Victor Buono

[jaragon]

I've been watching "Feud" the somewhat campy series about the making of " Whatever Happen to Baby Jane".

Victor Buono is of course featured as one of the characters. I had no idea that in real life Buono was gay

[rayban]

I've been watching "Feud" the somewhat campy series about the making of " Whatever Happen to Baby Jane".

Victor Buono is of course featured as one of the characters. I had no idea that in real life Buono was gay

His sex scene was quite unexpected.

[rayban]

I saw Victor Buono in a classic TV re-run of the original "Perry Mason" series.

 

As soon as Raymond Burr saw him, he had such a hateful reaction - not as Perry Mason, but as Raymond Burr - that that reaction threw you right out of the episode in that moment.

 

Perhaps Victor Buono was just too fat for Raymond Burr.

 

Raymond Burr struggled with his weight throughout his career.

[jamesjazzguitar]

I saw Victor Buono in a classic TV re-run of the original "Perry Mason" series.

 

As soon as Raymond Burr saw him, he had such a hateful reaction - not as Perry Mason, but as Raymond Burr - that that reaction threw you right out of the episode in that moment.

 

Perhaps Victor Buono was just too fat for Raymond Burr.

 

Raymond Burr struggled with his weight throughout his career.

 

If you're talking about the one where Buono is part of a group of actors,  I saw that a few times but I don't recall the initial Burr reaction to Buono.

 

Hey, wait,  I might be confusing Buono with Dan Seymour.   I just checked Wiki and Seymour was on Mason 7 times. 

 

I also had to check and see that it was Seymour who was in the Bogart \ Bacall film Key Largo and NOT Buono.

[jaragon]

His sex scene was quite unexpected.

It was a good scene in more ways than one

[rayban]

It was a good scene in more ways than one

As Victor Buono was going down on the young hustler, who wanted to get into the movie business, he told the young actor that he had "loads of talent".

[jamesjazzguitar]

As Victor Buono was going down on the young hustler, who wanted to get into the movie business, he told the young actor that he had "loads of talent".

 

Ok now there is some gay subtext!  

[rayban]

Ok now there is some gay subtext!  

In the film, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", Victor Buono's character seemed to be definitely a gay man.

[jamesjazzguitar]

In the film, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", Victor Buono's character seemed to be definitely a gay man.

 

Since Baby Jane was such a repulsive women it was difficult to tell how the Buono's character felt about her sexually.   If she had been a attractive older women that a young man clearly isn't interested in,  that would have sent a stronger vibe with regards to his orientation.    Of course he was a mommy's boy but that doesn't mean,  per se, that he was gay.     

[Princess of Tap]

In the film, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane", Victor Buono's character seemed to be definitely a gay man.

I first saw Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? when I was in elementary school. As young as I was, I had the impression that he was quite gay. it was also clear to me that he was in it for the money.

 

Decades later his performance stood out in my memory--like the first time I had seen Robert Duvall in To Kill a Mockingbird, when I was a kid.

 

Those kind of debut performances come along once in a lifetime.

[rayban]

His facial reactions to Baby Jane Hudson are priceless.

 

Especially when she is singing "I've Written A Letter To Daddy".

 

(It's also interesting that in the TV re-make with the Redgraves, the character was also played by a gay man, John Glover.)