Question…
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ameized — 19 years ago(October 21, 2006 09:15 PM)
Richard dated Sharon Tate (Roman Polanski's deceased wife) back when he was filming "Adventures of A Young Man". I think I read somewhere that they were still dating when he made "West Side Story" and he helped her with her acting skills, but later on they broke up and she started dating a French actor. I found this excerpt on a website about them:
"Paul Newman, Richard Beymer, and Susan Strasberg were filming the movie, Adventures of A Young Man in a town nearby Verona. With a group of friends, Sharon came upon the movie set and caught Richard Beymer's eye. He invited her to lunch and gave her his agent's number telling her to contact him if she was ever in the States. Sharon's brushes with stardom continued, she got work as an extra in the movie Barrabas, as well as a Pat Boone special. Meanwhile, she continued to see Beymer while he was in Italy filming.
In 1962, Paul was promoted to Major and reassigned to Fort McArthur in California. Sharon - who while dating Richard Beymer had started seriously considering a career in acting - hitchhiked down to Hollywood and contacted Beymer's agent Hal Gefsky." -
melissajazz — 18 years ago(April 09, 2007 03:43 PM)
I read a few bios and autobio of Andy Kauffman, and he lived with Richard and his long-term girlfriend for a while. I also owned a book with a few Richard Beymer poems and art pieces displayed, and he wrote a poem about his first sexual experience with a young african-american woman. Don't ask me the name of the bookI lost it and don't remember. I bought it on ebay YEARS ago.
"So come I Dare you Turn the page" -
LPurch6636 — 18 years ago(November 19, 2007 11:55 AM)
I have always thought that Mr. Beymer was "effeminate" as "Tony" and it has always really bothered me when I watch "West Side Story." You notice it especially he often had "stances" or "poses" as he was singing the very long song of "Maria" as he walked down various streets, for example. (The first time I saw the movie was when it first came out; I was 13 years old, and did not know about things like homosexuality. I just thought he was "girly." ) It could be that the director wasn't helping him much by pointing it out that he needed to "man-up" the male lead. I saw him speak on the "West Side Story" DVD and thought he was totally "manly" at age 69. He was only in his early twenties when he made "West Side Story" and might not yet have "come into his full manhood." (Or had learned how to "act like a man" even if his inclinations were toward the feminine side. The role of "Tony" definitely called for a "man"; he would have been eaten alive among the Sharks and Jets otherwise.)
Flanagan -
Lazaka — 17 years ago(November 07, 2008 06:13 AM)
Yeah I believe firmly he's gay. Also, I did notice the femininity of almost all the men in the movie. I believe it was due to the whole gay tone of the movie and it seemed like the dib68rector(s) or definitely the choreographer was gay and were trying to do their best at directing these men to act manly but it didn't transcend onto the screen. How do I want to phrase this, it was almost like some real gay guy was trying to look up "manly phrases" or moves to use but it came across even more gay. I love this movie, one of my favorites but it has a heavy gay overtone to it and I think that at least 75% of the guys in the cast had to have been gay or they were portrayed that way.
Back to Richard, I actually didn't think he was gay when I watched him, but after I looked at his bio and found that he was never married nor did they mention any girlfriend (they mentioned a friend, Sharon Tate, as a friend who was a girl) but no mention of wife, sexuality or lovers. I came to the boards to see if anyone asked this question. It's no big deal, who cares really. His chemistry was unbelievable with Natalie, I cannot believe they didn't get along, what great actors! -
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Tom Sutpen — 16 years ago(October 04, 2009 08:00 PM)
Whether Richard Beymer is gay or not is meaningless. He was badly miscast in 'West Side 1c84Story' (as was everybody, with the exceptions of Rita Moreno, Simon Oakland and Ned Glass), I mainly fault Jerome Robbins and/or Robert Wise for not seeing this and failing to adjust the character to make the actor playing him a better fit.
http://illusionstreetcar.blogspot.com -
Alfriend — 10 years ago(May 27, 2015 07:48 PM)
Good observations. But there were other obstacles that occurred for1354 Mr. Beymer that IMHO had an impact on the outcome to the role. First I believe it was the directing of he received. Beymer wanted to play Tony as a bit more street-wise and wanted to try to tone down some of Tony's over exuberance. Beymer felt like all he was being told to do was to run around and say over and over in the most excited way; "I'm in love!". Now he meant of course not just the line itself, but the way he was told to play the role too upbeat and one note. That leads to the other problem with the role in that it is pretty much written on that one note basis. IMHO, it's the poorest written part in the show. We see Maria grow from a young girl, Riff and Bernardo are more interesting characters and so on. While Tony is written a bit milk soppy. Beymer had the right instincts in trying to play against the lines a bit which can work very well. It would have been a reach for him as he was so boyishly handsome and not a more unpredictable or dangerous type of actor that might have suited the look of the former toughest gang fighter and leader of Jets that Tony was supposed to be.
Another problem was that the sexuality between the two leads had to be toned down alot for the film. In the play, they can hardly keep their hands off of one another. They were much more passionate as two first loves in the prime of their youth would be. So again, another aspect that made Tony look more milk toast.
The other issue that Beymer had to contend with was a constant cold shoulder she received from the film's star, Natalie Wood. She never conversed with him except for doing the scenes. All the rest of the cast noticed this poor treatment on her part and felt terrible for Beymer. They all spoke and still speak well of Natalie as she was very kind and down to earth with everyone else and worked very hard on her role including the dancing and singing the latter she hoped would be good enough for the film.
Some believe that she was angry at the casting of Beymer over her then boyfriend, Warren Beatty. Beatty did not have Beymer's experience in film, but he had a more unpredictable presence and could be more easily seen as a tough guy. He was not however among the final two up for the role. The second choice for the role was actually Russ Tamblyn. Others up for the role were Bobby Darin who was an excellent actor and although he was shorter in stature he came from those tough neighborhoods and could have played the part more as a former tough guy and he of course could have sung the role beautifully.
Actually the first choice for the role was another Natalie Wood boy friend none other than Elvis Presley! This was one of a number of great movie roles that Col. Tom Parker turned down for Elvis.
At any rate, Beymer as you can see had a great deal of obstacles against him. I think if he had another director that saw more into the role than Robert Wise did, he might have been allowed to make the character more edgy and tough. Robert Wise was not the kind of director to give alot of acting notes at all. The success of his actors in his films had more to do with when he made the right choices than it was his ability to coach a role out of an actor. I don't know what Jerome Robbins, the force behind the play and co-director thought about Tony's role. He didn't have any say I over the non-singing scenes so maybe that was why he didn't want to interfere with Wise's directing of the scenes. But had Beymer been given better circumstances, I think he could've done very well in the part.
As far as whether or not he was gay as some others have noted, it is really of no consequence. To say that because a man or woman for that matter not being able to play straight because of their sexuality is a huge stereotype. There were in those days many actors and actresses who were not known to be gay or lesbian of bi and who played romantic roles beautifully and some of them were in this film as well, including George Chakiris who won an Oscar for the role and was a huge heart throb for millions of women who loved him in that role as Bernardo. -
trainer1158 — 9 years ago(June 23, 2016 06:25 PM)
Thank you for such an informative post. I have a strong emotional attachment to this flick
I was three years old when the movie came out, the same year my parents split up. I have vivid memories of my then-single (and broke) mother calling a cab on Xmas eve to drive us 1/4 mile through a snowstorm for Chinese food and to see WSS at the theater across the street. I was already familiar with the music because we had the Broadway soundtrack (and because I heard it first and often, has always sounded better to me than the movie soundtrack). A few weeks later, on a Sunday with my dad, he wanted to take us to see WSS. My older sister told me and my brother not to tell our dad we'd already seen it, as he might feel bad. Seeing it twice was fine with me!
I agree that Tony was too sweet and not believable as an ex-gang member. Warren Beatty certainly had the bad boy earthiness for the role, but I don't see Maria falling in love with Bobby Darin's face across a crowded dance floor.
Incidentally, I've had a lifelong crush on Michael Callan and didn't know until a few years ago that he was the original Riff.