Liberace’s former lover Scott Thorson has died at the age of 65.
Thorson, who was portrayed by Matt Damon in the 2013 HBO film Behind the Candelabra, based on his 1988 book, died at a medical center in Los Angeles on August 16 after a battle with heart disease and cancer. TMZ reported.
Thorson’s affiliation with Liberace (whose full name was Władziu Valentino Liberace) began when he was 18 and Liberace was 57, according to the outlet.
Liberace fired Thorson from his job after laying him off after five years in 1982, five years before the entertainer’s death from complications related to HIV/AIDS in 1987.
Thorson filed a $113 million alimony lawsuit against Liberace and sought his dismissal from the entertainer, noted by TMZ as “the first same-sex alimony lawsuit filed” in the US, which was settled out of court in 1986.
Liberace’s former lover Scott Thorson has died aged 65. Photographed in 2013 in Reno, Nevada.
Scott Thorson and Liberace photographed in Coconut Grove, Los Angeles, in April 1979
Liberace said he was not gay and told the court that he and Thorson had never been intimate with each other, according to Variety.
In the settlement, Thorson received a total of $75,000 in cash, three vehicles and three dogs, each worth $20,000, Variety reported.
Thorson, whose name was legally changed to Jess Marlow, published her book Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace in 1988.
Among the claims Thorson raised was that Liberace had funded numerous plastic surgery procedures to make Thorson resemble a younger Liberace, including a chin implant and a nose job.
Liberace had Thorson perform at his Las Vegas show, as he donned a rhinestone-studded suit as he led the performer on stage.
Thorson has previously said the drug problems were partly due to the multiple surgeries she had at Liberace’s request, as she was taking drugs including quaaludes, amphetamines, cocaine and Demerol in the wake of the medical procedures, Variety reported.
Steven Soderbergh directed the 2013 HBO film based on Thorson’s novel, in which Damon played Thorson and Michael Douglas portrayed Liberace. The film also starred Scott Bakula, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd and the late Debbie Reynolds.
The film was a huge success with critics and earned Douglas a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film and nominations for Damon and Lowe.
Thorson drove with Liberace in 1981 at La Cage Aux Folles in Los Angeles.
Scott Thorson and Liberace were photographed together in 1982, the year Liberace fired Thorson.
Thorson was portrayed by Matt Damon in the 2013 HBO film Behind the Candelabra, based on Thorson’s 1988 book.
Michael Douglas portrayed Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 HBO film
The film also won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for Douglas and Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie or Dramatic Special for Soderbergh.
Thorson was also involved in another violent event in Hollywood’s past, the Laurel Canyon murders in 1981, which involved the late porn star John Holmes.
In 1989, Thorson testified at the trial of nightclub owner Eddie Nash, who had been accused of ordering the murders of four people—Ron Launius, William “Billy” Deverell, Joy Miller, and Barbara Richardson—in response to a home robbery to which Holmes had been linked.
Thorson testified that he had been at Nash’s home buying drugs and saw Holmes being beaten and questioned about the robbery two days before the July 1, 1981, murders. The trial ended in a hung jury and Nash died in 2014, without being convicted in connection with the murders.
Thorson said he would change his name and enter the federal witness protection program after taking the stand.
The gruesome murders inspired a scene in the 1997 film Boogie Nights, as well as the 2003 film Wonderland, in which Val Kilmer played Holmes.
It will also be re-examined in the upcoming documentary series The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood, streaming on MGM+ beginning September 8.
It is an adaptation of a 2022 podcast Thorson did with author Michael Connelly titled The Wonderland Murders and the Secret History of Hollywood.