"I’m homosexual… How and why are idle questions. It’s a little like wanting to know why my eyes are green." — Jean Genet

On November 21, 1974, Maharis was arrested and charged with Commission of a Lewd Act after being caught having sex with Perfecto Telles, a 33-year old hairdresser, in the men’s room of a Los Angeles gas station. Police said he was booked on a “sex perversion charge” and released on $500 bail. Maharis had previously been arrested on December 15, 1967, by a vice officer who said the actor had made a pass at him in the men’s room of a Hollywood restaurant; that charge had been dropped when Maharis pleaded guilty to one count of disturbing the peace and paid a $50 fine.