Alan Shayne
Alan Shayne, co-writer of the memoir Double Life with Norman Sunshine, was President of Warner Brothers Television for ten years, where he shepherded such hit shows as Alice, The Dukes of Hazard, Night Court, Scarecrow and Mrs. King, Head of the Class and Growing Pains. In addition to holding other positions at the Warner Brothers Studio, he has been an independent film and television producer with such projects as The Bourne Identity starring Richard Chamberlain (nominated for an Emmy), and he won a Christopher Award for The House Without a Christmas Tree. He began his career in television with David Susskind’s production company, after working in the Broadway casting office for David Merrick. Prior to that, he was an actor on Broadway and in television.
Shayne is the author of the children’s book, The Minstrel Tree¸ illustrated by Sunshine.
“In the 1970s, when Norman Sunshine won an Emmy for the graphics and title design he had created for one of Alan Shayne’s television productions, “Alan and I agreed it was not a good idea for us to be seen together at an industry event,” he remembers. “Alan, after all, was one of the very few homosexuals who had such a powerful, high profile job, and who lived openly with a man. Homophobia had its adherents and some ruthless climber up the executive ladder would certainly love an opportunity to use it… 'Better to be seen with a woman,’ we were advised by a very trusted friend, ‘Makes everyone more comfortable.”
“As an artist in the 1960s, Norman Sunshine was able to maintain a moderately out lifestyle. But when the first exhibition of his paintings in New York brought on a profile in The New York Times in 1968, he was photographed in the apartment that he admitted sharing with Shayne. At both his advertising agency and Shayne’s television production company, the article was met with absolute silence.”
“Upon their meeting in New York in 1958: “We didn’t want to live together. We didn’t have any examples of what a good love relationship between two men could be. And there was always the problem of hiding so no one would know we were gay. There was no question that if I were known to be gay, living with another man, it would make it more difficult for me to get work as an actor.” - Alan Shayne, co-author, Double Life”