by William J. Mann
Before there was Ellen DeGeneres, there was William Haines. Yep, he was gay. A silent movie star who successfully made the transition to talkies, he went from being the nation's top male box-office draw in 1930 to being out of pictures in 1934. The reason? Unlike other stars of similar sexual persuasion, Haines refused to wed simply for publicity's sake. He already had a mate: Jimmy Shields, an ex-sailor with whom Haines lived until his death in 1973. After MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer failed to renew Haines's contract, the actor segued into a long, rewarding career as interior designer to the rich and famous, including Nancy and Ronald Reagan. While this biography does a solid job of profiling Haines, his times and Hollywood's gay milieu, the author seems a mite overzealous about outing. Marlene Dietrich and Claudette Colbert may or may not have been lesbian lovers, but the sole fact that they both wore pants to a '30s party hardly qualifies as incontrovertible evidence. (Viking, $29.95)
Bottom Line: Worthy bio of a Hollywood star who refused to play pretend
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