The true story of Grey Gardens’ twinky gay handyman is being turned into a movie, mother darling
A post shared by Jerry Torre (@jerry_torre)In the grand tradition of “films that made you gay,” few loom as large as the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens.Of course, movies don’t have the ability to “turn” people gay, but there is a special power to a film like Grey Gardens, an idiosyncratic doc that’s practically considered homework (the fun kind!) for the modern queer—a movie we ought to know.Following the peculiar day-to-day lives of “Big Edie” Beale—the aunt of former First Lady Jackie O—and her adult daughter “Little Edie,” Grey Gardens welcomed viewers into the titular estate in the East Hamptons, a decrepit home where the women whiled away in poverty and (what some would call) delusion.Over the decades, it’s become a proper cult hit, the kind gays will build their entire personalities around.
And among the loyal fandom’s many fascinations is the Beale’s unnamed handyman, who appears occasionally throughout the doc.Dubbed “The Marble Faun” by Little Edie, viewers spent years wondering about the identity of the young man.
But in the 2000s he resurfaced, and the world finally got to know Jerry Torre.A post shared by Jerry Torre (@jerry_torre)Some time after the events of Grey Gardens, Torre relocated to Saudi Arabia where he worked for a palace garden—a job secured through Jackie O’s second husband, Aristotle Onassis.
Once back in the states, he drove a cab in New York City and operated an art-moving business, all while pursuing his own passion as a sculptor.
