In his early 20s, he found himself in Paris on the promise of an acting job. He was installed in an apartment by an older man and paid a generous stipend. Meals and gifts came his way from assorted male admirers; one composed love poems in his honor.
It's very different now, but you can see why most actors would avoid
homosexual roles . . . After I was in Der Tod in Venedig (1971) so many papers in
America wrote that I was homosexual. All from one movie! I kept having
to say no, no, which makes me sound desperate or prejudiced . . . so I
think for me I'm better being far away from all that.
