Rock Hudson: The public and private liv of a gay Hollywood idol - CBS News

Contents:

• ROCK HUDSON'S 'TE LOVE' SPEAKS: HOW WE KEPT OUR GAY LIFE SECRET
• 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 POPULARSARA RAMIREZ ISSU STHG RPONSE TO ANTI–CHE DIAZ PROFILEBY SAVANNAH WALSH25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISIS IT TIME TO GET EXCED ABOUT THE BACHELOR AGA?BY SAVANNAH WALSHAS 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 POPULARSARA RAMIREZ ISSU STHG RPONSE TO ANTI–CHE DIAZ PROFILEBY SAVANNAH WALSH25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISIS IT TIME TO GET EXCED ABOUT THE BACHELOR AGA?BY SAVANNAH WALSHBY 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 HIMTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALWHY THE GEIA INDICTMENT AGAST TMP AND HIS ALLI IS THE MOST SWEEPG YETIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMER25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSA NEW SLIM AARONS BOOK CAPTUR A LOST WORLDFROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)SAVANNAH WALSH
• ROCK HUDSON: THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIV OF A GAY HOLLYWOOD IDOL
• HE SLEPT WH CARY GRANT AND SPENCER TRACY—AND CHANGED HOLLYWOOD HISTORY‘PIMP TO THE STARS’STTY BOWERS RAN A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN AND SLEPT WH DOZENS OF HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS. INSI HIS ‘SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD’ AND WHY WE SHOULD BELIEVE HIS STORI.KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDUPDATED OCT. 28, 2018 8:13AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 25, 2018 5:10AM EDT ABOUT 45 MUT TO THE NEW DOCUMENTARY STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD, THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE MONOLOGUE YOU’LL EVER HEAR IS LIVERED. AND ’S ALL TE. ALLEGEDLY.“I FUCKED BETTE DAVIS WORLD WAR II WHEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO A GUY. I ED TO FIX HER UP WH TRICKS, AND WE ED TO HAVE THREE-WAY ALS. I WENT TO BED WH J. EDGAR HOOVER. HE WAS DRAG. HE WAS NOT A GREAT BETY EHER, YOU KNOW, BUT I WAS TREATG HIM JT LIKE HE WAS A GIRL.” STTY BOWERS, NOW 95 AND MORE THAN 60 YEARS PAST HIS PRIME AS THE SO-LLED “PIMP TO THE STARS,” GRS MISCHIEVOLY AS HE LOOSENS THE TAP, NTUG HIS LUGE OF SECRETS.“ONE DAY CARY GRANT WAS THE GAS STATN AND ROCK HUDSON JT HAPPENED TO BE THERE, SO CARY GRANT PICKED HIM UP. I FIXED HIM UP WH ROCK FOR 20 BUCKS, AND ROCK SAW HIM SEVERAL TIM. THIS IS BEFORE ROCK HAD ANY MOVIE. LRENCE OLIVIER AND VIVIEN LEIGH, I NEVER TRICKED THEM TOGETHER. I WOULD FIX THEM UP WH GUYS, AND THEN I WOULD SEE HER AT GARY COOPER’S HOE. SHE WOULD E AND QUIETLY OPEN THE GATE AND BE LIKE, ‘SHH.’ TEN MUT LATER I’M FUCKG HER AND SHE’S SCREAMG.” AFTER SPENDG TWO YEARS FOLLOWG BOWERS FOR THE CEMA VERé-STYLE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE GREGAR FORMER SEX WORKER, FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER LGHS, SUMMARIZG THE UNIQUE AND ACTUALLY PROFOUND APPEAL OF THE SUBJECT OF HIS MOVIE. “THIS IS SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO HAVE JT NOT BEEN H WH THE SHAME STICK AND NOT BURNED WH FEELGS OF GUILT,” TYRNER SAYS, SPEAKG OVER FFEE AT MANHATTAN’S NOMAD HOTEL THE WEEK BEFORE THE FILM’S RELEASE. “HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT STILLED. HE SEEMED TO LIVE AN EXEMPLARY LIFE TERMS OF BEG EE OF SHAME AND GUILT. THAT ULD BE A LSON FOR ALL OF .”PERHAPS UNEXPECTEDLY, LSONS ABOUND STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. TYRNER BEGAN FILMG BOWERS FOLLOWG THE RELEASE OF HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, A JUICY TELL-ALL REUNTG HIS TIME OPERATG A BROTHEL, OF SORTS, OUT OF A GAS STATN ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD STARTG THE LATE 1940S AND FALLY RETIRG S LATER, DURG THE AIDS CRISIS. AS BOWERS TELLS , HE SLEPT WH SPENCER TRACY, VIVIEN LEIGH, CARY GRANT, AND THE DE OF WDSOR—THE ABDITED KG EDWARD VIII. THE LIST OF STARS HE ALLEGEDLY SET UP WH PROSTUT READS LIKE A STROLL DOWN THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: TENNSEE WILLIAMS, CHARL LGHTON, VCENT PRICE, KATHARE HEPBURN, GLORIA SWANSON, NOëL COWARD, ROCK HUDSON, COLE PORTER, AND MORE.WHEN BOWERS RELEASED HIS BOOK, SENTIALLY OUTG GRANT, TRACY, AND HEPBURN, AMONG OTHERS, AS GAY OR BISEXUAL, CRICS RANGG OM SUAL REARS TO BARBARA WALTERS BLASTED HIM FOR SPREADG SALAC STORI ABOUT LONG-AD SUBJECTS WHO ULDN’T FEND THEMSELV OR QUTN THEIR VERACY. THAT WAS OUT OF RPECT, BOWERS CLAIMS. THEY WEREN’T HIS SECRETS TO TELL WHEN THEY WERE ALIVE, BUT NOW THAT THEY’RE GONE, HE THKS THEY N’T HURT THEM. BUT NOW THAT TYRNER IS GIVG BOWERS ANOTHER PLATFORM, SIAR CRICISMS ARE BEG AIRED AGA. IN A NEW YORK TIM PIECE ABOUT TYRNER AND THE FILM, NOTED FILM SCHOLAR JEANE BASGER—WHO HAPPENED TO BE THE CHAIR OF TYRNER’S FILM SCHOOL AND CLASHED WH HIM THERE—VERBALLY SFFS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY’S PURSU. “THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE EXPRSN, ‘PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE,’” SHE SAYS. “PERSONALLY, I’M MORE TERTED THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE THAN THEIR POSSIBLE OFF-SCREEN SHENANIGANS.” AS SEVERAL ENTERTAMENT JOURNALISTS, CLUDG BUZZFEED’S KATE AURTHUR AND VANY FAIR’S REBEC KEEGAN, WERE QUICK TO POT OUT ON TWTER, THAT OPN IS HORSH. TYRNER SPECTS BASGER DIDN’T SEE THE FILM, PECIALLY SCE SHE SEEMS TO IGNORE S ENTIRE POT. THE REASON BOWERS HAS STORI TO TELL IS BEE THE ACTORS WERE PTIV OF A HOLLYWOOD STUD SYSTEM THAT WEAPONIZED MORAL CLS, NTRACTUALLY PREVENTG THEM OM LIVG THEIR THENTIC LIV. “THEY WERE VICTIMS OF A CERTA KD OF PERSECUTN,” TYRNER SAYS. THEY WENT TO STTY BEE PAYG SEX WORKERS WAS THEIR ONLY OPTN, PECIALLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN, WHOSE SAME-SEX PAS WERE AT ODDS WH THE HETERONORMATIVE IMAG OF THEM MANUFACTURED BY STUDS. TO CLAIM TO BE TERTED THAT ERA OF HOLLYWOOD BUT NOT THE WAYS THAT THE ACTORS NAVIGATED THEIR SEXUALY IS SANE. IT’S NOT GOSSIP. IT’S BGRAPHY. IT’S ANTHROPOLOGY. IT’S OUR HISTORY. “FOR SOME REASON OUR CULTURE IS WILLG TO DISMISS THE FULL BGRAPHI OF ALL OF THE CHARACTERS AS BEG SHENANIGANS,” TYRNER SAYS. “TAKE CARAVAGG, FOR STANCE. IF YOU’RE AN ART SCHOLAR, DO YOU JT WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO THE PATG STUD? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO WHEN HE WASN’T HOLDG A PATBSH? IS THAT NOT RELEVANT TO WHO CARAVAGG WAS? SO WHY DO WE DISMISS TAILS ABOUT WHAT KATHARE HEPBURN AND SPENCER TRACY WERE UP TO OFF-SCREEN?”STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD ISN’T A TELL-ALL. TYRNER LLS AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIM OUR UNTRY’S HISTORY, THE STORY OF HOLLYWOOD AND THE IMAGE MACHE, WHICH CHANGED THE WAY WE ALL PERCEIVE OURSELV AND THE WORLD. LOOKG AT THE HOLLYWOOD SYSTEM AND THE IMAGE FACTORY THROUGH THE LENS OF A SEX WORKER TO THE STARS ULDN’T BE MORE RELEVANT. “IF STTY HAD BEEN OPERATG A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN D MO, IOWA, WOULD BE A FUN, TERTG, MAYBE RELEVANT STORY, BUT WOULDN’T HAVE THE OPERATIC LOTN AND NARRATIVE THAT THIS MOVIE HAS,” TYRNER SAYS.CRICIZG BOWERS’ STORI AS TRIVIAL PARED TO THE ACTORS’ ON-SCREEN WORK IGNOR THE FACT THAT THEIR PRIVATE LIV WERE OFTEN SCRIPTED BY STUDS AND THEY WERE FORCED TO PERFORM THOSE NARRATIV ORR TO NTUE THAT ON-SCREEN WORK. MORE, FOSTERS A LN THAT MORAL CLS DON’T STILL EXIST, IF NOT LERALLY NTRACTS, THEN HERENTLY AN DTRY THAT FORC KNOWN GAY ACTORS TO PERFORM HETEROSEXUALY ORR TO FURTHER THEIR REERS.THE SAME PEOPLE WHO DISMISS STORI ABOUT HOLLYWOOD AND SEX AS IRRELEVANT ARE THE ON WHO EPT OUTRAGE AT THE SUATN THAT THE ACTORS HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS AND THAT THE STORI ARE BEG TOLD WHEN THEY’RE NOT ALIVE TO SPEAK TO THEM. IT ILLTRAT THE RELUCTANCE TO ADM HOW EPLY AND SERLY WE ARE ALL AFFECTED AND FLUENCED BY HOLLYWOOD AND S PLAYERS. “THE BOOK WAS DISMISSED AS A TELL-ALL, HOWEVER WAS A BT-SELLER,” TYRNER SAYS. “SO THERE’S THE NTRADICTN.” NOW TO BRIEFLY DISMOUNT OM OUR HIGH HORSE, HERE’S ANOTHER REASON THE BOOK WAS A BT-SELLER. THE STORI ARE WILD. AND SO IS THIS MOVIE. BOWERS WAS JT OUT OF THE MAR WHEN HE MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD AND GOT A JOB WORKG AT THE RICHFIELD GAS STATN AT 5777 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. ONE AFTERNOON, THE OSR-NOMATED ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON DROVE UP. “WHAT’S A NICE GUY LIKE YOU DOG WORKG AT A GAS STATN?” HE ASKED BOWERS, VG HIM TO E HOME WH HIM TO SWIM HIS POOL. THEY DID MUCH MORE THAN THAT, AND, SEEG AN OPPORTUNY, HE BEGAN “TRICKG,” AS HE LLS , EVENTUALLY HIRG OTHER FORMER MAR AS SEX WORKERS. “EVERYTHG WAS 20 BUCKS,” BOWERS SAYS. “I WOULD SAY TO MY IENDS, ‘I’M GONNA FIX YOU UP WH A TRICK AND ALL THE GUY’S GONNA DO IS TAKE AND SUCK YOUR CK. IT’S THE SAME AS IF YOUR GIRL WAS SUCKG YOUR CK. IF YOU WANT TO CLOSE YOUR EY AND THK ’S HER SUCKG YOUR CK, DO.’ ‘OK, I’LL DO ONCE. WELL, ONCE, TWICE…’”HE TRICKED WH CARY GRANT AND RANDOLPH STT, WHO WERE LOVERS, BOWERS SAYS, BUT TOLD PEOPLE THEY WERE JT LIVG AS ROOMMAT. BOWERS SAYS HE’S BEEN WH THEM BOTH DIVIDUALLY, TOGETHER AS A THREOME, AND WH A FOURTH FOR PAIRED GROUP SEX. HE SAYS HE HAD A THREE-WAY AT FRANK SATRA’S HOE WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER. HE WOULD ARRANGE MEN FOR THE FORMER KG EDWARD VIII TO SLEEP WH—“HE SUCKED ME OFF LIKE A PRO”—AND WOMEN FOR THE MISTRS HE ABDITED THE THRONE FOR, WALLIS SIMPSON, TO SLEEP WH. HE TIMAT THAT HE FIXED KATHARE HEPBURN UP WH MORE THAN 150 WOMEN OVER THE URSE OF 39 YEARS. COLE PORTER ONCE REQUTED THAT BOWERS SET HIM UP WH 15 MEN AT ONCE. “I WANT TO SUCK 15 GUYS OFF, ONE AFTER ANOTHER,” HE SAID.“WHY SHOULDN’T COLE PORTER HAVE A VORAC SEXUAL APPETE?” TYRNER SAYS, WHEN I ASK IF HE THKS PEOPLE WOULD HAVE AN EASIER TIME BELIEVG BOWERS’ STORI IF THEY WEREN’T SO OUTRAGEO. “I DON’T KNOW IF HE DID OR NOT, BUT WHY WOULD I FD THAT UNBELIEVABLE?” HE LGHS. “THERE’S A WONRFUL COLE PORTER SONG, ‘TOO DARN HOT’ WHERE ONE OF THE LYRICS IS ‘A MARE FOR HIS QUEEN’ AND ‘A G.I. FOR HIS CUTIE PIE.’ I’M THKG MAYBE STTY IS HIS MARE.”THROUGH ALL OF THIS, BOWERS WAS NEVER TREATED LIKE A MADAME. TO PEOPLE LIKE GEE COR, THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF THE PHILALPHIA STORY AND MY FAIR LADY, HE WAS NSIRED A IEND. THAT END UP BEG HIS KEY TO EARNG THE TST OF THE BIGGT NAM SHOW BS, WH THE MOST TO LOSE IF THE SECRETS WERE EVER OUTED.“ARE THE STORI SUBSTANTIABLE? MY ANSWER IS Y, VERY MUCH SO,” TYRNER SAYS. SHOULD NOW TAKE AS FACT THAT THE LIK OF CARY GRANT, SPENCER TRACY, AND KATHARE HEPBURN HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS? HE DON’T FLCH: “Y.”CONSIRG THAT TYRNER PURPORTS TO BE RRECTG HISTORY WH THIS FILM AND THE FACTS OF THAT RRECTN ARE LARGELY OM THE MOUTH OF ONE PERSON, BOWERS’ RELIABILY AS A NARRATOR WAS OBVLY IMPORTANT TO HIM. GORE VIDAL END UP BEG AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR TYRNER, WHO UNTS THE FAMED WRER AS A PERSONAL IEND. VIDAL WAS A CLIENT AND THEN IEND OF BOWERS, BUT HIS “VERY ACTIVE RNAL LIFE,” AS TYRNER LLS , WASN’T CLUD BOWERS’S BOOK. THE REASON: VIDAL WAS STILL ALIVE. (ONE OF VIDAL’S LAST PUBLIC OUTGS WAS TO THE BOOK’S RELEASE PARTY.) INPENNTLY, VIDAL AND BOWERS NFID TYRNER STORI ABOUT EACH OTHER AND ABOUT THAT TIME AT THE GAS STATN, AND THE STORI ALL CHECKED OUT. SEVERAL OF THE SEX WORKERS BOWERS EMPLOYED ARE ALSO STILL ALIVE, AND TYRNER TERVIEWED THEM FOR THE DOCUMENTARY. THEY ALL VERIFIED BOWERS’S ACUNTS, SOME ON MERA. ONE EVEN STILL HAD AN X RD BOWERS HAD MA WH THE NTACT RMATN OF A DOZEN MEN WHO WERE TERTED SEXUAL SERVIC. “A SMOKG GUN,” TYRNER LLS . ONE OF THE MEN ON THE RD WAS STILL ALIVE, AND NFIRMED BOWERS’ STORI TO TYRNER, TOO. ALL OF THIS WAS ADDN TO THE WORK A TEAM OF REARCHERS DID TO FACT-CHECK MANY OF BOWERS’ ANECDOT.STTY BOWERS DIDN’T KISS AND TELL WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE ALIVE. BUT HE KISSED, SUCKED, FUCKED, AND IS TELLG NOW THAT THE PEOPLE ARE AD. THE STCT TO DISBELIEVE HIM IS UNFORTUNATE, GIVEN HOW THE SEX LIV GIVE A MUCH GREATER SIGHT TO THE REALY OF AN DTRY THAT SHAPED OUR CULTURE. AT A TIME WHEN THERE STILL IS NOT AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN MOVIE STAR STARRG AS THE LEAD BLOCKBTERS, AND PEOPLE STILL BATE WHETHER AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN ACTOR ULD BE BELIEVABLE AS A ROMANTIC LEAD, THE FACT THAT SPENCER TRACY AND KATHARE HEPBURN, TWO INIC ROMANTIC LEADS, HAD SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS IS ILLUMATG. IT’S PNT TO SEE STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD TO REGNIZE THAT. THE FACT THAT ’S SO DISHY AND SEX-FILLED—TYRNER CLUS VTAGE NU PHOTOS AND SEX FILMS THAT BOWERS STARS —IS ICG ON THE KE.“FOR STTY BOWERS, SEX IS A FACT OF LIFE. IT’S NOT AVOID. SO TO MAKE A MOVIE THAT AVOID SEX AND EXPLIC NUDY JT WOULDN’T HAVE MA SENSE,” HE SAYS. “PL, WHO DON’T WANT SEX ON SCREEN? WE ALL WANT A LTLE SEX. IT KEEPS YOU TERTED. STTY WAS REALLY HOT AS A YOUNG MAN. HE WAS JT UNNIABLY HOT. WHY NOT SHOW SOME SK?” KEV FALLON

ROCK HUDSON'S 'TE LOVE' SPEAKS: HOW WE KEPT OUR GAY LIFE SECRET

“He was the biggt movie star the world, and the mors were that he was gay, ” he says. “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.

“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.

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 POPULARSARA RAMIREZ ISSU STHG RPONSE TO ANTI–CHE DIAZ PROFILEBY SAVANNAH WALSH25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISIS IT TIME TO GET EXCED ABOUT THE BACHELOR AGA?BY SAVANNAH WALSHAS 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 POPULARSARA RAMIREZ ISSU STHG RPONSE TO ANTI–CHE DIAZ PROFILEBY SAVANNAH WALSH25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISIS IT TIME TO GET EXCED ABOUT THE BACHELOR AGA?BY SAVANNAH WALSHBY 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 HIMTHE TAN SUBMERSIBLE DISASTER WAS YEARS THE MAKG, NEW DETAILS REVEALWHY THE GEIA INDICTMENT AGAST TMP AND HIS ALLI IS THE MOST SWEEPG YETIVANKA TMP IS NOT LETTG HER DAD’S MOUNTG LEGAL WO RU HER SUMMER25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSA NEW SLIM AARONS BOOK CAPTUR A LOST WORLDFROM THE ARCHIVE: TOO HEPBURN FOR HOLLYWOOD (2006)SAVANNAH WALSH

In an era when homosexualy was still a crime and almost entirely taboo, Willson ma ltle attempt to hi his sexualy and was equently spotted at Los Angel’ gay bars. Hudson, however, was much more discreet, and although his clost iends and -workers knew he was gay, revealg that to public would have end his reer.

ROCK HUDSON: THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIV OF A GAY HOLLYWOOD IDOL

Like many other young actors, both gay and straight, Hudson had played along wh the powerful stud publicy mache, gog on arranged dat wh starlets and givg y terviews to journalists about his relatnship stat. Gat would later claim that she’d had no ia that Hudson was gay before they married, but those close to Hudson were nvced that had all been arranged by Willson. Some believed only homosexuals uld ntract , and early news acunts referred to as the “gay plague, ” or GRID (gay-related immune ficiency).

HE SLEPT WH CARY GRANT AND SPENCER TRACY—AND CHANGED HOLLYWOOD HISTORY‘PIMP TO THE STARS’STTY BOWERS RAN A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN AND SLEPT WH DOZENS OF HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGT STARS. INSI HIS ‘SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD’ AND WHY WE SHOULD BELIEVE HIS STORI.KEV FALLONSENR EDOR, OBSSEDUPDATED OCT. 28, 2018 8:13AM EDT / PUBLISHED JUL. 25, 2018 5:10AM EDT ABOUT 45 MUT TO THE NEW DOCUMENTARY STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD, THE MOST UNBELIEVABLE MONOLOGUE YOU’LL EVER HEAR IS LIVERED. AND ’S ALL TE. ALLEGEDLY.“I FUCKED BETTE DAVIS WORLD WAR II WHEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO A GUY. I ED TO FIX HER UP WH TRICKS, AND WE ED TO HAVE THREE-WAY ALS. I WENT TO BED WH J. EDGAR HOOVER. HE WAS DRAG. HE WAS NOT A GREAT BETY EHER, YOU KNOW, BUT I WAS TREATG HIM JT LIKE HE WAS A GIRL.” STTY BOWERS, NOW 95 AND MORE THAN 60 YEARS PAST HIS PRIME AS THE SO-LLED “PIMP TO THE STARS,” GRS MISCHIEVOLY AS HE LOOSENS THE TAP, NTUG HIS LUGE OF SECRETS.“ONE DAY CARY GRANT WAS THE GAS STATN AND ROCK HUDSON JT HAPPENED TO BE THERE, SO CARY GRANT PICKED HIM UP. I FIXED HIM UP WH ROCK FOR 20 BUCKS, AND ROCK SAW HIM SEVERAL TIM. THIS IS BEFORE ROCK HAD ANY MOVIE. LRENCE OLIVIER AND VIVIEN LEIGH, I NEVER TRICKED THEM TOGETHER. I WOULD FIX THEM UP WH GUYS, AND THEN I WOULD SEE HER AT GARY COOPER’S HOE. SHE WOULD E AND QUIETLY OPEN THE GATE AND BE LIKE, ‘SHH.’ TEN MUT LATER I’M FUCKG HER AND SHE’S SCREAMG.” AFTER SPENDG TWO YEARS FOLLOWG BOWERS FOR THE CEMA VERé-STYLE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE GREGAR FORMER SEX WORKER, FILMMAKER MATT TYRNER LGHS, SUMMARIZG THE UNIQUE AND ACTUALLY PROFOUND APPEAL OF THE SUBJECT OF HIS MOVIE. “THIS IS SOMEONE WHO SEEMS TO HAVE JT NOT BEEN H WH THE SHAME STICK AND NOT BURNED WH FEELGS OF GUILT,” TYRNER SAYS, SPEAKG OVER FFEE AT MANHATTAN’S NOMAD HOTEL THE WEEK BEFORE THE FILM’S RELEASE. “HE DIDN’T HAVE THAT STILLED. HE SEEMED TO LIVE AN EXEMPLARY LIFE TERMS OF BEG EE OF SHAME AND GUILT. THAT ULD BE A LSON FOR ALL OF .”PERHAPS UNEXPECTEDLY, LSONS ABOUND STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD. TYRNER BEGAN FILMG BOWERS FOLLOWG THE RELEASE OF HIS MEMOIR, FULL SERVICE: MY ADVENTUR HOLLYWOOD AND THE SECRET SEX LIV OF THE STARS, A JUICY TELL-ALL REUNTG HIS TIME OPERATG A BROTHEL, OF SORTS, OUT OF A GAS STATN ON HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD STARTG THE LATE 1940S AND FALLY RETIRG S LATER, DURG THE AIDS CRISIS. AS BOWERS TELLS , HE SLEPT WH SPENCER TRACY, VIVIEN LEIGH, CARY GRANT, AND THE DE OF WDSOR—THE ABDITED KG EDWARD VIII. THE LIST OF STARS HE ALLEGEDLY SET UP WH PROSTUT READS LIKE A STROLL DOWN THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME: TENNSEE WILLIAMS, CHARL LGHTON, VCENT PRICE, KATHARE HEPBURN, GLORIA SWANSON, NOëL COWARD, ROCK HUDSON, COLE PORTER, AND MORE.WHEN BOWERS RELEASED HIS BOOK, SENTIALLY OUTG GRANT, TRACY, AND HEPBURN, AMONG OTHERS, AS GAY OR BISEXUAL, CRICS RANGG OM SUAL REARS TO BARBARA WALTERS BLASTED HIM FOR SPREADG SALAC STORI ABOUT LONG-AD SUBJECTS WHO ULDN’T FEND THEMSELV OR QUTN THEIR VERACY. THAT WAS OUT OF RPECT, BOWERS CLAIMS. THEY WEREN’T HIS SECRETS TO TELL WHEN THEY WERE ALIVE, BUT NOW THAT THEY’RE GONE, HE THKS THEY N’T HURT THEM. BUT NOW THAT TYRNER IS GIVG BOWERS ANOTHER PLATFORM, SIAR CRICISMS ARE BEG AIRED AGA. IN A NEW YORK TIM PIECE ABOUT TYRNER AND THE FILM, NOTED FILM SCHOLAR JEANE BASGER—WHO HAPPENED TO BE THE CHAIR OF TYRNER’S FILM SCHOOL AND CLASHED WH HIM THERE—VERBALLY SFFS ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY’S PURSU. “THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF THE EXPRSN, ‘PEOPLE NEED TO GET A LIFE,’” SHE SAYS. “PERSONALLY, I’M MORE TERTED THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE THAN THEIR POSSIBLE OFF-SCREEN SHENANIGANS.” AS SEVERAL ENTERTAMENT JOURNALISTS, CLUDG BUZZFEED’S KATE AURTHUR AND VANY FAIR’S REBEC KEEGAN, WERE QUICK TO POT OUT ON TWTER, THAT OPN IS HORSH. TYRNER SPECTS BASGER DIDN’T SEE THE FILM, PECIALLY SCE SHE SEEMS TO IGNORE S ENTIRE POT. THE REASON BOWERS HAS STORI TO TELL IS BEE THE ACTORS WERE PTIV OF A HOLLYWOOD STUD SYSTEM THAT WEAPONIZED MORAL CLS, NTRACTUALLY PREVENTG THEM OM LIVG THEIR THENTIC LIV. “THEY WERE VICTIMS OF A CERTA KD OF PERSECUTN,” TYRNER SAYS. THEY WENT TO STTY BEE PAYG SEX WORKERS WAS THEIR ONLY OPTN, PECIALLY FOR PEOPLE LIKE CARY GRANT AND KATHARE HEPBURN, WHOSE SAME-SEX PAS WERE AT ODDS WH THE HETERONORMATIVE IMAG OF THEM MANUFACTURED BY STUDS. TO CLAIM TO BE TERTED THAT ERA OF HOLLYWOOD BUT NOT THE WAYS THAT THE ACTORS NAVIGATED THEIR SEXUALY IS SANE. IT’S NOT GOSSIP. IT’S BGRAPHY. IT’S ANTHROPOLOGY. IT’S OUR HISTORY. “FOR SOME REASON OUR CULTURE IS WILLG TO DISMISS THE FULL BGRAPHI OF ALL OF THE CHARACTERS AS BEG SHENANIGANS,” TYRNER SAYS. “TAKE CARAVAGG, FOR STANCE. IF YOU’RE AN ART SCHOLAR, DO YOU JT WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO THE PATG STUD? DON’T YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT CARAVAGG WAS UP TO WHEN HE WASN’T HOLDG A PATBSH? IS THAT NOT RELEVANT TO WHO CARAVAGG WAS? SO WHY DO WE DISMISS TAILS ABOUT WHAT KATHARE HEPBURN AND SPENCER TRACY WERE UP TO OFF-SCREEN?”STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD ISN’T A TELL-ALL. TYRNER LLS AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TIM OUR UNTRY’S HISTORY, THE STORY OF HOLLYWOOD AND THE IMAGE MACHE, WHICH CHANGED THE WAY WE ALL PERCEIVE OURSELV AND THE WORLD. LOOKG AT THE HOLLYWOOD SYSTEM AND THE IMAGE FACTORY THROUGH THE LENS OF A SEX WORKER TO THE STARS ULDN’T BE MORE RELEVANT. “IF STTY HAD BEEN OPERATG A BROTHEL OUT OF A GAS STATN D MO, IOWA, WOULD BE A FUN, TERTG, MAYBE RELEVANT STORY, BUT WOULDN’T HAVE THE OPERATIC LOTN AND NARRATIVE THAT THIS MOVIE HAS,” TYRNER SAYS.CRICIZG BOWERS’ STORI AS TRIVIAL PARED TO THE ACTORS’ ON-SCREEN WORK IGNOR THE FACT THAT THEIR PRIVATE LIV WERE OFTEN SCRIPTED BY STUDS AND THEY WERE FORCED TO PERFORM THOSE NARRATIV ORR TO NTUE THAT ON-SCREEN WORK. MORE, FOSTERS A LN THAT MORAL CLS DON’T STILL EXIST, IF NOT LERALLY NTRACTS, THEN HERENTLY AN DTRY THAT FORC KNOWN GAY ACTORS TO PERFORM HETEROSEXUALY ORR TO FURTHER THEIR REERS.THE SAME PEOPLE WHO DISMISS STORI ABOUT HOLLYWOOD AND SEX AS IRRELEVANT ARE THE ON WHO EPT OUTRAGE AT THE SUATN THAT THE ACTORS HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS AND THAT THE STORI ARE BEG TOLD WHEN THEY’RE NOT ALIVE TO SPEAK TO THEM. IT ILLTRAT THE RELUCTANCE TO ADM HOW EPLY AND SERLY WE ARE ALL AFFECTED AND FLUENCED BY HOLLYWOOD AND S PLAYERS. “THE BOOK WAS DISMISSED AS A TELL-ALL, HOWEVER WAS A BT-SELLER,” TYRNER SAYS. “SO THERE’S THE NTRADICTN.” NOW TO BRIEFLY DISMOUNT OM OUR HIGH HORSE, HERE’S ANOTHER REASON THE BOOK WAS A BT-SELLER. THE STORI ARE WILD. AND SO IS THIS MOVIE. BOWERS WAS JT OUT OF THE MAR WHEN HE MOVED TO HOLLYWOOD AND GOT A JOB WORKG AT THE RICHFIELD GAS STATN AT 5777 HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD. ONE AFTERNOON, THE OSR-NOMATED ACTOR WALTER PIDGEON DROVE UP. “WHAT’S A NICE GUY LIKE YOU DOG WORKG AT A GAS STATN?” HE ASKED BOWERS, VG HIM TO E HOME WH HIM TO SWIM HIS POOL. THEY DID MUCH MORE THAN THAT, AND, SEEG AN OPPORTUNY, HE BEGAN “TRICKG,” AS HE LLS , EVENTUALLY HIRG OTHER FORMER MAR AS SEX WORKERS. “EVERYTHG WAS 20 BUCKS,” BOWERS SAYS. “I WOULD SAY TO MY IENDS, ‘I’M GONNA FIX YOU UP WH A TRICK AND ALL THE GUY’S GONNA DO IS TAKE AND SUCK YOUR CK. IT’S THE SAME AS IF YOUR GIRL WAS SUCKG YOUR CK. IF YOU WANT TO CLOSE YOUR EY AND THK ’S HER SUCKG YOUR CK, DO.’ ‘OK, I’LL DO ONCE. WELL, ONCE, TWICE…’”HE TRICKED WH CARY GRANT AND RANDOLPH STT, WHO WERE LOVERS, BOWERS SAYS, BUT TOLD PEOPLE THEY WERE JT LIVG AS ROOMMAT. BOWERS SAYS HE’S BEEN WH THEM BOTH DIVIDUALLY, TOGETHER AS A THREOME, AND WH A FOURTH FOR PAIRED GROUP SEX. HE SAYS HE HAD A THREE-WAY AT FRANK SATRA’S HOE WH AVA GARDNER AND LANA TURNER. HE WOULD ARRANGE MEN FOR THE FORMER KG EDWARD VIII TO SLEEP WH—“HE SUCKED ME OFF LIKE A PRO”—AND WOMEN FOR THE MISTRS HE ABDITED THE THRONE FOR, WALLIS SIMPSON, TO SLEEP WH. HE TIMAT THAT HE FIXED KATHARE HEPBURN UP WH MORE THAN 150 WOMEN OVER THE URSE OF 39 YEARS. COLE PORTER ONCE REQUTED THAT BOWERS SET HIM UP WH 15 MEN AT ONCE. “I WANT TO SUCK 15 GUYS OFF, ONE AFTER ANOTHER,” HE SAID.“WHY SHOULDN’T COLE PORTER HAVE A VORAC SEXUAL APPETE?” TYRNER SAYS, WHEN I ASK IF HE THKS PEOPLE WOULD HAVE AN EASIER TIME BELIEVG BOWERS’ STORI IF THEY WEREN’T SO OUTRAGEO. “I DON’T KNOW IF HE DID OR NOT, BUT WHY WOULD I FD THAT UNBELIEVABLE?” HE LGHS. “THERE’S A WONRFUL COLE PORTER SONG, ‘TOO DARN HOT’ WHERE ONE OF THE LYRICS IS ‘A MARE FOR HIS QUEEN’ AND ‘A G.I. FOR HIS CUTIE PIE.’ I’M THKG MAYBE STTY IS HIS MARE.”THROUGH ALL OF THIS, BOWERS WAS NEVER TREATED LIKE A MADAME. TO PEOPLE LIKE GEE COR, THE LEGENDARY DIRECTOR OF THE PHILALPHIA STORY AND MY FAIR LADY, HE WAS NSIRED A IEND. THAT END UP BEG HIS KEY TO EARNG THE TST OF THE BIGGT NAM SHOW BS, WH THE MOST TO LOSE IF THE SECRETS WERE EVER OUTED.“ARE THE STORI SUBSTANTIABLE? MY ANSWER IS Y, VERY MUCH SO,” TYRNER SAYS. SHOULD NOW TAKE AS FACT THAT THE LIK OF CARY GRANT, SPENCER TRACY, AND KATHARE HEPBURN HAD SAME-SEX SEXUAL RELATNSHIPS? HE DON’T FLCH: “Y.”CONSIRG THAT TYRNER PURPORTS TO BE RRECTG HISTORY WH THIS FILM AND THE FACTS OF THAT RRECTN ARE LARGELY OM THE MOUTH OF ONE PERSON, BOWERS’ RELIABILY AS A NARRATOR WAS OBVLY IMPORTANT TO HIM. GORE VIDAL END UP BEG AN IMPORTANT SOURCE FOR TYRNER, WHO UNTS THE FAMED WRER AS A PERSONAL IEND. VIDAL WAS A CLIENT AND THEN IEND OF BOWERS, BUT HIS “VERY ACTIVE RNAL LIFE,” AS TYRNER LLS , WASN’T CLUD BOWERS’S BOOK. THE REASON: VIDAL WAS STILL ALIVE. (ONE OF VIDAL’S LAST PUBLIC OUTGS WAS TO THE BOOK’S RELEASE PARTY.) INPENNTLY, VIDAL AND BOWERS NFID TYRNER STORI ABOUT EACH OTHER AND ABOUT THAT TIME AT THE GAS STATN, AND THE STORI ALL CHECKED OUT. SEVERAL OF THE SEX WORKERS BOWERS EMPLOYED ARE ALSO STILL ALIVE, AND TYRNER TERVIEWED THEM FOR THE DOCUMENTARY. THEY ALL VERIFIED BOWERS’S ACUNTS, SOME ON MERA. ONE EVEN STILL HAD AN X RD BOWERS HAD MA WH THE NTACT RMATN OF A DOZEN MEN WHO WERE TERTED SEXUAL SERVIC. “A SMOKG GUN,” TYRNER LLS . ONE OF THE MEN ON THE RD WAS STILL ALIVE, AND NFIRMED BOWERS’ STORI TO TYRNER, TOO. ALL OF THIS WAS ADDN TO THE WORK A TEAM OF REARCHERS DID TO FACT-CHECK MANY OF BOWERS’ ANECDOT.STTY BOWERS DIDN’T KISS AND TELL WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE ALIVE. BUT HE KISSED, SUCKED, FUCKED, AND IS TELLG NOW THAT THE PEOPLE ARE AD. THE STCT TO DISBELIEVE HIM IS UNFORTUNATE, GIVEN HOW THE SEX LIV GIVE A MUCH GREATER SIGHT TO THE REALY OF AN DTRY THAT SHAPED OUR CULTURE. AT A TIME WHEN THERE STILL IS NOT AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN MOVIE STAR STARRG AS THE LEAD BLOCKBTERS, AND PEOPLE STILL BATE WHETHER AN OUT GAY OR LBIAN ACTOR ULD BE BELIEVABLE AS A ROMANTIC LEAD, THE FACT THAT SPENCER TRACY AND KATHARE HEPBURN, TWO INIC ROMANTIC LEADS, HAD SAME-SEX RELATNSHIPS IS ILLUMATG. IT’S PNT TO SEE STTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD TO REGNIZE THAT. THE FACT THAT ’S SO DISHY AND SEX-FILLED—TYRNER CLUS VTAGE NU PHOTOS AND SEX FILMS THAT BOWERS STARS —IS ICG ON THE KE.“FOR STTY BOWERS, SEX IS A FACT OF LIFE. IT’S NOT AVOID. SO TO MAKE A MOVIE THAT AVOID SEX AND EXPLIC NUDY JT WOULDN’T HAVE MA SENSE,” HE SAYS. “PL, WHO DON’T WANT SEX ON SCREEN? WE ALL WANT A LTLE SEX. IT KEEPS YOU TERTED. STTY WAS REALLY HOT AS A YOUNG MAN. HE WAS JT UNNIABLY HOT. WHY NOT SHOW SOME SK?” KEV FALLON

While he didn’t formally announce he was gay, he knew that the admissn would make that all but Hudson had feared a backlash, the beloved star stead received tens of thoands of msag om well-wishers, and many of his fellow Hollywood stars voiced their support.

Homophobia, fear and the reluctance of the feral ernment to tervene furiated many and worsened the growg crisis. 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. In an archival terview Day said, "Many, many people would ask me, you know, 'Is Rock Hudson really gay? The list of stars he allegedly set up wh prostut reads like a stroll down the Hollywood Walk of Fame: Tennsee Williams, Charl Lghton, Vcent Price, Kathare Hepburn, Gloria Swanson, Noël Coward, Rock Hudson, Cole Porter, and Bowers released his book, sentially outg Grant, Tracy, and Hepburn, among others, as gay or bisexual, crics rangg om sual rears to Barbara Walters blasted him for spreadg salac stori about long-ad subjects who uldn’t fend themselv or qutn their veracy.