The revelatn of the doc “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” isn’t the star’s gay proclivi or his double life. It’s that he was fortable all the rol he habed.
Contents:
- ROCK HUDSON'S 'TE LOVE' SPEAKS: HOW WE KEPT OUR GAY LIFE SECRET
- ROCK HUDSON: THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIV OF A GAY HOLLYWOOD IDOL
- ROCK HUDSON WAS HOLLYWOOD’S CLOSETED GAY STAR—AND HE WAS HAPPYALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWEDTHE REVELATN OF THE DOC “ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED” ISN’T THE STAR’S GAY PROCLIVI OR HIS DOUBLE LIFE. IT’S THAT HE WAS FORTABLE ALL THE ROL HE HABED.NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICPUBLISHED JUN. 26, 2023 4:03AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY THOMAS LEVSON/THE DAILY BEAST/GETTY/THE ROCK HUDSON ESTATE COLLECTN/HBOWH HIS MASSIVE 6-FOOT-5-CH AME, SHARP JAWLE, DARK HAIR AND IMPOSSIBLY GOOD LOOKS, ROCK HUDSON ALWAYS STCK ME AS SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAVE MA AN IAL SUPERMAN—A NOTN RERCED BY HIS STOUT-YET-SENSIVE ALL-AMERIN SCREEN PERSONA. OF URSE, HUDSON WOULDN’T HAVE JT LOOKED THE PART OF THE MAN OF STEEL; HE WOULD HAVE UNRSTOOD A CHARACTER WHO HAD A SECRET INTY, SCE THE HOLLYWOOD STAR HIMSELF WAS A MATEE IDOL WHO FAMOLY LIVED HIS ENTIRE PUBLIC LIFE THE CLOSET.ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED IS THE STORY OF THE TWO HUDSONS, ONE FOR THE SPOTLIGHT AND ONE FOR HIS IENDS, LOVERS AND NFIDANTS, AND PERHAPS MOST SURPRISG IS THAT THE PORTRA PRENTS IS NOT OF A TORTURED SOUL BUT OF A MAN, AND ACTOR, WHO WAS FORTABLE ALL THE ROL HE HABED.DIRECTOR STEPHEN KIJAK’S EXCELLENT DOCUMENTARY (PREMIERG JUNE 28 ON HBO, FOLLOWG S BUT AT THE TRIBE FILM FTIVAL) IS, THE END, AN PABLY SAD ONE, GIVEN THAT HUDSON DIED OF PLITNS OM AIDS ON OCT. 2, 1985, AT THE TOO-YOUNG AGE OF 59, TH BEG THE FIRST A-LIST CELEBRY TO FALL VICTIM TO THE EPIMIC. NOHELS, IF THAT SORROW HOVERS OVER S ACTN, NEVER OVERWHELMS .NOWHERE IS THAT MORE APPARENT THAN S DISCSN OF HUDSON’S OWN ATTU TOWARD HAVG TO HI HIS HOMOSEXUALY OM AN DTRY, AND FAN BASE, THAT WOULD NOT TOLERATE . NEVER NFED ABOUT HIS SEXUALY, HUDSON ARRIVED HOLLYWOOD OM WKA, ILLOIS (AFTER A WWII STT THE NAVY) AS A GAY MAN WHO KNEW THE PROVERBIAL SRE, KEEPG HIS PERSONAL PROCLIVI BEHD CLOSED DOORS, AND—WH GUIDANCE AND GROOMG OM AGENT HENRY WILLSON, WHO SHEPHERD HIM AND MANY OTHER QUEER ACTORS THROUGH THIS BEEFKE-Y ERA—PROJECTG HIMSELF FILMS AS THE EMBODIMENT OF NTEMPORARY MASCULY. RATHER THAN TAKG A NVENTNAL TALKG-HEAD APPROACH TO S NON-FICTN BGRAPHY, ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED MELDS VARIED D TERVIEWS WH PHOTOGRAPHS, TEXT DOCUMENTS, TV AND NEWS CLIPS, AND FOOTAGE OM HUDSON’S FILMS. THAT MATERIAL IS FIVE PROOF THAT, AMONG OTHER THGS, HUDSON WAS ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY’S HANDSOMT MEN. MOREOVER, HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST MAGILLY PHOTOGENIC PEOPLE TO EVER STAND BEFORE A MERA, RADIATG SUCH VIBRANT CHARISMA THAT WATCHG ANY SNIPPET OM HIS OVRE IS TO IMMEDIATELY UNRSTAND WHY AGENTS, PRODUCERS AND DIENC WERE WOWED BY HIM. HUDSON IS REFERRED TO THE FILM AS “THE TOM CISE OF HIS DAY,” BUT THAT’S UNRSELLG HIS BETY—HE WAS LIKE A MIDWTERN-BRED VARIATN OF MICHELANGELO’S DAVID. ROCK HUDSON AND LEE GARLGTON PUERTO VALLARTA, 1963.PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTY MART FLAHERTY & THE ROCK HUDSON ESTATE COLLECTN/HBO HE ALSO WASN’T A BAD ACTOR, AS ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED PROV. COLLABORATG WH EDOR CLAIRE DIDIER, DIRECTOR KIJAK SHREWDLY SPLIC TOGETHER MEMORABLE MOMENTS OM NUMERO HUDSON FEATUR, PAYG SPECIAL ATTENTN TO HIS LASTG HS: DOUGLAS SIRK’S MAGNIFICENT OBSSN AND ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, GEE STEVENS’ GIANT, AND JOHN FRANKENHEIMER’S SENDS.BOTH SIRK AND FRANKENHEIMER’S TRIUMPHS ARE STORI ABOUT DIVIDUALS WHOSE PERFECT SURFAC MASK DARKER TTHS ABOUT THEMSELV AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS. CONSEQUENTLY, THEY NTUE TO ROUND AS FICTNAL TAL THAT PARALLEL HUDSON’S REAL-WORLD CIRCUMSTANC. KIJAK FURTHERS SUCH ECHO BY REPEATEDLY CLUDG SNIPPETS OF MOVIE DIALOGUE THAT, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, SPEAKS TO THE FEELGS, OBSTACL AND NFLICTS THAT HUDSON FACED WHILE NAVIGATG HIS IMAGE-CENTRIC HOLLYWOOD I, WHERE TABLOID SNOOPG REQUIRED ARRANGED MARRIAG, CLANSTE RENZVO AND AVOIDG BEG PHOTOGRAPHED WH PARAMOURS. HUDSON WAS FALLY OUTED JULY 1985 URTY OF HIS AIDS DIAGNOSIS—WHICH ULD NO LONGER BE EXCED AS THE BYPRODUCT OF ANOREXIA OR FOOD POISONG—AND ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED TAILS HIS FAL YEARS WH POIGNANCY. DIRECTOR KIJAK, HOWEVER, REF TO FE HUDSON’S LEGACY AS SIMPLY THAT OF A FAMO TALENT WHO WAS TORMENTED BY HIS ABILY TO EXIST AS A PROUDLY GAY MAN. FAR OM A CLICHé, THE HUDSON PICTED HERE IS SOMEONE WHO WAS WELL AWARE OF THE L BY WHICH HE HAD TO PLAY ORR TO THRIVE HOLLYWOOD, AND ACCEPTED THEM WHOUT GREAT ANGER OR AGONY.ACRDG TO THE MANY IENDS AND FLAM TERVIEWED THE DOC, HUDSON WORKED HARD TO MATA A HETEROSEXUAL FAçA FOR THE BENEF OF HIS REER, BUT OTHERWISE ENJOYED A ROBT AND HAPPY SEXUAL AND ROMANTIC LIFE, MUCH OF NDUCTED AT HIS BEVERLY HILLS MANSN (DUBBED “THE CASTLE”), WHERE PARTI AND TRYSTS WERE A EQUENT OCCURRENCE. ROCK HUDSON AT HIS HOME “THE CASTLE” THE 1960S.PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTY HARRY LANGDON JR./HBO THE GREAT REVELATN OF ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED IS THAT HUDSON WAS SEEMGLY AT EASE WH HIS STRADDLG-TWO-UNIVERS CIRCUMSTANC, AND THAT HE DID SO WH APLOMB AND WHOUT GREAT DISMAY. TAL OM THE CY THOR ARMISTEAD MP NOT THAT HUDSON WAS PART OF A PRE-LIBERATN GENERATN THAT TOOK PRI VERG FOR EACH OTHER EVEN AS THEY SUPPORTED THE BURGEONG MOVEMENT, AND KEN MALEY NOT THAT WHEN HE TOOK THE ACTOR TO A GAY SEX CLUB HUDSON WAS NOT ONLY AN ENTHIASTIC PARTICIPANT BUT WAS BLHELY UNPERTURBED WHEN THE PARTNER HE WAS WH CRIED OUT FOR THE ENTIRE TABLISHMENT TO HEAR, “OH MY GOD, ’S ROCK HUDSON!”THERE’S JOY AND HUMOR KIJAK’S FILM, AND RADIAT AS BRILLIANTLY AS HUDSON’S ATTRACTIVENS, AS WHEN A IEND HILARLY REMARKS, "ROCK HAD A SIZABLE DICK, BUT HE TRIED TO PUT THAT THG UP MY ASS AND I ULDN'T DO !” THERE’S NO PG HUDSON’S FATE, THOUGH, AND ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED NCLUS WH A HEART-WRENCHG REP OF HIS ORAL WH AIDS. GUID BY NARRATED PASSAG OM HIS IEND GEE NADAR’S DIARI, THE DOCUMENTARY TOUCH UPON THE TERROR OF THE TIME, AND THE MORS THAT SWIRLED AROUND HUDSON DUE TO HIS TERRATG APPEARANCE—CULMATG WH A GUT SPOT ON DYNASTY THAT MAND HE KISS -STAR LDA EVANS, WHO TODAY RAILS AGAST THE FEARFUL SLANR AND NUENDO THAT ENSUED. A CRIQUE OF THE REAGAN ADMISTRATN IS AN EVABLE PONENT OF THIS CHAPTER, PECIALLY NSIRG THAT HUDSON WAS CLOSE WH FIRST LADY NANCY REAGAN.DIRECTOR KIJAK DON’T TRY TO SUGARAT THE PA THAT EVERYONE FELT ABOUT HUDSON’S MISE, NOR DO HE STRA TO END THGS ON AN OPTIMISTIC NOTE; EVEN IF HIS ATH HELPED RAISE AWARENS ABOUT THE DISEASE, HUDSON’S PASSG WAS AN AWFUL LOSS. WH ARTISTRY AND HONTY, ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED PAYS TRIBUTE TO S SUBJECT, ALLOWG TO FULLY SEE HIS EVERY SI.LIKED THIS REVIEW? SIGN UP TO GET OUR WEEKLY SEE SKIP NEWSLETTER EVERY TUDAY AND FD OUT WHAT NEW SHOWS AND MOVI ARE WORTH WATCHG, AND WHICH AREN’T. NICK SCHAGER
- HOW HOLLYWOOD HID ROCK HUDSON, ITS BIGGT GAY MOVIE STAR
- THE REAL ROCK HUDSON: A MOVG NEW HBO DOC CLAIMS HIM AS A GAY INROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED EXAM THE STAR’S CLOSETED REER—AND THE SIGNIFINCE OF HIM GOG PUBLIC WH HIS AIDS DIAGNOSIS.BY SAVANNAH WALSHJUNE 28, 2023FACEBOOKTWTEREMAILSAVE STORYROCK HUDSON, 1954PHOTOFTSAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEROCK HUDSON HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF UNTLS HEADL, CENTER OF LIFELONG MORS ABOUT HIS SEXUALY, AND KEEPER OF SECRETS THAT FLUENCED BOTH. BUT ABOVE ALL, HE WAS A NSUMMATE PERFORMER—ONSCREEN, BUT MORE VALLY, OFF.“WHEN YOU STRG OUT EVERY ROCK HUDSON TERVIEW PRT AND RAD OR TV, HE GIV YOU NOTHG,” SAYS FILMMAKER STEPHEN KIJAK, WHO PROFIL HUDSON THE DOCUMENTARY ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED, PREMIERG JUNE 27 ON HBO. “THERE’S THIS STRANGE SENSE THAT HE’S BEEN SO REFULLY NTROLLED AND CREATED AND CRAFTED BY THE STUD, BY THE PUBLICISTS, THAT OVER TIME, HIS TE SELF JT GOT PRSED TO THIS LTLE PART THAT WAS JT HIDN OM EVERYBODY. HE NEVER REALLY LETS ALL OUT.” AFTER SEEG ALL THE HEADL TOUTG “ROCK HUDSON’S BIG SECRET,” KIJAK QUIPS, “YOU LOOK AT THE ARTICLE, AND THE SECRET IS HE’S THE WORST TERVIEW HOLLYWOOD.”IN ORR TO GO BEYOND THE FA, KIJAK SOUGHT OUT THE MEN HUDSON’S PRIVATE ORB. “I REALLY WANTED TO GO ABOUT CREATG A GENERATNAL ARC OF MEN WHO WERE HIS LIFE AS LOVERS, IENDS, PLAYMAT, A WG MAN, A STAR, PEOPLE THAT HE REALLY BROUGHT SI,” HE TELLS VANY FAIR. “THE MEN CREATE A PORTRA OF A GENERATN THAT GETS YOU OM THE PRE-STONEWALL DAYS, BEFORE GAY LIBERATN, ALL THE WAY TO THE OTHER SI OF THE AIDS CRISIS. IT’S A VERY TIMATE PORTRA THAT EMERG.”ONCE THE THG HE SHIELD ORR TO PRERVE HIS HOLLYWOOD LEGACY, HUDSON’S QUEER INTY IS NOW A SIGNIFINT PART OF WHY ENDUR. INSPIRED BY MARK RAPPAPORT’S EXPERIMENTAL 1992 DOCUMENTARY ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVI, KIJAK SPLICED SCEN OM EVERYTHG CLUDG GIANT, FOR WHICH HUDSON EARNED AN OSR NOMATN, TO THE PSYCHOLOGIL DRAMA SENDS, A GLOOMY CHANGE OF PACE FOR THE ACTOR, TO ILLUMATE THE PERSON BENEATH THE PERFORMANCE. “WE WANTED TO MANIPULATE THE FILMS TO HAVE THEM NVERSATN WH EACH OTHER,” KIJAK EXPLAS. HE C “ROCK PILLOW TALK SORT OF CISG ROD TAYLOR ANOTHER MOVIE, AND CUTTG THEM TOGETHER TO ALMOST CREATE THIS LTLE QUEER CEMATIC SPACE WHERE ROCK ULD PRENT AS A GAY MAN. IT WAS LIKE SETTG HIM EE A WAY TO SHOW JT A LTLE HT OF WHAT ULD HAVE BEEN.”THIS BE A PARTICULARLY IMPACTFUL EXERCISE WHEN TO HUDSON’S YEARS AS A ROMANTIC EDY LEADG MAN, PARTICULARLY HIS TRILOGY OF FILMS WH DORIS DAY—PILLOW TALK (1959), LOVER COME BACK (1961), AND SEND ME NO FLOWERS (1964). “IN THE FILMS, HE’S A HETEROSEXUAL MAN WHO’S PRETENDG TO BE GAY OR AT LEAST EFFEMATE ORR TO WOO DORIS DAY, SO SHE N TURN AROUND AND TRY TO NVERT HIM,” KIJAK SAYS. “IT’S THIS WEIRD HOE OF MIRRORS WHERE, ALL OF A SUDN, THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF TENTNALY AROUND SCREWG WH THE NARRATIVE AND PUTTG HIS QUEERNS ALMOST ON FULL DISPLAY, WHICH IS UNHEARD OF A WAY. IT HAS TO HAVE BEEN AN ACCINT. OR WAS ?”MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIV/GETTY IMAGBORN ROY HAROLD SCHERER JR. WKA, ILLOIS, THE WOULD-BE ACTOR WAS RENAMED AND GIVEN A RIGORO MAKEOVER BY HIS PREDATORY AGENT HENRY WILLSON, A DYNAMIC ON DISPLAY RYAN MURPHY’S NETFLIX SERI HOLLYWOOD. HUDSON WAS PLIC SELLG HIS REFULLY NSTCTED IMAGE, KIJAK SAYS: “HIS BIG DREAM IS TO BE A MOVIE STAR, AND I N’T IMAGE WHAT MT HAVE BEEN LIKE. HE HAD NO TRAG. ALL OF A SUDN HE’S A NTRACT PLAYER AT UNIVERSAL, AND THERE’S THIS WHOLE MACHE CREATG THIS PERSONA FOR YOU. HE PLETELY, OBVLY, HAS TO BE PLIC , AND HE MT HAVE LOVED . HE WAS LLED THE BARON OF BEEFKE.”BUT HUDSON ALSO HAD TO NAVIGATE THE MIDCENTURY HOLLYWOOD MEDIA LANDSPE WH ABSOLUTE PRECISN. MOVIE MAGAZ LIKE PHOTOPLAY PATED HIM AS A QUTSENTIAL STRAIGHT MAN AND WONRED WHEN HE WOULD WALK DOWN THE AISLE. “FANS ARE URGG 29-YEAR-OLD HUDSON TO GET MARRIED—OR EXPLA WHY NOT,” LIFE MAGAZE WROTE OF S 1955 VER STAR. IN ANSWER TO THAT QUTN, WILLSON BROKERED A MARRIAGE BETWEEN HIS SECRETARY, PHYLLIS GAT, AND HUDSON, WHICH TOOK PLACE JT EIGHT DAYS SHY OF THE ACTOR’S 30TH BIRTHDAY. THEY WOULD DIVORCE LS THAN THREE YEARS LATER, AND GAT WOULD EVENTUALLY WRE A TELL-ALL SUGGTG SHE KNEW NOTHG OF HUDSON’S SEXUALY. THIS, HUDSON BGRAPHER MARK GRIFF HAS SAID, “IS REALLY HARD TO SWALLOW GIVEN THE FACT THAT VIRTUALLY EVERY B PLAYER, MAKP MAN, ASSISTANT GOPHER AT UNIVERSAL KNEW THE SRE ABOUT ROCK HUDSON. HOW DID SHE POSSIBLY MISS THE MEMO?”HUDSON’S SEXUALY WAS A SOURCE OF UNBRIDLED SPECULATN FOR TABLOIDS SUCH AS CONFINTIAL MAGAZE, WHICH “REALLY JT WANTED TO OUT PEOPLE AS GAY, AS MI, AS DNKS, AS SLUTS—I MEAN, WHATEVER WAS, THEY JT WANTED TO TRASH EVERYBODY,” SAYS KIJAK. ENTER WILLSON WH THE DAMAGE NTROL—THIS TIME, THE FORM OF FELLOW CLIENT TAB HUNTER, WHOSE SECRETS WERE SACRIFICED ORR TO SHIELD THE MORE SUCCSFUL HUDSON AGAST AN IMPENDG EXPOSé.MOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHTHE ELVIS PRLEY WE DIDN’T SEE ELVISBY KATEY RICHSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYAS MUCH AS HUDSON WAS A PRODUCT OF THE HOLLYWOOD SYSTEM, HE MANAGED TO FD A REPRIEVE OM WH THE BEVERLY HILLS MANSN HE NICKNAMED “THE CASTLE.” WH THOSE WALLS, HUDSON WAS ABLE TO RETREAT OM THE SPOTLIGHT AND LEAD A LIFE MOST WEREN’T PRIVY TO—EXCEPT FOR MANY OF THE MEN TERVIEWED BY KIJAK AND GRIFF, WHO OPENED HIS ARCHIV OM REARCHG HIS BOOK TO THE FILMMAKER.KIJAK MANAG TO FILTRATE THAT PRIVATE LIFE SOMETIM SHOCKGLY DIRECT TAIL. IN THE DOC, ONE FORMER IEND, JOE CARBERRY, RELAT THAT HUDSON’S PENIS WAS TOO “SIZABLE” FOR THE PLACE THEY HAD MD. “TO HAVE AN 80-SOMETHG-YEAR-OLD MAN TALKG ABOUT THOSE TERMS WAS KD OF HILAR,” KIJAK TELLS ME. “IN PRIVATE, [HUDSON] WAS JT SORT OF LOOSE AND EE. THE FUN PART OF TALKG TO THE MEN IS TO REVEAL THAT, THE AGE BEFORE EVERYONE HAD A MERA THEIR PHONE, YOU ULD HAVE THIS DOUBLE LIFE AND LIVE WHOUT FEAR OF BEG REVEALED.”ROCK HUDSON AND LEE GARLGTON (PUERTO VALLARTA, 1963)A FAVORE TERVIEW FOR KIJAK’S WAS WH LEE GARLGTON, ONE OF HUDSON’S MORE LONG-TERM PARTNERS OM THE ’60S. “IT’S SO HEARTBREAKG—HE’S HAD A FEW MORE STROK SCE WE TALKED TO HIM, AND HE N’T REALLY TALK ANYMORE,” SAYS THE FILMMAKER. “WE KD OF GOT THAT LAST TERVIEW OF SOMEONE THAT HAD KNOWN HIM THAT LONG AND HAD BEEN REALLY TIMATE.”IN HIS SENR YEARS, GRIFF TOLD NPR 2018, “ROCK MAY HAVE EVEN SERLY ENTERTAED THE NOTN OF G OUT—ME CLOSE BUT DIDN’T QUE GET THERE.” ONE ADVOTE WAS TAL OF THE CY THOR ARMISTEAD MP, A IEND OF HUDSON’S WHO ADMS THE FILM TO OPERATG WH PEOPLE MAGAZE ON A PIECE NFIRMG HUDSON’S SEXUALY ONCE AND FOR ALL. “WHEN YOU SEE THAT [FILM PRODUCER] ROSS HUNTER, ROCK’S BT PAL, WAS A GAY MAN WHO HAD A LONG-TERM LIFE PARTNER WHO STILL WAS REFG TO ADM ROCK WAS GAY EVEN AFTER ROCK DIED, YOU SEE HOW PLETELY SLAMMED TO THE CLOSET THIS GENERATN WAS,” KIJAK SAYS. WHILE NOT ALL MEN OPERATED THIS WAY, FOR MANY, “KEEPG THE SECRET WAS SOME KD OF BADGE OF HONOR,” HE EXPLAS, ADDG, “THEY THOUGHT WHAT ARMISTEAD DID BY SPEAKG OPENLY ABOUT WAS TREASONO, WHEN FACT WAS 100% THE RIGHT THG TO DO AT THE TIME GIVEN WHAT WAS GOG ON WH AIDS.”ANOTHER GENERATNAL DIVI BETWEEN HUDSON AND MANY OF THE QUEER MEN THAT ME AFTER HIM? HE WAS A REGISTERED REPUBLIN. “HE WAS AN OLR, SUCCSFUL, CLOSETED, WHE MAN. WHAT DO HE HAVE TO LOSE ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM?” KIJAK ASKS. “ROCK’S A RNY OLD-FASHNED DU, AND HIM AND HIS IENDS, THE OLR THEY GOT, THE SQUARE-ER THEY BEME. THEY WEREN’T HIP, THEY WEREN’T OL. HE WAS, I THK, A ‘SMALL R’ REPUBLIN. HE WAS JT NSERVATIVE SOCIALLY AND CULTURALLY, NOTHG LIKE THE REPUBLINS OF OUR DAY.”IT WAS HUDSON’S CLOSE IENDSHIP WH NANCY REAGAN THAT ADVERTENTLY LED TO HIS AIDS DIAGNOSIS. AFTER ATTENDG A PARTY AT THE WHE HOE 1984, THE ACTOR WAS SENT PHOTOS OM THE EVENT ALONG WH A NOTE URGG HIM TO GET A MOLE ON HIS NECK CHECKED. BY JUNE OF THAT YEAR, HE WAS DIAGNOSED—NOT THAT THE REAGANS WOULD EVER TERVENE ON HUDSON’S OR ANY OTHER AIDS PATIENT’S BEHALF. “HIS PALS, NANCY AND RON, TURN THEIR BACK ON HIM AND ALL OF THE HIV/AIDS MUNY,” KIJAK SAYS. “THERE’S A LOT OF BLOOD ON RONALD REAGAN’S HANDS. JT BEE THEY WERE IENDS WH ROCK, DIDN’T MAKE ONE DIFFERENCE.”AS REUNTED THE DOCUMENTARY, WHILE PRIVATELY SUFFERG OM AIDS, HUDSON PLAYED A RECURRG ROLE ON DYNASTY. “MULTIPLE NARRATIV [WERE] BEG SPUN” TO EXCE THE ACTOR’S TERRATG PHYSIL HEALTH, KIJAK SAYS, BUT HUDSON WAS NEVERTHELS HORRIFIED TO DISVER HE’D HAVE TO KISS STAR LDA EVANS DURG A TIME OF FULL-BLOWN HYSTERIA ABOUT THE VIS. “KISSG SCEN, CLOSE NTACT, EVERYTHG IS JT—’S PANIC MO. BEE NO ONE KNEW THE SCIENCE,” KIJAK SAYS. HUDSON REFED TO OPEN HIS MOUTH DURG THE KISS, RSG WH MOUTHWASH -BETWEEN TAK. “IT MAK ME CRY BEE I KNOW HE WAS PROTECTG ME,” EVANS SAYS THE FILM.AFTER HUDSON’S AIDS DIAGNOSIS WAS DISCLOSED, SOME OF EVANS’S STARS REFED TO FILM WH HER. “THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO WOULDN’T WORK WH ME, AND SO THEY HAD TO CHANGE SCEN BEE I MIGHT HAVE AIDS,” SHE NTU. “I HAD PERSONAL IENDS WHO WOULDN’T E OVER TO DNER.… I THOUGHT, WHERE’S YOUR HUMANY OR WHERE’S YOUR PASSN? WHAT’S WRONG WH THIS WORLD RIGHT NOW?”ROCK ON VATN PUERTO VALLARTA (PHOTO URTY OF LEE GARLGTON).MOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHTHE ELVIS PRLEY WE DIDN’T SEE ELVISBY KATEY RICHSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYBY JULY 25, 1985, HUDSON WAS PARIS RECEIVG EXPERIMENTAL HPA-23 TREATMENTS. WH HE PRS CROWD OUTSI THE ACTOR’S HOSPAL, HUDSON’S PUBLICIST ANNOUNCED HE HAD AIDS, MAKG HIM THE MOST FAMO PERSON EVER TO ANNOUNCE HE HAD NTRACTED THE STIGMATIZED VIS AND IMPLICLY NFIRMG HIS SEXUALY. “I AM NOT HAPPY THAT I AM SICK,” HUDSON SAID A STATEMENT A MONTH BEFORE HIS ATH OCTOBER 1985. “I AM NOT HAPPY THAT I HAVE AIDS, BUT IF THAT IS HELPG OTHERS, I N, AT LEAST, KNOW THAT MY OWN MISFORTUNE HAS HAD SOME POSIVE WORTH.”IN ATH, HUDSON BEME AN “ACCINTAL ACTIVIST,” THE ORIGAL TLE OF THE DOCUMENTARY. “ROCK HUDSON, OUR PARAGON OF HETEROSEXUALY, EVERY HOEWIV’ HEARTTHROB, YOUR MOTHER’S FAVORE ACTOR, WAS GAY AND HAD AIDS. THAT WAS A NVERSATN NOBODY WAS HAVG” BEFORE HUDSON’S DIAGNOSIS, KIJAK EXPLAED. “IT ALLOWED TO SLIP TO THE MASTREAM AND BY ALL ACUNTS, FUNDRAISG FOR AIDS REARCH DOUBLED, TRIPLED, QUADPLED. IT WAS A HUGE TALYST FOR CHANGE.”THE VALUE REAMG HUDSON’S LIFE PERSISTS, KIJAK TELLS ME AT THE END OF OUR NVERSATN. “WE HAVE TO NSTANTLY KEEP TELLG THE STORI, CREATG OPENNS AROUND GAY LIV, BEE, AS WE SEE FLORIDA AND MANY PARTS OF OUR UNTRY, WE’RE THIS VIC BACKSLI WH QUEER RIGHTS AND VLENCE AGAST GAY PEOPLE AND TRANS PEOPLE.” HE NCLUS, “I DON’T KNOW IF WE’RE RECLAIMG, OR JT CLAIMG ROCK AS ONE OF OUR GAY INS.”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, INHERG GRACELAND, AND MORETE CRIME, TE FAH: THE SERIAL KILLER AND THE TEXAS MOM WHO STOPPED HIMCAN YOU NAME THE FILM THAT LNCHED BRIE LARSON, RAMI MALEK, AND MORE?THE ABSOLUTELY WILST DETAILS OF THE GOVERNMENT’S LATT INDICTMENT AGAST DONALD TMPIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMERINSI ETON COLLEGE, HARRY AND WILLIAM’S POSH ALMA MATERTHE 25 BT SHOWS ON NETFLIX TO WATCH RIGHT NOWFROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)SAVANNAH WALSH
- STT D. PIERCE: ROCK HUDSON WAS A GAY IN, BUT HE WAS NO HERO
- ROCK HUDSON’S WIFE SECRETLY RERD HIS GAY CONFSN
ROCK HUDSON'S 'TE LOVE' SPEAKS: HOW WE KEPT OUR GAY LIFE SECRET
A new HBO documentary explor the public and private worlds of the actor who was Hollywood's epome of heterosexual sire while livg a closeted gay liftyle, who 1985 beme the first celebry to die of AIDS. * rock gay hudson *
"He was the biggt movie star the world, and the mors were that he was gay, " he says. But now, his new HBO documentary, "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, " Kijak explor Hudson's whole life, as a global star, and closeted gay man. "In real life, Hudson was datg men, like Lee Garlgton, who the documentary relled, "We were orred never to have our picture taken together, bee somebody would know that we were gay.
ROCK HUDSON: THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIV OF A GAY HOLLYWOOD IDOL
* rock gay hudson *
In an archival terview Day said, "Many, many people would ask me, you know, 'Is Rock Hudson really gay? Although Hollywood’s stud system and midcentury mor prevented him om g out publicly, the Osr-nomated star had multiple gay lovers, as the new film chronicl tail.
But, he add, “Jam Dean was kept by a gay rad executive who was ed iends wh Rock's agent Henry Willson, ” the Hollywood sir rponsible for groomg Hudson and other former soldiers and sailors to macho matee idols. After three years of marriage, Hudson’s wife Phyllis Gat claimed she didn’t know he was gay.
When reports of Hudson’s sexual orientatn fally reached mastream news followg his ath, Griff said that Gat “claimed after that she was duped, ” havg no ia all along he was fact gay. Nowhere is that more apparent than s discsn of Hudson’s own attu toward havg to hi his homosexualy om an dtry, and fan base, that would not tolerate .
ROCK HUDSON WAS HOLLYWOOD’S CLOSETED GAY STAR—AND HE WAS HAPPYALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWEDTHE REVELATN OF THE DOC “ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED” ISN’T THE STAR’S GAY PROCLIVI OR HIS DOUBLE LIFE. IT’S THAT HE WAS FORTABLE ALL THE ROL HE HABED.NICK SCHAGERENTERTAMENT CRICPUBLISHED JUN. 26, 2023 4:03AM EDT PHOTO ILLTRATN BY THOMAS LEVSON/THE DAILY BEAST/GETTY/THE ROCK HUDSON ESTATE COLLECTN/HBOWH HIS MASSIVE 6-FOOT-5-CH AME, SHARP JAWLE, DARK HAIR AND IMPOSSIBLY GOOD LOOKS, ROCK HUDSON ALWAYS STCK ME AS SOMEONE WHO WOULD HAVE MA AN IAL SUPERMAN—A NOTN RERCED BY HIS STOUT-YET-SENSIVE ALL-AMERIN SCREEN PERSONA. OF URSE, HUDSON WOULDN’T HAVE JT LOOKED THE PART OF THE MAN OF STEEL; HE WOULD HAVE UNRSTOOD A CHARACTER WHO HAD A SECRET INTY, SCE THE HOLLYWOOD STAR HIMSELF WAS A MATEE IDOL WHO FAMOLY LIVED HIS ENTIRE PUBLIC LIFE THE CLOSET.ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED IS THE STORY OF THE TWO HUDSONS, ONE FOR THE SPOTLIGHT AND ONE FOR HIS IENDS, LOVERS AND NFIDANTS, AND PERHAPS MOST SURPRISG IS THAT THE PORTRA PRENTS IS NOT OF A TORTURED SOUL BUT OF A MAN, AND ACTOR, WHO WAS FORTABLE ALL THE ROL HE HABED.DIRECTOR STEPHEN KIJAK’S EXCELLENT DOCUMENTARY (PREMIERG JUNE 28 ON HBO, FOLLOWG S BUT AT THE TRIBE FILM FTIVAL) IS, THE END, AN PABLY SAD ONE, GIVEN THAT HUDSON DIED OF PLITNS OM AIDS ON OCT. 2, 1985, AT THE TOO-YOUNG AGE OF 59, TH BEG THE FIRST A-LIST CELEBRY TO FALL VICTIM TO THE EPIMIC. NOHELS, IF THAT SORROW HOVERS OVER S ACTN, NEVER OVERWHELMS .NOWHERE IS THAT MORE APPARENT THAN S DISCSN OF HUDSON’S OWN ATTU TOWARD HAVG TO HI HIS HOMOSEXUALY OM AN DTRY, AND FAN BASE, THAT WOULD NOT TOLERATE . NEVER NFED ABOUT HIS SEXUALY, HUDSON ARRIVED HOLLYWOOD OM WKA, ILLOIS (AFTER A WWII STT THE NAVY) AS A GAY MAN WHO KNEW THE PROVERBIAL SRE, KEEPG HIS PERSONAL PROCLIVI BEHD CLOSED DOORS, AND—WH GUIDANCE AND GROOMG OM AGENT HENRY WILLSON, WHO SHEPHERD HIM AND MANY OTHER QUEER ACTORS THROUGH THIS BEEFKE-Y ERA—PROJECTG HIMSELF FILMS AS THE EMBODIMENT OF NTEMPORARY MASCULY. RATHER THAN TAKG A NVENTNAL TALKG-HEAD APPROACH TO S NON-FICTN BGRAPHY, ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED MELDS VARIED D TERVIEWS WH PHOTOGRAPHS, TEXT DOCUMENTS, TV AND NEWS CLIPS, AND FOOTAGE OM HUDSON’S FILMS. THAT MATERIAL IS FIVE PROOF THAT, AMONG OTHER THGS, HUDSON WAS ONE OF THE 20TH CENTURY’S HANDSOMT MEN. MOREOVER, HE WAS ONE OF THE MOST MAGILLY PHOTOGENIC PEOPLE TO EVER STAND BEFORE A MERA, RADIATG SUCH VIBRANT CHARISMA THAT WATCHG ANY SNIPPET OM HIS OVRE IS TO IMMEDIATELY UNRSTAND WHY AGENTS, PRODUCERS AND DIENC WERE WOWED BY HIM. HUDSON IS REFERRED TO THE FILM AS “THE TOM CISE OF HIS DAY,” BUT THAT’S UNRSELLG HIS BETY—HE WAS LIKE A MIDWTERN-BRED VARIATN OF MICHELANGELO’S DAVID. ROCK HUDSON AND LEE GARLGTON PUERTO VALLARTA, 1963.PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTY MART FLAHERTY & THE ROCK HUDSON ESTATE COLLECTN/HBO HE ALSO WASN’T A BAD ACTOR, AS ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED PROV. COLLABORATG WH EDOR CLAIRE DIDIER, DIRECTOR KIJAK SHREWDLY SPLIC TOGETHER MEMORABLE MOMENTS OM NUMERO HUDSON FEATUR, PAYG SPECIAL ATTENTN TO HIS LASTG HS: DOUGLAS SIRK’S MAGNIFICENT OBSSN AND ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, GEE STEVENS’ GIANT, AND JOHN FRANKENHEIMER’S SENDS.BOTH SIRK AND FRANKENHEIMER’S TRIUMPHS ARE STORI ABOUT DIVIDUALS WHOSE PERFECT SURFAC MASK DARKER TTHS ABOUT THEMSELV AND THEIR ENVIRONMENTS. CONSEQUENTLY, THEY NTUE TO ROUND AS FICTNAL TAL THAT PARALLEL HUDSON’S REAL-WORLD CIRCUMSTANC. KIJAK FURTHERS SUCH ECHO BY REPEATEDLY CLUDG SNIPPETS OF MOVIE DIALOGUE THAT, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, SPEAKS TO THE FEELGS, OBSTACL AND NFLICTS THAT HUDSON FACED WHILE NAVIGATG HIS IMAGE-CENTRIC HOLLYWOOD I, WHERE TABLOID SNOOPG REQUIRED ARRANGED MARRIAG, CLANSTE RENZVO AND AVOIDG BEG PHOTOGRAPHED WH PARAMOURS. HUDSON WAS FALLY OUTED JULY 1985 URTY OF HIS AIDS DIAGNOSIS—WHICH ULD NO LONGER BE EXCED AS THE BYPRODUCT OF ANOREXIA OR FOOD POISONG—AND ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED TAILS HIS FAL YEARS WH POIGNANCY. DIRECTOR KIJAK, HOWEVER, REF TO FE HUDSON’S LEGACY AS SIMPLY THAT OF A FAMO TALENT WHO WAS TORMENTED BY HIS ABILY TO EXIST AS A PROUDLY GAY MAN. FAR OM A CLICHé, THE HUDSON PICTED HERE IS SOMEONE WHO WAS WELL AWARE OF THE L BY WHICH HE HAD TO PLAY ORR TO THRIVE HOLLYWOOD, AND ACCEPTED THEM WHOUT GREAT ANGER OR AGONY.ACRDG TO THE MANY IENDS AND FLAM TERVIEWED THE DOC, HUDSON WORKED HARD TO MATA A HETEROSEXUAL FAçA FOR THE BENEF OF HIS REER, BUT OTHERWISE ENJOYED A ROBT AND HAPPY SEXUAL AND ROMANTIC LIFE, MUCH OF NDUCTED AT HIS BEVERLY HILLS MANSN (DUBBED “THE CASTLE”), WHERE PARTI AND TRYSTS WERE A EQUENT OCCURRENCE. ROCK HUDSON AT HIS HOME “THE CASTLE” THE 1960S.PHOTOGRAPH BY COURTY HARRY LANGDON JR./HBO THE GREAT REVELATN OF ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED IS THAT HUDSON WAS SEEMGLY AT EASE WH HIS STRADDLG-TWO-UNIVERS CIRCUMSTANC, AND THAT HE DID SO WH APLOMB AND WHOUT GREAT DISMAY. TAL OM THE CY THOR ARMISTEAD MP NOT THAT HUDSON WAS PART OF A PRE-LIBERATN GENERATN THAT TOOK PRI VERG FOR EACH OTHER EVEN AS THEY SUPPORTED THE BURGEONG MOVEMENT, AND KEN MALEY NOT THAT WHEN HE TOOK THE ACTOR TO A GAY SEX CLUB HUDSON WAS NOT ONLY AN ENTHIASTIC PARTICIPANT BUT WAS BLHELY UNPERTURBED WHEN THE PARTNER HE WAS WH CRIED OUT FOR THE ENTIRE TABLISHMENT TO HEAR, “OH MY GOD, ’S ROCK HUDSON!”THERE’S JOY AND HUMOR KIJAK’S FILM, AND RADIAT AS BRILLIANTLY AS HUDSON’S ATTRACTIVENS, AS WHEN A IEND HILARLY REMARKS, "ROCK HAD A SIZABLE DICK, BUT HE TRIED TO PUT THAT THG UP MY ASS AND I ULDN'T DO !” THERE’S NO PG HUDSON’S FATE, THOUGH, AND ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED NCLUS WH A HEART-WRENCHG REP OF HIS ORAL WH AIDS. GUID BY NARRATED PASSAG OM HIS IEND GEE NADAR’S DIARI, THE DOCUMENTARY TOUCH UPON THE TERROR OF THE TIME, AND THE MORS THAT SWIRLED AROUND HUDSON DUE TO HIS TERRATG APPEARANCE—CULMATG WH A GUT SPOT ON DYNASTY THAT MAND HE KISS -STAR LDA EVANS, WHO TODAY RAILS AGAST THE FEARFUL SLANR AND NUENDO THAT ENSUED. A CRIQUE OF THE REAGAN ADMISTRATN IS AN EVABLE PONENT OF THIS CHAPTER, PECIALLY NSIRG THAT HUDSON WAS CLOSE WH FIRST LADY NANCY REAGAN.DIRECTOR KIJAK DON’T TRY TO SUGARAT THE PA THAT EVERYONE FELT ABOUT HUDSON’S MISE, NOR DO HE STRA TO END THGS ON AN OPTIMISTIC NOTE; EVEN IF HIS ATH HELPED RAISE AWARENS ABOUT THE DISEASE, HUDSON’S PASSG WAS AN AWFUL LOSS. WH ARTISTRY AND HONTY, ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED PAYS TRIBUTE TO S SUBJECT, ALLOWG TO FULLY SEE HIS EVERY SI.LIKED THIS REVIEW? SIGN UP TO GET OUR WEEKLY SEE SKIP NEWSLETTER EVERY TUDAY AND FD OUT WHAT NEW SHOWS AND MOVI ARE WORTH WATCHG, AND WHICH AREN’T. NICK SCHAGER
Never nfed about his sexualy, Hudson arrived Hollywood om Wka, Illois (after a WWII stt the Navy) as a gay man who knew the proverbial sre, keepg his personal proclivi behd closed doors, and—wh guidance and groomg om agent Henry Willson, who shepherd him and many other queer actors through this beefke-y era—projectg himself films as the embodiment of ntemporary than takg a nventnal talkg-head approach to s non-fictn bgraphy, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed melds varied d terviews wh photographs, text documents, TV and news clips, and footage om Hudson’s films. Director Kijak, however, ref to fe Hudson’s legacy as simply that of a famo talent who was tormented by his abily to exist as a proudly gay man. Tal om the Cy thor Armistead Mp not that Hudson was part of a pre-liberatn generatn that took pri verg for each other even as they supported the burgeong movement, and Ken Maley not that when he took the actor to a gay sex club Hudson was not only an enthiastic participant but was blhely unperturbed when the partner he was wh cried out for the entire tablishment to hear, “Oh my God, ’s Rock Hudson!
HOW HOLLYWOOD HID ROCK HUDSON, ITS BIGGT GAY MOVIE STAR
The fact that Fzgerald was gay wasn’t an issue — this was Hollywood, after all — though he’d have to make sure he kept a secret. Rince that beme a stop and a safe space for the dtry’s gay muny. So much of Hudson’s story as a gay man revolv around his ath, which the last third of All That Heaven Allowed ep-div to the name of patg Hudson as “a reluctant activist.
THE REAL ROCK HUDSON: A MOVG NEW HBO DOC CLAIMS HIM AS A GAY INROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED EXAM THE STAR’S CLOSETED REER—AND THE SIGNIFINCE OF HIM GOG PUBLIC WH HIS AIDS DIAGNOSIS.BY SAVANNAH WALSHJUNE 28, 2023FACEBOOKTWTEREMAILSAVE STORYROCK HUDSON, 1954PHOTOFTSAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEROCK HUDSON HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF UNTLS HEADL, CENTER OF LIFELONG MORS ABOUT HIS SEXUALY, AND KEEPER OF SECRETS THAT FLUENCED BOTH. BUT ABOVE ALL, HE WAS A NSUMMATE PERFORMER—ONSCREEN, BUT MORE VALLY, OFF.“WHEN YOU STRG OUT EVERY ROCK HUDSON TERVIEW PRT AND RAD OR TV, HE GIV YOU NOTHG,” SAYS FILMMAKER STEPHEN KIJAK, WHO PROFIL HUDSON THE DOCUMENTARY ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED, PREMIERG JUNE 27 ON HBO. “THERE’S THIS STRANGE SENSE THAT HE’S BEEN SO REFULLY NTROLLED AND CREATED AND CRAFTED BY THE STUD, BY THE PUBLICISTS, THAT OVER TIME, HIS TE SELF JT GOT PRSED TO THIS LTLE PART THAT WAS JT HIDN OM EVERYBODY. HE NEVER REALLY LETS ALL OUT.” AFTER SEEG ALL THE HEADL TOUTG “ROCK HUDSON’S BIG SECRET,” KIJAK QUIPS, “YOU LOOK AT THE ARTICLE, AND THE SECRET IS HE’S THE WORST TERVIEW HOLLYWOOD.”IN ORR TO GO BEYOND THE FA, KIJAK SOUGHT OUT THE MEN HUDSON’S PRIVATE ORB. “I REALLY WANTED TO GO ABOUT CREATG A GENERATNAL ARC OF MEN WHO WERE HIS LIFE AS LOVERS, IENDS, PLAYMAT, A WG MAN, A STAR, PEOPLE THAT HE REALLY BROUGHT SI,” HE TELLS VANY FAIR. “THE MEN CREATE A PORTRA OF A GENERATN THAT GETS YOU OM THE PRE-STONEWALL DAYS, BEFORE GAY LIBERATN, ALL THE WAY TO THE OTHER SI OF THE AIDS CRISIS. IT’S A VERY TIMATE PORTRA THAT EMERG.”ONCE THE THG HE SHIELD ORR TO PRERVE HIS HOLLYWOOD LEGACY, HUDSON’S QUEER INTY IS NOW A SIGNIFINT PART OF WHY ENDUR. INSPIRED BY MARK RAPPAPORT’S EXPERIMENTAL 1992 DOCUMENTARY ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVI, KIJAK SPLICED SCEN OM EVERYTHG CLUDG GIANT, FOR WHICH HUDSON EARNED AN OSR NOMATN, TO THE PSYCHOLOGIL DRAMA SENDS, A GLOOMY CHANGE OF PACE FOR THE ACTOR, TO ILLUMATE THE PERSON BENEATH THE PERFORMANCE. “WE WANTED TO MANIPULATE THE FILMS TO HAVE THEM NVERSATN WH EACH OTHER,” KIJAK EXPLAS. HE C “ROCK PILLOW TALK SORT OF CISG ROD TAYLOR ANOTHER MOVIE, AND CUTTG THEM TOGETHER TO ALMOST CREATE THIS LTLE QUEER CEMATIC SPACE WHERE ROCK ULD PRENT AS A GAY MAN. IT WAS LIKE SETTG HIM EE A WAY TO SHOW JT A LTLE HT OF WHAT ULD HAVE BEEN.”THIS BE A PARTICULARLY IMPACTFUL EXERCISE WHEN TO HUDSON’S YEARS AS A ROMANTIC EDY LEADG MAN, PARTICULARLY HIS TRILOGY OF FILMS WH DORIS DAY—PILLOW TALK (1959), LOVER COME BACK (1961), AND SEND ME NO FLOWERS (1964). “IN THE FILMS, HE’S A HETEROSEXUAL MAN WHO’S PRETENDG TO BE GAY OR AT LEAST EFFEMATE ORR TO WOO DORIS DAY, SO SHE N TURN AROUND AND TRY TO NVERT HIM,” KIJAK SAYS. “IT’S THIS WEIRD HOE OF MIRRORS WHERE, ALL OF A SUDN, THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF TENTNALY AROUND SCREWG WH THE NARRATIVE AND PUTTG HIS QUEERNS ALMOST ON FULL DISPLAY, WHICH IS UNHEARD OF A WAY. IT HAS TO HAVE BEEN AN ACCINT. OR WAS ?”MICHAEL OCHS ARCHIV/GETTY IMAGBORN ROY HAROLD SCHERER JR. WKA, ILLOIS, THE WOULD-BE ACTOR WAS RENAMED AND GIVEN A RIGORO MAKEOVER BY HIS PREDATORY AGENT HENRY WILLSON, A DYNAMIC ON DISPLAY RYAN MURPHY’S NETFLIX SERI HOLLYWOOD. HUDSON WAS PLIC SELLG HIS REFULLY NSTCTED IMAGE, KIJAK SAYS: “HIS BIG DREAM IS TO BE A MOVIE STAR, AND I N’T IMAGE WHAT MT HAVE BEEN LIKE. HE HAD NO TRAG. ALL OF A SUDN HE’S A NTRACT PLAYER AT UNIVERSAL, AND THERE’S THIS WHOLE MACHE CREATG THIS PERSONA FOR YOU. HE PLETELY, OBVLY, HAS TO BE PLIC , AND HE MT HAVE LOVED . HE WAS LLED THE BARON OF BEEFKE.”BUT HUDSON ALSO HAD TO NAVIGATE THE MIDCENTURY HOLLYWOOD MEDIA LANDSPE WH ABSOLUTE PRECISN. MOVIE MAGAZ LIKE PHOTOPLAY PATED HIM AS A QUTSENTIAL STRAIGHT MAN AND WONRED WHEN HE WOULD WALK DOWN THE AISLE. “FANS ARE URGG 29-YEAR-OLD HUDSON TO GET MARRIED—OR EXPLA WHY NOT,” LIFE MAGAZE WROTE OF S 1955 VER STAR. IN ANSWER TO THAT QUTN, WILLSON BROKERED A MARRIAGE BETWEEN HIS SECRETARY, PHYLLIS GAT, AND HUDSON, WHICH TOOK PLACE JT EIGHT DAYS SHY OF THE ACTOR’S 30TH BIRTHDAY. THEY WOULD DIVORCE LS THAN THREE YEARS LATER, AND GAT WOULD EVENTUALLY WRE A TELL-ALL SUGGTG SHE KNEW NOTHG OF HUDSON’S SEXUALY. THIS, HUDSON BGRAPHER MARK GRIFF HAS SAID, “IS REALLY HARD TO SWALLOW GIVEN THE FACT THAT VIRTUALLY EVERY B PLAYER, MAKP MAN, ASSISTANT GOPHER AT UNIVERSAL KNEW THE SRE ABOUT ROCK HUDSON. HOW DID SHE POSSIBLY MISS THE MEMO?”HUDSON’S SEXUALY WAS A SOURCE OF UNBRIDLED SPECULATN FOR TABLOIDS SUCH AS CONFINTIAL MAGAZE, WHICH “REALLY JT WANTED TO OUT PEOPLE AS GAY, AS MI, AS DNKS, AS SLUTS—I MEAN, WHATEVER WAS, THEY JT WANTED TO TRASH EVERYBODY,” SAYS KIJAK. ENTER WILLSON WH THE DAMAGE NTROL—THIS TIME, THE FORM OF FELLOW CLIENT TAB HUNTER, WHOSE SECRETS WERE SACRIFICED ORR TO SHIELD THE MORE SUCCSFUL HUDSON AGAST AN IMPENDG EXPOSé.MOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHTHE ELVIS PRLEY WE DIDN’T SEE ELVISBY KATEY RICHSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYAS MUCH AS HUDSON WAS A PRODUCT OF THE HOLLYWOOD SYSTEM, HE MANAGED TO FD A REPRIEVE OM WH THE BEVERLY HILLS MANSN HE NICKNAMED “THE CASTLE.” WH THOSE WALLS, HUDSON WAS ABLE TO RETREAT OM THE SPOTLIGHT AND LEAD A LIFE MOST WEREN’T PRIVY TO—EXCEPT FOR MANY OF THE MEN TERVIEWED BY KIJAK AND GRIFF, WHO OPENED HIS ARCHIV OM REARCHG HIS BOOK TO THE FILMMAKER.KIJAK MANAG TO FILTRATE THAT PRIVATE LIFE SOMETIM SHOCKGLY DIRECT TAIL. IN THE DOC, ONE FORMER IEND, JOE CARBERRY, RELAT THAT HUDSON’S PENIS WAS TOO “SIZABLE” FOR THE PLACE THEY HAD MD. “TO HAVE AN 80-SOMETHG-YEAR-OLD MAN TALKG ABOUT THOSE TERMS WAS KD OF HILAR,” KIJAK TELLS ME. “IN PRIVATE, [HUDSON] WAS JT SORT OF LOOSE AND EE. THE FUN PART OF TALKG TO THE MEN IS TO REVEAL THAT, THE AGE BEFORE EVERYONE HAD A MERA THEIR PHONE, YOU ULD HAVE THIS DOUBLE LIFE AND LIVE WHOUT FEAR OF BEG REVEALED.”ROCK HUDSON AND LEE GARLGTON (PUERTO VALLARTA, 1963)A FAVORE TERVIEW FOR KIJAK’S WAS WH LEE GARLGTON, ONE OF HUDSON’S MORE LONG-TERM PARTNERS OM THE ’60S. “IT’S SO HEARTBREAKG—HE’S HAD A FEW MORE STROK SCE WE TALKED TO HIM, AND HE N’T REALLY TALK ANYMORE,” SAYS THE FILMMAKER. “WE KD OF GOT THAT LAST TERVIEW OF SOMEONE THAT HAD KNOWN HIM THAT LONG AND HAD BEEN REALLY TIMATE.”IN HIS SENR YEARS, GRIFF TOLD NPR 2018, “ROCK MAY HAVE EVEN SERLY ENTERTAED THE NOTN OF G OUT—ME CLOSE BUT DIDN’T QUE GET THERE.” ONE ADVOTE WAS TAL OF THE CY THOR ARMISTEAD MP, A IEND OF HUDSON’S WHO ADMS THE FILM TO OPERATG WH PEOPLE MAGAZE ON A PIECE NFIRMG HUDSON’S SEXUALY ONCE AND FOR ALL. “WHEN YOU SEE THAT [FILM PRODUCER] ROSS HUNTER, ROCK’S BT PAL, WAS A GAY MAN WHO HAD A LONG-TERM LIFE PARTNER WHO STILL WAS REFG TO ADM ROCK WAS GAY EVEN AFTER ROCK DIED, YOU SEE HOW PLETELY SLAMMED TO THE CLOSET THIS GENERATN WAS,” KIJAK SAYS. WHILE NOT ALL MEN OPERATED THIS WAY, FOR MANY, “KEEPG THE SECRET WAS SOME KD OF BADGE OF HONOR,” HE EXPLAS, ADDG, “THEY THOUGHT WHAT ARMISTEAD DID BY SPEAKG OPENLY ABOUT WAS TREASONO, WHEN FACT WAS 100% THE RIGHT THG TO DO AT THE TIME GIVEN WHAT WAS GOG ON WH AIDS.”ANOTHER GENERATNAL DIVI BETWEEN HUDSON AND MANY OF THE QUEER MEN THAT ME AFTER HIM? HE WAS A REGISTERED REPUBLIN. “HE WAS AN OLR, SUCCSFUL, CLOSETED, WHE MAN. WHAT DO HE HAVE TO LOSE ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM?” KIJAK ASKS. “ROCK’S A RNY OLD-FASHNED DU, AND HIM AND HIS IENDS, THE OLR THEY GOT, THE SQUARE-ER THEY BEME. THEY WEREN’T HIP, THEY WEREN’T OL. HE WAS, I THK, A ‘SMALL R’ REPUBLIN. HE WAS JT NSERVATIVE SOCIALLY AND CULTURALLY, NOTHG LIKE THE REPUBLINS OF OUR DAY.”IT WAS HUDSON’S CLOSE IENDSHIP WH NANCY REAGAN THAT ADVERTENTLY LED TO HIS AIDS DIAGNOSIS. AFTER ATTENDG A PARTY AT THE WHE HOE 1984, THE ACTOR WAS SENT PHOTOS OM THE EVENT ALONG WH A NOTE URGG HIM TO GET A MOLE ON HIS NECK CHECKED. BY JUNE OF THAT YEAR, HE WAS DIAGNOSED—NOT THAT THE REAGANS WOULD EVER TERVENE ON HUDSON’S OR ANY OTHER AIDS PATIENT’S BEHALF. “HIS PALS, NANCY AND RON, TURN THEIR BACK ON HIM AND ALL OF THE HIV/AIDS MUNY,” KIJAK SAYS. “THERE’S A LOT OF BLOOD ON RONALD REAGAN’S HANDS. JT BEE THEY WERE IENDS WH ROCK, DIDN’T MAKE ONE DIFFERENCE.”AS REUNTED THE DOCUMENTARY, WHILE PRIVATELY SUFFERG OM AIDS, HUDSON PLAYED A RECURRG ROLE ON DYNASTY. “MULTIPLE NARRATIV [WERE] BEG SPUN” TO EXCE THE ACTOR’S TERRATG PHYSIL HEALTH, KIJAK SAYS, BUT HUDSON WAS NEVERTHELS HORRIFIED TO DISVER HE’D HAVE TO KISS STAR LDA EVANS DURG A TIME OF FULL-BLOWN HYSTERIA ABOUT THE VIS. “KISSG SCEN, CLOSE NTACT, EVERYTHG IS JT—’S PANIC MO. BEE NO ONE KNEW THE SCIENCE,” KIJAK SAYS. HUDSON REFED TO OPEN HIS MOUTH DURG THE KISS, RSG WH MOUTHWASH -BETWEEN TAK. “IT MAK ME CRY BEE I KNOW HE WAS PROTECTG ME,” EVANS SAYS THE FILM.AFTER HUDSON’S AIDS DIAGNOSIS WAS DISCLOSED, SOME OF EVANS’S STARS REFED TO FILM WH HER. “THERE WERE PEOPLE WHO WOULDN’T WORK WH ME, AND SO THEY HAD TO CHANGE SCEN BEE I MIGHT HAVE AIDS,” SHE NTU. “I HAD PERSONAL IENDS WHO WOULDN’T E OVER TO DNER.… I THOUGHT, WHERE’S YOUR HUMANY OR WHERE’S YOUR PASSN? WHAT’S WRONG WH THIS WORLD RIGHT NOW?”ROCK ON VATN PUERTO VALLARTA (PHOTO URTY OF LEE GARLGTON).MOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHTHE ELVIS PRLEY WE DIDN’T SEE ELVISBY KATEY RICHSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYBY JULY 25, 1985, HUDSON WAS PARIS RECEIVG EXPERIMENTAL HPA-23 TREATMENTS. WH HE PRS CROWD OUTSI THE ACTOR’S HOSPAL, HUDSON’S PUBLICIST ANNOUNCED HE HAD AIDS, MAKG HIM THE MOST FAMO PERSON EVER TO ANNOUNCE HE HAD NTRACTED THE STIGMATIZED VIS AND IMPLICLY NFIRMG HIS SEXUALY. “I AM NOT HAPPY THAT I AM SICK,” HUDSON SAID A STATEMENT A MONTH BEFORE HIS ATH OCTOBER 1985. “I AM NOT HAPPY THAT I HAVE AIDS, BUT IF THAT IS HELPG OTHERS, I N, AT LEAST, KNOW THAT MY OWN MISFORTUNE HAS HAD SOME POSIVE WORTH.”IN ATH, HUDSON BEME AN “ACCINTAL ACTIVIST,” THE ORIGAL TLE OF THE DOCUMENTARY. “ROCK HUDSON, OUR PARAGON OF HETEROSEXUALY, EVERY HOEWIV’ HEARTTHROB, YOUR MOTHER’S FAVORE ACTOR, WAS GAY AND HAD AIDS. THAT WAS A NVERSATN NOBODY WAS HAVG” BEFORE HUDSON’S DIAGNOSIS, KIJAK EXPLAED. “IT ALLOWED TO SLIP TO THE MASTREAM AND BY ALL ACUNTS, FUNDRAISG FOR AIDS REARCH DOUBLED, TRIPLED, QUADPLED. IT WAS A HUGE TALYST FOR CHANGE.”THE VALUE REAMG HUDSON’S LIFE PERSISTS, KIJAK TELLS ME AT THE END OF OUR NVERSATN. “WE HAVE TO NSTANTLY KEEP TELLG THE STORI, CREATG OPENNS AROUND GAY LIV, BEE, AS WE SEE FLORIDA AND MANY PARTS OF OUR UNTRY, WE’RE THIS VIC BACKSLI WH QUEER RIGHTS AND VLENCE AGAST GAY PEOPLE AND TRANS PEOPLE.” HE NCLUS, “I DON’T KNOW IF WE’RE RECLAIMG, OR JT CLAIMG ROCK AS ONE OF OUR GAY INS.”MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, INHERG GRACELAND, AND MORETE CRIME, TE FAH: THE SERIAL KILLER AND THE TEXAS MOM WHO STOPPED HIMCAN YOU NAME THE FILM THAT LNCHED BRIE LARSON, RAMI MALEK, AND MORE?THE ABSOLUTELY WILST DETAILS OF THE GOVERNMENT’S LATT INDICTMENT AGAST DONALD TMPIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMERINSI ETON COLLEGE, HARRY AND WILLIAM’S POSH ALMA MATERTHE 25 BT SHOWS ON NETFLIX TO WATCH RIGHT NOWFROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)SAVANNAH WALSH
” The benef of this look back is that wants you to know what Hudson’s life as a gay man was like as well, and that is where the rrective part . Like some of his clients, Willson was also gay and had to be discreet about his sexualy.
Griff told NPR 2018, "It was fairly well-known that if you were a Henry Willson client, as Tony Curtis once exprsed , you probably had to sexually exprs yourself to Henry, " addg that the agent's bs operated as a "gay stg uch, if you will. Dpe his public image, Hudson was out as gay wh his Hollywood circl. "We all knew Rock was gay, but never ma any difference to , " she said.
“The men create a portra of a generatn that gets you om the pre-Stonewall days, before gay liberatn, all the way to the other si of the AIDS crisis. He c “Rock Pillow Talk sort of cisg Rod Taylor another movie, and cuttg them together to almost create this ltle queer cematic space where Rock uld prent as a gay man.
STT D. PIERCE: ROCK HUDSON WAS A GAY IN, BUT HE WAS NO HERO
“In the films, he’s a heterosexual man who’s pretendg to be gay or at least effemate orr to woo Doris Day, so she n turn around and try to nvert him, ” Kijak says. ”Hudson’s sexualy was a source of unbridled speculatn for tabloids such as Confintial magaze, which “really jt wanted to out people as gay, as mi, as dnks, as sluts—I mean, whatever was, they jt wanted to trash everybody, ” says Kijak.
(Mart Flaherty & The Rock Hudson Estate Collectn/HBO) Rock Hudson, left, and his iend/lover Lee Garlgton Puerto Vallarta Pri month wds down, we’re gettg another gay-themed documentary om HBO and Max — “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” — on the timg is a ltle b … well … odd. Hudson remas a gay in, but he most fely was not a heroic figure. Whatever good he did for the gay muny was spe of his actns, not bee of them.
ROCK HUDSON’S WIFE SECRETLY RERD HIS GAY CONFSN
It was only bee of that all-ntrollg stud system that Hudson’s homosexualy didn’t bee a mastream news documentary is load wh clips om the actor’s film and TV rol, matchg the clip to the narrative. Like a clip om “A Farewell to Arms” when Elizabeth Taylor tells Hudson, “You’re gog down to town tomorrow and fd yourself some gay young playmate.
And Hudson never admted that he was gay — other people outed him. (Photoft | HBO) Rock Hudson ’s iend/ai wrote his diary that the admissn of the AIDS diagnosis and implied admissn of his homosexualy was the “orchtrated atn of Rock Hudson’s life. Beg gay wasn’t jt socially unacceptable, was illegal most of Ameri and believed to be a mental illns.
Instead, he died a victim of both AIDS and homophobia. On January 21, 1958, Rock Hudson‘s wife nonted him, mandg to know if he was gay and grillg the actor about a Rorschach tt he had taken.