Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson (November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was a gay American actor, famous for his rugged good looks. He was the first major American celebrity known to have died from an AIDS-related illness (specifically, cancer of the lymph glands), and the announcement of his death from the disease at the age of 59 brought it wider public attention in the United States and is said to have pushed long time Hudson friend and then Republican President Ronald Reagan to change his tune on efforts to fight and publicize the epidemic, although it would be a further two years before Reagan mentioned the terms AIDS.

Biography

Early life

Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois to Roy Harold Scherer and Katherine Wood, who divorced in 1929. He was later adopted and acquired the name Roy Fitzgerald. He served in the United States Navy during World War II as an airplane mechanic. He worked as a movie usher and as a truck driver after moving to Los Angeles.

Career

The agent Henry Willson coined his new name, a combination of the Rock of Gibraltar and Hudson River, and Hudson made his debut in a small part in the 1948 film Fighter Squadron, though he required 38 "takes" before successfully delivering his only line in the film. He was further coached in acting, singing, dancing, fencing and horseriding, and he began to feature in film magazines where he was promoted on the basis of his good looks. In 1956 he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Giant, and two years later, Look Magazine named him the Star of the Year. He formed a lasting association with Douglas Sirk, director of "women's pictures": the result was some of Hudson's best screen roles, in the films Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind, and The Tarnished Angels.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Hudson was known for three 'bedroom farces' co-starring Doris Day. The two made Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers together. After his death, fans would note the irony in the fact that in both Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back Hudson played a straight man who would pretend to be girl-shy or even gay in order to get a woman into bed; and in Send Me No Flowers, he played a middle-aged husband who believed he had a medical condition with only a few months to live. He also starred in the 1964 Howard Hawks comedy Man's Favorite Sport?, as an armchair fishing expert. His greatest period of success was from 1957 until 1964, and he appeared on the film exhibitors top 10 list of box office stars every year in this period.

Many consider the finest performance of his career to be that of the young Malibu painter Tony Wilson into whom the elderly New York City banker Arthur Hamilton is transformed in John Frankenheimer's 1966 thriller Seconds. The film, ahead of its time, and lacking the usual glossiness expected of a Hudson film, was a box office flop.

After that his popularity at the cinema diminished, but he was successful on television, where from 1971 to 1978, Hudson starred opposite Susan Saint James, with whom he did not get along, in the popular American television series McMillan and Wife that aired on NBC. There was speculation at the time that Hudson was furious to learn that the well-connected Saint James received a higher salary than he did.

Personal life

Behind the scenes he had homosexual affairs with a number of men, and it was difficult to hide his sexuality from co-workers and the media.

His agent Henry Willson, who was also gay, encouraged Hudson to court and marry Phyllis Gates, Willson's secretary, in 1955. It is thought the studio used this sham marriage to cover up Hudson's homosexuality, which had it been known to the public, would have been a liability at the box office. Although Gates insisted that, for her, the marriage was real, she claimed that eventually she learned that the romance had been arranged, to dispel rumours that Hudson was gay. Not everyone was convinced that Gates was as naive as she seemed, [1], [2]. The couple divorced in 1958, and Gates said that she never saw Hudson again, although bisexual gossip columnist Liz Smith claims Hudson approached her when Gates tried to blackmail him after their divorce. Phyllis Gates died on January 4, 2006, of lung cancer complications.

When journalist Boze Hadleigh asked him, "Rock, do you think you were born gay?" the actor smiled and said, "Probably. But only after I came out of the womb!" Hudson would cruise Hollywood in search of love, demand sexual favors ("the Rock trap") from Willson clients who had landed minor roles in his films, and was a leading player at Henry Willson's pool parties during the late '50s and early '60s. "Rock's sex drive was enormous," said Van Williams, another Willson client. This gave Willson a regular problem, as during the 1950s Confidential magazine was one of the first celebrity gossip magazines, and had a standing offer of $10,000 for stories on Rock. To counter this, and to cope with the volume of Rock's spurned lovers turning up at his office once Hudson became famous, Willson was forced into a series of deals. It is suggested he had on his payroll members of the Los Angeles Police Force, the Mafia and Private Detectives to discreetly "remove" problematic photographs â€" and that J. Edgar Hoover would "take care" of any blackmailers for him. Willson's greatest deal to protect Hudson was when in 1955 he fed Confidential information on the criminal past of his own client Rory Calhoun, and his recently ex-client Tab Hunter — who had been picked up in a raid on a gay party in 1950.

One of Hudson's lovers was the writer Armistead Maupin, who was introduced to Hudson by Jack Coates — another lover. In Armistead Maupin's novel Further Tales of the City, Michael Tolliver links up with a closeted macho icon referred to as Blank Blank, which has been interpreted as a thinly disguised caricature of Rock Hudson. Maupin claims that he changed details to avoid the character being recognised as Hudson.

Death from AIDS

Hudson never publicly acknowledged his homosexuality. However, it was widely rumoured by the early 1980s when he starred on the TV series The Devlin Connection. Production on the series was suspended for a year while Hudson recovered from quintuple bypass heart surgery necessitated by his years of cigarette smoking.

Main title caption from Dynasty December 1984-April 1985 - Hudson's final acting role.

By the time Hudson took a role on the TV series Dynasty, the AIDS virus was consuming him — he had difficulty speaking and had suffered severe memory loss, which forced him to use cue cards. Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS on June 5, 1984, but when the signs of illness became apparent, his publicity staff and doctors told the public that he had liver cancer. It was not until July 25, 1985, that a spokesperson for Hudson finally acknowledged he had AIDS. This had an enormous impact — he was the first famous wealthy person who was a Republican, and a symbol of heterosexuality and who had been struck down with a disease that so many people had tried to ignore. His worldwide search for a cure drew international attention, and he flew to Paris for a blood transfusion, but had to return to America in a 727 jetliner on his own due to the scare stories of the time. In a late press release, he speculated that he got AIDS from the multiple blood transfusions he received when he had undergone a heart bypass. At the time of his operation, blood was not tested for the as-yet unknown HIV antibody.

After Hudson's death on October 2, 1985, Doris Day, widely thought to be a close off-screen friend, said she never knew he was gay. Carol Burnett, who often worked on television and in live theatre with Hudson, was a staunch defender of her friend, telling an interviewer that she knew about his sexuality and did not care. As Morgan Fairchild said, "Rock Hudson's death gave AIDS a face."

Hudson was cremated and his ashes buried at sea.[3] Following the funeral, his partner Marc Christian filed a palimony lawsuit against his estate and won on the grounds of emotional distress caused by Hudson's failure to reveal his positive HIV status. Having been awarded $25 million by the jury, the amount was reduced by the judge to $5 million. The decision was appealed, and Christian won the appeal. But an out-of-court settlement was reached in 1991 rather than the estate losing in the California Supreme Court. Also, in 1991 Christian was interviewed by television host Chris Aable on "Hollywood Today". In the two-episode interview, Marc Christian revealed many details not previously known to the public about himself and Rock Hudson. One such detail was that Hudson often was very quiet and enjoyed being alone with Christian or just a few friends. It was also revealed that Hudson had Marc Christian go out of his way while traveling near downtown Los Angeles, so that the two could meet Michael Jackson while Jackson was filming his award-winning music video, "Thriller". As of 2006, Christian remains HIV negative.

Hudson has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6104 Hollywood Boulevard.

Filmography

Fighter Squadron (1948)
Undertow (1949)
One Way Street (1950)
I Was a Shoplifter (1950)
Peggy (1950)
Winchester '73 (1950)
The Desert Hawk (1950)
Shakedown (1950)
Tomahawk (1951)
Air Cadet (1951)
The Fat Man (1951)
Bright Victory (1951)
Iron Man (1951)
Bend of the River (1952)
Here Come the Nelsons (1952)
Scarlet Angel (1952)
Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952)
Horizons West (1952)
The Lawless Breed (1953)
Seminole (1953)
Sea Devils (1953)
The Golden Blade (1953)
Gun Fury (1953)
Back to God's Country (1953)
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) (narrator)
Taza, Son of Cochise (1954)
Magnificent Obsession (1954)
Bengal Brigade (1954)
Captain Lightfoot (1955)
One Desire (1955)
All That Heaven Allows (1955)
Never Say Goodbye (1956)
Giant (1956)
Written on the Wind (1956)
Battle Hymn (1956)
Something of Value (1957)
A Farewell to Arms (1957)
The Tarnished Angels (1958)
Twilight for the Gods (1958)
This Earth Is Mine (1959)
Pillow Talk (1959)
The Last Sunset (1961)
Come September (1961)
Lover Come Back (1961)
The Spiral Road (1962)
Marilyn (1963) (documentary) (narrator)
A Gathering of Eagles (1963)
Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
Send Me No Flowers (1964)
Strange Bedfellows (1965)
A Very Special Favor (1965)
Blindfold (1965)
Seconds (1966)
Tobruk (1967)
Ice Station Zebra (1968)
A Fine Pair (1969)
The Undefeated (1969)
Darling Lili (1970)
Hornets' Nest (1970)
Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971)
Once Upon a Dead Man (1971) (TVM)
"McMillan and Wife" (1971-1977) (TV series)
Showdown (1973)
Embryo (1976)
"Wheels" (1978) (TV miniseries)
Avalanche (1978)
"The Martian Chronicles" (1980) (TV miniseries)
The Mirror Crack'd (1980)
The Star Maker (1981) (TVM)
World War III (1982) (TVM)
"The Devlin Connection" (1982) (TV series)
The Ambassador (1984)
The Vegas Strip War (1984) (TVM)
"Dynasty" (1984-1985) (TV series)

External links

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* Classic Movies (1939 - 1969): Rock Hudson
* Rock Hudson - A timeline
* Transcript of CNN Larry King Special on Rock Hudson