Rock hudson was he gay
'All That Heaven Allows' Examines Rock Hudson's Life As A Closeted Leading Man
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. It used to be unthinkable for a Hollywood star to come out as gay. But if you stayed in the closet, you could be blackmailed. Gay celebrities often faced serious personal consequences for being forced to live a double life. A good example of that is Rock Hudson. In the s and '60s, he was considered an all-American, hetero heartthrob, the leading gentleman in romantic melodramas like "All That Heaven Allows" and "Magnificent Obsession" and romantic comedies favor "Pillow Talk" and "Lover Enter Back." He starred with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor in the film "Giant." In the '70s, he starred in the TV series "McMillan & Wife" as the police commissioner of San Francisco.
His secret was successfully concealed from the public until he was dying of causes related to AIDS. In , he died at the age of It was a turning point in the public awareness of the AIDS epidemic. As playwright William Hoffman put it, Hudson's death made people understand
'A hugely pivotal moment': How Hollywood great Rock Hudson's AIDS diagnosis changed the dialogue
He was one of the biggest and brightest stars in the golden age of Hollywood.
Rock Hudson's chiselled masculinity and his seemingly effortless charm made him a much sought-after romantic lead in a string of movie classics in the 's and 60's. Women wanted to marry him. Men wanted to be him.
As for Rock — he simply wanted to be with men.
The actor's homosexuality and how the movie industry systematically covered up his private life is the subject of Stephen Kijak's compelling documentary All That Heaven Allowed — a play on the title of the romance drama Rock Hudson starred in opposite Jane Wyman.
"It's really no stretch to say Rock was really the Tom Cruise of his day", Kijak tells News Breakfast.
"He did Westerns, he did adventure movies, but he really hit his stride as a romantic lead.
"He was huge. He was the top box-office sketch of his time. He ruled the 50's and early 60's."
What the world
Why Rock Hudson’s Decision to Approach Out Marked a Turning Aim of the AIDS Epidemic
Rock Hudson was one of the last stars of Hollywood’s Golden Era, but he was forced to keep his private life a secret, concealing his sexuality to protect his leading man image. But after decades of secrecy, Hudson’s revelation that he had AIDS shortly before his death in proved to be a critical turning point in the fight against a deadly disease that killed millions worldwide.
Hudson had a traumatic childhood
Hudson was born Roy Scherer Jr, on November 17, , in Winnetka, Illinois. His father abandoned the family when he was a infant, and his mother, Katherine, remarried when Hudson was 8. His stepfather, Wallace Fitzgerald, was an abusive alcoholic, who forced the young boy to take his last name. He was a harshly critical man, ridiculing Hudson’s speech and behavior, forbidding him from playing with toys he considered too feminine and mocking the teen’s early interest in drama.
After serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, Hudson landed in Los Angeles. Six feet 4 inches lofty, the handso
BU Alum Explores the Double Life of Actor Rock Hudson in New HBO Documentary
Stephen Kijak’s film shows the movie star as both an icon of the ’50s and ’60s—and a gay man whose death from AIDS changed public perception of the disease
On screen, actor Rock Hudson was the epitome of American masculinity: square-jawed, broad-shouldered, and standing well over six feet giant. An iconic movie star of the s and ’60s, Hudson was known for his leading roles in Douglas Sirk’s melodramas (Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Written on the Wind), George Stevens’ sprawling film adaptation of Edna Ferber’s Giant, which earned him his only Oscar nomination, in , and a string of sly, romantic comedies costarring Doris Day (Pillow Verb, Lover Come Back, Send Me No Flowers). He also starred in the popular s TV series McMillan & Wife.
Hudson was also gay, a secret closely guarded in the film industry for fear that news of his sexual orientation would torpedo his career.
That double life is the subject of a fresh HBO documentary, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven