Rock Hudson

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November 17, 1925

October 2, 1985 (age 59) in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA
Hudson had been diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984
Hudson was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea

Roy Harold Scherer Jr.

Phyllis Gates (1955–1958)

Actor

1984-1985 Dynasty (TV series)

1984 The Vegas Strip War (TV movie)

1984 The Ambassador

1982 The Devlin Connection (TV series)

1982 World War III (TV movie)

1982 The Devlin Connection III

1981 The Star Maker (TV movie)

1980 The Mirror Crack'd

1980 The Martian Chronicles (TV mini-series)

1980 Superstunt II (TV movie)

1978 Avalanche

1978 Wheels (TV mini-series)

1971-1977 McMillan & Wife (TV series)

1976 Embryo

1973 Showdown

1971 Pretty Maids All in a Row

1970 Hornets' Nest

1970 Darling Lili

1969 The Undefeated

1969 Ruba al prossimo tuo

1968 Ice Station Zebra

1967 Tobruk

1966 Seconds

1965 Blindfold

1965 A Very Special Favor

1965 Strange Bedfellows

1964 Send Me No Flowers

1964 Man's Favorite Sport?

1963 A Gathering of Eagles

1962 The Spiral Road

1961 Lover Come Back

1961 Come September

1961 The Last Sunset

1959 Pillow Talk

1959 This Earth Is Mine

1958 Twilight for the Gods

1957 A Farewell to Arms

1957 The Tarnished Angels

1957 Something of Value

1957 Battle Hymn

1956 Written on the Wind

1956 Giant

1956 Never Say Goodbye

1955 All That Heaven Allows

1955 One Desire

1955 Captain Lightfoot

1954 Bengal Brigade

1954 Magnificent Obsession

1954 Taza, Son of Cochise

1953 Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (Narrator) (uncredited)

1953 Back to God's Country

1953 Gun Fury

1953 The Golden Blade

1953 Sea Devils

1953 Seminole

1953 The Lawless Breed

1952 Horizons West

1952 Has Anybody Seen My Gal

1952 Scarlet Angel

1952 Here Come the Nelsons

1952 Bend of the River

1951 Iron Man

1951 Bright Victory

1951 The Fat Man

1951 Air Cadet

1951 Tomahawk

1950 Shakedown

1950 The Desert Hawk

1950 Winchester '73

1950 Peggy

1950 I Was a Shoplifter

1950 One Way Street (uncredited)

1949 Undertow

1948 Fighter Squadron (uncredited)

Appearances

1996 James Dean: A Portrait (TV documentary) (uncredited)

1990 Hollywood Heaven: Tragic Lives, Tragic Deaths (video documentary)

1985 Doris Day's Best Friends (TV series)

1985 Cinéma cinémas (TV series documentary)

1985 Night of 100 Stars II (TV movie)

1985 Hour Magazine (TV series)

1984 Àngel Casas show (TV series)

1984 The 56th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1981 NBC Family Christmas (TV movie)

1981 The Patricia Neal Story (TV movie) (uncredited)

1980 Circus of the Stars #5 (TV special documentary)

1980 Douglas Sirk: Über Stars (TV documentary)

1980 The Beatrice Arthur Special (TV movie)

1979 Musical Comedy Tonight (TV documentary)

1975-1977 The Carol Burnett Show (TV series)

1977 An All-Star Tribute to Elizabeth Taylor (TV documentary)

1975 V.I.P.-Schaukel (TV series documentary)

1975 The American Film Institute Salute to Orson Welles (TV special)

1975 Elizabeth Taylor: Hollywood's Child (TV documentary)

1974 Dinah! (TV series)

James Dean Remembered (TV special documentary)(voice)

1973 The 45th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1972 The 14th Annual TV Week Logie Awards (TV movie)

1971 The David Frost Show (TV series)

1971 The Dick Cavett Show (TV series)

1971 The Doris Mary Anne Kapplehoff Special (TV special) (uncredited)

1968-1969 Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV series)

1969 Hollywood: The Selznick Years (TV documentary)

1968 The 40th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1968 The Man Who Makes the Difference (documentary short)(uncredited)

1967 The Kraft Music Hall (TV series)

1967 The 39th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1967 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (TV series)

1965 The 37th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1963 Marilyn (documentary)Narrator

1962 The 34th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1962 At This Very Moment (TV movie)

1962 The Jack Benny Program (TV series)

1960 The 32nd Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1958-1959 The Steve Allen Show (TV series)

1959 The Big Party (TV series)

1959 The 31st Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1958 The 30th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1957 Screen Snapshots 1856: The Mocambo Party (short)

1957 The James Dean Story (documentary) (uncredited)

1957 The 29th Annual Academy Awards (TV special)

1957 Caesar's Hour (TV series)

1956 The Perry Como Show (TV series)

1954-1955 The Colgate Comedy Hour (TV series)

1955 Warner Pathé News Issue # 87 (documentary short)

1955 I Love Lucy (TV series)

1952 This Is Your Life (TV series)

Academy Awards

1957 Nominated Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role for: Giant (1956).

Bambi Awards

1963 Won Bambi

1962 Won Bambi

1961 Won Bambi

1960 Won Bambi

1958 Won Bambi

Golden Globes

1966 Nominated Henrietta Award World Film Favorite - Male

1963 Won Henrietta Award World Film Favorite - Male

1961 Won Henrietta Award World Film Favorite - Male Together with Tony Curtis.

1960 Won Henrietta Award World Film Favorite - Male

1959 Won Henrietta Award World Film Favorite - Male

Laurel Awards

1966 Nominated Golden Laurel Male Star 6th place.

1965 3rd place Golden Laurel Comedy Performance, Male for: Send Me No Flowers (1964).

1965 Nominated Golden Laurel Male Star 6th place.

1964 2nd place Golden Laurel Top Male Star

1963 Won Golden Laurel Top Male Star

1962 Won Golden Laurel Top Male Star

1962 2nd place Golden Laurel Top Male Comedy Performance for: Lover Come Back (1961).

1961 2nd place Golden Laurel Top Male Star

1960 Won Golden Laurel Top Male Star

1960 3rd place Golden Laurel Top Male Comedy Performance for: Pillow Talk (1959).

1959 Won Golden Laurel Top Male Star

1958 Won Golden Laurel Top Male Star

Photoplay Awards

1959 Won Most Popular Male Star

1957 Won Most Popular Male Star

1956 Won Most Popular Male Star

TP de Oro, Spain

1977 Won TP de Oro Best Foreign Actor (Mejor Actor Extranjero) for: "McMillan & Wife" (1971).

Walk of Fame

Won Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture At 6104 Hollywood Blvd.

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Rock Hudson epitomized the U.S. male self-image of the 1950s: big, grinning, good looking, confident, not overly bright but always competent. After he left high school he worked as a postal employee, and served as an airplane mechanic in the U.S. navy during World War II. After the war he worked as a truck driver, but he always hoped to become an actor. Talent scout Henry Willson, who spotted Hudson's looks and appeal, suggested his new name, a combination of the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River.

He rose from the ranks after war films, such as Bright Victory (1951), and Westerns, such as Winchester '73 (1950), to be cast by Douglas Sirk as the object of Jane Wyman's affections in Magnificent Obsession (1954) and All That Heaven Allows (1955). In Giant (1956), he plays a Texas oilman from vigorous youth to tough old age. It was a performance that played well, and he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

In Pillow Talk (1959), he was effectively teamed with Doris Day in a bickering, glossy, cosmopolitan, widescreen romance. Hudson went on to make two more movies with Day, Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964). He reprised the same pleasant, self-mocking comedy style in Man's Favorite Sport? (1964) and Strange Bedfellows (1965). In later years he moved successfully into television, starring in the detective series McMillan & Wife (1971-1976). Hudson was one of the first major celebrities to reveal that he had AIDS, an announcement that drew attention to his homosexuality, which he had manged to keep secret for most of his career, given that it may have ruined it at that time. His long-time partner, Marc Christian, successfully sued Hudson's estate after the actor's death.

"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." (1985)

Nobody is discovered. Ever. Publicity departments loved to say that Lana Turner was discovered sitting at a soda fountain counter, drinking a chocolate soda ... It isn't true. I mean, there are too many interesting-looking people on Earth for that to ever happen.

Worked as a truck driver when he first moved to Los Angeles, but he spent his spare time idling outside of studio gates and sending photographs of himself to various producers.

His longtime boyfriend, Marc Christian, sued his estate and won because he continued to have sex with him without telling him he had the AIDS virus.

Underwent emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery to relieve severely clogged coronary arteries in November 1981 after suffering chest pains, and began smoking again at the hospital immediately after the operation.

Early in his career he had surgery on his vocal chords to make his voice deeper, and had his teeth capped.

He turned down Marlon Brando's role in Sayonara (1957), William Holden's role in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Charlton Heston's role in Ben-Hur (1959).

At the time of his death, his estate was valued at $22 million.

He was very near-sighted and wore glasses all the time off screen. He would rarely allow himself to be photographed wearing glasses though.

In the last eighteen months of his life, his weight dropped from 215 lbs to 140 lbs

An accomplished bridge player.

He had always been critical of plastic surgery, although in 1981 he had surgery on his eyelids after a cameraman convinced him it would make him look better on screen.

In 1979 he was involved in a DUI incident when he crashed his car into a palm tree in Los Angeles late one night.

Salary

Giant (1956) $100,000