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“That was his protection, and that’s what he did for the remainder of his life,” Fortney, 77, advised me.
The Diverting Tinkerbell: It’s a time-tested survival technique that homosexual males like Taylor study shortly and use generously as wanted. Butch he was not. Then once more, no person confirmed me you may be homosexual and masculine. On “Letterman,” Taylor’s flamboyance is a surprising distinction to all these hooting viewers members in Ray-Bans, the identical form of man who laughed at his jokes when he was a boy — his finest and most instant approach of avoiding their blows.
Fortney stated that when individuals assumed Taylor was homosexual, he bristled on the notion, at the same time as he emceed AIDS advantages and, in 2005, served because the grand marshal of the Pride parade in Washington, D.C., Taylor’s hometown.
Take what occurred at a coffee store when a younger fan thanked Taylor for being out.
“He stated, ‘You’ve made issues a lot simpler,’” Fortney recalled. “All Rip gave him was a smile and a nod like, fantastic, now you possibly can depart. He wouldn’t settle for what an affect he was.”
Lynde’s story is extra tragic. Joe Florenski, who with Steve Wilson wrote the Lynde biography “Center Square,” stated the comedian was an chubby boy who struggled with being made enjoyable of till he discovered an answer.
“He might get laughs for being humorous, not for being the chubby child,” Florenski advised me.
Lynde by no means formally stated he was homosexual, though he was out to shut pals. His arrests for public intoxication made the information, as did a 1965 accident through which James Davidson, a 24-year-old actor pal, fell to his demise from a ledge exterior Lynde’s San Francisco lodge room.
