William Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973), c. 1930. Photo c/o @gettyimages. William Haines, who was born one hundred and seventeen years ago today, was a Hollywood star whose career was cut short when he refused to deny his homosexuality. After his film career, Haines and his partner Jimmie Shields established a successful interior design company. At fourteen, Haines ran away from home, accompanied by his boyfriend; the pair ran to Hopewell, Virginia, where they worked in a Dupont factory and ran a dance hall (which likely doubled as a brothel). By 1919, Haines made his way to New York City, settling into the evolving gay community of Greenwich Village. He was discovered during a “New Faces of 1922” contest, sponsored by the Samuel Goldwyn Company, and he traveled to Hollywood in March 1922. Between 1924 and 1932, he was among Hollywood’s top-grossing stars. He is best known for roles in “The Midnight Express” (1924), “Brown of Harvard” (1926), and “Way Out West” (1930). In 1926, Haines met Jimmie Shields; the two spent the rest of their lives together. In 1933, Haines was arrested with a sailor at a Los Angeles YMCA; Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM Studios, demanded that Haines end his relationship with Shields and marry a woman or his contract would be terminated. Haines chose to stay with Shields, which effectively ended his acting career. In 1935, the couple started careers as interior designers; support from friends like Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Ronald Reagan, and other Hollywood icons helped make the endeavor a success. In 1936, after a neighbor accused the men—without any basis—of propositioning his son, a group of about 100 white supremacists dragged the couple from their home and beat them; no charges were ever brought against the attackers. William Haines died of lung cancer on December 26, 1973; he was seventy-three. Haines and Shields—who Joan Crawford described as “the happiest married couple in Hollywood”—remained together for life. And, a few months after Haines’ death, Shields took his own life; his suicide note read, in part, “I now find it impossible to go it alone, I am much too lonely.” #HavePrideInHistory #WilliamHaines
