A Shroud of Thoughts Store on Zazzle

In an effort to increase my income in these difficult times, I have opened a store for A Shroud of Thoughts on Zazzle. Like the blog, it is dedicated to popular culture. Of course, due to copyright restrictions, I really can't have any times based on movies, TV shows, or books that are not in the public domain. Fortunately, there are a lot of popular books that are in the public domain, so I have created a series of products such as T-shirts, key chains, and coffee mugs using quotes from popular books, including The Sign of Four, Wuthering Heights, and The Great Gatsby. I do plan to add more products as I go along, and I might even include products based on silent movies in the public domain (most talkies aren't for now).

Anyway, if you're interested in taking a look, you can click the link here. 

The Late Great James Burrows

James Burrows, who co-created the classic sitcom Cheers and directed shows from The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Fraiser, died on June 19, 2026, at the age of 85.

James Burrows was born on December 30, 1940 in Los Angeles. His father was composer, director, and writer Abe Burrows. He was fairly young when his family moved to the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Given his father's profession, as a boy, he got to spend time backstage of such Broadway shows as Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In grade school, he was a member of the Metropolitan Boy's Choir. He attended the High School of Music & Art. He attended Oberlin College and then the Yale School of Drama.

After college, James Burrows moved to California where he became a dialogue coach on the short-lived sitcom O.K. Crackerby. He then worked as an assistant manager on Holly Golightly, a musical version of Breakfast at Tiffany's, during its pre-Broadway tryouts. While the musical was scrapped before making it to Broadway, James Burrows did get to meet its star, Mary Tyler Moore.

It was meeting to Mary Tyler Moore that would lead to James Burrows's first work as a television director, directing episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1974. In the Seventies, he also directed episodes of Fay; Phyllis; The Bob Newhart Show; The Tony Randall Show; Laverne & Shirley; Busting Loose; Szysznyk; Lou Grant; We've Got Each Other; The Betty White Show; Rhoda, On Our Own; Husbands, Wives & Lovers; Free Country; A New Kind of Family; The Associates; The Stockard Channing Show; and Good Time Harry.

It was in the 1980s that James Burrows co-created Cheers with Glen and Les Charles, and co-created its spinoff The Tortellis with Glen and Les Charles and Ken Estin. He directed the vast majority of the 275 episodes of Cheers, as well as episodes of the shows Best of the West; Taxi; Night Court; Valerie; All is Forgiven; The Tortellis; CBS Summer Playhouse; Dear John; The Marshall Chronicles; Wings; Down Home; and The Fanelli Boys,

He continued working on Cheers into the early Nineties. In 1998, he began work on Will & Grace and directed every episode of the show's original run. He also directed episodes of the shows Roc; Pacific Station; Flesh 'n' Blood; Flying Blind; Cafe Americain; Monty; The Boys Are Back; Madman of the People; The Preston Episodes; Hudson Street; Partners; NewsRadio; 3rd Rock from the Sun; Frasier; Men Behaving Badly; Chicago Sons; Fired Up; Veronica's Closet; George & Leo; Caroline in the City; Union Square; Dharma & Greg; Friends; Jesse; Conrad Bloom; The Secret Lives of Men; In the Loop; Stark Raving Mad; Madigan Men; and Cursed.

In the Naughts, James Burrows continued work on Will & Grace. He also directed episodes of the shows Cursed; Good Morning, Miami; Bram and Alice; The Stones; Four Kings; Teachers; Two and a Half Men; Courting Alex; The Class; The Big Bang Theory; Back to You; Gary Unmarried; Better with You; and S#*! My Dad Says,

In the Teens, James Burrows directed episodes of Up All Night; Partners; Sean Saves the World; Friends with Better Lives; The Millers; 2 Broke Girls; Mike & Molly; Crowded; Man with a Plan; Superior Donuts; Disjointed; The Neighborhood;Our House; B Positive; and Romantically Challenged. In the 2020s, he directed episodes of Mid-Century Modern and the revival of Frasier.

While James Burrows directed hundreds of hours of television, he only directed on feature film, Partners in 1982.

James Burrows also served as a producer on several shows, including All is Forgiven; Cheers; The Tortellis; The Secret Lives of Men; The Class; Back to You; Gary Unmarried; Romantically Challenged; Mike & Molly; Partners; The Millers; Crowded; Superior Donuts; Man with a Plan; Will & Grace; and Mid-Century Modern.

James Burrows occasionally made cameos on shows. He was an agent on Rhoda, a telephone man on Phyllis, a maintenance man on The Bob Newhart Show, a director on Friends, and James Burrows on Will & Grace and The Comeback.

Over the years, James Burrows was nominated for several awards. He won Emmy Awards for episodes of Taxi, Cheers, and Will & Grace.. He also won Directors Guild of America awards for Cheers, Frasier, and Will & Grace.

James Burrows was definitely one of the greatest directors of all time. Even though the majority of his work was in multi-camera sitcoms, he used lighting that was a bit more advanced than that of the average sitcom. He was also a genius when it came to comic timing, able to milk the most out of the humor already in a script and in the performances of his actors. Indeed, more so than other directors, he concentrated on the characters, emphasizing the dialogue and using often complicated blocking. James Burrows could often get the best out of his performers, and it is little wonder that many of the episodes he directed are considered among the greatest television episodes of all time.

The Late Great Ann Blyth

I have no idea who said it first, but there is a saying, "Live your life so that even if you die at 100 years old, people will say you died too soon." For many of us that holds true of legendary actress Ann Blyth, who died on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at the age of 98. She was best known for playing spoiled daughter Veda in the classic Mildred Pierce, but appeared in movies from Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948) to Kismet (1955) and TV shows from The Twilight Zone to Murder, She Wrote. If ever a film star was adored by classic movie fans, it was Miss Blyth. As for myself, I have had a crush on Miss Blyth since childhood, to the point that she was possibly the only woman Vanessa was even a little bit jealous of. Ann Blyth was beautiful, talented, and, I know from those who met her or knew her personally, sweet, kind, and gracious. The perfect woman may not exist, but Ann Blyth was as close to perfect as any human being could ever come.

Ann Marie Blythe was born on August 16, 1927, in Mount Kisco, New York. She grew up in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Her father left the family when she was very young, and her mother raised Ann Blyth and her older sister alone. Ann Blyth displayed talent as a singer while she was still very young. She both sang and recited poetry on the radio from when she was only 6 years old. She performed as part of the San Carlos Opera Company. She appeared on Broadway in Watch on the Rhine from 1941 to 1942, turning 13 during the play's run. After it closed on Broadway, she toured around the country with the play.

Ann Blyth was signed by Universal in 1943 to provide Deanna Durbin, who was increasingly unhappy with the studio, with some competition. She made her film debut in 1944 in Chip Off the Old Block. She was loaned to Warner Bros. for Mildred Pierce (1945), in which she was cast against type as spoiled daughter Veda Pierce, for which she was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. She also played the mermaid, Lenore, of the title in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), a role which required that she be unable to speak. During the Forties, Miss Blyth also appeared in the movies The Merry Monahans (1944), Babes on Swing Street (1944), Bowery to Broadway (1944), Swell Guy (1946), Brute Force (1947), Killer McCoy (1947), A Woman's Vengeance (1948), Another Part of the Forest (1948), Red Canyon (1949), Top o' the Morning (1949), Once More, My Darling (1949), Free for All (1949), Our Very Own (1950), and Katie Did It (1950).

In the Fifties, Ann Blyth appeared in the movies The Great Caruso (1951), Thunder on the Hill (1951), The House on the Square (1951), The Golden Horde (1951), The World in His Arms (1952), Sally and Saint Anne (1952), One Minute to Zero (1952), All the Brothers Were Valiant (1953), Rose Marie (1954), The Student Prince (1954), The King's Thief (1955), Kismet (1955), Slander (1956), and The Buster Keaton Story (1957). Her final feature film was The Helen Morgan Story (1957), in which she played singer and actress Helen Morgan. Despite the fact that Ann Blyth had a lovely singing voice that was actually close to that of Helen Morgan, her vocals were dubbed by singer Gogi Grant. She made her television debut on an episode of Family Theatre in 1952. During the Fifties, she guest starred on the shows Lux Video Theatre, Wagon Train, and The DuPont Show with June Allyson.

In the Sixties, she guest starred on the shows The Dick Powell Show, Wagon Train, Saints and Sinners, The Christophers, The Twilight Zone, Burke's Law, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Insight, and The Name of the Game. Starting in the late Fifties, throughout the Sixties, and into the Seventies, Ann Blyth played in dinner theatre and summer stock. In the Seventies, Ann Blyth guest starred on Switch and Quincy, M.E. She made her final appearance on a scripted television series in an episode of Murder, She Wrote in 1985.

Ann Blyth was a guest at multiple TCM Classic Film Festivals and also a guest on the TCM cruise. She was a guest host on Turner Classic Movies multiple times over the years.

Words cannot express how beloved Ann Blyth was by many classic movie buffs. It wasn't simply that she was one of the last links to the Golden Age of Hollywood. It wasn't even that she was a beautiful and talented actress. She was a gracious, kind, and intelligent woman who appreciated her fans and was eager to share her stories of movie history. There was no better ambassador for classic movies than Ann Blyth.

Of course, she was enormously talented as an actress and a singer. She gave a tour de force performance as Veda in Mildred Pierce, not only holding her own with the formidable Joan Crawford, but arguably even surpassing her. Using only facial expressions and body language, Ann Blyth was totally convincing as a mermaid in Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid. Even when she appeared only briefly on screen, as in the classic noir Brute Force, she could give an impressive performance. Her role as Ruth Collins, the cancer stricken wife of convict Joe Collins (Burt Lancaster), only gave her minutes in screen time, but she was utterly convincing. She gave great performances in films as diverse as I'll Never Forget You and The Helen Morgan Story (on which she really should have been allowed to sing). She gave great performances on television as well. In the Wagon Train episode "The Jenny Tannen Story," she played a dual role as Jenny, a young woman who was going blind, and her mother, the embittered former singer Phoebe Tannen. Both performances were incredible, and she got to display her mellifluous singing voice as well. In the Twilight Zone episode "Queen of the Nile," she played beautiful, immortal, and utterly evil movie star Pamela Morris, While she was nothing like Pamela Morris in real life, she was utterly convincing in the role.

In the end, Ann Blyth was very special to many of us. She was beautiful. She was talented. She possessed an incredible singing voice. And as I said earlier, I know from those who met her and those who knew her personally, Miss Blyth was one of the sweetest, kindest, most gracious women one could ever meet. It is little wonder that many of us believe that at age 98 she died much too soon.

Godspeed Ronnie Schell

Ronnie Schell, best known for playing Duke Slater on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., died on June 12, 2026, at the age of 94. He was also a voice actor on several cartons.

Ronnie Schell was born on December 23, 1931, in Richmond, California. He attended Richmond Union High School. As a baseball player, he played first base for both American Legion and semipro teams in th San Francisco Bay Area. He served in the United States Air Force for four years, at which point he began doing comedy. He graduated with a degree in Liberal Studies from San Francisco State in 1958.

It was while he was a senior in college that he began performing standup comedy at The Purple Onion in the North Beach area of San Francisco. Also on the bill were Phyllis Diller and the Kingston Trio. George Fenneman, the announcer on You Bet Your Life, was scouting Phyllis Diller when he saw Ronnie Schell perform. He asked both of them to appear on You Bet Your Life. Ronnie Schell won $600 and also mentioned the secret word (a randomly chosen word on the show each day, the mention of which would win the contestant a prize).

Ronnie Schell made his television debut in a guest appearance on the show Harbor Command in 1958. It was in 1964 that he began playing Duke Slater on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. He left the show for the 1967-1968 season to star on his own show Good Morning, World. When that show was cancelled, he returned to Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., at which point he was promoted from private to corporal. He had a recurring role on That Girl as the agent, Harvey Peck, of Ann Maire (Marlo Thomas). After Jim Nabors ended Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., Ronnie Schell was a regular on The Jim Nabors Hour. During the Sixties ; he also guest-starred on the shows Valentine's Day; The Patty Duke Show; The Andy Griffith Show; and Love, American Style.

In the Seventies, Ronnie Schell began his long career as a voice actor proving additional voice on the Saturday morning cartoon Butch Cassidy as well as voices on the cartoons Goober and the Ghost Chasers, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, Yogi's Space Race, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, and Battle of the Planets (the American adaptation of the anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman). He was also the voice of Peter Puck, the animated, anthropomorphic puck who explained the rules of the National Hockey League on both NBC's Hockey Game of the Week and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada. He guest starred on the shows Arnie; Love, American Style; The New Dick Van Dyke Show; The Little People; Here We Go Again; Temperatures Rising; The Girl with Something Extra; Diana; Lotsa Luck!; Adam-12; Happy Days; Karen; Big Eddie; Emergency!; Sanford and Son; Forever Fernwood; The Wonderful World of Disney;The Practice; The Dukes of Hazzard; Charlie's Angels; Turnabout; One Day at a Time; Mork & Mindy; California Fever; and Alice. He appeared in the movies The Strongest Man in the World (1975), Gus (1976), The Shaggy D.A. (1976), The Cat from Outer Space (1978), Love at First Bite (1979), and How to Beat the High Cost of Living (1980).

In the Eighties, Ronnie Schell was a regular on the sitcom Down to Earth and had a recurring role on the soap opera Santa Barbara. He guest starred on the shows The Love Boat; Too Close for Comfort; Strike Force; Madame's Place; Trapper John, M.D.; ABC Weekend Specials; New Love, American Style; Shadow Chasers; Sledge Hammer!; 1st and Ten; She's the Sheriff; Mathnet; Square One TV; Mr. Belvedere; The New Gidget; Hard Time on Planet Earth, Saved by the Bell; Empty Nest; 227; The Golden Girls; and Shades of LA. He was a voice on the animated shows Shirt Tales, Smurfs, Potsworth & Co., and the others. He appeared on the movies He appeared in the movies The Devil and Max Devlin (1981), The Check is in the Mail... (1987), and Dutch Treat (1987). He was a voice in the animated movie The Jetsons: The Movie (1990).

In the Nineties, Ronnie Schell appeared in the movies Fatal Instinct (1993), Revenge of the Red Baron (1994), Killer per caso (1997), Venus Enby (1997), Family Jewels (2000), and The View from the Swing (200). He was voice in the animated movie Rover Dangerfield (1991). He guest starred on the shows Good & Evil; Family Album; Coach; Step by Step; and The Wayan Bros. He was a voice on the television cartoons Yo Yogi!, The Legend of Prince Valiant, The Elvis and Jack Nichlaus Mysteries, and Recess.

In the Naughts, he appeared in the movies The Biggest Fan (2005) and Soupernatural (2010). He guest starred on the shows Yes, Dear; Phil of the Future; and Easy to Assemble. He was a voice on the animated shows Lloyd in Space, Megas XLR, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. In the Teens, he guest starred on the shows Jessie, Retired at 35, You'll Be Fine, Heaven's Waiting Room, See Ya, Kaplan's Korner, and Beyond Hope 2020.

Chances are good that Ronnie Schell will always be remembered as Duke Slater, the streetwise, fast-talking, clever Marine who was a sharp contrast to the naive and innocent Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors). Of course, he played a wide variety of roles, On That Girl, he played Ann Marie's fast talking, cynical, and pragmatic agent Harvey Peck. He starred as disc jockey Larry Clarke on Good Morning, World. He played a variety of roles in guest appearances on other shows and appearances in movies, from a furrier on The Andy Griffith Show to sports scout Joe Barnsdale in the movie Gus to the angel Lester Luster on the sitcom Down to Earth. Ronnie Schell had perfect comic timing and could create memorable characters with only very little screen time. He also had a versatile voice. He may always be best remembered as Duke Slater, but he did much more.

Godspeed Gene Shalit

Gene Shalit, best known as the resident movie and book critic on Today on NBC, died on June 12 at the age of 100. 

Gene Shalit was born in New York City on on March 25, 1926. He grew up in Morristown, New Jersey. In grammar school he ws responsible for the school's first newspaper, The Spotlight. He attended Morristown High School, where he wrote the humour column for the school newspaper. He attended the University of Illinois, where he was the sports editor of The Daily Illini and also wrote the columns "What Shalit Be?" and "Campus Scout" for the newspaper. He also wrote for The Champaign-Urbana Courier and was a stringer for the Associated Press, writing about the Big Ten conference. 

He began his career as a PR agent and was a partner in the firm Barkas, Shalit and Schiller. Among his clients was Dick Clark. It was in the early Sixties that he became an entertainment columnist for McCall's, and wrote primarily book reviews. In 1968, he became the senior movie critic at Look. He also wrote the “What’s Happening” column for Ladies’ Home Journal and the "Sports Talk" column for Sport. He did movie reviews for KNBC in Los Angeles and WNBC in New York City. It was NBC News president Reuven Frank who brought Gene Shalit to Today. He joined the show in 1969, occasionally doing book reviews. It was in 1973 that he became the full-time movie critic on Today. His segment, called Critic's Corner, would remain a part of Today until he retired from the show in November 2010.

While on Today, he continued to write a column for Ladies Home Journal and also wrote for Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, and The New York Times. His "Man About Anything" segment was broadcast each day on the NBC radio network. Over the years, he appeared on several TV shows, including Jeopardy, What's My Line? (on which he was a panellist), The Mike Douglas Show, To Tell the Truth, Mystery! (on which he was briefly the host), and The New Hollywood Squares, among others. He hosted the TV special Sesame Street at Night?. He had a cameo in Tootsie (1982) and provided his voice for episodes of the animated series The Critic and SpongeBob Squarepants. He also hosted a video cassette and laserdisc series on MCA Home Video called Gene Shalit's Critic's Choice Video.

Gene Shalit also authored books, including Somehow It Works; A Candid Portrait of the 1964 Presidential Election (1965), Laughing Matters: A Celebration of American Humor (1987), Great Hollywood Wit (2002), and, with artist Jack Davis,  Khrushchev's Top Secret Coloring Book (2016).

I was very young when Gene Shalit began regularly appearing on the Today Show, and he have little doubt that he was the first movie critic to whom I was exposed. With his bushy hair, handlebar moustache, glasses, and bow ties, he looked less like a film critic than he did an absent-minded professor or an old-time comic just fresh from touring the Catskills. Indeed, his reviews were always filled with one-liners and often outrageous puns. Not only was he clearly having fun in his reviews in the Critic's Corner, but it was clear he loved movies. What is more, even when he might dislike a movie that you liked (1980's Flash Gordon stand out for me),  you understood where he was coming from. He was approachable as a critic, and never arbitrary.

Of course, Gene Shalit not only did book and movie reviews on Today, but he also interviewed many celebrities, including Richard Burton, Mel Brooks, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, Burt Reynolds, and Steven Spielberg. Gene Shalit was an excellent interviewer, not only obtaining some deep insights into his subjects, but often bringing out the best of them. Among his most famous interview is one he had with Carol Channing, in which she told a hilarious  story about Sir Benjamin and Lady Astor that left Gene Shalit unable to stop laughing.

Gene Shalit remains a fond memory for me from my early childhood into my adulthood. I have to admit that Gene Shalit may have been responsible for my love of movies, and I think he may have been for others as well. He certainly had an enthusiasm for movies and books that was absolutely contagious. 

Announcing the 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon

A lot of people think of the number 13 as bad luck, but in this case it is good luck. Namely, I am announcing the 13th Annual Rule, Britannia Blogathon. I am setting it for September 18 to September 20, 2026. 

While many people think of Hollywood when it comes to movies, the fact is that the United Kingdom made many significant contributions to film over the years. From the Gainsborough melodramas to Hammer Films to the British New Wave, cinema would be much poorer without the British.

Here are the ground rules for this year's blogathon:

1. Posts can be about any British film or any topic related to British films. For the sake of simplicity, I am using "British" here to refer to any film made by a company based in the United Kingdom or British Crown dependencies. If you want to write about a film made in Northern Ireland or the Isle of Man, then, you can do so. Also for the sake of simplicity, people can write about co-productions made with companies from outside the United Kingdom. For example, since 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is a British-American co-production, someone could write about it if they chose.

2. There is no limit on subject matter. You can write about any film in any genre you want. Posts can be on everything from the British New Wave to the Gainsborough bodice rippers to the Hammer Horrors. I am also making no limit on the format posts can take. You could review a classic British film, make an in-depth analysis of a series of British films, or even simply do a pictorial tribute to a film. That having been said, since this is a classic film blogathon,  I only ask that you write about films made before 2016. I generally don't think of a film as a classic until it has been around for thirty years, but to give bloggers more options I am setting the cut-off point at ten years ago.

3. I am asking that there please be no duplicates. That having been said, if someone has already chosen to cover From Russia with Love (1963), someone else could write about the James Bond series as a whole.

4. I am not going to schedule days for individual posts. All I ask is that the posts be made on or between September 18, 19, and 20, 2026.

If you want to participate in the Rule, Britannia Blogathon, you can simply comment below or get hold of me on Bleusky at mercurie80 or my email:  mercurie80 at gmail.com

Below is a roster of the participants:

Liberal England:  Sammy Going South (1963--retitled A Boy Ten Foot Tall in the US). 

A Shroud of Thoughts: A Matter of Life and Death (1946)

Films From Beyond the Time Barrier:  Four Sided Triangle (1953)

Below are graphics you can use for the blogathon or you can always make your own!

Liberace's Open Secret

For a good part of the 20th Century, homosexual performers and actors in the United States went to great pains to hide their true sexuality. Homosexuality was frowned upon in American society, to the point that it was included in the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders as a sociopathic personality disturbance, and sex between two people of the same sex was banned under the sodomy laws of the time. It should then come as no surprise that famed pianist, singer, and actor Liberace spent his entire life denying that he was gay. What makes Liberace's case unusual is that his costumes, style, and manner were so flamboyant that many at the time probably at least thought he was gay. Indeed, throughout his life scandal sheets and gossip magazines, both in the United States and United Kingdom, often implied he was gay.

Władziu Valentino Liberace was born on May 16, 1919, in West Allis, Wisconsin. He came from a musical family. His father played French horn, while his mother had been a concert pianist. Liberace was only four years old when he began playing piano. In high school, he played jazz piano with a group called The Mixers. He played at cabarets and even burlesque palaces, even though his father disapproved. It was from about 1942 to 1944 that he moved from performing straight classical pieces to what he called "pop with a bit of classics." Billed as "Walter Liberace," he appeared in two Soundies, "Tiger Rag" and "Twelfth Street Rag." Throughout the Forties, his act became more flamboyant, including the addition of a candelabra and performing in white tie and tails. 

It would be television that would really place Liberace on the map. After having made appearances on such shows as The Arthur Murray Party, Cavalcade of Stars, and Four Star Revue, he received his own show. The Liberace Show debuted in 1953  in syndication and proved to be very popular. Following The Liberace Show, Liberace continued to appear on television, on everything from The Perry Como Show to I've Got a Secret to Batman to The Monkees. He had his own show again in 1969, a summer replacement show that ran on CBS in the time-slot usually occupied by The Red Skelton Show. He didn't slow down in the Seventies, appearing in everything from The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour to The Muppet Show. Liberace appeared in movies as well, including Sincerely Yours (1955), When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965), and The Loved One (1965). 

At the height of his career in the Fifties, it was not unusual for the aforementioned scandal sheets and gossip magazines to intimate that Liberace was gay, something that he always denied. It was in 1956 that Daily Mirror columnist Cassandra (in reality William Connor) strong suggested that Liberace was a homosexual, writing that Liberace was "...the summit of sex - the pinnacle of masculine, feminine and neuter. Everything that he, she and it can ever want... a deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love." Liberace sued the Daily Mirror for libel. The trial lasted for three weeks, during which Liberace testified that he was not gay and had never taken part in homosexual acts. In the end, Liberace won the case and was awarded £8,000 in damages. It was because of this case that Liberace coined his catchphrase, "I cried all the way to the bank!"

If the Daily Mirror had intimated that Liberace was gay, the notorious gossip magazine Confidential very nearly came out and said it. The July 2, 1957 issue of the magazine featured a story titled "Why Liberace's Theme Song Should Be 'Mad About the Boy." The story dealt with an anonymous press agent who claimed that Liberace had made a play for him while the two were alone in a hotel room. Liberace  filed a $20-million libel suit against Confidential. Ultimately, the case was settled out of court.

Liberace would continue to deny that he was gay even after homosexuality had become more acceptable in American society and even after it became fairly obvious that he was, in fact, gay. In 1982 Liberace's 22-year old former chauffeur Scott Thorson,who claimed to be the pianist's lover for five years, filed a $113 million palimony suit against him after Mr. Thorson had been fired.  The case was eventually settled out of court and Liberace continued to deny that he was gay. 

Liberace died on February 4, 1987 at the age of 67. It was on February 10, 1987, that the Riverside County coroner revealed the cause of his death to be cytomegalovirus pneumonia caused by AIDS. Although it had not been made public at the time, he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive in August 1985. In an interview on The Joy Behar Show, actress Betty White, who had been friends with Liberace, revealed that he was gay and his managers often used her as a beard to rejoin the rumours that he was a homosexual. 

Today it might seem odd that Liberace denied he was gay his entire life, even after the 1982 palimony suit by Scott Thorson. It might seem even more odd given Liberace was so flamboyant that his act is a prime example of high camp. While it might seem odd now, it must be taken into account that the height of Liberace's career took place during the Lavender Scare, a moral panic over homosexuality that even resulted in people working for the government losing their jobs. It was fully possible that if irrefutable evidence got out that Liberace was gay, it could have meant the end of his career. As to why he continued to deny he was gay, one has to suspect that this was due to habit. Even after homosexuality was no longer the bugbear it had been, Liberace may have feared that if the public knew of his sexuality, he might no longer be able to work. What makes this sad is that much of Liberace's appeal is that he was so flamboyant, so campy. While being gay may have proven to be a detriment to his career during the Lavender Scare, it may actually have proven to be a blessing later on. As it is, despite his denials during his lifetime, Liberace remains an icon in the LGBTQ+ community.