Randolph Scott
Randolph Scott (January 23, 1898 – March 2, 1987) was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals (albeit in non-singing and non-dancing roles), adventure tales, war films, and even a few horror and fantasy films. However, his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances more than 60 were in Westerns; thus, “of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western, Scott most closely identified with it.”
Scott’s more than thirty years as a motion picture actor resulted in his working frequently with many acclaimed screen directors, including Henry King, Rouben Mamoulian, Michael Curtiz, John Cromwell, King Vidor, Alan Dwan, Fritz Lang, and Sam Peckinpah. He also worked on multiple occasions with some noted directors: Henry Hathaway (8 times), Ray Enright, Edwin R. Marin, Andre DeToth , and most notably, his seven film collaborations with Budd Boetticher.
Scott also worked with a widely diverse array of cinematic leading ladies, from Shirley Temple and Irene Dunne to Mae West and Marlene Dietric. He also appeared with Gene Tierney, Ann Sheridan, Maureen O’Hara, Nancy Carroll, Donna Reed, Gail Russell, Margaret Sullavan, Virginia Mayo, Bebe Daniels, Carole Lombard, and Joan Bennett.
Scott married twice. The first time, in 1936, he became the second husband of heiress Marion Du Pont, daughter of William Du Pont, Sr. and great-granddaughter of Éleuthère Irénée Du Pont de Nemours, the founder of the E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. Reputedly the couple spent little time together and the marriage ended in divorce three years later. Prior to and between his first and second marriages Scott was romantically linked with several prominent film actresses, including Lupe Velez, Sally Blane, Claire Trevor, and Dorothy Lamour. In 1944, Scott married Patricia Stillman, with whom he adopted two children. The marriage lasted 43 years until Scott’s death in 1987.
Although Scott achieved fame as a motion picture actor, he managed to keep a fairly low profile with his private life. Off screen he became good friends with Fred Astaire and Cary Grant. He met Grant on the set of Hot Saturday and shortly afterwards they began rooming together in a beach house in Malibu that became known as “Bachelor Hall.” According to biographer Robert Nott, “They lived together on and off for about ten years, because they were friends and wanted to save on living expenses (they were both considered to be notorious tightwads).” Scott shared ‘Bachelor Hall’ with Grant for twelve years and it was rumored the two actors were romantically involved, and that the name “Bachelor Hall” and the reported parade of women there were invented by the studio who wanted to keep their valuable actors away from any public scandal.
In his book, Cary Grant: Grant’s Secret Sixth Marriage (2004), Marc Eliot claims Grant had a sexual relationship with Scott after they met on the set of Hot Saturday. In his book, Hollywood Gays (1996), Boze Hadleigh, author of numerous books purporting to “out” the sexual orientation of celebrities, makes various claims for Scott’s homosexuality. He cites gay director George Cukor who said about the homosexual relationship between the two: “Oh, Cary won’t talk about it. At most, he’ll say they did some wonderful pictures together. But Randolph will admit it – to a friend.” There is considerable disagreement about the veracity of Hadleigh’s claims about alleged homosexuals in Hollywood. According to William J. Mann’s book, Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, photographer Jerome Zerbe spent “three gay months” in the movie colony taking many photographs of Grant and Scott, “attesting to their involvement in the gay scene.” In 1995, Richard Blackwell published his autobiography From Rags to Bitches, where he declared he was lovers to both Grant and Scott.
In 1944, Scott and Grant stopped living together but remained close friends throughout their lives. Grant’s insistence that he had “nothing against gays, I’m just not one myself,” is treated at length in Peter Bogdanovich’s book of essays about actors, Who the Hell’s in It. Scott’s adopted son, Christopher, also challenged the rumors. Following Scott’s death, Christopher wrote a book entitled, Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?, in which he rebuts rumors of his father’s alleged homosexuality. Budd Boetticher, the director most often linked with Scott’s work, had is to say about the rumors: “Bullshit”.
