From Royal romps to star-studded threesomes, 'pimp to the stars' Scotty Bowers, reveals all about Hollywood's Golden Age
Since as early as Hollywood came to be what it is, the general public has speculated and awed at the supposedly amoral and philandered lifestyle of celebrities. We have been handed tidbits of information by the gossip magazines here and there, but now for once we have a very trustworthy source revealing everything about his life as a pimp for celebrities in the upcoming documentary ‘Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood.’
It was a requirement of his trade for Scotty to maintain discretion, but after decades of hiding the jaw-droppingly bizarre truths that only he knew, he wrote a best-selling memoir detailing his life as the legendary escort and pimp of closeted gay celebrities during Hollywood’s Golden Age from the late 1920s to the early 1960s. The documentary is based on this book, titled ‘Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood' and the 'Secret Sex Lives of the Stars.'
Every revelation in the documentary is sure to leave you dazed, like the time he allegedly set the iconic Katharine Hepburn up with a woman, after which he proceeded to bed her husband Spencer Tracy. They were a Hollywood power couple in the public eye, and Katherine only had the most loving words for her husband. She had mentioned in her autobiography ‘Me: Stories of My Life,’ "It was a unique feeling that I had for [Tracy]. I would have done anything for him."
Despite this, Scotty claims that both Katharine and Spencer preferred same-sex partners behind closed doors. In fact, he reportedly set 'The African Queen’ actress with approximately 150 women over the course of 39 years. In comparison, never once did she sleep with Spencer during the course of their 29-year relationship, according to Scotty.
Scott has the dirt on many other celebrities too, including Cary Grant and Randolph Scott. Both legends in their own rights, Cary and Randolph were lovers and used to live together, claims the 'Pimp to the Stars.’ He had his own share of fun with them too – individually, together and with a fourth party.
As he puts it, “I’ve been with them individually, and both of them, what you call a three-way. And I’ve also brought another buddy for them where there were four of us. You know, two and two.”
“Back in those days, people knew they were lovers and together,” Scotty says in the documentary. “Then all those years go by they come say, ‘How dare you talk that way about them.’ And I say, ‘I’m not talking about them, I’m saying they’re great guys, both of them.’”
Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, Vivien Leigh and Lana Turner are among the other celebs who make appearances in his recollection of the Golden Age of Hollywood. However, if you thought only Hollywood stars were charmed by what Scotty had to offer, then you thought wrong.
Scotty claims to have had a very royal encounter with King Edward VIII - later Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson. The two were excommunicated from the British royal family for years and lived in exile in Paris after the Duke renounced his right to the throne after falling for Wallis. Scotty says that whenever they came to Beverly Hills, he would hook the both of them up with escorts — a guy for him and a woman for her.
Even the former F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover was his fan, says Scotty, who claims to have bedded the man while he was in drag. “I went to bed with J. Edgar Hoover. He was in drag,” he claims. “He was not a great beauty either, you know, but I was treating him just like he was a girl.”
You can learn even more about Scotty's life as a pimp to the stars when the movie 'Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood' opens at the IFC Center in New York on August 3.