If you haven't watched Tony Bourdain's show about Jeremiah Tower, you should catch it. It's a two hour special on CNN that aired last night. I recorded it and I'm watching it now. I'm sure you can catch it again. And again.
I'd never heard of Tower, but then I was in Italy when he was famous. He was an odd guy. Born in 1942, his parents still lived a sort of Gilded Age life. They traveled constantly on ocean liners, lived all over the world, often resided in luxury hotels. Once as a kid, Jeremiah was staying in one. When he went down to the dining room, he encountered his parents. Astonished, they asked, "What are you doing here?" He replied, "I live here". Turned out each thought the other had sent him off to school.
He went to Harvard, and then to grad school in architecture there. Eventually, he ran out of money, and ended up doing what he cared most about: cooking. He was--and still is--very, very good looking. Mostly gay, but occasionally bisexual. Though, it seems, never really intimate with anyone.
Fascinating story. There's a pretty good recap here:
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