Jack Wrangler Dead at 62
Jack Wrangler, the handsome gay porn star that everyone thought was bisexual, is dead. He was 62 and as handsome as ever. A life-long smoker, he recently had trouble with a lung disease that took his life after a long illness and died “peaceful and comfortable,” according to his doctor, Wendy S. Ziecheck. He should also be remembered as a tireless activist for AIDS/HIV causes.
Wrangler never hid behind the “bisexual” label, but let people think he was, especially since he had a longterm relationship with his wife, and other women, throughout his life.
I was part of a team that honored Wrangler into the Gay Erotic Video Awards Hall of Fame in 1992, and he put his bare feet and hand prints into the Porn Walk of Fame at the TomKat Theatre in West Hollywood, Calif. We got to spend some personal time together.
“I never hid behind saying I was ‘bisexual,’ I always knew I was more attracted to men,” Wrangler told me when we were awarding him the porn Hall of Fame award. “But I think there’s something to a gay man who has great sex with women—I think a lot more guys do that than talk about it, and it’s not necessarily bisexual.”
He married Margaret Whiting and very much loved her. In fact, she was at the awards show when we gave him his award (but they didn’t marry until 1994). He recently told Gay Wired:
“When I met Margaret, no one was more surprised than me when I fell in love with her. We knew right away. We became friends, and when we first started going together… I mean, I was out. I’m not straight, I’m not bisexual—I’m gay. When I got with Margaret, I knew I had to change course. She would have my bags packed and sitting outside the door when I got home at night and things like that. Plus I would go through massive guilt whenever I did go out with a guy and I was with her. So I finally said that’s it. I went to her one night and said I’m never going to cheat on you again with anybody. So my sex life became very masturbatory. And I’m good at that—very good at that, in fact.”
Wrangler did 85 porn videos, some of them straight, some of them gay. In fact, he’s one of the rare performers who went from the gay adult videos into hetero porn (when there was far less stigma to gay men doing that!) He said he first had sex with a woman on film (in “China Sisters” in 1978). He was just always very sexual, and never had trouble getting it up for anyone or anything, he said.
He also told the Windy City Times:
“I just couldn’t live the gay lifestyle; it’s too hard to live. I’m very competitive, and with two guys having the same kind of thoughts, it’ll always be too hard for me. With a woman, there are different kinds of challenges because [ women ] come from a different place. Your interactions [ with women ] are always going to be surprising and different, whereas with a guy it’s one-on-one. It was just too hard; I tried it.”
Recently, at the GayVN Awards in San Francisco, the recent documentary “Wrangler, Anatomy of an Icon” by TLA Releasing, won Best Alternative Title, which is what they award to titles that are about the adult industry but aren’t really porn. A lot of the people shown in the documentary were in the audience that night, but not Wrangler, who was in New York, and heard about the win soon after it was announced.
Playwright Robert Patrick, porn directors Jerry Douglas and Chi Chi LaRue, porn star and director Gino Colbert, Hollywood funnyman Bruce Vilanch, journalist Michael Musto, porn star Joe Gage and many other friends of mine appear in the documentary.
Robert Patrick, my friend for more than a decade, not only performed with Wrangler, but authored the play, “T-Shirts” that they were in together. He wrote me this morning with the sad news and offered a picture that is in the slide show below.
“Jack, a Hollywood child (Marilyn Monroe baby-sat him), was getting nowhere much as an actor when a porn movie was offered him. He consulted with his father, a producer of “Bonanza,” who told him “just be the best.” Jack took his screen-name from his jeans and became the first identifiable personality on the tiny, blurry screens of gay porn. At a time when most “adult” actors wore socks and even masks, he created a persona modeled on the Marlboro man — butch. beautiful, and unashamed. And imitated! The gay “clone” look (plaid shirt, jeans) was inspired by Jack’s signature outfit. Having conquered gay porn with no real competition, he moved on to the more lucrative straight area.”
Before he got married he told Margaret he was gay, and she famously said, “Only around the edges, dear.” Wrangler himself told me, “It gets controversial with people always trying to label you, trying to understand you. I just let people think of me however they wanted, and I didn’t usually argue. People could fantasize about me however they wanted, that was just fine with me.”
Take a look at the video clips of Wrangler talking at one of this movie screenings, and below that is the trailer for the documentary. Also, I’ve compiled some of the more classic pictures of this handsome man, and see some personal photos, too.
http://www.examiner.com/x-3366-Bisexuality-Examiner~y2009m4d7-Jack-Wrangler-gay-porn-star-married-to-a-woman-is-dead-at-63
