When Rock Hudson's declaration of, and resultant death from, AIDS happened in 1985, the world at large got a pretty good idea of the way Hollywood was able to keep secrets, both back in the early days and up till then (a situation that continues on some level now as well!) Hudson, the tall, handsome symbol of manly strength to millions, was publically revealed to have been gay and having led a double life of public heterosexuality and private (sometimes heavily promiscuous) homosexuality. On the fringes of this story lies another one. A story of a similarly gay man who was also tall and handsome, but whose refusal to play the game meant that he would never be able to achieve the same degree of stardom. He found a level of success, regardless, but was never able to become the household name that Hudson (his close friend) was. 
The man is Mr. George Nader.
Nader was born in Los Angeles on October 21st, 1921. A lean, rugged-looking youth, he took an interest in acting from the very start, performing in school plays and continuing to do so in college. He was graduated from Occidental College, with a degree in English, in 1943 whereupon he joined the U.S. Navy and served during WWII in the Pacific Ocean.
When the war ended and he returned home, 
he began to pursue a career in the theatre. He worked at The Pasadena Playhouse where he took part in many of their productions. One fateful show was the musical Oh, Susannah!, in which the leading male part was played by a fledgling opera singer named Mark Miller. Nader was in the chorus and soon fell for Miller, with feelings reciprocated. Miller, recognizing Nader's potential as a working actor, decided not to go through with his own plans to study opera in New York, but rather decided to stay in L.A. and live with Nader, supporting him by doing odd jobs until his career took hold.
Within a couple of years, Nader landed his first gig onscreen. The hilariously suggestive title of the film 
(to dirty minds like mine, anyway!) was Rustlers on Horseback. Considering that this was his debut, he got a fairly decent part, though his name was misspelled as “Nadar” in the credits! Nader was already twenty-nine years of age and getting a late start in the biz.
After this, he began landing small, usually uncredited, roles in films, many with Twentieth Century Fox. You're in the Navy Now (which was certainly no stretch for the ex-sailor), The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel and Phone Call from a Stranger contained appearances by George. The stars of these films were Gary Cooper, James Mason and Bette Davis, so it's not like he was slumming... yet.
In 1952, he was given the male lead in Monsoon, a love triangle drama set in India, which costarred Kirk Douglas' ex-wife Diana and Robert Taylor's future wife Ursula Thiess. (The pic at left is not actually from Monsoon, by the way.) In what would soon become a pattern, Nader was shown shirtless in the movie, his tan, well-toned physique one that caught many viewers' attention.
This lesser-known film didn't lead to any more significant parts right away. He continued to work in small roles and on television, notably on Fireside Theatre. 1953 brought what would go down as one of the worst films in cinematic history, Robot Monster! 
Shot in four days on a shoestring budget, the inane, incomprehensible story of an alien invader (actually a guy in a gorilla suit with a diving helmet on his head!) was released in 3-D. Hailed as a laughable, unintentionally uproarious masterpiece of schlock, it's sometimes easy to forget that the $16,000 movie made $1,000,000 at the box office!! Try those numbers on for size.
His next movie had a bigger budget, at $100,000, but was shot in even less time - three days! - as he portrayed the younger love interest for Miss Paulette Goddard (close to fifty at the time) in Sins of Jezebel, a slapdash Biblical epic.
Things finally started to come together around 1954. He was one of Anne Baxter's lovers 
in Carnival Story, a hooty picture that also starred Steve Cochran. He then was hired by Universal-International as a contract player, which meant steady work in their vast output of movies. A supporting part in Rory Calhoun's western Four Guns to the Border led to Nader being presented with “Most Promising Newcomer” awards from both Photoplay magazine and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (aka – The Golden Globes.) Then he was given a costarring role in Tony Curtis' Six Bridges to Cross Incidentally, Though Nader was only four years older than Curtis, he was playing a married adult while Curtis was a delinquent youth!
Now Nader was plowing ahead in a series of colorful and varied Universal movies doing everything from the western musical 
(in which his voice was dubbed by Bill Lee in spite of his experiences in the theatre) The Second Greatest Sex to playing “Mister” to Maureen O'Hara's Lady Godiva of Coventry. Nader's strong, chiseled jaw line made for a great counterpoint to his many softly pretty leading ladies. For this film, he was outfitted with a longish, golden brown wig. I do love Mo's twisty 'do, but still think that, let down, even as sizeable as it is, it wouldn't have covered most of her body! Then there's Congo Crossing, an African adventure with Virginia Mayo (who most certainly is NOT pictured with him below! That photo is actually from 1954's Miss Robin Crusoe.) By this time, his partner Mark worked for him as his business manager.
Nader was never quite able to glean the same amount of attention or caliber of roles as his fellow contractees Rock Hudson 
(who was, by now, a good friend of his and his partner Mark's), Tony Curtis or Jeff Chandler. In Away All Boats, he was second-billed behind Chandler. He then played a sympathetic police detective opposite threatened schoolteacher Esther Williams (in a rare dry role) in The Unguarded Moment. Her tormentor was a young John Saxon. Incidentally, while Rock and George were great pals, they never worked on a film together and, in fact, were deliberately photographed together on only the rarest of occasions, all part of proactively defraying potential gossip. Ostensibly a platonic friendship, George (and Mark) would marvel at the sexual adventures of their towering, charismatic pal Rock.
Four Girls in Town, in 1957, was a pretty high-profile movie for the studio at the time of its release, though it's virtually forgotten now. He was given top-billing in it over fellow actors Sydney Chaplin, Grant Williams and John Gavin. He was the only one depicted in a swimsuit, something that was close to a trademark for him by now. (Oddly, I've never seen this film even though, with Nader, I have profiled four of the eight stars in it! Williams, Gavin and Julie Adams being the other three.)
In Man Afraid, he played a Reverend married to Phyllis Thaxter who stumbles upon a burglar in their home. When Thaxter is temporarily blinded by the thief, Nader assaults him and accidentally kills him, setting off a whole series of agonizing recriminations and upsetting feelings. Then the burglar's father decides to strike back! It was a good (and rare) opportunity for Nader to sink his teeth into a part.
Nader was starting to be trusted with the leading male roles in the studio's less-important films (in the case of 1957's Appointment with a Shadow, he replaced a hepatitis-stricken Jeffrey Hunter after just one day of shooting) 
and, as such, was becoming more and more well known as a property. Though all this time he had been living with his partner Mark Miller, he would occasionally be seen on a publicity-dictated date with starlets such as Martha Hyer, Piper Laurie and even Mitzi Gaynor. Check out this article about Barbara Rush and him, building romance where there was none. With him now at thirty-six years of age, it was becoming a little more difficult to explain the lack of a wife or even a steady girlfriend in his life to an adoring public. He watched as pal Rock Hudson married a woman for just under three years as part of a public smoke screen and considered doing the same (at the studio's urging), but ultimately decided he could not endure that type of situation for himself or for Miller.
He continued to make films for Universal, including The Female Animal, which paired him with none other than Hedy Lamarr in her very last on screen acting appearance! She plays the mother of (the usually squeaky clean) Jane Powell, an alcoholic(!) Both ladies portraying actresses, they vie for Nader, a hunky extra who catches their eyes. Once again, he is shown all lean and tan in a set of trim swim trunks. 
Many publicity photos were released with him wearing them and, in a deparature for male movie stars of that time, he trimmed, but did not shave, his chest. His skin looks positively glowing in this shot with Powell, though there was more than likely some retouching involved. Lucky girl, getting to grapple onto him this way!
Nader seemed to work with a lot of older leading ladies who had once enjoyed higher distinction on the screen. (He was even briefly slated to play opposite Joan Crawford in 1968's Berserk! 
at one point, but withdrew to make another German spy film, leaving Ty Hardin the pleasure.) His reflections on working with these women would have been most welcome, but I suppose we'll never know what they were now. He also has the amusing distinction of having played characters with the names Chris Farley, in this film, and Steve Martin, in his very next picture Flood Tide! What are the chances?!
In this shot from Flood Tide (with Cornell Borchers), one could be forgiven for initially thinking that it's actually a shot of Hudson instead of Nader. Hudson was 6'4” while Nader was 6'1”. They both had tan skin, strong chins and dark hair, but Rock's eyes were brown while George's were a deep blue. Since so many of George's films were in black and white, while Rock tended to be placed in color movies, this is an aspect of him that escapes a lot of viewers. In fact, it is not particularly easy to even find still photos of George Nader in color.
Having opted to stay true to his life partner and resist the pressure to marry, 
Nader left the studio and proceeded to eke out a living in other avenues. First up was Nowhere to Go, a British-made thriller with Maggie Smith, in which he played a thief on the run from his greedy accomplices. Look how young Miss Maggie is here! He then went to New York to work on the television series The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen, a mystery show done live. After twenty-five episodes, he departed the series and Lee Philips took over for the remaining nineteen.
Nader was on to another show, The Man and The Challenge, where he played a scientist plunged into various scenarios that tested his ingenuity and inventiveness, often with a science-fiction bent to them. It ran for thirty-six episodes and, when it ended, he swiftly went into another series in 1961 called Shannon. 
This one had him playing a gadget-utilizing insurance investigator. A late-night syndicated series, it also ran for thirty-six episodes.
From here, Nader made a dramatic turn. He and Miller moved to Germany where he embarked on a career as a leading man in a dozen films made there, eight of which were about a spy named Jerry Cotton. The colorful, action-filled romps were made to cash in on the explosion that came in the wake of the James Bond series and they provided Nader with not only a considerable salary, but also the freedom to live as he pleased with his partner of, by now, over a decade.
He made other films as well during the decade he resided in Germany
from the action/crime genre to science-fiction. He also played a different secret agent in a far-out film costarring Frankie Avalon (!) called The Million Eyes of Sumuru. Ex-Bond girl Shirley Eaton went brunette as a villainess bent on replacing all the important men of the world with her legion of strong, deadly females. Even then, at forty-six, Nader could still proudly show off his impressive physique. (Remember, this was not a time when most people of that age took any sort of interest in fitness.)
In 1972, George and Mark returned to the U.S. and George began to reenter the show business scene. He began with television appearances on the shows Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law and The F.B.I. He then went to The Philippines to film the cheesy adventure flick Beyond Atlantis, 
starring Patrick Wayne and John Ashley. Again, now over fifty, Nader was shown in skimpy undersea costuming that revealed his still considerable body. The face, it must be said, after a lifetime of sun and cigs, was definitely beginning to show some wear, though.
Just as things seemed as though they might continue on successfully, Nader found that he could no longer work before the camera. He had previously worked on a low-budget action film called Zigzag and, in one scene, a blank from a pistol he was using went off too soon and too near his eye. This injury caused him to be especially sensitive to the lights used in filming and in short time he found he couldn't tolerate them at all. He also developed glaucoma and partial loss of vision in the eye.
Mark contemplated selling real estate as a way of providing income, but as soon as Rock Hudson discovered the situation, he offered Mark a job as his secretary. Friends that they were, Miller gladly accepted the position. He knew the demands of corralling the details of a movie star's career. 
Now in forced retirement, Nader put his English degree to use, penning a highly unusual science-fiction novel called Chrome. Why unusual? It is the first mainstream novel of its type to have the hero depicted as engaging in homosexual feelings and relationships. (The main character falls for a “male” android and is made to pay for it by being separated.) How interesting that the cover blurb is by fellow gay actor-turned-novelist Tom Tryon!
Things went rather swimmingly until Hudson's AIDS dilemma and resultant fallout. Miller had been informed of Hudson's diagnosis, but sworn to reveal the information to no one other than George. This included Hudson's live-in lover, Marc Christian, and, once Hudson was dead, 
Miller was one of those named in the lawsuit that Christian brought forth over being exposed to the disease without his knowledge. It was a horrible situation that was and will be debated for years to come.
Nader and Miller were chief beneficiaries of Hudson's estate, enabling them to live securely long after his demise. It was a generous gesture to a close friend who had taken the hard road in order to live life on his own terms instead of as the system dictated. Nader and Miller remained together for fifty-five years, a rare example of a movie star “marriage” that worked, ending only upon Nader's death in February of 2002 from heart trouble and pneumonia at the age of eighty.
Having been off screen for nearly three decades by then and having spent the prior decade out of the United States, he was not especially well remembered by most of the general public. He had a nephew
who enjoyed a certain amount of his own success from the late '60s through the late '80s, named Michael Nader. If you ever watched Dynasty, you know that Mike Nader played one of Joan Collins' most enduring lovers, “Dex” Dexter, and was a staple of the show for several years. He had similar dark good looks and a furry chest as well. Unfortunately, he became embroiled in his own series of issues, some concerning drug possession, that kept him off the screen for close to a decade, but that is another story.
In The Underworld, we celebrate Mr. Nader not only for his handsome, amiable appeal, 
but also for his commitment to the one he loved, even if it came at a price. In a world of people all too eager to sell out, he chose to scratch out a living his way rather than to disrespect his own way of life and his relationship with his partner. Incidentally, upon his death, columnist Army Archerd announced that Nader had penned another book, The Perils of Paul, all about a gay actor navigating Hollywood and based on his own experiences, with the names changed to protect the innocent (and guilty!) It was not to be published until after his death. With that having occurred a decade ago, we're still waiting. Bring it on!
While perusing a thrift store book section recently, I stumbled across a celebrity fitness and lifestyle book that, surprisingly enough, is now close to thirty years old! Published in 1983, The Body Principal details the diet and exercise regimens necessary to keep oneself in the same shape as Dallas’ leading lady Victoria Principal.
Principal, a former teen model and later an actress (and, during a couple of lean acting years, an agent!), was at the peak of her success, having been on the primetime soap opera Dallas since 1978 in the role of Pamela Barnes Ewing. The show was a stunning success and she was able to parlay her fame from it into several ventures, this book being one of the first. (It would later be followed by The Beauty Principal in 1984, The Diet Principal in 1987 and Living Principal in 2001.)
The 191-page tome gives a bit of background information on Principal’s fitness history (primarily relating how Battle of the Network Stars reignited her athletic competitiveness and alerted her to a faltering physique until she began to reclaim it.) Soon she delves into detailed instructions on how to shed pounds, firm up and basically look and feel as amazing as she does. One of her secrets is isometric exercises done during various everyday tasks.
Often in books and videos like this, the star in question seeks to put herself on the same level as the average reader, so that she doesn’t come off as too beautiful, too rich or too unapproachably fabulous and possibly offend a potential follower (one giant exception to this is the screamingly funny mid-‘80s video of self-promotion that The Young and the Restless’ Brenda Dickson did called Welcome to My Home, a you tube.com favorite!) Principal attempts to equate her hectic workday schedule as a primary actress on a top-rated television series to that of a busy young career woman, wife or mother. 
Thus, she is shown doing her isometric moves as JOSE EBER fixes her hair! (As if he would really tolerate all that flailing as he’s trying to pick out her henna and Jhirmack-infused locks!) You gals can relate to that, right?? She continues this trend by doing leg lifts while her make-up is being applied! I guess the artist can’t look at her dead-on straight since she’s in the middle of doing leg lifts, unless she straddles Vicky and allows her to lift her feet between her thighs. It’s all fine for Principal to do this while someone else is primping her. It’s a different story to do one’s hair and makeup by herself and still concentrate on isometrics…
This line of thinking continues as she relates how she does her secret moves while in line at the grocery store. Ahem… I’m sorry. I really don’t think that Miss Principal was standing in line much of anywhere in 1983, much less a grocery store. Of course, there’s a cute guy in line behind her ogling her tush as she squeezes it in and out while waiting to pay at The Piggly Wiggly. You know what? In 1983, I could also command a glance or two at Kroger and I never did any of this stuff. Of course, now I get stared at because no one can believe that the groceries I’m buying are only for one person!
The book has a pretty large amount of photos in it, many of them depicting Principal in various light-hearted sportswear and accessories to suggest that she bowls, plays golf and tennis, swims and skis to stay in shape. She shows off a collection of the then-de rigueur striped and shiny (and clingy) workout wear, nearly always with tights. This oddball shot is meant to demonstrate one of her pelvic movements, but inadvertently gives her a bulge in the crotch that rivals some of the members of the (men’s!) U.S. water polo team.
This move, performed on a brass bed, brings back terrible memories for me. In the early 1990s, Vicki Lawrence had a talk show (called Vicki!) that I would occasionally catch, being a restaurant worker at the time. Once day she had on a doctor or some other type of healthcare professional helping her to show how one can rid him or herself of gas. In a “yes, she did go there” moment, Lawrence and the guest got down on the floor of the studio set, assumed the position shown at the bottom of this photo and proceeded to fart on national television…
Principal’s food and meal section quickly caught my attention, too, because the day-to-day dietary plans look like something out of a hospital for people in fear of death. Prune juice, poached eggs, steamed vegetables, melba toast and tea, tea, tea… Occasionally, a tad of pasta (half a cup) or some canned salmon creeps in. No butter, cheese, milk, red meat, salt, cream cheese or lunchmeats. (This was in the days before turkey was a prevalent lunchmeat or even menu option outside of the holidays, really.) And there are NO snacks listed whatsoever. 
She’s probably right about most of it, but my God, was there really anyone not starring on TV who could face eating like this all the time? Lest anyone think that it’s always necessary to eat like someone on death row in a deprived nation, she does allow that one might have the odd slice of pizza… one slice EVERY OTHER MONTH! I may be barking up the wrong tree and have a lot of vegans who visit The Underworld (and Lord knows I happen to be on a diet right this minute in the wake of a horrible weight gain due to injury and illness last year), but this plan seems stringent to the point of extreme annoyance.
My personal favorite part of this particular copy of The Body Principal was this inscription written inside the cover. It’s one of the reasons I bought the book because it just seemed too hilarious
to pass by (and the book was only a dollar for heaven’s sake.) I don’t know if this Rich guy was Susan’s sassy gay friend or if he was Susan’s boyfriend (who later came out!) or what, but he’s no Robert Frost… If he was my boyfriend and gave me a beauty and fitness book for Sweetest Day, he’d be driving home with bruised balls.
This is no pamphlet. The Body Principal is 191 pages long. However, one has to slog through 189 pages before he gets to the, er, juicy part where Vic instructs women on how to finger themselves in order to determine whether or not their vaginas are too loose! Sweet Holy Jehovah! It’s not enough to starve, workout at all times, including in the makeup chair and at the grocery, all the while fitting in bowling, tennis, golf and swimming, AND give up pizza except for six slices a year. Now we have to firm up our private parts, too?
Thanks, Miss Principal, for an amusing trip down memory lane and for all the wisdom you imparted. Based on how in shape the country has been ever since the book’s release (not…), it clearly had a major impact on the face and fanny of the typical American female. In time, she would introduce a billion-dollar skincare enterprise called Principal Secret. And just in case all this amazing health and nutritional data and regimentation didn’t keep Miss Principal in fine form forever, she married a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon two years later in 1985 and was with him until 2006. Did she avail herself of his or any of his colleague’s services? That, I’m afraid, is Victoria’s Secret.
THE END
Unless an actor or actress is part of a wildly enduring classic film or somehow died in a way that makes his or her legend live on, it's tough for them to manage to be remembered, even if they were extraordinarily popular. Today's featured actress does have a small, but devoted, following, though not among most of the general public. In her day, however, she was exceedingly popular and was not only the highest paid actress in films, 
but one of the highest paid people in the country, period! The lady is Miss Kay Francis.Born Katherine Edwina Gibbs, to a businessman father and an actress mother, on January 13th, 1905 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, she was soon the responsibility of a single mother, her father having left by the time she was four. Her mother, who'd begun acting in her native Nova Scotia, traveled from job to job as a performer, unintentionally replacing her young daughter's blood with sawdust. Though the youth went to secretarial school, and was married at the tender age of seventeen, she continued to dream of a career on the stage. While in Paris getting a divorce from her husband of two years, she met the man who would become husband number two! They endured a long distance love affair with him in Boston and her in New York City, pursuing a career on Broadway. Sure enough, by 1925 she made her debut in a production of Hamlet, 
taking the name Katherine Francis (Francis was her mother's maiden name.) Over the next few years she would work both on Broadway in three more productions as well as touring in Ohio, playing any number of different and distinct parts. In the wake of the fourth Broadway show, she was encouraged by the star Walter Huston to take a screen test for the upcoming Paramount Pictures movie Gentlemen of the Press, in which he was to star. She won the part. At that time, Paramount was making pictures in New York, so she was able to stay there. Nevertheless, she had already divorced her second husband and was engaged to a playboy (this relationship fell apart when she decided she preferred to act rather than be the society wife his family wanted.) 
Her next film was a brief appearance in The Marx Brothers' The Cocoanuts. For this, and forever after, she went by the more marquee friendly Kay Francis. Paramount found plenty of use for her and before long she moved to the west coast where the film industry was steadily relocating. In 1930, she appeared in ten films alone! Granted, these were typically shorter pictures than would later be the norm, but still... 1931 was almost as hectic with eight movies released containing her work. Francis began to appeal heavily to moviegoers, especially ladies who admired the statuesque girl's ability to wear clothes. She was soon to be referred to as Hollywood's Best Dressed Woman. 
Warner Brothers decided they could top her current salary as well as turn her into a major star, something that wasn't guaranteed to happen within Paramount's crowded roster. So she and frequent costar William Powell made the jump to the other studio. This was the time of Art Deco, with sleek lines and clean details in furnishings and décor, meaning that an actress who wore clothes well (and the 5'9” Francis, quite tall for a leading lady at that time, certainly did) could really stand out with such complimentary backgrounds behind her. Clothes by such costume designers as Adrian, Orry-Kelly and Travis Banton didn't hurt! She took personal interest in her costumes and often collaborated on what would be right for certain characters and scenes. 
There was a small fly in the ointment, however, and that was the fact that the glamorous, fashionable, raven-haired beauty had a bit of a speech impediment. Her r's and l's had a tendency to come out as w's. This was a point of mockery at Paramount, where she was dubbed “The Wavishing Kay Fwancis.” As she was becoming more and more famous and important as a star property, care was taken to rid her dialogue of as many of the two letters as was possible. Sound in films at this time was hardly crystal clear, which also aided in the subterfuge. 
1932 was a key year for Francis in that two of her most celebrated films were released. One Way Passage, the smaller in scope of the two, was a romantic and heart-tugging story about a terminally ill young lady (Francis) who meets a condemned man (Powell) on a cruise ship, both of them due to meet death not long after their arrival at port and neither knowing about the other one's fate. (And do check out Miss Francis' elongated eyebrows in the photo above right! Click to enlarge.) 
At barely over an hour in length, it is a wonderful candy box of a film and a great showcase for its stars (including several supporting actors who do well in it, such as Aline McMahon, Warren Hymer-shown above on the left- and Frank McHugh.) The story featured a romantic gesture that, thankfully for bar owners didn't catch on too heavily. After toasting over a glass of champagne, the lovers would smash their glasses and lay the stems across one another sybolicially! 
The other, Trouble in Paradise (actually made on a visit back to Paramount), is heralded even today as an example of sparkling comedy and was directed by the famed Ernst Lubitsch. Herbert Marshall (looking quite handsome here, I must say) and Miriam Hopkins played a pair of thieves who target the female owner of a perfume company (Francis) as their next mark. Unfortunately, Marshall begins to fall for Francis amid a lot of double entendre-filled dialogue and tasteful suggestiveness. 
Francis continued to wow audiences and amass a legion of fans. In many cases, it was enough for film advertisers to merely place her name and photo along with the title of the film on a poster with no other details and watch the tickets sell like mad. Viewers knew they were going to be treated to a sumptuous, engaging story with an appealing actress in the lead role. A versatile performer, Francis was still able to waver between comedy and melodrama, though she was more frequently put to use in the latter.
One of her big hits in 1935 was I Found Stella Parrish, about an actress in hiding and on the run from the press in order to protect her young daughter from scandal. The following year, she portrayed Florence Nightingale in The White Angel. In 1937, she was teamed with Errol Flynn and Ian Hunter 
(a frequent costar, working with her on eight movies) in Another Dawn. This was a notable title because prior to 1937, whenever Warner Brothers had a scene in their films that took place at or near a movie theater, they would use the title “Another Dawn” for the fake movie. When they were trying to figure out the name of this latest romantic drama, someone suggested calling it Another Dawn and that's what they did! Next was Confession, a rollercoaster ride of a melodrama in the Madame X mold about a hard driven lounge performer (Francis) who kills a man (Basil Rathbone) because he has attempted to seduce an underage girl (Jane Bryan.) For this part, Francis went the gamut from exquisite clothing and jewels to down and out floozie in a bleached wig. For many, this is the best example of the type of acting she was famous for and it is a compelling little movie for fans of this genre. 
Francis was known as “Queen of the Warner Brothers Lot”
and began to command a hefty salary. She was also a hard-working and obedient employee... for quite a while. Then she began to see the damage that playing heroines suffering in mink and feathers in lush surroundings, over and over, was doing to her career over the long haul. She began to fight for better and more varied roles. As Bette Davis had found out when she tried to buck Jack Warner herself, it was no easy feat taking on the head of a studio. Francis was embroiled in a battle royale that she had little chance of winning. The men behind the big desks held most, if not all, of the cards. Sensing the futility of wrecking her career entirely through blacklisting 
(which existed heavily long before the political type that came along in the McCarthy era), she resigned herself to accepting whatever parts she was given with the comfort of knowing that she would collect a $5250.00/week salary. I shouldn't have to explain what that sort of money was like in 1938! In short, she cried all the way to the bank. As punishment, Jack Warner began shunting her aside in favor of Bette Davis and assigned Francis the leftover parts. In one film, My Bill, he attempted to embarrass her by casting her as the poor, widowed mother of four children. Thing was, she was so good in it that the film was a big success! Then, in a continued effort to thwart and humiliate her, scripts were doctored to include as many r's and l's as they could. 
Far less attention was paid to photographing her flatteringly. Consider this publicity portrait in which one pupil is dilated and one not, due to the ineffectual lighting. It was an environment of resentment and frustration, but she continued to work, though the projects got worse and worse until her contract expired. In 1938, she was added to the infamous list created by theater owners of “Box Office Poison.” Carole Lombard, a luminous star of both comedies and dramas who had once had a small role in a Francis film, sought to lend the struggling star a hand. She insisted that Francis be cast in her upcoming movie In Name Only.
The 1939 film starred Cary Grant as a man in love with Lombard while married to the fake and venomous wife from hell Francis. This meaty part gave Francis a chance to really show off her chops once again. In 1940, she played a fading Broadway actress who is mother to Deanna Durbin (a major singing star youth of the time) in It's a Date. She becomes part of a love triangle with her daughter with Walter Pidgeon as the other corner. (Incidentally, Miss Durbin is still alive today, aged eighty-nine, and has deliberately been out of the public eye since 1948 when she exited the movie business.) Francis found herself in films that were a departure from her previous efforts, such as the western When the Daltons Rode with Randolph Scott and Play Girl, 
which had her cast as an aging gold digger passing on her talents to a younger protegee. She costarred with Jack Benny in a slightly augmented version of the play Charley's Aunt, playing Donna Lucia d'Alvadorez against Benny in drag! That Feminine Touch had her chasing after Don Ameche while he is married to Rosalind Russell. Things came full circle in 1942 when Walter Huston, the man who had gotten her into the movies in the first place, played her husband in Always in My Heart, the story of a man who gets out of prison only to find that his wife has fallen in love with someone else. She next played Diana Barrymore's mother in a comedy called Between Us Girls. 
Always a woman with an eye to making things better for others, 
Francis embarked on a USO tour overseas during WWII. Working with Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra, along with fellow performers Carole Landis, Martha Raye and dancer Mitzi Mayfair, she and her cohorts traveled around, from England to Africa, putting on a show for the G.I.s. The exploits they encountered were later made into a book, followed by a movie musical called Four Jills in a Jeep, with the folks portraying themselves in a fictionalized account of the adventure. For the film, Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda and Phil Silvers appeared as well, with singer Dick Haymes making his screen debut. 
Now having been off the scene for a couple of years, in 1945, she struck a deal with the decidedly low-rung Monogram Studios to produce and star in films of her own choosing. This way, she could help to control the content as well as add to her income. Divorce
had her character breaking up Bruce Cabot and Helen Mack's marriage. Allotment Wives concerned women who marry soldiers just for the money they'll receive if the young man dies in action. This film sought to cash in on the mother-daughter angst that had made Mildred Pierce a huge success. Francis even wore her hair similar to Joan Crawford's in that movie and posed for publicity photos with her onscreen daughter, much like Joan and Ann Blyth had done. 1946's Wife Wanted had her as a slipping movie star (hey, it's something she knew about firsthand!) who becomes unwittingly embroiled in a blackmail and fraud scam. It was to be her last motion picture. Now forty-one, she exited the movie business a
nd began working in various stage productions with an infrequent appearance on television. Her final job before the camera was a 1951 episode of Lux Video Theatre. A severe burning during an accident with a radiator three years prior also played a part in her decision to segue into retirement. Far from being a destitute, washed up, former actress, Miss Francis simply didn't need to work any more. She had made a considerable amount of money and could retire quite comfortably. Married and divorced five times by the time her career was over, she spent the rest of her life as a reclusive single lady. An admitted occasional bisexual during her younger years (despite a string of rapturous affairs with men), she was rumored to have become more substantially lesbian in her retirement years, as if being out of the public eye freed her to do so. And she was out of the public eye. The title of one of her biographies, “I Can't Wait to be Forgotten,” taken from a quote of hers, signifies her lack of desire to continue fighting the battle. She was able to find fulfillment in other ways, however. 
Sadly stricken with breast cancer in 1966, she underwent a mastectomy, but the cancer had already spread to other areas and she was gone by 1968 at the age of sixty-three. With no children (though she was the godmother to a couple of folks), her estate earmarked over a million dollars to a foundation that trained seeing eye dogs for the blind. Renewed interest in classic films, apart from the select few (Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, etc...) that everyone knew about, came about in a more significant way with the advent of cable TV and, before long, a whole new generation of fans began to sit up and take notice of the work of Miss Kay Francis. Her career and life were made up of a series of highs and lows, but when the dust settles, her entertaining work on the screen is still there to be enjoyed.
When Rock Hudson's declaration of, and resultant death from, AIDS happened in 1985, the world at large got a pretty good idea of the way Hollywood was able to keep secrets, both back in the early days and up till then (a situation that continues on some level now as well!) Hudson, the tall, handsome symbol of manly strength to millions, was publically revealed to have been gay and having led a double life of public heterosexuality and private (sometimes heavily promiscuous) homosexuality. On the fringes of this story lies another one. A story of a similarly gay man who was also tall and handsome, but whose refusal to play the game meant that he would never be able to achieve the same degree of stardom. He found a level of success, regardless, but was never able to become the household name that Hudson (his close friend) was. 
The man is Mr. George Nader.
he began to pursue a career in the theatre. He worked at The Pasadena Playhouse where he took part in many of their productions. One fateful show was the musical Oh, Susannah!, in which the leading male part was played by a fledgling opera singer named Mark Miller. Nader was in the chorus and soon fell for Miller, with feelings reciprocated. Miller, recognizing Nader's potential as a working actor, decided not to go through with his own plans to study opera in New York, but rather decided to stay in L.A. and live with Nader, supporting him by doing odd jobs until his career took hold.
(to dirty minds like mine, anyway!) was Rustlers on Horseback. Considering that this was his debut, he got a fairly decent part, though his name was misspelled as “Nadar” in the credits! Nader was already twenty-nine years of age and getting a late start in the biz.
In 1952, he was given the male lead in Monsoon, a love triangle drama set in India, which costarred Kirk Douglas' ex-wife Diana and Robert Taylor's future wife Ursula Thiess. (The pic at left is not actually from Monsoon, by the way.) In what would soon become a pattern, Nader was shown shirtless in the movie, his tan, well-toned physique one that caught many viewers' attention.
Shot in four days on a shoestring budget, the inane, incomprehensible story of an alien invader (actually a guy in a gorilla suit with a diving helmet on his head!) was released in 3-D. Hailed as a laughable, unintentionally uproarious masterpiece of schlock, it's sometimes easy to forget that the $16,000 movie made $1,000,000 at the box office!! Try those numbers on for size.
in Carnival Story, a hooty picture that also starred Steve Cochran. He then was hired by Universal-International as a contract player, which meant steady work in their vast output of movies. A supporting part in Rory Calhoun's western Four Guns to the Border led to Nader being presented with “Most Promising Newcomer” awards from both Photoplay magazine and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (aka – The Golden Globes.) Then he was given a costarring role in Tony Curtis' Six Bridges to Cross Incidentally, Though Nader was only four years older than Curtis, he was playing a married adult while Curtis was a delinquent youth!
(in which his voice was dubbed by Bill Lee in spite of his experiences in the theatre) The Second Greatest Sex to playing “Mister” to Maureen O'Hara's Lady Godiva of Coventry. Nader's strong, chiseled jaw line made for a great counterpoint to his many softly pretty leading ladies. For this film, he was outfitted with a longish, golden brown wig. I do love Mo's twisty 'do, but still think that, let down, even as sizeable as it is, it wouldn't have covered most of her body! Then there's Congo Crossing, an African adventure with Virginia Mayo (who most certainly is NOT pictured with him below! That photo is actually from 1954's Miss Robin Crusoe.) By this time, his partner Mark worked for him as his business manager.
(who was, by now, a good friend of his and his partner Mark's), Tony Curtis or Jeff Chandler. In Away All Boats, he was second-billed behind Chandler. He then played a sympathetic police detective opposite threatened schoolteacher Esther Williams (in a rare dry role) in The Unguarded Moment. Her tormentor was a young John Saxon. Incidentally, while Rock and George were great pals, they never worked on a film together and, in fact, were deliberately photographed together on only the rarest of occasions, all part of proactively defraying potential gossip. Ostensibly a platonic friendship, George (and Mark) would marvel at the sexual adventures of their towering, charismatic pal Rock.
Four Girls in Town, in 1957, was a pretty high-profile movie for the studio at the time of its release, though it's virtually forgotten now. He was given top-billing in it over fellow actors Sydney Chaplin, Grant Williams and John Gavin. He was the only one depicted in a swimsuit, something that was close to a trademark for him by now. (Oddly, I've never seen this film even though, with Nader, I have profiled four of the eight stars in it! Williams, Gavin and Julie Adams being the other three.)
In Man Afraid, he played a Reverend married to Phyllis Thaxter who stumbles upon a burglar in their home. When Thaxter is temporarily blinded by the thief, Nader assaults him and accidentally kills him, setting off a whole series of agonizing recriminations and upsetting feelings. Then the burglar's father decides to strike back! It was a good (and rare) opportunity for Nader to sink his teeth into a part.
and, as such, was becoming more and more well known as a property. Though all this time he had been living with his partner Mark Miller, he would occasionally be seen on a publicity-dictated date with starlets such as Martha Hyer, Piper Laurie and even Mitzi Gaynor. Check out this article about Barbara Rush and him, building romance where there was none. With him now at thirty-six years of age, it was becoming a little more difficult to explain the lack of a wife or even a steady girlfriend in his life to an adoring public. He watched as pal Rock Hudson married a woman for just under three years as part of a public smoke screen and considered doing the same (at the studio's urging), but ultimately decided he could not endure that type of situation for himself or for Miller.
He continued to make films for Universal, including The Female Animal, which paired him with none other than Hedy Lamarr in her very last on screen acting appearance! She plays the mother of (the usually squeaky clean) Jane Powell, an alcoholic(!) Both ladies portraying actresses, they vie for Nader, a hunky extra who catches their eyes. Once again, he is shown all lean and tan in a set of trim swim trunks. 
Many publicity photos were released with him wearing them and, in a deparature for male movie stars of that time, he trimmed, but did not shave, his chest. His skin looks positively glowing in this shot with Powell, though there was more than likely some retouching involved. Lucky girl, getting to grapple onto him this way!
at one point, but withdrew to make another German spy film, leaving Ty Hardin the pleasure.) His reflections on working with these women would have been most welcome, but I suppose we'll never know what they were now. He also has the amusing distinction of having played characters with the names Chris Farley, in this film, and Steve Martin, in his very next picture Flood Tide! What are the chances?!
In this shot from Flood Tide (with Cornell Borchers), one could be forgiven for initially thinking that it's actually a shot of Hudson instead of Nader. Hudson was 6'4” while Nader was 6'1”. They both had tan skin, strong chins and dark hair, but Rock's eyes were brown while George's were a deep blue. Since so many of George's films were in black and white, while Rock tended to be placed in color movies, this is an aspect of him that escapes a lot of viewers. In fact, it is not particularly easy to even find still photos of George Nader in color.
Nader left the studio and proceeded to eke out a living in other avenues. First up was Nowhere to Go, a British-made thriller with Maggie Smith, in which he played a thief on the run from his greedy accomplices. Look how young Miss Maggie is here! He then went to New York to work on the television series The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen, a mystery show done live. After twenty-five episodes, he departed the series and Lee Philips took over for the remaining nineteen.
This one had him playing a gadget-utilizing insurance investigator. A late-night syndicated series, it also ran for thirty-six episodes.
from the action/crime genre to science-fiction. He also played a different secret agent in a far-out film costarring Frankie Avalon (!) called The Million Eyes of Sumuru. Ex-Bond girl Shirley Eaton went brunette as a villainess bent on replacing all the important men of the world with her legion of strong, deadly females. Even then, at forty-six, Nader could still proudly show off his impressive physique. (Remember, this was not a time when most people of that age took any sort of interest in fitness.)
starring Patrick Wayne and John Ashley. Again, now over fifty, Nader was shown in skimpy undersea costuming that revealed his still considerable body. The face, it must be said, after a lifetime of sun and cigs, was definitely beginning to show some wear, though.
Now in forced retirement, Nader put his English degree to use, penning a highly unusual science-fiction novel called Chrome. Why unusual? It is the first mainstream novel of its type to have the hero depicted as engaging in homosexual feelings and relationships. (The main character falls for a “male” android and is made to pay for it by being separated.) How interesting that the cover blurb is by fellow gay actor-turned-novelist Tom Tryon!
Miller was one of those named in the lawsuit that Christian brought forth over being exposed to the disease without his knowledge. It was a horrible situation that was and will be debated for years to come.
who enjoyed a certain amount of his own success from the late '60s through the late '80s, named Michael Nader. If you ever watched Dynasty, you know that Mike Nader played one of Joan Collins' most enduring lovers, “Dex” Dexter, and was a staple of the show for several years. He had similar dark good looks and a furry chest as well. Unfortunately, he became embroiled in his own series of issues, some concerning drug possession, that kept him off the screen for close to a decade, but that is another story.
but also for his commitment to the one he loved, even if it came at a price. In a world of people all too eager to sell out, he chose to scratch out a living his way rather than to disrespect his own way of life and his relationship with his partner. Incidentally, upon his death, columnist Army Archerd announced that Nader had penned another book, The Perils of Paul, all about a gay actor navigating Hollywood and based on his own experiences, with the names changed to protect the innocent (and guilty!) It was not to be published until after his death. With that having occurred a decade ago, we're still waiting. Bring it on!
