Cat. #0015613: TAB HUNTER

Good-looking 8x10-inch black and white promotional portrait in his prime, boldly signed in black felt-tip marker several years ago, as part of a private signing for an autograph company. In very good condition. Dubbed the "Sigh Guy" in the press, young, athletic heartthrob Tab Hunter was wildly popular with female-- and male-- moviegoers in films like Island of Desire (1952), Battle Cry (1955), The Sea Chase (1955), The Burning Hills (1956), and The Girl He Left Behind (1956), the latter two pairing him with Natalie Wood.  In the late 1950s, he parlayed his boy-next-door film celebrity into a singing career, topping the charts with "Young Love" (1957) and landing the plum role of Joe Hardy in the film adaptation of the Faustian musical Damn Yankees! (1958).  Alas, within a few years, his popularity had dried up, as he was replaced by Troy Donahue as the soldier and surfer boy du jour.  Enduring a severe lull, Hunter bounced back in the 1980s, more mature and less wholesome in two comedies co-starring Divine, John Water's Polyester (1981) and Paul Bartel's Lust in the Dust (1985).  In 2005, he published a tell-all memoir, confessing his long-concealed gay lifestyle and surprising absolutely nobody in the process.