Liberace's Lover, 'Behind the Candelabra' Author Scott Thorson Dies at 65

Liberace's younger lover Scott Thorson, whose memoir "Behind the Candelabra" was adapted into the 2013 HBO movie, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 65, reports say.

"Thorson's affiliation with Liberace (whose full name was Władziu Valentino Liberace) started when he was 18 and Liberace was 57," British newspaper the Daily Mail reported, citing TMZ.

"Thorson died on August 16," TMZ detailed, adding that Thorson had "been a patient at an L.A. healthcare facility, where he had been dealing with cancer and a heart condition."

The celebrity news site went on to recall that "Thorson was hired as Liberace's personal friend and companion when he was 18 and the icon was 57 - which kicked off their 5-year romance."

However, TMZ added, "Thorson got fired from his gig in '82 - and then hit Liberace with a $113 million lawsuit ... which ended up being the first same-sex palimony suit ever filed in the U.S."

TMZ noted that Liberace denied the nature of his relationship with Thorson and insisted that he was not gay. A year after he settled with Thorson out of court, the site added, the famously flamboyant pianist "died... from HIV/AIDS-related complications."

"In the settlement, Thorson got a total of $75,000 cash, three vehicles and three dogs, which had a value of $20,000," the Daily Mail detailed, citing Variety, before going on to note that Thorson's book alleged "that Liberace had funded numerous plastic surgery procedures so that Thorson would resemble a younger Liberace, such as a a chin implant and nose job."

Thorson "said that [his] problems with drugs were in part due to the multiple surgeries he had at Liberace's asking, as he was taking drugs such as quaaludes, amphetamine, cocaine and Demerol in the wake of the medical procedures," the Mail added, again citing Variety.

Variety noted that Thorson had been "a key witness in the trial for the 1981 killings known as the Wonderland Massacre," in which five people were attacked in a private residence, with four of them being killed. The victims were known to be involved with drugs, and suspicion fell on nightclub owner Eddie Nash, whose own residence had been burgled - allegedly by some or all of the victims of the so-called massacre. A porn actor called John Holmes was thought to have informed on the murder victims. Thorson wrote in "Behind the Candelabra" that he had seen Holmes being subjected to torture at Nash's home to force him to talk.

Thorson's memoir hit the shelves in 1988, and the rest is history. There was a Steven Soderbergh-directed adaptation that starred Michael Douglas as the closeted showman and Matt Damon as his lover.

Cheyenne Jackson, Debbie Reynolds, Dan Aykroyd, and Rob Lowe also starred in the film.

"The motion picture was a huge hit with critics," the Mail recalled, "garnering Douglas a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television and nominations for Damon and Lowe."

Watch the 2013 film's trailer below.