Their romance turned tabloid heads: She is 22 years his senior, and Wrangler continued to describe himself as gay even in an interview with the gay magazine the Advocate last fall. He met Whiting, a big-band-era singer whose hits include “That Old Black Magic” and “Moonlight in Vermont,” in the 1970s. His resume grew to include more than 80 adult films, including “A Night at the Adonis” and “The Devil in Miss Jones: Part II.” His life of sometimes surprising turns - the openly gay star found decades-long love with singer Margaret Whiting - was chronicled in the documentary “Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon,” released last year.īorn John Stillman in Beverly Hills, the son of TV producer Robert Stillman, Wrangler got his start performing in the religiously themed 1950s NBC series “The Faith of Our Children.” He studied theater at Northwestern University.Īs a young man, he was bartending and go-go dancing in the West Hollywood gay community when a role in a San Francisco play sent his career hurtling in a new direction - under a new last name, borrowed from the label on his plaid work shirt. Jack Wrangler, a ruggedly handsome 1970s-era porn star whose openness about his homosexuality made him a symbol of self-confidence for many gay men, died Tuesday in New York City from complications of lung disease.
