Hollywood icon Tab Hunter has passed away

The famous 1950s actor Tab Hunter has passed away. He was just three days away from his 87th birthday according to his representative.

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post first revealed the news of his passing. He died on Sunday night in Santa Barbara from a blood clot that caused a heart attack.

Tab Hunter, 86, was well-known for his surfer-boy looks and his roles in Damn Yankees! and The Burning Hills. He was also famous for not coming out as gay during Hollywood's Golden Age.

Hunter quickly became one of Hollywood's top leading men in the 1950s and '60s with roles in movies like Battle Cry. He got a 7-year contract with Warner Bros. and acted in several of their films like The Girl He Left Behind.

For more on this story go to our Twitter account @amomama_usa. Hunter revealed he was gay after decades of speculation.

He used his 2005 autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star to reveal the truth. In public, the actor had studio setup relationships with his female co-stars, like Natalie Wood.

‘SAD NEWS: Tab passed away tonight three days shy of his 87th birthday. Please honor his memory by saying a prayer on his behalf. He would have liked that.’

Tab Hunter Confidential, Facebook, July 8, 2018

However, he revealed in his book that he was actually having affairs with male actors. One such actor was Psycho star Anthony Perkins with whom he had a long relationship with.

The star’s memoir became an award-winning documentary in 2015. Currently, J.J. Abrams is making a film called Tab & Tony which is about his life with Perkins.

Hunter went public about his sexuality after his partner of more than 30 years, Allan Glaser, told him someone was writing a tell-all book about him. In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter Hunter said, "I thought, 'Look, get it from the horse's mouth and not from some horse's ass after I'm dead and gone.'"

He shared that he didn’t want someone else writing lies about his life. Hunter found himself becoming a symbol of the gay rights movement but was uncomfortable with the role.

He revealed that he’d never been comfortable talking about his sexuality. His biography was turned into a documentary which received critical acclaim.

The star thought it was easier to talk about his sexuality with the documentary because it was quite a few years later after the book. However, it was still quite uncomfortable for him because of the old-fashioned way he was brought up.

Hunter had a relationship with figure skater Robbie Robertson.