Actor Robert Wagner, who co-starred with Webb in the films "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Titanic" and considered the actor one of his mentors, stated in his memoirs, "Pieces of My Heart: A Life", that "Clifton Webb was gay, of course, but he never made a pass at me, not that he would have". According to a book that was published more than 40 years after Webb's death, his sexual orientation was frequently alluded to through many veiled references in entertainment newspaper columns, though the book does not provide digital scans of any of them.