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PODCAST

Forgotten Queers

Gary M Thoren Jr

This is Forgotten Queers, a show about the queer figures history pushed aside. They were once stars, leaders, icons — but time, shame, and prejudice buried their names. We’re here to remember them, to honor them, and to say: you don’t get to forget us.Cover art photo provided by Alexander Grey on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@sharonmccutcheon?utm_source=spreaker&utm_medium=referralCover art photo provided by Shannia Christanty on Unsplash:

history sexuality

All Episodes

29:49

Wendy Carlos: Caterpillar to Butterfly

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/11/10

Good morning, queers and weirdos! Today we remember Wendy Carlos — the electronic genius who helped invent the sound of the future. In the 1960s, she took Robert Moog’s early synthesizer and turned it into an instrument of emotion. Her album Switched-On Bach blew minds and won Grammys, proving that circuits could sing with soul. Behind the studio walls, Wendy was also transforming herself. Assigned male at birth, she transitioned in a time when few could safely do so, living for years in stealth

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24:32

Charles Nelson Reilly — To Fabulous to Forget

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/11/03

Today we remember a man who could out-quipp anyone on television and still go home alone because America wasn’t ready for his truth. Charles Nelson Reilly was more than the wise-cracking guest on Match Game—he was a Tony-winning actor, a master director, and a pioneer of coded queer visibility in mid-century America.In this episode, I dive into the life of this one-of-a-kind performer: his Broadway triumphs, his decades on television, the painful cost of being openly gay in a closeted industry, and

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24:40

Peter Allen: The Boy from Tenterfield to Broadway

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/10/20

Peter Richard Woolnough Allen, born in Tenterfield, Australia, lived a life that swung between dazzling fame and deep heartbreak. Discovered in Hong Kong by Judy Garland’s husband, he later married her daughter, Liza Minnelli—a glamorous but short-lived union. Peter’s flamboyant stage presence and heartfelt songwriting defined an era: he co-wrote I Honestly Love You, Don’t Cry Out Loud, and Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do), earning two Oscars. Though he never formally came out, Peter lived

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21:32

Dirk Bogarde - The Gentleman Rebel

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/10/13

Dirk Bogarde was Britain’s matinee idol turned quiet revolutionary. From his charming Doctor in the House films to the daring Victim (1961)—the first British movie to say “homosexual” aloud—Bogarde risked his career to bring empathy and truth to queer lives on screen. A war veteran, writer, and lifelong partner to Anthony Forwood, he evolved from heart-throb to acclaimed artist in The Servant, Death in Venice, and The Night Porter. Behind his polished charm was courage, intellect, and compassion—a

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13:53

Coco - The Forgotten Golden Girl

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/10/06

What happened to Coco on the Golden Girls? One Episode there the next gone. Just like he never existed? Cover up? Or just 80’s conservatism poking through! EnjoyBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/forgotten-queers--6719466/support.Please follow me on Facebook, BlueSky and Twitter at Gary Thoren. We must never forget our Forgotten Queers

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23:43

Sal Mineo

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/09/29

Sal Mineo’s life was as dazzling as it was tragic—a story of talent, struggle, and queerness in a Hollywood that wasn’t ready for him. Born in the Bronx in 1939 to Italian immigrant parents, Mineo grew up tough but artistic, finding early success on Broadway as the young Prince Chulalongkorn opposite Yul Brynner in The King and I. His breakout, though, came on the silver screen. At just 16, he starred in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) as John “Plato” Crawford, the sensitive, troubled teenager who

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20:15

Ella Nazimova

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/09/22

Alla Nazimova was one of the brightest, boldest, and most complicated figures of early Hollywood — a woman who refused to live small. Born in 1879 in Yalta, on the Crimean coast, she survived a lonely childhood and strict Russian schooling before finding her calling on the stage. Trained at the Moscow Art Theatre under Stanislavski, she carried a fire and intensity that would soon make her a sensation on Broadway. In New York, critics described her as “volcanic,” “mystical,” and utterly unlike any

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21:16

William “Billy” Haines

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/09/08

illiam “Billy” Haines was born in 1900 in Staunton, Virginia, the child of a working-class family in a town too small to hold him. At just 14, he ran away with another boy choosing freedom over the small-town suffocation of staying. He eventually landed in New York, where his good looks carried him into modeling, and in a twist of fate, straight into MGM’s orbit. At 22, he boarded a train west to Hollywood. Billy never trained as an actor, but his charm, sharp timing, and quick smile made him a

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21:59

Dorothy Arzner

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/09/01

Dorothy Arzner may not be a household name today, but in the 1920s through the 1940s she was a rare force in Hollywood: the only woman directing features inside the studio system, a technical innovator, a champion of actresses, and a queer woman who lived openly with her partner for over four decades. Her life, career, and community place her at the very heart of forgotten queer history — and in this episode, we remember her in full. Dorothy Emma Arzner was born in San Francisco in 1897 and grew up

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22:00

Ramon Navarro

Forgotten Queers ·

2025/08/24

amón Novarro was a Mexican-American actor who rose to fame in the silent era, becoming one of Hollywood’s first Latin heartthrobs. Best known for his role in Ben-Hur (1925), he rivaled Rudolph Valentino in star power. Behind the glamour, Novarro was a gay man navigating an industry and a culture that demanded secrecy. He resisted pressure from studio moguls like Louis B. Mayer to enter a “lavender marriage,” choosing instead to protect his private life an act of quiet defiance in early Hollywood

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