12. William Haines was forced out of Hollywood for refusing to hide his relationship with another man
William Haines was an actor who developed his career over a period of time, rising from bit parts and small scenes to become a leading man in the 1920s. Successfully making the change over to talking pictures late in the decade, Haines developed an on-film persona of the irreverent, smart-alecky leading man, adept at delivering wisecracks and sharp barbs at the expense of his on-screen foils. By the end of the decade, Haines was listed as America’s number-one box office attraction among male performers. Then in 1933 Haines picked up a sailor in Los Angeles and took him to a YMCA, where they were arrested. The subsequent publicity promised to be devastating and Haines’s employer, Louis B. Mayer, directed that Haines find a female to marry or forget about his acting career.
Haines elected to forget about his acting career, eventually opening an interior design firm in Los Angeles, with the former sailor, Jimmie Shields, as his business and domestic partner. The former actor found support from the Hollywood community. Among his clients were Joan Crawford and Carole Lombard. Haines and his partner later branched into an antique dealership as well, and Haines, though he claimed to have been offered some roles, never returned to acting. Later in life, Haines worked as an interior decorator for Ronald and Nancy Reagan, during the time when Reagan was serving as governor of California. The sham marriages which Rock Hudson entered into and that William Haines disdained were common enough to have their own name – they were called lavender marriages – and were dictated by studio executives for decades.