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Tab Hunter

Tab Hunter
Tab-hunter-trailer.jpg
Tab Hunter in trailer for Gunman's Walk (1958)
Born Arthur Andrew Kelm
(1931-07-11) July 11, 1931 (age 85)
New York City, United States
Other names Arthur Gelien
"The Sigh Guy"
Occupation Actor, singer, writer
Years active 1950–present
Partner(s) Allan Glaser (1983–present)
Website http://www.tabhunter.com

Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931) is an American actor, pop singer and author. He has starred in over 40 films and is probably best known as a Hollywood star of the 1950s and '60s.

Hunter was born in New York City, the son of Gertrude (née Gelien) and Charles Kelm. His mother, from Hamburg, was a German Catholic immigrant, and his father was Jewish. Hunter's father was an abusive man and within a few years of his birth, his parents divorced and his mother moved with her two sons to California, living in San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. She reassumed her maiden surname Gelien and changed her sons' name to that, as well. As a teenager, Hunter was a figure skater, competing in both singles and pairs.

He joined the U.S. Coast Guard at the age of 15, lying about his age to enlist. While in the Coast Guard, he gained the nickname "Hollywood" for his penchant for watching movies rather than going to bars while on liberty.

Arthur Gelien was given the stage name "Tab Hunter" by his first agent, Henry Willson. His good looks landed him a role in the film Island of Desire (1952) opposite Linda Darnell. However, his co-starring role as young Marine Danny in 1955's World War II drama Battle Cry, in which he has an affair with an older woman, but ends up marrying the girl next door, cemented his position as one of Hollywood's top young romantic leads. His other hit films include The Burning Hills with Natalie Wood, That Kind of Woman with Sophia Loren, Gunman's Walk with Van Heflin, and The Pleasure of His Company with Debbie Reynolds. He went on to star in over 40 major films and became a cult star in the 1980s appearing in Lust in the Dust, Polyester, and Grease 2.


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