Talk:Richard Smart (actor)

November 2011 additions regarding Smart's sexuality
There is no doubt that Richard Smart was a gay man and most Big Island residents, at least those in the gay community, are well aware of this. Yet time and again this fact about his life seems to be hidden away. I have listed the section added again here in case someone deletes what was added. One thing of concern is his cousin is now very late in his years and eventually the pages he created will be lost off the internet and this aspect of Richard Smart will be harder to prove. Why is this important? Because it proves Hawaii is a State of tolerance and it was possible for men like Richard, and another man who was his contemporary from Oahu were able to live a gay life in the 1950's. This is yet no page for this other person his is still living, at least to my knowledge. It was through this other person that I first learned that Richard was gay. Pbmaise (talk) 07:41, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Richard Smart's Sexuality
Despite having married and fathered two children, there is reason to believe Smart was homosexual or at least bisexual. His marriage ended in a divorce in 1944 and he never remarried despite continuing to live to 1992. Smart's cousin, George W. Parker III, wrote something relevant in his memoirs 2009. Parker wrote he learned his cousin was gay via a mutual acquaintance, who was once married to René Coty, of the Coty perfume family. She he reports told him "Smart was gay" at least while she knew him when he was living on the French Riviera. There is no doubt Smart spent considerable amounts of time in France and beginning in 1950 he started making frequent trips to Europe spending most of his time singing and dancing at the famous Lido Club in Paris

Hawaii residents themselves, like Tom Lackey, have written "Smart who died in the last few years was gay. He was very progressive and did wonders for the Big Island helping the poor folks out some. I meet him many times and found him to be someone that I felt was a real person." On this same forum in reply another Hawaii writer and resident Devany Vickery-Davidson in September 2009 wrote "I knew Richard Smart was gay."

Whether he was gay,or not, it is particularly interesting to see how despite being long dead, Smart's sexuality is still largely in the closet. This is, in part, a reference to yet another rumor that a portrait that once hung above the fire place of his home was removed and stored in the closet. Apparently a man stood next to him in the portrait instead of a woman. Reportedly museum officials took it down and hid it in the closet since too many tourists asked questions.

Smart's sexuality was again the topic, rather the topic glossed over, in a new book that came out about him in October 2011. See the book Richard Smart of the Legendary Parker Ranch: Before cowboys became actors. Pbmaise (talk) 07:41, 4 November 2011 (UTC)


 * Well generally you do not need to put the exact text on the talk page; it should appear in the history. Certainly it is hardly a surprise that a man doing Broadway musical theatre has a non-mainstream lifestyle. Just need to use verifiable citations instead of stating something "well known". What you ave is a good start. The "rumor" however neds to go unless there is a source we can cite. I can do a little work on this syntax of these. Thanks for helping add some information and please continue if you run across more. W Nowicki (talk) 19:07, 5 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Citing a blog is extremely inappropriate.--KAVEBEAR (talk) 03:32, 17 December 2013 (UTC)l