- Rock Hudson was an iconic actor in the '50s and '60s, known for movies like Giant and Written on the Wind.
- In 1985, at the age of 59, Hudson died of complications from AIDS.
- Hollywood, a new Netflix miniseries, features Hudson as a central character.
Warning: This story contains spoilers for Hollywood.
Rock Hudson is both a character in the new Netflix series Hollywood, and an actual Hollywood legend. Along with Anna May Wong and Hattie McDaniel, Hudson is one of a few figures from real life to be reinterpreted in the Ryan Murphy series. "We're paying homage to his legacy," Jake Picking, who plays Hudson in the show, tells OprahMag.com. The iconic star of Giant and Pillow Talk died in 1985 of complications from AIDS.
Hollywood depicts the start of Hudson's career. Born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, the actor was rebranded "Rock Hudson" by his predatory agent, Henry Willson (played by Jim Parsons in Hollywood).
Early on, Hudson wasn't much of a screen actor. As a popular legend goes, it took Hudson 38 takes to get his lines right in his film debut (Hollywood contains a nod to this story in its fourth episode). Then, Hudson got his teeth capped, took acting lessons, and morphed into the star he became, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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Hudson had to mold himself into becoming a leading man—but in a sense, he was always acting. As a gay man, Hudson was forced to hide his identity. “Long before he landed in Hollywood, he understood that if he wanted to be accepted, the very essence of who he was would have to be edited out of the frame,” Mark Griffin wrote in All That Heaven Allows, a 2018 biography about Hudson. His agent even arranged a three-year-long marriage to Phyllis Gates, a secretary, to keep rumors about the actor's sexuality at bay. (Gates wrote her own memoir about being married to Hudson).
At the end of his life, Hudson stopped hiding. His decision to publicly share his AIDS diagnosis in 1985 had major ramifications for how the public perceived the illness. As journalist Randy Shilts put it in his 1987 book about the AIDS epidemic, And the Band Played On, "There was AIDS before Rock Hudson and AIDS after."
Rewriting history, Hollywood imagines a world in which Hudson did not have to hide his identity. That said, Hollywood's rosy ending is all the more moving if you know what happened to the real Rock Hudson. Read on to learn what occurred during Hudson's last years.
His final screen appearance was on Dynasty.
Hudson was one of the most popular film stars of the '50s and '60, appearing in dramas like All That Heaven Allows and Giant, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination. He was also famous for his on-screen chemistry with Pillow Talk co-star Doris Day. However, after the 1968 thriller Ice Station Zebra, Hudson's star status began to wane. He moved to theatrical and TV roles.
In 1984, Hudson made his final screen appearance in Dynasty, a long-running soap opera.
According to the authorized biography Rock Hudson, His Story, Hudson had tremendous anxiety over the part for a very specific reason: He had to kiss co-star Linda Evans. At the time, he was not public with his AIDS diagnosis. ″He was trapped,″ his secretary, Mark Miller, said in the book, per AP. ″He couldn’t ask them to change the script. He felt either you announce you have AIDS or kiss the lady.″ While now we know that HIV is not transmitted through saliva, at the time, there was much less known about the transferral.
Ultimately, he went through with the scene. "On the day the kiss with Linda Evans was shot, Rock used every gargle, mouthwash and spray he could get his hands on. He told Mark, ‘The kiss is over with. Thank God.’ He said it was one of the worst days in his life."
Towards the end of his life, Hudson's Hollywood image began to fade.
At the peak of his popularity in the 1950s, Hudson was known as the "Baron of Beefcake." He epitomized the hunky, quintessentially masculine body type popular in that era of movie-making. As the anchor for the 1985 ABC News special about his death remarked, "No star was more solid than Rock."
The image of Hudson, brawny and prime for the cover of a romance novel, was at odds with the gaunt, sickly man he became in his final days. In 1981, Hudson lost a significant amount of weight after undergoing emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery.
As the '80s wore on, Hudson's appearance changed even more due to complications from HIV/AIDS.
His death raised awareness of the AIDS epidemic.
In July 1985, Hudson collapsed outside of the Ritz Hotel in Paris. His publicist told the press he had inoperable liver cancer. In fact, Hudson was dying of complications from AIDS, and had traveled to Paris to seek an experimental treatment.
On July 25, Hudson announced that he had AIDS. The impact of a prominent figure aligning himself with the mysterious illness cannot be overstated—many consider this a turning point in the epidemic. For context, at the time of Hudson's announcement, President Ronald Reagan (who was friends with Hudson) still had yet to say the word "AIDS."
Hudson died on October 5, 1985 in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 59. Hudson's biographer, Mark Griffin, elaborated on the impact of Hudson's death while speaking to Terry Gross on Fresh Air. "It shows you the power, not only of celebrity but of Rock Hudson's particular celebrity...he had been so beloved by so many people that thought of him as the boy next door. If Rock Hudson can get AIDS, then anybody can get it. And if he can get it, why don't we know more about it, and why aren't we doing something about it?" Griffin said.
Netflix's Hollywood gives Rock Hudson a happy ending.
Hollywood rewrites the story of Rock Hudson. Instead of living his entire life as a closeted man, Rock is emboldened by his relationship with Archie (Jeremy Pope), a talented Black screenwriter. Tired of hiding their relationship, Rock and Archie come out as a couple at a triumphant Oscars ceremony. Hollywood ends with Rock playing a gay leading man in a movie.
SAEED ADYANI/NETFLIX
While playing Hudson, Jack Picking felt pressure to live up to the actor's legacy. "It was definitely daunting. He's such an icon and a hero in my mind. He had to deal with the tragedy of not feeling like you can be yourself, and feeling socially ostracized," Picking tells OprahMag.com.
He even admits to sensing Hudson's presence on set. "You almost feel the judging of—maybe he's watching," Picking says. "But I had to remind myself what Ryan Murphy said: We're paying homage to his legacy."
Murphy agrees with Picking, echoing that he felt especially aware of the other real-life figures whose stories were rewritten in the show, as well. "I really did feel their presence when we gave them the happy ending. The actors and the crew were very weepy and tearful, and were very moved that these people finally got some sense of justice. So I did have a feeling of, I think they would be happy with this. I think that they would say thank you and good job," Murphy says.
In showing what could have been, Hollywood makes what really was all the more unfortunate.
Hudson's life is being turned into a movie.
Hollywood is a revisionist version of Hudson's life. For the real thing, wait for the movie adaptation of his 2018 biography, All That Heaven Allows. Greg Berlanti (You, Riverdale), another major power player in show biz, is set to direct. For now, curl up the biography.
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