Rock Hudson was one of the most handsome and well-remembered actors of golden Hollywood, whose heyday spanned between the late 50s and the first half of the following decade. However, he continued to be admired for his gallantry, and, still today, he is remembered, among other films, for Gigante, where he led the cast alongside Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.
Although he enjoyed immense popularity and a respectable fortune, his personal life had painful episodes: he was abused by his father, he received no attention or affection from his mother, he had to work hard to carve out his future on the screen, and his homos- had to hide it, pretending to be happy in his only marriage, which only lasted three years, which his producers imposed on him. This past November seventeenth he would have been ninety-five years old. When he died of AIDS on October 2, 1985, he was fifty-nine.
He was born in a small town in Illinois, and his real name was Roy Fitzgerald. In his youth, he worked as a truck driver, worked in the fields, and also, among other circumstantial jobs, was a taxi driver. As he was one meter and ninety-three centimeters tall and his face was very attractive, after attending a few tests in Hollywood he ended up being hired by a movie studio. He was helped a lot by his agent Henry Willson, in exchange for sleeping with him. Since then it was a constant for the actor to sleep with as many young people as he liked.
Roy's nickname was Rock after the Rock of Gibraltar, and Hudson after the name of the river. Already being known in the cinema, he claimed to have never undressed in front of a camera, which was a lie: he did it in a monstrosity, Embryo. The year 1954 was his starting point toward success when he starred in Obsession alongside Jane Wyman, his first wife. by Ronald Reagan, paired again the following year in a blockbuster drama: Heaven Only Knows. In 1955 is when, in response to the request of the Universal bosses, the production company that financed his films, he had to get married. In that Hollywood at that time, homos- were not well seen. And the criteria of those movie magnates was that the spectators who watched stories of gallants in love with big stars on the screen "would not believe" that those were men in their private lives behaviors that were considered depraved. American society and in general throughout the world did not approve of the existence of homos-. The name "gay", which means happy, added one more meaning, influenced by the American Association of Homos-.
Not only were leading men like Rock Hudson concocted in the corresponding press departments of the filming studios false biographies, hiding these preferences for men: there were others before him, like Robert Taylor, and it was even said that Laurence was of that tendency. Olivier and Tyrone Power. The case also of Burt Lancaster, and Gene Kelly. There was certainly no question about Montgomery Clift and James Dean. And there was the self-confessed bis- like Marlon Brando, and even the occasional Tony Curtis and Peter Lawford. It's hard to believe in some of those cases, but in the world of Hollywood, that of gossipy chroniclers, he was well known. And they kept quiet about it so as not to anger the so-called "majors", the big corporations... in exchange for some favors, of course.
The woman Rock Hudson married was called Phyllis Gates and she was the secretary of the actor's artistic agent. As she would confess, she was unaware that Rock was homos-, but she verified it during the three years that her union with him lasted. He got tired of seeing that she didn't pay any attention to him while he went to bed with many men. And she, fed up with that farce, divorced him, without asking for anything in exchange for those three years of unhappiness. As for him, apart from his lovers with names that would not say anything to anyone because they corresponded to those who were in crowded "gay" places, he had love affairs with well-known actors: James Dean, Sal Mineo, and some others that the actor hid.
The truth is, Rock Hudson, didn't want people to know he was "gay." In Hollywood, it was clear that he could not cover up that condition. Although the news media did not usually publish it. But in Europe, he was still considered a heteros-. In the mid-seventies, I met an Austrian actress, Maria Pershy, who had filmed a film in 1962 alongside Rock Hudson, his favorite game. She said to me, "Oh, don't you know he's gay?" No, she was ignorant of it, like any other colleague. And in London, in 1980, when he appeared in a theater, he gave a press conference denying that he was.
Among the women he held in his arms at the movies were Elizabeth Taylor and Doris Day. With the latter, he formed a popular couple, acclaimed by audiences in only three films, the best-remembered Confidences of Midnight. There, Rock performed very well, making it clear that he could interpret the comedy genre in the same way as he previously did in other warlike or more dramatic roles. He wasn't really an exquisite actor, but they didn't propose better characters to show off in his long career, which in general can be described as remarkable. He could not overcome, of course, the character of Cary Grant or Spencer Tracy, his favorite actor. He always spoke well of his co-stars, although on only one occasion did he show anger if he was reminded of Gina Lollobrigida, with whom he did not "get along" in the two films they made together.
In the 1970s, his fame as a box-office actor diminished, which is why he had to accept television series in which, of course, he got excellent audiences: Commissioner Mc.Millan and his wife (where to break with his previous image, he had to grow a flashy mustache) and in the eighties, Dynasty. Afterward, he no longer did anything of interest. And he lived on his income. He came to Spain on several occasions. And in September 1984, he attended a tribute to him at the Deauville Festival. There I went confirming his bad physical condition, as had been rumored. He had already operated on his heart some time ago, but this time his deterioration was more evident. He went to Paris, to the Pasteur Clinic, and specialized in stopping AIDS. Already in July Rock Hudson had to declare to the press that he suffered from it. He had stayed at fifty kilos of weight. At that time he had no choice but to also confess that he was gay. Linda Evans, who had kissed the actor while shooting one of the last chapters of Dynasty, went into a rage and sued him, although she later regretted it. Also, his penultimate lover, Marc Christian, resorted to justice and received several million dollars in compensation.
On October 2, 1985, shortly before his sixtieth birthday, he passed away at his Beverly Hills residence. Who was then his last lover, Tom Clark, was on his deathbed until his life was snuffed out. Three hours later his ashes were thrown into the Pacific from a yacht in which his closest friends were traveling. From Hollywood and around the world, millions of his fans mourned his passing. Despite his shortcomings, he was forever a movie legend.
