Born October 19: George Nader, Robert Reed, Divine

Golden Globe-winning, B-movie beefcake George Nader and his partner Mark Miller met when they both appeared in a musical at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1947 and stayed together for fifty-five years. Though they were not out publicly, they lived openly as a couple, much to the consternation of Universal Studios, which begged Nader to marry and divorce a willing secretary for cover. He refused. The couple was close friends with Rock Hudson from 1951 onward and nursed him through his death from aids in 1985, after which they came out. Hudson left them the bulk of his estate. Following his retirement from movies, Nader wrote Chrome, a love story between a man and a male robot, the first science fiction novel to feature a gay plot and sex scenes, which was surprisingly popular.

Wouldn’t the world have been a better place if everyone had known America’s #1 television dad, Mike Brady, was gay? Although much loved on the set, especially by the child actos, Robert Reed grew increasingly unhappy and resentful that his defining role was beneath his talents as a classical, Shakespearean actor. He fought frequently with the show’s creator, Sherwood Schwartz, which is why he was written out of the series’ finale, although he did return for the reunion shows. He died of aids in Pasadena in 1992, five months shy of his sixtieth birthday. Related: Maureen McCormick (Marcia), whose memoir Here’s the Story is coming out next year, says she made out with her tv sister Jan. You may recall Greg’s memoir from 1992, Growing Up Brady, which described his affair with his tv mom Florence Henderson. Quite the family.

Proving there is order in the randomness of the universe, Divine grew up six houses away from John Waters, who would later help him create his outrageous drag persona and give him starring roles in his movies such as Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Polyester with Tab Hunter, whom he was again paired with in Lust in the Dust. Divine released several disco songs and albums, but his greatest fame came with John Waters’ original Hairspray. After that breakthrough role he was chosen to play Uncle Otto on the new Fox sitcom Married... With Children, but his obesity caused a heart attack, killing him at 42 in 1988. Among the many ways Divine’s legacy endures is that he was the inspiration of Ursula the Sea Witch in the Disney animated hit The Little Mermaid. Safe to say he wouldn't have thought much of John Travolta's attempt to reprise Divine's role in last summer's Hairspray.