Actor and “poet” Victor Buono was born on this day in 1920. He was best known for playing the villain King Tut in the television series Batman (1966–1968) and musician Edwin Flagg in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962), which earned him Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
During an era of “wink-wink” gayness, Buono was quoted as saying, “I’ve heard or read about actors being asked the immortal question, ‘Why have you never married?’ They answer with the immortal excuse, ‘I just haven’t found the right girl.’ Because I’m on the hefty side, no one’s asked me yet. If they do, that’s the answer I’ll give. After all, if it was good enough for Monty Clift or Sal Mineo…” Like most gay actors at the time, Buono was closeted but lived with boyfriends. He referred to himself as a “conscientious objector” in the “morality revolution” of the 1960s.
Buono died of a heart attack at his home in Apple Valley, California on New Year’s Day 1982.
