Metro Weekly

‘Gomer Pyle’ actor Jim Nabors married to male partner after 38 years

Jim Nabors as Gomer PyleHawaii News Now reports that actor Jim Nabors married his partner, Stan Cadwallader, in Seattle two weeks ago.

“I’m 82 and he’s in his 60s and so we’ve been together for 38 years and I’m not ashamed of people knowing, it’s just that it was such a personal thing, I didn’t tell anybody.”

Nabors is famous for his work in the 1960s and 1970s as the title character in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and for a supporting role on The Andy Griffith Show. He also had a singing career and released several albums.

The Hawaii News Now interview is said to be the first time Nabors has come out in the media. He said that he’s not an activist and did not feel qualified to give advice to young gay people. Now that he is in his 80s, Nabors felt the need to “solidify something” since he and Cadwallader had no rights as a couple, adding that, at his age, he should not wait. 

Listen to the full interview.

Washington state legalized same-sex marriages through a public referendum at the end of 2012. Nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia now have marriage equality for gay couples, but Nabors’s home state of Hawaii is not yet among them.

 

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