Don Bachardy on His 33-Year Love Affair With Christopher Isherwood
Don Bachardy was just 18 years old when he met Christopher Isherwood, the author best known for A Single Man and The Berlin Stories, which was turned into the musical, Cabaret.
Isherwood was 48, yet despite the age difference, despite how rare it was to be an openly queer couple in the 1950s, the two remained together for the next 33-years until Isherwood's death. "We were both extraordinary," Bachardy says. "Looking back over those years with Chris, I was extraordinary.
And the better I knew him, the more extraordinary I became."Now in his 80s, Bachardy has gone on to become of the most respected portrait artists of our time.He joined the LGBTQ&A podcast at his home studio in Calfornia to talk about how radical his relationship with Isherwood was considered, HIV, his art, and the experience of being an out gay couple in the 50s and 60s.You can listen to the full interview on Apple Podcasts or read excerpts below. JM: The age difference aside, what I find so fascinating is that you and Christopher were an openly gay couple in the '50s.DB: Yes.
Look, there was no way we could hide it. There was such an age difference and everybody knew he wasn't my father. Everybody knew he was queer.
