Scotty Bowers, the World War II veteran who claims to have had threesomes with Cary Grant and set up Katharine Hepburn with around 150 women over 39 years, has died at 96.
The man who became known as a pimp to Hollywood stars and even royalty – after claiming he arranged trysts for the abdicated King Edward and wife Wallace Simpson – died of natural causes at his home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles on Sunday, according to the man who directed his recent documentary.
‘His story, which he waited to tell until he was in his late 80s — and for years refused to tell at all — forms an astonishing counter-narrative of Hollywood and exposes the mores of the movie capital in a time when gay men and women were forced to be sexual outlaws and were publicly shunned and often persecuted, or at least forced to live double lives,’ Matt Tyrnauer, who directed 2017’s Scotty and The Secret History of Hollywood, told The Hollywood Reporter.
‘Scotty was a central figure in the gay underground of Hollywood and served as a trusted protector of his friends and associates lives when they had no alternative but to live in the shadows.’
Scotty Bowers has died at 96. The World War II veteran died of natural causes
Bowers (center in his heyday) died of natural causes, his 2017 documentary maker friend said
A tweet from Bowers’ official Twitter account confirmed the news shared by THR.
The social media profile for Bowers – who is survived by his sister Phyliss – states: ‘Kind of upgraded myself to Hollywood after WWII. Used to run the Richfield station on Hollywood and Van Ness.’
He talks more about ‘upgrading’ in the 2017 documentary helmed by Tyrnauer.
Bowers grew up on a farm in Illinois with an older brother and younger sister, and his sexual experience began when he was an adolescent at the hands of a married male neighbor, he says in the film – recalling the man fondly and dismissing as ‘bull***t’ the suggestion that the relationship constituted childhood sexual abuse that caused long-term damage.
‘The only way … [someone] can ruin your life is when they run you over with a bus on the street,’ he says. ‘Even as a little, bitty kid … I never saw anything wrong with anything. I went along with everything and I never told anybody.’
Born George Albert Bowers, his parents got divorced and he moved to Chicago, where he began sexual relationships with priests for money and hustling downtown.
George Albert ‘Scotty’ Bowers passed away at his California home on Sunday
His wife Lois (left) – who stayed with him despite his sexual trysts – died last year at 95
He later fought with the Marines as a paratrooper in World War II, spending three years overseas, including several bloody, bloody battles, before he got out of the service in 1945.
Bowers added about his decision to move into a new life: ‘When you’re overseas, you’re a long ways away, and how many guys get killed every day and you’re burying people all the time … you do think you’re never going to get back home.
‘Many guys, when they got out of the service, they went back home again to the little town, to the farm; I upgraded myself and went to Hollywood.’
Bowers began working as a gas station attendant on Hollywood Boulevard at the age of 23, and almost immediately, his new role as a Hollywood sexual fixer took off.
He became well-known for fixing up famous names with prostitutes at a time when being gay wasn’t accepted.
In his documentary that premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, Scotty takes out the ashes of his generous friend, actor and director Beech Dickerson, who left him the three houses.
In April, Bowers – put his Los Feliz home – neighborhood just steps away from Hollywood Boulevard – on the market for $1,497,000.
Bowers claimed actor Walter Pidgeon (left) picked him up and invited him home, where the two hooked up, and through Pidgeon, Scotty began moving in the circles of Hollywood fame and fortune, including an alleged threesome with Cary Grant (right)
Bowers claims to have set up Wallis Simpson and the abdicated King of England, Edward VIII
He has alleged Katherine Hepburn (right) was a closet lesbian whose affair with Spencer Tracy (left) was for show. He claimed married Tracy was, in fact, gay
His home was not far from where many hook-ups took place in a trailer at a gas station – including an alleged one between Grant and Rock Hudson, for which Bowers said he was paid $20 – or clients’ homes.
Bowers claimed actor Walter Pidgeon picked him up and invited him home, where the two hooked up, and through Pidgeon, Scotty began moving in the circles of Hollywood fame and fortune, hooking up Hollywood stars and producers with men and women according to their sexual desires and preferences, he claims.
The pimp for the Hollywood stars says that it was at Frank Sinatra’s home in Palm Springs ‘when I had a three-way with Ava Gardner and Lana Turner’. Bowers even claims to have set up Wallis Simpson and the abdicated King of England, Edward VIII.
‘When I took people to see Wally and Edward, I never told one person, even though they were close buddies,’ he says. ‘They were seen as Duke and Duchess.’
He was recommended to them as a resource, he says, by photographer and designer Cecil Beaton – and the couple told him he came ‘highly recommended.’
He says Edward VII ‘liked to see guys and girls together and then sort of work his way in. If a guy wants to see a guy and a girl together, they’re usually gay or have a tendency to be gay – because if they were straight, why would they want the guy?’
He has alleged Hepburn was a closet lesbian whose affair with Spencer Tracy was for show. Scotty claimed the married the actor was also actually gay (and he had sleepovers with him, too).
The sex worker claimed he set up Hepburn and that he personally slept with FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover, who allegedly dressed in drag.
For 39 years his wife Lois stayed with him, despite his affairs.
She passed away last year.
His daughter, Donna, died at 23 after a botched abortion, he recalled in his recent documentary.
Scotty Bowers is pictured celebrating his 90th birthday party at star-favorite Chateau Marmont in LA
City of West Hollywood presents Bowers with a special proclamation for his role in LGBTQ history for ‘Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood’ at The Abbey in July 2018