The Tragic 1968 Death Of Ramon Novarro

May 2024 · 1 minute read

In 1925, Ramon Novarro appeared in what may arguably be the highlight of his career: "Ben-Hur," the epic silent film that would be remade decades later with Charlton Heston. As the Golden Globes website reports, Novarro was on track to become a bona fide star, and that was reflected in the fan mail that he received, the lion's share of it from women, drawn to his "androgynous" good looks, as Noël de Souza Describes them, and his chiseled body, shown off in the revealing (by the standards of the time) costumes he wore.

Behind the scenes, however, Novarro was a conflicted man struggling with alcoholism. He was gay, and he was driven to stay in the closet by societal expectations and the demands of Hollywood, and as already mentioned, his deeply-held Catholic faith didn't allow room for his sexual orientation.

Novarro managed to keep his sexuality private as his career ebbed. By the 1960s, his star had dimmed to the point that he was basically in retirement, living out his days in his mansion and frequently entertaining sex workers, as Lambda Literary reports.

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