Charles William "Billy" Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973) was an American actor and interior designer.
Haines was discovered by a talent scout and signed with Goldwyn Pictures in 1922. His career gained momentum when he received favorable reviews for his role in the silent film The Midnight Express in 1924. He was cast in the 1926 film Brown of Harvard and his performance solidified his screen persona as a wisecracking, arrogant leading man. By the end of the 1920s, Haines had appeared in a string of successful films and was a popular box-office draw.
Haines' acting career was cut short by the studios in the 1930s due to his refusal to deny his homosexuality. He quit acting in 1935 and started a successful interior design business with his life partner Jimmie Shields, and his work was widely patronized by friends in Hollywood. Haines died of lung cancer in December 1973 at the age of 73.
Early life
Haines was born on January 2, 1900 (he claimed he was born on January 1) in Staunton, Virginia, the third child of George Adam Haines, a cigar maker, and Laura Virginia Haines (née Matthews). Two older siblings died in infancy. He had four younger siblings: Lillian, born in 1902; Ann, born in 1907; George, Jr., born in 1908; and Henry, born in 1917. He was baptized at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton at the age of eight, where he later sang in the choir. He became fascinated with stage performance and motion pictures at an early age, spending hours watching early silent films in local theatres.
Haines ran away from home at the age of 14, accompanied by an unidentified young man whom Haines referred to as his "boyfriend". The pair went first to Richmond and then to Hopewell, which had a reputation for immorality. They got jobs working at the local DuPont factory, producing nitrocellulose for $50 a week. To supplement their income, they opened a dance hall, which may have also served as a brothel. Haines' parents, frantic over his disappearance, tracked him through the police to Hopewell. Haines did not return home with them, remaining instead in Hopewell and sending money back home to help support the family. The couple remained in Hopewell until most of the town was destroyed by fire in 1915. Haines moved to New York City. Whether his boyfriend accompanied him is unclear.
Following the bankruptcy of the family business and the mental breakdown of George Sr., the family moved to Richmond in 1916. Haines moved there in 1917 to help support them. He worked a variety of jobs and was for a time the kept man of an older woman before becoming a model. Talent scout Bijou Fernandez discovered Haines as part of the Goldwyn Pictures' "New Faces of 1922" contest, and the studio signed him to a $40-a-week contract (~$700 in 2022 terms). He traveled to Hollywood with fellow contest winner Eleanor Boardman in March of that year.
Career
Acting
thumb|Still from the film Mike (1926) with Haines and [[Sally O'Neil]]
Haines' career began slowly, as he appeared in extra and bit parts, mostly uncredited. His first significant role was in Three Wise Fools (1923). He attracted positive critical attention and the studio began building him up as a new star. However, he continued to play small, unimportant parts at Goldwyn. When his home studio lent him to Fox in 1923 for The Desert Outlaw, he got the opportunity to play a significant role. In 1924, MGM lent Haines to Columbia Pictures for a five-picture deal. The first of these, The Midnight Express (1924), received excellent reviews, and Columbia offered to buy his contract. The offer was refused and Haines continued in bit roles for Goldwyn. Haines scored his first big personal success with Brown of Harvard (1926) opposite Jack Pickford and Mary Brian. It was in Brown that he crystallized his screen image, a young arrogant man who is humbled by the last reel. He returned repeatedly to that formula for the next several years.
On a trip to New York in 1926, Haines met James "Jimmie" Shields. Haines convinced Shields to move to Los Angeles, promising to get him work as an extra. The pair soon began living together and viewed themselves as a committed couple, though newspapers did not mention their relationship. His first all-talking film, Navy Blues, was released the following year. He starred in Way Out West in 1930. The 1930 Quigley Poll, a survey of film exhibitors, listed Haines as the top box-office attraction in the country.
In 1933, Haines was arrested in a YMCA with a sailor he had picked up in Los Angeles' Pershing Square. Louis B. Mayer, the studio head at MGM, delivered an ultimatum to Haines: choose between a sham lavender marriage, his relationship with Shields or his relationship with the sailor. Haines chose Shields and they remained together in a private relationship for 47 years. Mayer then fired Haines and terminated his contract.
Interior design
thumb|Portrait of Haines featured in [[Screenland magazine, February 1931]]
Haines and Shields began a successful dual career as interior designers and antique dealers. Among their early clients were friends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, Marion Davies, and George Cukor. After a neighbor accused the two of propositioning her son, about 30 local residents including members of a group called "The White Legion" dragged the two men from their home in El Porto near the city of Manhattan Beach (this was before El Porto became a part of that city) and beat them. The incident was widely reported at the time, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office never brought charges against the attackers. The child molestation accusations against Haines and Shields were dismissed due to a lack of evidence. When Jack L. Warner remodeled his estate in 1937, he hired Haines as interior decorator. He also designed an office for Frank Sinatra and the Mocambo nightclub.
The couple finally settled in the west Los Angeles community of Brentwood and their business prospered until their retirement in the early 1970s, except for a brief interruption when Haines served in World War II.
Known for his impeccable taste in interior design and love for vintage pieces, Haines worked closely with his friend Joan Crawford — whom he teasingly called Cranberry — to renovate her Brentwood home. His unconventional choice of an all-white decor for her living room caused a sensation and helped launch his interior design career, working for Carole Lombard next. Later in 1956, he would decorate Crawford’s newly renovated two-floor apartment purchased with her new husband, Alfred Steele.
In the 60s and 70s, their clients included Betsy Bloomingdale and Ronald and Nancy Reagan when Reagan was governor of California. Haines and Ted Graber designed the interiors of Walter and Leonore Annenberg's "Sunnylands" estate in Rancho Mirage. The Annenbergs also hired Haines to work on the redecoration of Winfield House in London, where Walter was serving as U.S. Ambassador.