Scott Thorson dead at 65: Liberace’s controversial ex-lover who penned tell-all memoir Behind the Candelabra passes away after health battle
Liberace’s former lover Scott Thorson has died at the age of 65.
Thorson — who was played by Matt Damon in the 2013 HBO film Behind the Candelabra, based on his 1988 book — died on August 16 at a Los Angeles medical facility after a battle with heart disease and cancer. TMZ reported.
According to the outlet, Thorson’s affiliation with Liberace (whose full name was Władziu Valentino Liberace) began when he was 18 and Liberace was 57.
Liberace fired Thorson after firing him after five years in 1982, five years before the entertainer died in 1987 from complications related to HIV/AIDS.
Thorson filed a $113 million alimony lawsuit against Liberace, demanding his dismissal from the artist. According to TMZ, it was “the first alimony lawsuit ever filed in the U.S.” The case was settled out of court in 1986.
Liberace’s former lover Scott Thorson has died at the age of 65. Pictured in 2013 in Reno, Nevada
Scott Thorson and Liberace pictured in Coconut Grove, LA in April 1979
Liberace said he was not gay and told the court he and Thorson had never been intimate, according to Variety.
According to Variety, Thorson received a total of $75,000 in cash, three vehicles and three dogs, worth a total of $20,000.
Thorson—whose name was officially changed to Jess Marlow—published his book Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace in 1988.
Among other things, Thorson alleged that Liberace had financed a number of plastic surgery procedures to make Thorson resemble a younger Liberace, such as a chin implant and a nose job.
Liberace brought Thorson into his Las Vegas show, wearing a rhinestone-studded outfit as he wheeled the performer onto the stage.
Thorson had previously said that his drug problems were partly due to the many surgeries he had undergone at Liberace’s request. He had used drugs such as Quaaludes, amphetamines, cocaine and Demerol after the medical procedures, Variety reported.
Steven Soderbergh directed the 2013 HBO film based on Thorson’s novel, starring Damon as Thorson and Michael Douglas as Liberace. The film also starred Scott Bakula, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd and the late Debbie Reynolds.
The film was a critical success and earned Douglas a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film. Damon and Lowe were also nominated.
Thorson was behind the wheel with Liberace in La Cage Aux Folles in LA in 1981
Scott Thorson and Liberace were photographed together in 1982, the year Liberace terminated Thorson’s employment contract with him
Thorson was portrayed by Matt Damon in the 2013 HBO film Behind the Candelabra, based on Thorson’s 1988 book
Michael Douglas played Liberace in Steven Soderbergh’s 2013 HBO film
The film also won 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for Douglas, and Outstanding Director for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special for Soderbergh.
Thorson was also involved in another violent incident in Hollywood’s past, the 1981 Laurel Canyon Murders, involving the late porn star John Holmes.
The gruesome murders inspired a scene in the 1997 film Boogie Nights and the 2003 film Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer as Holmes.
It will also be re-examined in the upcoming docuseries The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood, debuting September 8 on MGM+.
It’s an adaptation of a 2022 podcast Thorson made with author Michael Connelly, titled The Wonderland Murders and the Secret History of Hollywood.