Editing Liberace (section)

===Lawsuits and allegations of homosexuality===
{{further|Liberace v Daily Mirror}}
Liberace's fame in the United States was matched for a time in the United Kingdom. In 1956, an article in the ''Daily Mirror'' by columnist Cassandra ([[William Connor]])<ref>"[http://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/getDocument?fileName=DMir_1956_09_26_006&fileType=PDF Yearn-Strength Five]", ''Daily Mirror'', London, September 26, 1956, p. 6.</ref> described Liberace as "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".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=High+Court+Of+Justice| title=High Court Of Justice; Queen's Bench Division, "I Don't Care What My Readers Think", Liberace V. Daily Mirror Newspapers Ltd| date=June 12, 1959| location=London| newspaper=The Times| page=16| quote=They all say that this deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love has had the biggest reception and impact on London since Charlie Chaplin arrived at the same station, Waterloo, on September 12, 1921.| ref=CS268786892| url-access=subscription| access-date=October 19, 2009| archive-date=July 16, 2011| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716080420/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/keywordsearch.arc?queryKeywords=High+Court+Of+Justice| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Liberace sent a telegram that read: "What you said hurt me very much. I cried all the way to the bank."<ref name=Smith2006>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d3bov9J_1w0C&pg=PA84 |page=84 |title=Verbivore's Feast: Second Course: More Word & Phrase Origins |last=Smith |first=Chrysti M. |publisher=Farcountry Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-1560374046 |access-date=February 25, 2014}}</ref> He sued the newspaper for libel,<ref>Barker, 2009.</ref> testifying in a London court that he was not homosexual and that he had never taken part in homosexual acts. He was represented in court by [[Gilbert Beyfus]], one of the great barristers of the period.<ref>{{cite news| title=Liberace Battles Writer's "Smears"| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11147605/|access-date=May 21, 2017| newspaper=The News-Palladium| location=Benton Harbor, Michigan| date=June 8, 1959}}</ref> Liberace won the suit, partly on the basis of Connor's use of the derogatory expression "fruit-flavoured". The case partly hinged on whether Connor knew that "[[fruit (slang)|fruit]]" was American slang implying that an individual is a homosexual.<ref>Hodgkinson, Liz (May 25, 2009) [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/may/25/media-industry-news "Dispatches: Publishing: Libel show stopper"], ''The Guardian'', Manchester</ref> After a three-week civil trial, a jury ruled in Liberace's favor on June 16, 1959, and awarded him £8,000 in damages (around $22,400 at the time and {{Inflation|UK|8000|1959|fmt=eq|cursign=£|r=-3}}), which led Liberace to repeat the catchphrase to reporters: "I cried all the way to the bank!"<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cry1.htm |publisher=World Wide Words |title=Cry all the way to the bank |access-date=February 25, 2014}}</ref> Liberace's popularization of the phrase inspired the title ''Crying All the Way to the Bank'', for a detailed report of the trial based on transcripts, court reports and interviews, by the former ''Daily Mirror'' journalist Revel Barker.

[[File:Confidential Magazine cover July 1957 - Liberace.jpg|thumb|right|''Confidential'' cover July 2, 1957, "Why Liberace's Theme Song Should Be '[[Mad About the Boy (song)|Mad About the Boy]]!'"]]
Liberace sued and settled a similar case in the United States against ''Confidential''. Rumors and gossip magazines frequently implied that Liberace was homosexual throughout his career, which he continued to vehemently deny. A typical issue of ''Confidential'' in 1957 stated "Why Liberace's Theme Song Should Be '[[Mad About the Boy (song)|Mad About the Boy]]!'"<ref name=pyron211>Pyron, 2000, p. 211.</ref>

In 1982, [[Scott Thorson]], Liberace's 22-year-old former chauffeur and alleged live-in lover of five years, sued the pianist for $113&nbsp;million in [[palimony]] after he was dismissed by Liberace.<ref name="news.google.com">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lPgjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L2MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7055,2894925&dq=liberace+denied+homosexual&hl=en Liberace had last laugh on critics by 'crying all the way to the bank'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902140621/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lPgjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L2MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7055,2894925&dq=liberace+denied+homosexual&hl=en |date=September 2, 2024 }} ''The Pittsburgh Press'', February 5, 1987</ref> Liberace continued to deny that he was homosexual, and during court depositions in 1984, he insisted that Thorson was never his lover. The case was settled out of court in 1986, and Thorson received a $95,000 cash settlement plus three cars and three pet dogs worth another $20,000.<ref name="news.google.com"/> Thorson stated after Liberace's death that he settled because he knew that Liberace was dying and that he had intended to sue based on [[Conversion (law)|conversion of property]] rather than [[palimony]]. He later attested that Liberace was a "boring guy" in his private life and mostly preferred to spend his free time cooking, decorating, and playing with his dogs and that he never played the piano outside of his public performances. Thorson said "He (Liberace) had several decorated, ornamental pianos in the various rooms of his house, but he never played them."<ref name="transcripts.cnn.com">[http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/12/lkl.00.html CNN LARRY KING LIVE: Interview With Scott Thorson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180114181858/http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/12/lkl.00.html |date=January 14, 2018 }} CNN, August 12, 2002</ref>

Because Liberace never publicly acknowledged that he was gay, knowledge of his true sexuality was muddled by stories of his friendships and romantic links with women.<ref>{{cite news |last=Kelly |first=Jon |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22099082 |title=What Liberace reveals about the march of gay rights |work=BBC News |date=April 16, 2013 |access-date=June 20, 2018 |archive-date=September 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902140700/https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22099082 |url-status=live }}</ref> He further obscured his sexuality in articles such as "Mature Women Are Best: TV's Top Pianist Reveals What Kind of Woman He'd Marry".<ref name=pyron210>Pyron, 2000, p. 210.</ref>

In a 2011 interview, actress and close friend [[Betty White]] confirmed that Liberace was indeed gay and that she often was used as a "[[Beard (companion)|beard]]" by his managers to counter public rumors of the musician's homosexuality.<ref>{{cite episode |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-wTJ2hQCK8 | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/i-wTJ2hQCK8| archive-date=October 30, 2021|via=YouTube |network=HLN |series=The Joy Behar Show |title=Betty White Interview |date=May 3, 2011 |access-date=March 17, 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>