Monty Woolley

Monty Woolley was an American actor and former Yale professor known for The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) — reprising his legendary Broadway role as the insufferable Sheridan Whiteside — and Since You Went Away (1944, Academy Award nomination). He was gay and a close friend of Cole Porter from their Yale days; both men moved in overlapping queer social circles in New York and Hollywood. His homosexuality was known to his contemporaries and has been documented by biographers. Woolley is one of the figures who illustrates how central gay men were to the wittiest, most theatrical corners of Golden Age Hollywood.