Tribute

Robert La Tourneaux in a photo by Jack Mitchell. 

Robert played Cowboy Tex in the off-Broadway play and the 1970 film The Boys in the Band. Cowboy Tex was a birthday gift for one of the main characters -- all of whom were gay. 

In his personal life, Robert was openly gay and -- although there were a few more roles to play in the 1970s -- he did find it difficult to get them. His final appearance was in the TV movie Enemies in 1974. In an magazine interview that year he stated "Boys was the kiss of death for me".  Sadly, by the end of that decade he had turned to prostitution and was performing a one man nude cabaret act at the Ramrod in NYC, a theater known for showing gay pornographic films.

By the mid 1980s Robert had developed AIDS and his health soon deteriorated. At one point he had to take his landlord to court to fight an eviction. The landlord would not allow Robert to have a live-in caretaker. Many assumed the more likely reason was the landlord did not want an AIDS patient in his building. Robert won the case arguing discrimination and the verdict made national news. The fear of the "gay disease" brought with it many irrational and irresponsible acts, but Robert's case surely helped many other HIV infected men who found themselves in similar situations. For that, we owe him our gratitude. 

In early 1986, Robert moved into the home of his Boys costar Cliff Gorman. Cliff and his wife cared for Robert until his death on June 3, 1986.  

 

The advertisement used to promote the 1970 film. Many newspapers refused to run it.