montecito home.

Thanks Mr. Hunter!