The movie Tab and Tony, about the real life secret affair between Tab Hunter and Anthony Perkins, two of the most popular leading men of Hollywood’s Golden Age, is being produced by J.J. Abrams and Zachary Quinto.
Tab and Tony is based on Hunter’s first-person account of his struggle to come to terms with his sexual orientation in 1950s Hollywood, an era in which being openly gay was taboo.
Writing the screenplay is Doug Wright, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his Tony-winning play I Am My Own Wife and also penned Quills, the off-Broadway play that was adapted into a 2000 period drama starring Geoffrey Rush and Kate Winslet.
Tab and Tony is inspired by Hunter’s 2005 memoir, Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star, the New York Times best-seller that chronicles how the actor, a product of the studio system, ultimately rose above the pressure to conform to the boy-next-door image created for him to embrace his true identity and share his story. The book was turned into an acclaimed 2015 documentary of the same name directed by Jeffrey Schwarz and produced by Glaser.
Perkins, known for his iconic role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1992. Hunter turned 87 in July 2018.
