Rock Hudson

He graduated from high school in 1943, and the following year enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. After training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, he departed San Francisco aboard the troop transport SS Lew Wallace with orders to report to Aviation Repair and Overhaul Unit 2, then located on Samar, Philippines, as an aircraft mechanic. In 1946, he returned to San Francisco aboard an aircraft carrier, and was discharged the same year.

Hudson then moved to Los Angeles to live with his biological father (who had remarried) and to pursue an acting career. Initially he worked at odd jobs, including as a truck driver. He applied to the University of Southern California's dramatics program, but was rejected because of poor grades. After he sent talent scout Henry Willson a picture of himself in 1947, Willson took him on as a client and changed the young actor's name to Rock Hudson; later in life, Hudson admitted that he hated the name. The name was coined by combining the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River. Hudson later named his independent film production company Gibraltar Productions.

In 1948, Hudson made his acting debut with a small part in the Warner Bros. film Fighter Squadron directed by Raoul Walsh; according to a 21st-century source, it took 38 takes for Hudson to successfully deliver his only line in the film.

Hudson was signed to a long-term contract by Universal-International. There he received coaching in acting, singing, dancing, fencing and horseback riding, and began to be featured in film magazines where, being photogenic, he was promoted.

In 1949, Hudson received his first film credit, as Roc Hudson, in William Castle's Undertow, made by Universal.

In 1950, he acted in One Way Street, Shakedown, I Was a Shoplifter, Peggy, Winchester '73, and The Desert Hawk.

In 1951, Hudson was billed third in William Castle's The Fat Man. He played an important role as a boxer in Joseph Pevney's Iron Man. Other acting credit in that period include Bright Victory, Tomahawk, and Air Cadet.

Hudson was promoted to leading man for Scarlet Angel (1952), opposite Yvonne De Carlo. He co-starred with Piper Laurie in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952), the first of his films directed by Douglas Sirk. He also appeared as a gambler in Bend of the River (1952). He supported the Nelson family in Here Come the Nelsons (1952).

In Horizons West (1952) Hudson supported Robert Ryan, but he was star again for The Lawless Breed (1953) and Seminole (1953). In 1953, he appeared in a Camel commercial that showed him on the set of Seminole.

He and De Carlo were borrowed by RKO for Sea Devils (1953), an adventure set during the Napoleonic Wars. Back at Universal he played Harun al-Rashid in The Golden Blade (1953). There was Gun Fury (1953) and Back to God's Country (1953). Hudson had the title role in Taza, Son of Cochise (1954), directed by Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter.

Hudson was by now firmly established as a leading man in adventure films. What turned him into a star was the romantic drama Magnificent Obsession (1954), co-starring Jane Wyman, produced by Hunter and directed by Sirk. The film received positive reviews, with Modern Screen Magazine citing Hudson as the most popular actor of the year. It made over $5 million at the box office.

Hudson returned to adventure films with Bengal Brigade (1954), set during the Indian Mutiny, and Captain Lightfoot (1955), produced by Hunter and directed by Sirk. In 1954, exhibitors voted Hudson the 17th most popular star in the country.

Hunter used him in the melodramas One Desire (1955) and All That Heaven Allows (1955), which reunited him with Sirk and Wyman. He next acted in Never Say Goodbye (1956).

Hudson's popularity soared with George Stevens' film Giant (1956). Hudson and his co-star James Dean were nominated for Oscars in the Best Actor category. Another hit was Written on the Wind (1957), directed by Sirk and produced by Albert Zugsmith. Sirk also directed Hudson in Battle Hymn (1957), produced by Hudson, playing Dean Hess. These films propelled Hudson to be voted the most popular actor in American cinemas in 1957. He stayed in the "top ten" until 1964.

Hudson was borrowed by MGM to appear in Richard Brooks' Something of Value (1957), a box-office disappointment. So too was his next film, a remake of A Farewell to Arms (1957). To make A Farewell to Arms, he reportedly turned down Marlon Brando's role in Sayonara, William Holden's role in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Charlton Heston's role in Ben-Hur. A Farewell to Arms received negative reviews, failed at the box office and became the last production by David O. Selznick. Hudson was reunited with the producer, director and two stars of Written on the Wind in The Tarnished Angels (1958), at Universal. He then made Twilight for the Gods (1958) and This Earth Is Mine (1959).

Ross Hunter teamed Hudson with Doris Day in the romantic comedy Pillow Talk (1959), which was a massive hit. Hudson was voted the most popular star in the country for 1959 and was the second most popular for the next three years.

Less popular was The Last Sunset (1961), co-starring Kirk Douglas. Hudson then made two hugely popular comedies: Come September (1961) with Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin, directed by Robert Mulligan; and Lover Come Back (1961) with Day.

He made two dramas: The Spiral Road (1962), directed by Mulligan, and A Gathering of Eagles (1963), directed by Delbert Mann. Hudson was still voted the third most popular star in 1963. Hudson went back to comedy for Man's Favorite Sport? (1964), directed by Howard Hawks and the popular Send Me No Flowers (1964), his third and final film with Day. Along with Cary Grant, Hudson was regarded as one of the best-dressed male stars in Hollywood and received Top 10 Stars of the Year a record-setting eight times from 1957 to 1964.

Strange Bedfellows (1965), with Gina Lollobrigida, was a box-office disappointment. So too was A Very Special Favor (1965), despite having the same writer and director as Pillow Talk.

Hudson next appeared in Blindfold (1966). Then, working outside his usual range, he starred in the science-fiction thriller Seconds (1966), directed by John Frankenheimer and co-produced through his own film production company Gibraltar Productions. The film may have been Hudson's best performance.

He also tried his hand in the action genre with Tobruk (1967), directed by Arthur Hiller. After the comedy A Fine Pair (1968) with Claudia Cardinale, he starred in the action thriller Ice Station Zebra (1968) at MGM, a role which remained his personal favorite. The film was a hit but struggled to recoup its large cost.

In November 1969, Andrew V. McLaglen's The Undefeated, a western with Hudson starring opposite John Wayne, was released.

He co-starred as a World War I flier opposite Julie Andrews in the Blake Edwards musical Darling Lili (1970), a film notorious for its bloated budget.

During the 1970s and 1980s, he starred in a number of TV movies and series. His most successful television series was McMillan & Wife opposite Susan Saint James, which ran from 1971 to 1977. Hudson played police commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan, with Saint James as his wife Sally, and their on-screen chemistry helped make the show a hit.

During the series, Rock Hudson appeared in Showdown (1973), a western with Dean Martin, and Embryo (1976), a science-fiction film. Hudson took a risk and surprised many by making a successful foray into live theater late in his career, and the best received of his efforts was I Do! I Do! in 1974.

After McMillan ended, Hudson made the disaster movie Avalanche (1978) and the miniseries Wheels (1978) and The Martian Chronicles (1980). He was one of several stars in The Mirror Crack'd (reuniting him with Giant co-star Elizabeth Taylor) (1980) and co-starred in The Beatrice Arthur Special (1980).

In the early 1980s, following years of heavy drinking and smoking, Hudson began having health problems which resulted in a heart attack in November 1981. Emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery sidelined Hudson and his new TV show The Devlin Connection for a year, and the show was canceled in December 1982 soon after it aired. His health issues forced him to turn down the role of Col. Sam Trautman in First Blood. Hudson was the first to narrate for Disney's Candlelight Processional at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World for its opening year in 1971. His final appearance as narrator was in 1984.

Hudson recovered from the heart surgery but did not quit smoking. He continued to work, appearing in several TV movies such as World War III (1982). He was in ill health while filming the action-drama The Ambassador in Israel during the winter months from late 1983 to early 1984. He reportedly did not get along with his co-star Robert Mitchum, who had a serious drinking problem and often clashed off-camera with Hudson and other cast and crew members.

From December 1984 to April 1985, Hudson appeared in a recurring role on the prime time soap opera Dynasty as Daniel Reece, a wealthy horse breeder and a potential love interest for Krystle Carrington (played by Linda Evans), and biological father of the character Sammy Jo Carrington (Heather Locklear). While Hudson had long been known to have difficulty memorizing lines, resulting in his use of cue cards, his speech began to visibly deteriorate on Dynasty. He was slated to appear for the duration of the second half of its fifth season; however because of his progressing ill health, his character was abruptly written out of the show and died off-screen.

Unknown to the public, Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS on June 5, 1984, three years after the emergence of the first cluster of symptomatic patients in the United States, and one year after the initial conclusion by scientists that HIV causes AIDS. Over the next several months, Hudson kept his illness a secret and continued to work while at the same time, traveling to France and other countries seeking a cure, or at least treatment to slow the progression of the disease.

On July 16, 1985, Hudson joined his old friend Doris Day for a Hollywood press conference, announcing the launch of her new cable TV show Doris Day's Best Friends, in which Hudson was videotaped visiting Day's ranch in Carmel, California, a few days earlier. He appeared gaunt and pale and spoke very little during the segment, most of which consisted of Day and Hudson walking around while Day's recording of "My Buddy" played in the background, Hudson saying he tired quickly. His emaciated appearance was such a shock that the reunion was broadcast repeatedly over national news shows that night and for days to come, with media outlets speculating on Hudson's health. Day later acknowledged: "He was very sick. But I just brushed that off and I came out and put my arms around him and said 'Am I glad to see you.'"

Two days later, Hudson traveled to Paris, France, for another round of treatment. After Hudson collapsed in his room at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on July 21, his publicist Dale Olson released a statement claiming that Hudson had inoperable liver cancer. Olson denied reports that Hudson had AIDS and said only that he was undergoing tests for "everything" at the American Hospital of Paris. Four days later, on July 25, 1985, Hudson's French publicist Yanou Collart confirmed that Hudson did, in fact, have AIDS. He was among the earliest mainstream celebrities to have been diagnosed with the disease.

Hudson flew back to Los Angeles on July 30. He was so weak that he was moved by stretcher from the Air France Boeing 747 he had chartered; he and his medical attendants were the only passengers. He was flown by helicopter to UCLA Medical Center, where he spent nearly a month undergoing further treatment. He was released from the hospital in late August 1985 and returned to his home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles for private hospice care.

At around 9 a.m. on October 2, 1985, Hudson died in his sleep from AIDS-related complications at his home in Beverly Hills at the age of 59. Hudson requested that no funeral be held. His body was cremated hours after his death and a cenotaph later was established at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California. His ashes were scattered in the channel between Wilmington, Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island.

The disclosure of Hudson's AIDS diagnosis provoked widespread public discussion of his homosexuality. In Logical Family: A Memoir (2017), gay author Armistead Maupin, who was a friend of Hudson, writes that he was the first person to confirm to the press that Hudson was gay in 1985. Maupin explains that he confirmed it to Randy Shilts of the San Francisco Chronicle and that he was annoyed that producer Ross Hunter, also gay, denied it. In its August 15, 1985, issue, People magazine published a story that discussed his disease in the context of his sexuality. The largely sympathetic article featured comments from show business colleagues, such as Angie Dickinson, Robert Stack, and Mamie Van Doren, who claimed they knew about Hudson's homosexuality and expressed their support for him. At that time, People had a circulation of more than 2.8 million; as a result of this and other stories, Hudson's homosexuality became public. Hudson's revelation had an immediate impact on the visibility of AIDS and on the funding of medical research related to the disease.

Shortly after Hudson's press release disclosing his infection, William M. Hoffman, the author of As Is, a play about AIDS that appeared on Broadway in 1985, stated: "If Rock Hudson can have it, nice people can have it. It's just a disease, not a moral affliction." At the same time, Joan Rivers was quoted as saying: "Two years ago, when I hosted a benefit for AIDS, I couldn't get one major star to turn out. Rock's admission is a horrendous way to bring AIDS to the attention of the American public, but by doing so, Rock, in his life, has helped millions in the process. What Rock has done takes true courage." Morgan Fairchild said that "Rock Hudson's death gave AIDS a face." In a telegram that Hudson sent to a September 1985 Hollywood AIDS benefit, Commitment to Life, which he was too ill to attend, Hudson said: "I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth."

Shortly after his death, People reported: "Since Hudson made his announcement, more than $1.8 million in private contributions (more than double the amount collected in 1984) has been raised to support AIDS research and to care for AIDS victims (5,523 reported in 1985 alone). A few days after Hudson died, Congress set aside $221 million to develop a cure for AIDS." Organizers of the Hollywood AIDS benefit Commitment to Life reported that it was necessary to move the event to a larger venue to accommodate the increased attendance following Hudson's announcement that he was suffering from the disease. Shortly before his death, Hudson made the first direct contribution, $250,000, to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, helping launch the non-profit organization dedicated to AIDS/HIV research and prevention; it was formed by the merger of a Los Angeles organization founded by: Michael S. Gottlieb, Hudson's physician, and Elizabeth Taylor, his friend and onetime co-star, and a New York-based group.

However, Hudson's revelation did not immediately dispel the stigma of AIDS. Although then-President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy were friends of Hudson, Reagan made no public statement concerning Hudson's condition. However, Reagan did phone Hudson privately in his Paris hospital room where he was being treated in July 1985 and released a condolence statement after his death.

After Hudson revealed his diagnosis, a controversy arose concerning his participation in a scene in the television drama Dynasty, in which he shared a long and repeated kiss with actress Linda Evans in one episode (first aired in February 1985). When filming the scene, Hudson was aware that he had AIDS but did not inform Evans. Some felt that he should have disclosed his condition to her beforehand. At the time, it was incorrectly thought that the virus was present in low quantities in saliva and tears, but there had been no reported cases of transmission by kissing. Nevertheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had warned against exchanging saliva with members of groups perceived to be at high risk for AIDS.

According to comments given in August 1985 by Ed Asner, then-president of the Screen Actors Guild, Hudson's revelation caused incipient "panic" within the film and television industry. Asner said that he was aware of scripts being rewritten to eliminate kissing scenes. Later in the same year, the guild issued rules requiring that actors be notified in advance of any "open-mouth" kissing scenes with a provision that they could refuse to participate in such scenes without penalty. Linda Evans appears not to have been angry at Hudson, and asked to introduce the segment of the 1985 Commitment to Life benefit that was dedicated to Hudson.