Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood

  • Archive - Festival 34
  • Director: Matt Tyrnauer
  • USA 2017
  • 98 minutes
  • English
  • Subtitles in Hebrew

Who knew? Scotty knew. The man who held many of Hollywood’s sexual secrets is a former pimp and prostitute, and a veteran marine from World War II, and he’s still alive to talk about it. Scotty Bowers took a job at a gas station when he came to Los Angeles, and the young man found himself at the intersection of lives that didn’t quite fit the official screen biographies.

Rich with archival footage, director Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary portrait of Bowers then (in the world before AIDS) and now (as a boyish Scotty looks back at 90) reveals a society that played by its own rules, even when the hint of being gay could sink a show business career. Jaw-dropping barely begins to describe this waltz through history.


  • Director Matt Tyrnauer
  • Production Matt Tyrnauer, Corey Reeser, Josh Braun
  • Cinematography Chris J. Dapkins
  • Editing Bob Eisenhardt, Daniel Morfesis
  • Music Jane Antonia Cornish
  • Festivals Toronto, Palm Springs
  • Participants Scotty Bowers, Lois Bowers, Peter Bart, Tony Charmoli, Stephen Fry
  • Source Altimeter Films, Los Angeles