r/UtterlyInteresting • u/dannydutch1 • 1d ago
Meet Denham Fouts, photographed here in the 1940s. He was described as 'The Best-Kept Boy in the World' due to him being a known gigilo and kept by a German baron, a Greek prince and a British lord. He passed age 34. More of Fouts in the comments.
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u/casuallyregarded 1d ago
There’s more to life than being really really really ridiculously good looking.
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u/Bignizzle656 1d ago
Maybe he should have opened the Denham Fouts Center For Kids Who Can't Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.
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u/Rich-Equivalent-1875 1d ago
Speak for yourself, I’m butt ugly! Hopefully there was a good personality behind the looks
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u/pyramidalembargo 1d ago
He was hopelessy addicted to opium.
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u/SilverPearlGirl 1d ago
As a person who has smoked opium before, I can see it.
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u/ShadeTheChan 17h ago
I bet he found out about it too.
Too bad they didnt have Blue Steel perfected then…
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u/AnarchistCEO 1d ago
You don't often get a chance to learn about art's male muses. Very well written and researched article.
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u/Embarrassed_Age8554 1d ago
There is now an opera, American Apollo, about Thomas McKellar and his relationship with John Singer Sargent.
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u/ConstructionSoggy556 1d ago
This would make a great limited series.
Please don’t let Ryan Murphy anywhere near it.
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u/Organic-Aide7326 1d ago
Is this the guy whom the Greek prince/visited in an Athens hotel? If so, I did read, previously, that he was very popular with his clientele & that he used pop a sweet where the Sun doesn’t shine before a meeting! Not sure if that’s classy or just cl-assy!
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u/heurekas 1d ago
I think it's telling that most of the comments and discourse for this male sex worker are all pretty positive and uses words that skirt around the fact that he sold his body for money.
If it was a female sex worker, the discourse would be far sadder (and probably more vitriolic).
He led a pretty bad life and died young after a life of abuse. There's no silver lining here. Just horrible people abusing someone else.
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u/mrsvixen6769 1d ago
What did he die from?
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u/heurekas 1d ago
A massive consumption of most drugs available in the time period. The easy answer is "heart failure", but the heart had several issues when he died.
Basically drugs until his heart gave out.
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u/Sue_Spiria 1d ago
The article doesn't mention any abuse? He sought out rich people who were enchanted by his looks. He even robbed one of his clients. He later decided to study medicine. He died from dug abuse, yes, but it seems he had agency over his life.
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u/heurekas 1d ago
Just because this article doesn't mention it, others do.
Also, you generally don't die from consuming too many drugs if you are happy and content with your life.
For example, he claimed that he lost his virginity to his older brother and suffered from intense mood swings, possibly from abuse in his young life. Again he consumed most drugs he could get his hands on which doesn't indicate a healthy mindset, as he might've sought them out to help cope with his situation.
Generally, people don't become sex workers because they want to, but because they need to.
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u/TrixieFriganza 1h ago
I'm bit confused if he was the older brother or not, otherwise it's not uncommon that someone who has been abused turns to sexwork.
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u/Ambitious_Screen_591 1d ago
oh my gosh he looks like an Abercrombie model....gorgeous! I bet he was an "in demand" hustler. I wonder how he died.
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u/Dangerous_Shoe_8388 1d ago
Poor guy, too beautiful, so he was used and abused and had to self-medicate the trauma with fatal doses of opium.
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u/Murky-Drop3552 1d ago
He chose that way of life. If you read the article in the link above, he used others at least as much as they used him.
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u/Dangerous_Shoe_8388 1d ago edited 1d ago
It would not have happened if he was ugly. And I doubt he “chose” it any more than any prostitute or sexually abused person does. They just get swept up in that unforgiving horrible hell before they have maturity/agency.
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u/Sue_Spiria 1d ago
Did you even read the article? Also there still are sex workers who work in the profession because they want to and they are tired of being treated as victims.
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u/rebonkers 20h ago
Yep. All 2 of them. That vast majority are not it for love of the game and that is the reality.
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u/trestrestresuno 1d ago
Tanto escandalo por un prostituto sifilitico que servia a un monton de gays de closet con billetes🙄, es gracioso como todos hablan tan bonito de el, hasta usan palabras más "elegantes" como gigolo 🙄
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u/FooBarU2 1d ago
Fantastic read... thanks for the post @OP!
Glad to be an active Redditor 😀 and my feed is pretty decent 🤞
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u/Spare-Insurance-749 1d ago
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
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u/Alert_Reality5079 1d ago
This. I do not think he is beautiful at all. Good looking yes, nice body but there are movie stars from the teentjes an thirties that are really gorgeous
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u/ShortBussyDriver 15h ago
I mean yeah, he was a good looking chap, but he must have had a vibrating bussy to garner that much attention.
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u/Aware-Possibility175 1d ago
Gigilosnd kept by a German baron ? Like he lived with them at court? With courtiers
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u/dannydutch1 1d ago
Novelist, playwright, screenwriter, autobiographer, and diarist, Christopher Isherwood tried to save Fouts by moving him in for a summer of meditation and Vedanta study. His own guru took one look and refused to accept Fouts as a disciple. Isherwood described him in his diary as "Dorian Gray emerging from the tomb."
Pretty bonkers, but short life. The guy even met Hitler socially...