MODEL AND MUSE: JEFFERY TURNER’S
LIFE WITH JIM FRENCH

I’m looking at a polaroid from 1964, Jeffery tells me it’s a good one. The string posing thong lightly draped over a man’s hole who lays on the edge of a mattress with one leg up on the bed, forearms pressed into the mattress showing off his back muscles. Jeffery goes into more detail describing the male figure and how Jim would have thought of every part of his body and the way the light hit it. The polaroid feels like a painting, it was physically made in that room in 1964 and there’s only one.

I look at that polaroid every morning on the wall of my room and it reminds me of why I do what I do. These men and their beauty are recorded, in the negatives, drawings, and prints of Jim French, which live on longer than they do. Jim French is arguably the most prolific photographer of the male figure, he proved the male nude body a valid subject of art before it was considered such. As someone who believes in high-quality male erotica, Jim’s work will always be the standard and reference for that. His work will always be behind the contemporary in this category and COLT magazine was at the forefront of a culture that lives on today.

Read on below for Chris’ conversation with Jeffery.

BEHROOZIAN: We were curious how you started modeling or when you got into modeling. Also, you could introduce yourself first?

TURNER: Oh, hi, I'm Jeff Turner. I was the husband of Jim French and we're doing an interview here in Palm Springs. Oh, how did I start modeling? I'd always gone to the gym. And I liked being in front of the camera with my clothes off and…

BEHROOZIAN: When did you discover that? That you liked being in front of a camera with your clothes off?

TURNER: Probably in college. You know, like having photographer friends. You know, being homo. So, let's see. I was living in a small town in Georgia with my parents, and this was after college, and I went to visit some friends in Atlanta. And in the midst of those gay magazines was a Jim French magazine. A Colt Man or something like that.

BEHROOZIAN: That was the possibility.

TURNER: Yeah. Because everyone I knew that was gay was not hunky, not what I wanted to clamp onto, you know. California, to be near these guys. And it was Colt magazines. So one day I got a call from Jim French and he said…

BEHROOZIAN: How did you get on his radar?

TURNER: He had seen a photograph. Someone had applied for a job and had photos.

BEHROOZIAN: And you were in them?

TURNER: Yeah, and I was in the media. Of course, I was naked. He said, I want that model. And so he called me up and asked me if I wanted a model for him. I said, yeah. I almost said you don't have to pay me. But I didn't. 

BEHROOZIAN: Were you just waiting for something like that to happen?

TURNER: Yeah. So I was living in San Francisco at the time… and Jimmy lived up on Woodrow Wilson Drive up in Mulholland. He said, “Fly down to Burbank and we'll do like three or four days.” And I said, of course. This was in January 1984. Of course, you don't have a tan… 

BEHROOZIAN: No, not in San Francisco.

TURNER: But it was in LA and it was warm so we could do work outside and there were two sessions outside and two sessions in the studio.

BEHROOZIAN: And was it just you and Jimmy?

TURNER: Yeah, there was an assistant. And the assistant was gorgeous, fucking gorgeous. Well, in any event, I went back to San Francisco, and Jimmy would call me and tell me how the photos were, and we would talk. And we developed a friendship. Of course, Jimmy was the most fascinating man. I knew he was a genius. I knew the work was genius. I was obsessed with it. And so I was young and beautiful and vivacious. And he fell for it. 

BEHROOZIAN: I love that. I love that you saw something when you were living in Georgia and you just went to it. Like, physically went to it.

TURNER: Yeah, yeah. I knew I was perfect for Jimmy. 

BEHROOZIAN: So, then you went back to San Francisco and you kept in touch.

TURNER: Yeah, we talked all the time. And so, he asked me if I wanted to go to Hawaii for a shoot. And so, we did that. And there were these two guys there as assistants. And each one was more beautiful than the other. And one of them fell in love with me, which was fabulous. And Jimmy got jealous. So I knew there was something there. In the moonlight, a full moon, on the beach in Hawaii. It was a cute little house, right on the beach, perfect…

BEHROOZIAN: Was that that picture we saw where there was someone on the porch? 

BEHROOZIAN: That's the same beach. The house that we were at was only there for six months. It got washed away. It was kind of like we had the perfect moment and it had to be erased. Because it was that perfect moment.

BEHROOZIAN: So that was the start of a romantic moment in Hawaii between you two?

TURNER: Yes. In as far as romance between us was. Yes. Jimmy was not a romantic person. He was a very reserved person. 

BEHROOZIAN: And were you a romantic person? Or are you a romantic person? 

TURNER: No. At the time I was, but not now. I did not know how that was going to play out. But it did. And Jimmy and I always loved each other, and we were always one with each other. And we lived for each other. And I guess that's love. It was a big price to pay. Jimmy was a pain in the butt. He was sort of on the spectrum. Because he was a perfectionist.

BEHROOZIAN: I can see that in a lot of creative people. Definitely.

TURNER: And he had his own way of thinking and his own way of making sure he was the center of attention. Because that was necessary. And he deserved it. 

BEHROOZIAN: And I’m assuming his work was almost his everything, but you also fell in love with his work before you fell in love with him, right? So I’m sure that was not an issue.

TURNER: Work was 24 hours. No, I wanted him to be the most he could be — Jim French. Because I thought and still do that he was a genius. I think a thousand years from now we will still be looking at those images. 

BEHROOZIAN: Yeah. We just looked at some of the prints and they're more beautiful than anything I've seen in person or online. The physicality of the prints is so beautiful and the quality and yeah, they will be around. They've already lasted 50 years…

TURNER: The Getty has a few. Hopefully, they will be able to do a show at the Getty. I gave the Getty some notebooks that were filled with Polaroids that Jimmy had put together; kind of like it's an artwork. When I first saw them, I knew that Getty was the place for them, because they needed a little conservation. But they were objects of such great beauty and art of the moment, feeling. This was great work. And I had seen notebooks and whatnot and knew that it fit in, it was good enough to be that. So yeah, I was the perfect person for Jim French and he was the perfect person for me.

BEHROOZIAN: Was he always taking your picture? 

TURNER: No. Only when I modeled for him. I became a possession for him. And sort of a thing to keep in the doghouse.

BEHROOZIAN: In a good way?

TURNER: Well, let me assure you it was a luxurious doghouse. It was a doghouse that anyone would feel like they were living the dream. I modeled for him about three times before the relationship got started.

BEHROOZIAN: But after the relationship started?

TURNER: Yeah. I would go to LA for the weekend and it got to be a regular thing just to go to LA for the weekend. 

BEHROOZIAN: To shoot or just to be with him?

TURNER: Just to be with him.

BEHROOZIAN: Was he the type of photographer who took pictures of his daily life?

TURNER: No. Beside in the studio. That was the only place that he used a camera. People would ask him to. I mean, that happened once or twice a year. It was the smart people that asked to take them, you know? 

BEHROOZIAN: Did you model for other people after that? 

TURNER: No, absolutely not. Unthinkable. 

BEHROOZIAN: So you were his after that.

TURNER: Yeah. And he wanted me to give up going to the gym and all that stuff. 

BEHROOZIAN: Really? Did you?

TURNER: For a while. And then I would go back for a little bit and then something would come up. I was getting older, and older is such a disappointment. So I go through periods of going to the gym and being real serious and then stopping for twenty years. I've picked it up over time. I think this particular time, because I'm working out hard now, yeah it was twenty years before that. Growing older is hard. Especially if you had a vision of yourself physically? And then you look in the mirror. It’s not easy.

BEHROOZIAN: Were you interested in art always? 

TURNER: Always. And it was a particular motif, the male nude. Hercules, Apollo, the cowboy. 

BEHROOZIAN: Oh, the tattoo I'm going to get next week is Hercules. 

TURNER: Which Hercules? 

BEHROOZIAN: It's like Hercules with this other guy. And one of them is grabbing the other's dick. 

TURNER: Yeah that one is in Florence? It's in the Signoria. Yes, I have seen it.

BEHROOZIAN: So you mentioned the male nude. We were looking at all these prints and talking about the 70s and 80s when these prints were made. I feel like there are a lot of artists who made really beautiful male nude art in that period. Do you have any opinions on the current day, do you feel like there's still male nude art being made of that artistic quality?

TURNER: Well, it's easy to say no, but clearly exquisite stuff is being made. Because I see it. I think it is so basic a thing for humans—the male nude. It is the most exquisite, exalted, object/symbol in our lives. I'm not worried about it disappearing. 

BEHROOZIAN: I was gonna say as someone who does make pictures like that, it feels like we already have so much. Like the prints that I'm staring at right now. We already have it all and it's all exquisitely done. But the motivation to make them, I feel like is always there. Like you said, everyone kind of needs that. It's a basic need and a want to make those pictures. 

TURNER: Art is hard. You gotta make it art, and it begins with you, and it's the photographer. It's not the model, it's the photographer.

BEHROOZIAN: It’s probably worth talking about Jimmy's drawings a little bit. Because you said he went to art school for illustration. And the drawings are as detailed and gorgeous as the pictures. They look just like the pictures. Did you say the drawings kinda came first?

TURNER: Yeah. That aesthetic. You're asking what kind of art did Jimmy do before Colt, before the photography? Because photography only started in 1966. He got out of art school in 1954. I think he always was doing male nudes for his own artistic output because he enjoyed doing them. He was an illustrator and people would pay him for that sort of thing. He made money at it. And Jimmy moved in kind of classy circles. Manhattan circles. Actors, you know, that sort of thing. People in the arts, you know. So he was always getting jobs, doing things like that. 

BEHROOZIAN: Did he still draw when you were with him? 

TURNER: No. I tried so hard to get him to draw. Because I thought it was a crime note to. But Jimmy was a piano player as a very young man. He was a very accomplished piano player. But by the time he moved to New York, he stopped playing piano completely and never touched it again. 

BEHROOZIAN: When he did one thing all of his attention was on that one thing. 

TURNER: He did what he wanted to do, no matter what. No matter what, he did what he wanted. He had a great personality and was very funny and could handle any situation. Always in charge. Always in control. It was frustrating.

BEHROOZIAN: What's your goal for your fitness stuff right now? You said you are on a bodybuilding journey.

TURNER: Okay, I'm 71. No matter what I dream up, I will not be able to do that. Because I'm 71. So it will always be a disappointment. 

BEHROOZIAN: Yeah, but you still dreamt up something, and you're working on it.

TURNER: Why live? If not that. It's very disappointing, darling. It's hard work. It's very self-absorbed. 

BEHROOZIAN: Yeah, but there's no reason why you shouldn't be self-absorbed. 

TURNER: Absolutely. There are continuous moments of disappointment and continuous moments of joy and pride. How those two things work out, I don't know. But we're peculiar creatures, aren’t we? 

And I was the mate of Jim French. I’ve got to think about the male figure, even at the age of 71, and make it Colt-like, in my own way. Because I think that's what Jimmy saw in me. Not that I was a perfect Colt model, but he saw in me that thing that he used to draw. Those men who were interested in their bodies. 

BEHROOZIAN: You talked about growing up and seeing Colt magazines. Seeing that world of gay men. What was that like—seeing it, and wanting to be a part, and then you became a part of it?

TURNER: It is in my personality to not be the drum major of the parade, but to be a spectator on the side. I've always felt like a spectator. I did not realize that I was a member of the parade. Now, at this stage in my life, I realize I was in there as much as anyone was in there. And I was the model that stayed. 

In a way, I was chosen by Jim to be the model that stayed. I mean, it didn't happen unless he liked it. And I realized, maybe in the past year, looking at his drawings, that the physique, the body that he was drawing then… the ideal that he was working for was my physique and the way I looked. Now that might be all hubris on my part, but that's what I eventually realized is it is what he envisioned and liked and wanted.