Robert La Tourneaux (August 10, 1940 – June 3, 1986) was an American

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

best known for his role of Cowboy, the good-natured but dim

hustler Hustler or hustlers may also refer to: Professions * Hustler, an American slang word, e.g., for a: ** Con man, a practitioner of confidence tricks ** Drug dealer, seller of illegal drugs ** Male prostitute ** Pimp ** Business man, more general ...

hired as a birthday present for a gay man, in the original

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

production and 1970 film version of '' The Boys in the Band''.

Biography

Robert Earl LaTurno was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, to James and Lucille LaTurno between August 8 and 15, 1940. La Tourneaux made his

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

debut in the 1967 musical ''

Illya Darling ''Illya Darling'' is a musical with a book by Jules Dassin, music by Manos Hadjidakis, and lyrics by Joe Darion, based on Dassin's 1960 film ''Never on Sunday''. Production The show previewed in a tour of Philadelphia, Toronto and Detroit for ni ...

'' while simultaneously playing the role of Mike Powers in the NBC

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

The Doctors. In 1968, he was part of the ensemble for

Mart Crowley Edward Martino Crowley (August 21, 1935 – March 7, 2020) was an American playwright best known for his 1968 play '' The Boys in the Band''. Biography Crowley was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After graduating from The Catholic University of ...

's play ''The Boys in the Band'', which opened on April 14, 1968, at Theater Four in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The advertisement for the film version used head shots of

Leonard Frey Leonard Frey (September 4, 1938 – August 24, 1988) was an American actor. Frey received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1971 musical film ''Fiddler on the Roof''. He made his stage debut in an Of ...

and La Tourneaux, with La Tourneaux identified as the "present" for Frey's birthday-celebrating character. Many newspapers refused to run the advertisement. After the film version of ''The Boys in the Band'' was released La Tourneaux's career declined. His only other film performances were a supporting part in the Roger Corman film '' Von Richthofen and Brown'' (1971) and the independent film ''Pilgrimage''. He also had a small role in a 1974 made-for-television version of the

Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and social ...

play ''Enemies''. On stage, La Tourneaux appeared in a small role in a Broadway revival of ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

''; he was slated to appear in the 1977 Broadway production of

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

' ''

Vieux Carré The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Squ ...

'', but was dropped from the cast prior to the show's opening. The openly gay La Tourneaux initially blamed his being typecast as a gay hustler for his inability to receive worthwhile roles, stating in a 1973 interview, "''Boys'' was the kiss of death for me." In the 1978 anthology ''Quentin Crisp's Book of Quotations'', La Tourneaux compared his career to another gay actor by saying, "

Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future w ...

played every kind of part, but never a homosexual. People knew he was gay, but his public image hich included a wifenever betrayed his public reality. So he was safe. I wasn't safe." Unable to secure work as an actor, La Tourneaux began nude modeling in gay men's magazines and in 1978 performed nude in a one-man cabaret act at the Ramrod, a

theater showing gay

pornography Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

films. He eventually became a

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

. La Tourneaux also gave an interview to a gay magazine naming his famous married

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and human ...

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

lovers, alleging one of them to have been

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning actor

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...

. He also accused Walken of having an affair with another married actor, Robert Wagner, on the night of actress Natalie Wood's (Wagner's wife) unexplained death. In 1983, La Tourneaux was arrested for assault after trying to extort money from a client and was incarcerated at the

Rikers Island Rikers Island is a island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under in size, but has ...

prison. While in prison, La Torneaux attempted

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

. In the early 1980s, La Tourneaux developed

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, and received news coverage when he sought legal channels to prevent being evicted from his apartment when his landlord objected to the presence of his live-in caregiver. La Tourneaux won the court case, but died in Metropolitan Hospital on June 3, 1986. ''Boys'' co-star

Cliff Gorman Cliff Gorman (born Joel Joshua Goldberg; October 13, 1936 – September 5, 2002) was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of '' The Boys in the Band'', and went on to reprise his role in the ...

and his wife cared for him during his illness and until his death.'' The Boys in the Band'' DVD, "The Film" special feature He was buried at Rosedale and Rosehill Cemetery in

Linden, New Jersey Linden is a city in southeastern Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York Metropolitan Area, located about southwest of Manhattan and bordering Staten Island, a borough of New York City, across the Arthur Kill ...

Work

* '' The Doctors'' (1963, TV series) - Mike Powers (1967) * ''

'' (1967 Broadway production) * '' The Boys in the Band'' (1968 play) - Cowboy Tex * '' The Boys in the Band'' (1970, film) - Cowboy Tex * '' Von Richthofen and Brown'' (1971, film) - Ernest Udet * ''Pilgrimage'' (1972, film) - Peter * ''

'' (1973 Broadway production) * ''Enemies'' (1974, TV film) - Officer (final television appearance)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:La Tourneaux, Robert 1941 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American male actors AIDS-related deaths in New York (state) American male film actors American male prostitutes American male stage actors American gay actors Gay male prostitutes LGBT people from New York (state) 20th-century American LGBT people