Jack Wrangler Dead at 62

[Luv2play]

I received an e-mail alert today informing me that Jack Wrangler, a 1970's gay porno icon, had died. Don't ask me why I would be on someone's list for such information. I have a modest gay porn collection, some of which dates to the 1970's, but I don't recall seeing any of Jack's films (he apparently made 80). I don't look at much, if any porn on the Internet so that can't be the reason either. I do log into this site however...

 

His real name was John Stillman and his father was a Hollywoood producer. Jack got his start in religious films in the 50's apparently, and that started him on his descent into the world of gay porno (go figure!). Anyway, a picture of him in the 70's shows a ruggedly handsome man, a la Robert Redford with tousled blond hair.

 

He married a woman 20 years older than himself, a jazz singer named Margaret Whiting, who survives him. He is reported to have died of a lung condition and yes, that 1970's photo shows him with a cigarette in his hand. Only one year older than myself, dear me.

[josephga]

I posted the same thread yesterday got no responses

[jackhammer91406]

Jack got his start in religious films in the 50's apparently, and that started him on his descent into the world of gay porno (go figure!).

Considering his HUGE popularity, and his status as a gay icon, I would hardly call his career in porn a descent .

 

Anyway, a picture of him in the 70's shows a ruggedly handsome man, a la Robert Redford with tousled blond hair.

Yes he was a stunning man to look at and his videos gave me many hours of pleasure literally. Some of the hottest videos I have ever seen are of him bottoming.

 

 

 

I love the new software that makes it easy to change the font and style without the HTML and therefore makes me appear smarter than I am. I need only to open my mouth to prove the software can't do everything.

[Luv2play]

Descent into gay porn

 

Actually I was trying to be ironic (with the "go figure") but I obviously failed. Frankly, I don't find anything more depressing than the idea of religious films but then I can't recall actually having viewed any.

 

In any case, another poster has also referred to Wrangler's passing and on reading that I learned our Jack wasn't much interested in being a top. So I wouldn't really have been too interested in his films as I tend to obsess on tops!

[josephga]

I only saw 2 of his films and both of those were str8 films. devil in miss jones 2 and jack n jill

[Guest Wetnwildbear]

A/k/a John Stillman

 

He was also an accomplished Broadway and Off-Broadway Producer for the past 20+ years

 

A very HOT Man - Very Handsome - Very Nice - I met him in NYC in the early 80's just as

 

he was retiring from porn.

 

He was having lunch at the next table at "Jeans Patio" in the Village (W4th)

we chatted for a few minutes - very accessible - kind of quiet p great smile.

 

Jeans Patio was a Cool Place - Waiters Never Wrote Down your order - Never got it wrong - No Check - You went to the register and told the Cashier what you had and they rang it up - even if you were sitting at the outside tables.

 

See Obit Article from the Huffington Report Below - Followed by Link to Interview w/ John Stillman by The Advocate

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/08/jack-wrangler-gay-porn-id_n_184763.html

 

 

NEW YORK — Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s porn star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, has died. He was 62.

 

Wrangler died Tuesday in Manhattan from complications of lung disease, said Lewis Tice, director of publicity and marketing for TLA Releasing, a distributor of gay-themed independent films.

 

His life of sometimes surprising turns _ he found decades-long love with big-band singer Margaret Whiting _ was chronicled in the documentary "Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon," released last fall.

 

"Jack Wrangler knew the power of image-making and inspired an entire generation to be comfortable in their own skin and to become the man of their dreams," said the film's director, Jeffrey Schwarz.

 

Born John Stillman in Beverly Hills, Calif., the son of TV producer Robert Stillman, Wrangler got his start performing in the religiously themed 1950s NBC series "The Faith of Our Children."

 

As a young man, he was bartending and go-go dancing in West Hollywood when a role in a San Francisco play sent his career hurtling in a new direction _ under a new last name, borrowed from the label on his plaid work shirt.

 

His nude scene in the show led to modeling and a string of gay, and later straight, erotic films, where his steely blue eyes, muscled physique, and open-shirted swagger made him a star.

 

"For me, I felt I needed some true grit in my life, y'know? I felt that I had this formal, white-handkerchief upbringing and that I was not going to survive in the world unless I got down and did something gritty," Wrangler, who appeared in such films as "A Night at the Adonis" and "The Devil in Miss Jones: Part II," told the Palm Beach Post newspaper in a 2005 interview.

 

Advocate Interview

 

http://queertwocents.blogspot.com/2008/10/interview-john-stillman-aka-jack.html

 

 

Pictures of Jack Wrangler

 

 

 

http://www.lavenderlounge.com/blog/images/jack-wrangler-sex-machine.jpg

 

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/3043870383_d27bc7a01d.jpg

[Luv2play]

Jack Wrangler's obit was posted in the NYTimes yesterday. I guess that makes him somewhat immortal, at least in the nation's newspaper of record. He apparently died of emphysema.

[+ purplekow]

Jack Wrangler's obit was posted in the NYTimes yesterday. I guess that makes him somewhat immortal, at least in the nation's newspaper of record. He apparently died of emphysema.

 

I guess when you are that hot you can't help but smoking a bit too much.

[Guest zipperzone]

 

 

He married a woman 20 years older than himself, a jazz singer named Margaret Whiting, who survives him.

 

 

And a great jazz singer she was (is?) I would think she is well into her eighties by now.

[JT Brooklyn]

Mrs Wrangler

 

And a great jazz singer she was (is?) I would think she is well into her eighties by now.

 

 

Google Margaret Whiting..There's a Pix of Jack Wrangler-Chas Pierce-and her.

 

She's alive and well at 85! I used to see Wrangler coming and going on the Upper Eastside. He was very thin and He seemed to walk with a limp in his later years.

[+ Charlie]

I never thought of Margaret Whiting as a "jazz singer," just a very talented popular singer in my youth.

[Lankypeters]

I never thought of Margaret Whiting as a "jazz singer," just a very talented popular singer in my youth.

 

She's famous for her recording of "Moonlight in Vermont." She did what are now called "American Pop Standards." Her father was band leader Paul Whiting.

 

And there are persistant rumors that she's a lesbian.

[+ friendofsheila]

62 is not that old for a man.

 

I wish they'd be more explicit about people's cause of death, especially preventable things like smoking-related diseases.

[Guest zipperzone]

She's famous for her recording of "Moonlight in Vermont." She did what are now called "American Pop Standards." Her father was band leader Paul Whiting.

 

And there are persistant rumors that she's a lesbian.

 

That could explain her marriage to Wrangler - just good friends

[+ purplekow]

That could explain her marriage to Wrangler - just good friends

 

To quote the old country song No one knows what goes on behind closed doors.