Their presentation was lame: stay in school, study hard, don't use drugs, don't grow your hair long, don't protest the war. But I didn't care: I had never seen a celebrity close-up before, and Kent McCord was super-cute (Martin was in his 40s, too old). I was star-struck.
I got an autographed picture ("To Boomer -- stay in school"), handshakes from them both, and fodder for a lot of junior high fantasies.
My favorite involved getting Officer Reed (McCord) to Africa somehow, where he and Bomba the Jungle Boy were captured by the bad guys and tied back to back.
I never heard any gay dating or hookup stories about either Milner or McCord during my years in West Hollywood, but as stars of a show long off the air, they may not have been famous enough -- West Hollywood dating stories were all about impressing your friends with the biggest star possible.
But I recently got a hint of a Kent McCord hookup from Zack, in a story that was really about Ricky Nelson. I interrogated him for as many details as he could remember, and added some details and conversations:
Born in 1942, Kent McWhiter grew up in Baldwin Park, California, and attended Citrus Junior College and the University of Utah. In February 1961, he met Ricky Nelson at a football game, and the two became fast friends.
With Ricky's help, he appeared in 28 episodes of Ozzie and Harriet. Afterwards he landed a contract with Universal, adopted a new "macho" name, "Kent McCord," and pursued a successful show biz career. He and Rick stayed friends throughout their lives.
But there was part of Rick's life that he never shared with the conservative, ultra-macho family man.
One day in 1969, Kent told Ricky, "Marty [Adam-12 co-star Martin Milner] is cool and all, but I just found out something crazy about him. He told me he digs dudes! I mean, he's married. How can you...."
Ricky decided that it was time to come clean about his secret life. "Some dudes dig chicks and dudes both," he said with a smile. "If that's your scene, and if your old lady's cool with it, who are we to judge? Besides, dudes know what a man likes."
Kent stared for a moment, then said "That's not the craziest part. He told me that he's screwed with both of his costars on Route 66, George Maharis and Glenn Corbett, and Chuck Connors. The biggest, toughest, most masculine guys in Hollywood!"
