Giant
Director: George Stevens | Studio: Warner Bros.
Year: 1956
Category: Films About Lavender Marriage Figures
Trailer
Rock Hudson starred in this epic Western drama alongside Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean at the height of his career. The film was released in 1956, just one year after Hudson entered one of Hollywood's most famous lavender marriages with Phyllis Gates on November 9, 1955.
The marriage was orchestrated by his agent Henry Willson after Life magazine questioned Hudson's bachelorhood with the headline "Fans are urging 29-year-old Hudson to get married – or explain why not," and Confidential magazine prepared an exposé about his homosexuality. Willson, protecting his most important client, arranged the marriage to his own secretary and reportedly traded damaging information about other clients (Troy Donahue and Rory Calhoun) to kill the Confidential story. Hudson and Gates divorced in 1958. Gates, who died in 2006, maintained until her death that she was unaware of Hudson's sexuality, though evidence suggests otherwise.
Other Films
Night and Day (1946)
Director: Michael Curtiz
This Technicolor fictionalized biography of composer Cole Porter starred Cary Grant as Porter and Alexis Smith as his wife Linda Lee Thomas. Warner Brothers paid $300,000 for the rights to Porter's best-known songs. The film was a heavily sanitized version of Porter's life that completely obscured his homosexuality and presented his marriage to Linda as a conventional romantic love story—the exact opposite of the truth.
De-Lovely (2004)
Director: Irwin Winkler
A more honest portrayal of Cole Porter's life came nearly 60 years later with De-Lovely, directed by Irwin Winkler and starring Kevin Kline as Porter and Ashley Judd as Linda Lee Thomas. This film openly addressed Porter's homosexuality and depicted his lavender marriage more accurately.
Badhaai Do (2022)
Director: Harshavardhan Kulkarni
This Indian Hindi-language film starring Rajkummar Rao and Bhumi Pednekar directly depicts a lavender marriage in contemporary India. The story follows Shardul, a gay policeman, and Sumi, a lesbian physical education teacher, who marry each other to satisfy family expectations and societal pressure.
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Judy Garland, this classic MGM musical brought together two talents who would marry in 1945. Their marriage is now widely recognized as one of Hollywood's most notable lavender marriages, with Minnelli rumored to be gay and Garland fully aware of his sexuality. They divorced in 1951.