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Rock Hudson is an iconic name from the roster of stars who ruled over Hollywood's Golden Age in the 1950s and 60s. HBO just dropped a documentary, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, which will encompass the star's life and death, exploring everything in between.
Rock Hudson first stepped into the career of acting in 1948 at the age of 23, and soon became a sough-after actor in the industry because of his innate charm, deep voice, and handsome looks. His career spanned over 30 years, during which he starred in multiple films and worked with other famous artists to churn out blockbusters.
Born in Illinois in 1925, Rock Hudson came from a mixed descent of German, Swiss, Irish, and English ancestry, and was originally named Roy Harold Scherer Jr. His initial interest in acting came about in his teenage years while working as an usher in a theater.
After graduating from high school in 1943, he enlisted with the US Navy during World War II and served as an aircraft mechanic till 1946. After that he moved to Los Angeles and started working towards his dream of becoming an actor while working odd jobs on the side. This is when he adapted the screen name of Rock Hudson, an amalgamation of the Rock of Gibraltor and the Hudson River.
Although he was one of the leading stars of his era, his real life was not as picture perfect as his onscreen persona's. A not-so-ideal childhood, a disguised s*xuality and a tragic death - Hudson had to face all of these and more.
Some of the biggest things we got to know about Rock Hudson from HBO's documentary
1) Hudson was a "man-izer"
Rock Hudson was known for his on-screen persona which oozed innate charm and machismo, paired with his natural good looks and towering physique. Alongside this, he was also popular among the masses as a womanizer who had a very active s*xual lifestyle with the opposite gender, mostly because of tabloid journalism.
However, his s*xuality was released to the public knowledge not long after his death. While the public came to know about his homos*xual lifestyle only after he died, his colleagues and close friends were aware of it for a long time.
Hudson apparently had relationships with multiple boyfriends, mostly young and pretty men. According to the documentary, he even had a contact in West Hollywood who could procure him handsome companions in a jiffy.
2) His wife did not know he was gay
Although he was really gay, Rock Hudson kept up the facade of being a heteros*xual man because of the conservative and draconian ideals in Hollywood at the time. When his straight man image was threatened by Confidential magazine, Hudson even agreed to an arranged marriage with Phyllis Gates, the secretary to his agent Henry Willson, to keep things under cover.
The couple were married for three years, from 1955 to 1958, before they parted ways. As per the documentary, when Hudson's s*xuality was revealed post his death, Gate said that she was unaware of this during their marriage, and that she was duped from the very beginning.
However, the fact that Rock Hudson was gay was very well-known among his friends and anybody working in the Hollywood industry, according to Mark Griffin, Hudson's biographer.
3) Hudson's last onscreen kiss
One of Hudson's last on-screen roles was in ABC's prime time soap opera, Dynasty. He played the role of Daniel Reece, a wealthy and powerful businessman and a romantic interest for Linda Evans' character, Krystle Carrington.
Their romance involved a kissing scene. However, with Hudson's AIDS diagnosis, the scene became a problem. The thing that made it more complicated was that nobody knew about it. Hudson apparently took a lot of precautions for the scene, washing his mouth multiple times and not opening his mouth for the kiss.
But when his AIDS diagnosis became public, Evans also faced a lot of alienation, both in her professional and personal life. Nobody wanted to associate with her, in fear that she might have contracted the disease from Hudson.
4) Hudson did not like James Dean
The HBO documentary covererd a lot of ground on his homos*xual lifestyle and the aspects surrounding it. However, one of the more detached things that the documentary also revealed was the actor's relationship with co-star James Dean. The pair worked together in George Stevens' 1956 epic western, Giant.
In a 1983 interview, Hudson talked about how he was not very fond of James Dean:
"Jimmy was new and hot. I didn't particularly like him, personally."
Dean, himself, was also not very fond of Hudson. He was against the actor's false portrayal of his s*xuality to the public, while apparently hitting on him behind the screen. According to Griffin, Dean was also keeping a similar secret from the public, as he was with a gay radio executive. To this day, Dean is often believed to be either bisexual or homosexual by many.
5) Nancy Reagan did not help Hudson at the time of his need
Rock Hudson became aware of his diagnosis in 1984 after he went for a routine checkup about a irritation on his neck. The actor decided to keep working for the time being, while trying experimental treatment in France. During the next few months, his health detoriorated exponentially and he had to blame anorexia for his condition.
But when he fainted at the Ritz Hotel in France, it attracted international attention to the actor's condition. He tried to get admitted to the Percy's Army Training Hospital, but was denied because of his non-French nationality. When his publicist Dale Olsen contacted Nancy Reagan, wife to former French President Ronald Reagan, to intervene, her staff denied to get involved in the matter.
Despite being acquaintances for a long time, she turned away Hudson's request because of the kind of backlash the Presidency would have to face once his real ailment was revealed to the public.
Behind the glamour and fame of the silver screen, Rock Hudson led quite a tragic life. From facing family issues at his very early childhood, to leading his life donning a fake persona, Hudson's life was not all roses.
HBO's documentary on the Golden Age star covers the ups and downs of his life with archival footage, never-before-seen interviews, and exclusives from his close friends. Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed premiered on June 28 and is currently available to stream on HBO Max.
