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Bewitched~Agnes Moorehead not gay !

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RTJoby

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Sep 27, 2002, 7:51:45 AM9/27/02
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DEBBIE REYNOLDS SAYS AGNES MOOREHEAD was NOT gay !

Last night there was a TV special on Debbie Reynolds in which she specifically
said that one of the women she admired so much and was very close friends with
was Agnes Moorehead (Endora of Bewitched).

Reynolds said that she took it very hard on the rumor that got started several
years ago saying that Agnes was gay especially since the rumor hit long after
Moorehead was no longer here to defend herself.

The rumor mainly escalated by the guy who wrote the Bewitched Book claiming it
to be a common fact on the set of Bewitched but never names any known sources.

I know that Elizabeth Montgomery and Agnes were very close and I am sure that
she did not approve of the rumors as well. Erin Murphy (Tabatha) was asked the
question on a talk show before and she said that she was only a small child so
she would not possibly know if something like that was true and if so, it would
have been kept from her.

The fact is there were never any females dubbed as lovers of Moorehead only 2
husbands both of which ended in divorced.

As for myself, it would not matter to me whether she was or not. I like her
simply because she seemed interesting on screen.

But as for as the rumor----I choose not to believe it---mainly because I do not
trust the source of informant it derived from: the author of The Bewitched
Book.

He just seemed too much of a kook IMO.


Keith Lee

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Sep 27, 2002, 8:42:32 AM9/27/02
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All:
That's interesting. A book called "Hollywood Lesbians" stated that she was. I guess both books used rumors
rather than facts.

Keith Lee

Tea Monkey

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Sep 27, 2002, 10:06:38 AM9/27/02
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I am currently reading "Hollywood Gays" by Boze Hadleigh. He is also the
author of "Hollywood Lesbians". The book consists of interviews with
various celebrities about their own homosexuality, their observations
about it and gossip about the homosexual community. The interviews are
retold in a Q and A format.

Just last night I read the chapter which interviewed the late comedian
Paul Lynde. In that chapter he discussed the fact that he believed Agnus
Moorhead was a lesbian. He said it had long been rumoured that she and
Debbie Reynolds had had an affair. He said he had been told a lengthy
story by someone who directed them all together in a movie. As a
sidenote, the author added that Eddie Fisher was supposed to write about
this affair in his autobiography but Reynolds threatened legal action if
he did. This would certainly explain some of the animosity between
Fisher and Reynolds.

Apparently Estelle Winwood (who also appeared on Bewitched, along with
Lynde and Moorhead) was a longtime companion of Moorhead's.

Weird that this appears just as I am reading this book.

Other tidbits include an interview with Cesar Romero who discusses his
crush on Desi Arnaz Sr. and the one time he gave him a blowjob. Oh my!

Tea Monkey

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Sep 27, 2002, 10:15:40 AM9/27/02
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RTJoby wrote:
>
> DEBBIE REYNOLDS SAYS AGNES MOOREHEAD was NOT gay !
>
> Last night there was a TV special on Debbie Reynolds in which she specifically
> said that one of the women she admired so much and was very close friends with
> was Agnes Moorehead (Endora of Bewitched).
>
> Reynolds said that she took it very hard on the rumor that got started several
> years ago saying that Agnes was gay especially since the rumor hit long after
> Moorehead was no longer here to defend herself.
>
> The rumor mainly escalated by the guy who wrote the Bewitched Book claiming it
> to be a common fact on the set of Bewitched but never names any known sources.

Hadleigh, Boze.
Hollywood lesbians / by Boze Hadleigh.
New York : Barricade Books, c1994.
272 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
"Conversations with: Sandy Dennis, Barbara Stanwyck, Marjorie Main,
Nancy Kulp, Patsy Kelly, Agnes Moorehead, Edith Head, Dorothy Arzner,
Capucine, Judith Anderson."

OK. So now I've just reserved this book at the local library to see what
Moorehead herself has to say on the subject.

ANIM8Rfsk

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Sep 27, 2002, 11:55:06 AM9/27/02
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<< Just last night I read the chapter which interviewed the late comedian
Paul Lynde. In that chapter he discussed the fact that he believed Agnus
Moorhead was a lesbian. >>

Is that "Black Angus Moorhead" the famous restaraunteer?

Callen Molenda

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Sep 27, 2002, 12:19:49 PM9/27/02
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No, it's "Agnus Deii" Moorhead, the famous Gregorian chanteuse.

Tea Monkey

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Sep 27, 2002, 12:13:32 PM9/27/02
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Please pardon my spelling errors.

ANIM8Rfsk

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Sep 27, 2002, 12:49:06 PM9/27/02
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<< Tea Monkey tea.m...@sympatico.ca >>


<< > Is that "Black Angus Moorhead" the famous restaraunteer?

Please pardon my spelling errors. >>

No prob, it was just too good an opportunity to let pass.

Callen Molenda

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Sep 27, 2002, 12:49:38 PM9/27/02
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I'm just funnin' with you, Tea Monkey, although you did force that
Britney description in the other newsgroup that caused me to go
temporarily blind. ;-)

Tea Monkey

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Sep 27, 2002, 1:30:33 PM9/27/02
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I didn't think that was the activity that lead to blindness;-)

RTJoby

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Sep 27, 2002, 1:55:11 PM9/27/02
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>
>I am currently reading "Hollywood Gays" by Boze Hadleigh. He is also the
>author of "Hollywood Lesbians". The book consists of interviews with
>various celebrities about their own homosexuality, their observations
>about it and gossip about the homosexual community. The interviews are
>retold in a Q and A format.
>
>Just last night I read the chapter which interviewed the late comedian
>Paul Lynde. In that chapter he discussed the fact that he believed Agnus
>Moorhead was a lesbian. He said it had long been rumoured that she and
>Debbie Reynolds had had an affair. He said he had been told a lengthy
>story by someone who directed them all together in a movie. As a
>sidenote, the author added that Eddie Fisher was supposed to write about
>this affair in his autobiography but Reynolds threatened legal action if
>he did. This would certainly explain some of the animosity between
>Fisher and Reynolds.


More accurately, I think it explains in complete full detail EXACTLY how rumors
get started.

The author sounds like he has as much validity as the author of the Bewitched
Book.

I give 3 cheers to Reynolds for threatening to sue based on nothing more than
"gossip I found out from someone."

Tea Monkey

unread,
Sep 27, 2002, 2:13:56 PM9/27/02
to
RTJoby wrote:

> >I am currently reading "Hollywood Gays" by Boze Hadleigh. He is also the
> >author of "Hollywood Lesbians". The book consists of interviews with
> >various celebrities about their own homosexuality, their observations
> >about it and gossip about the homosexual community. The interviews are

> More accurately, I think it explains in complete full detail EXACTLY how rumors


> get started.
>
> The author sounds like he has as much validity as the author of the Bewitched
> Book.
>
> I give 3 cheers to Reynolds for threatening to sue based on nothing more than
> "gossip I found out from someone."

Well it certainly does explain how gossip gets started and in many
places it purports to be nothing more than gossip. That being said, the
book discusses the veil of secrecy surrounding homosexuality in the
entertainment industry, how many performers believe they couldn't and
still can't, reveal their true nature without being reviled. So even if
something is true, many performers will still deny being homosexual
because they fear it will destroy their image or career.

It's interesting that Debbie and Agnes may have had an affair but hardly
shocking and certainly nothing for Debbie to get her knickers in a twist
about. If anything, it makes Debbie appear to be a little more worldly
and interesting than she is.

Annie RUtahkn2Me

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Sep 27, 2002, 8:12:38 PM9/27/02
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>From: Tea Monkey tea.m...@sympatico.ca

>It's interesting that Debbie and Agnes may have had an affair but hardly
>shocking and certainly nothing for Debbie to get her knickers in a twist
>about. If anything, it makes Debbie appear to be a little more worldly
>and interesting than she is.
>

I saw Debbie's interview on TCM. She seemed very open and honest about her
life. I've seen her give many interviews and this was one of her best. If you
get a chance, watch it.

Debbie stated that Agnes became her dearest and closest friend. She made no
reference to the lesbian rumors about the two of them.

However, Debbie said she wanted to set the record straight because Agnes was
not around to respond to all the lesbian rumors floating around about herself.

Debbie described Agnes as being religiously very devout with no fooling around.
And, maybe that was why some people assumed that Agnes was gay. (Remember,
we're talking about a very devout woman amid the very promiscuous Hollywood
crowd.)

Debbie said she had no problem with people being gay. She said her problem was
with the unfair and inaccurate labeling of a non-gay person, like Agnes, as a
gay person.

According to the The Internet Movie Database, Agnes Moorehead's father was a
Presbyterian minister which could explain her being very religious.

At the age of 58, she divorced her second husband, never to marry again.
However, Agnes had been married to her first husband for 22 years and 5 years
to the second husband.

Debbie said she didn't meet Agnes until they were both in the 1962 western,
"How The West Was Won". Debbie was just 30 and Agnes was 62. (I'd bet Agnes
Moorehead regarded Debbie Reynolds as the child she'd never had.)

Debbie, also, comes from a strict religious background. Her family were
members of the Nazarene Church (Church of the Nazarene?). Debbie said that the
Nazarenes disapproved of divorce. In fact, she said she didn't want to divorce
Eddie Fisher. She was hoping he would get over Elizabeth and come back to her
and their kids. (That's the first time I've ever heard Debbie say that in an
interview.)

Debbie Reynolds is a hell of a woman. I've alway thought she was an
interesting person and an underrated actress. (Take a look at her in Albert
Brooks' 1996 film, "Mother". For that matter, watch Debbie in one of her first
films, 1952's "Singing in the Rain" and remember that Debbie had never danced
before in her life. Yet, in about six months, she learned to dance so she
could keep up with the very exacting perfectionist, Gene Kelly, who didn't want
her in the movie to begin with.)

If you know anything about her life, you'd know Debbie's had more than her
share of heartaches. Most of them caused by the men she's married.

I think Debbie's marriages to men who turned out to be horrible people are
absolutely fascinating. Smarmy shoe magnate Harry Karl makes Eddie Fisher seem
like a choirboy. I think these terrible marriages show that Debbie was really
just a very naive little girl from a very religious background who almost
accidentally became a Hollywood star.

Debbie told an interesting story involving Frank Sinatra and herself on the TCM
interview.

Apparently, she got engaged to Eddie Fisher while she was making "The Tender
Trap" with Sinatra in 1955. Fisher was at the height of his singing career and
only about 27. The forty year old singing/acting veteran Sinatra took the 24
year old Debbie aside and tried to convince her to just date Fisher and not
marry him right away. Sinatra told her a singer's life was just too unsettled
for Fisher to make her a good husband. But, unfortunately, Debbie didn't take
Sinatra's advice.

Too bad...


Annie RU

Just Click and Help Protect the World's Oceans

Please go to: http://oceans.care2.com/

Tea Monkey

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Sep 27, 2002, 8:27:21 PM9/27/02
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Annie RUtahkn2Me wrote:
>
> >From: Tea Monkey tea.m...@sympatico.ca
>
> >It's interesting that Debbie and Agnes may have had an affair but hardly
> >shocking and certainly nothing for Debbie to get her knickers in a twist
> >about. If anything, it makes Debbie appear to be a little more worldly
> >and interesting than she is.
> >
>
> I saw Debbie's interview on TCM. She seemed very open and honest about her
> life. I've seen her give many interviews and this was one of her best. If you
> get a chance, watch it.
>
> Debbie stated that Agnes became her dearest and closest friend. She made no
> reference to the lesbian rumors about the two of them.
>
> However, Debbie said she wanted to set the record straight because Agnes was
> not around to respond to all the lesbian rumors floating around about herself.
>
> Debbie described Agnes as being religiously very devout with no fooling around.
> And, maybe that was why some people assumed that Agnes was gay. (Remember,
> we're talking about a very devout woman amid the very promiscuous Hollywood
> crowd.)
>

*snip*

Interesting. I'm in Canada, without a grey market dish, so no TCM here.
It sounds like a fascinating interview. Wish I had seen it. I have no
idea which side is true. Certainly the story, as related by Debbie, is
very, very plausible. I agree she has had more than her share of
problems. No one can deny she is a strong lady...and dare I say
it.....SASSY!

RTJoby

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Sep 27, 2002, 10:31:14 PM9/27/02
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>Debbie said she didn't meet Agnes until they were both in the 1962 western,
>"How The West Was Won". Debbie was just 30 and Agnes was 62. <


My gosh and people thought this was a lesbian affair ???

It shows how people's mind were in the gutter even back then.
Something that does not seem to have changed over the decades.

It shows how people stereotypes couples.

If 2 females are close then they must be lesbians.
(Did the same rumors occur between Montgomery & Moorehead ???)

If a male and a female are close friends then they must be lovers & don't want
anyone to know it.

As for Paul Lynde----hmm, now I wonder why in the world he would want someone
else on the set of Bewitched termed gay besides himself ???

I guess Darrin #2 & Esmerelda hid it pretty well.


Tea Monkey

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Sep 27, 2002, 10:52:47 PM9/27/02
to

RTJoby wrote:
>
> >Debbie said she didn't meet Agnes until they were both in the 1962 western,
> >"How The West Was Won". Debbie was just 30 and Agnes was 62. <
>
> My gosh and people thought this was a lesbian affair ???

As a general statement, not necessarily applying in this case, lust is
not limited by age ;-)


>
> It shows how people's mind were in the gutter even back then.
> Something that does not seem to have changed over the decades.
>
> It shows how people stereotypes couples.
>
> If 2 females are close then they must be lesbians.
> (Did the same rumors occur between Montgomery & Moorehead ???)
>
> If a male and a female are close friends then they must be lovers & don't want
> anyone to know it.
>
> As for Paul Lynde----hmm, now I wonder why in the world he would want someone
> else on the set of Bewitched termed gay besides himself ???
>

Lynde was already very out. He didn't need to try and deflect it on
someone else. He happily described himself as "an old queen". In my
experience, "old queens" tend to be very gossipy. Also, don't cross them
;-) Take that as you will.

ramc...@gmail.com

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Aug 30, 2013, 11:24:26 PM8/30/13
to
Read the interview with Agnes Moorehead in Hollywood Lesbians. She clearly was a lesbian by her own admission. It is actually a very touching interview.

reedan...@gmail.com

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Dec 8, 2016, 12:57:10 AM12/8/16
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> Read the interview with Agnes Moorehead in Hollywood Lesbians. She clearly was a lesbian by her own admission.

The only thing I read was her simply saying she was not "as beautiful" as Dietrich, Bankhead, et.al. That's not quite an admission. Paul Lynde, however, is well-documented as a mean-spirited, self-loathing, malcontent, who was very selfish and loved to tear people down; just the type to start such a rumor. It would not be out of character for him.

It is also well-documented that Agnes Moorehead was a staunch conservative Republican. She was also a lifelong Bible-believing Christian. As her gay co-star, Dick Sargent, was quoted as saying... she came to rehearsals with, "a Bible in one hand and her script in the other." Indeed, she left a large collection of Bibles, commentaries, and other Biblical reference materials in her will. These facts just don't fit the rumor.

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