October 2: On This Day in World History … briefly
Did you know that Rock Hudson's name was coined by combining the Rock of Gibraltar and Hudson River?
1985: AIDS claims screen hunk
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor, generally known for his turns as a leading man during the 1950s and 1960s. Viewed as a prominent ‘heartthrob’ of the Hollywood Golden Age, he achieved stardom with roles in films such as ‘Magnificent Obsession’ (1954), ‘All That Heaven Allows’ (1955) and ‘Giant’ (1956), and found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co-starring Doris Day in ‘Pillow Talk’ (1959), ‘Lover Come Back’ (1961) and ‘Send Me No Flowers’ (1964). After appearing in films including ‘Seconds’ (1966), ‘Tobruk’ (1967) and ‘Ice Station Zebra’ (1968) during the late 1960s, Hudson began a second career in television through the 1970s and 1980s, starring in the popular mystery series ‘McMillan & Wife’ and the primetime ABC soap opera ‘Dynasty’.
Numerous film magazines declared Hudson Star of the Year, Favourite Leading Man, and similar titles. He appeared in nearly 70 films and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned more than four decades. In 1956 he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in ‘Giant’.
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 side-lined Hudson and his new TV show ‘The Devlin Connection’ for a year, and the show was cancelled in December 1982 soon after it first aired.
Hudson recovered from the heart surgery but continued to smoke. He nevertheless continued to work with appearances in several TV movies such as ‘World War III’ (1982). He was in ill health while filming the action-drama film ‘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 ABC prime time soap opera ‘Dynasty’ as Daniel Reece, a wealthy horse breeder and a potential love interest for Krystle Carrington (played by Linda Evans), as well as the biological father of the character Sammy Jo Carrington (Heather Locklear). While Hudson had long been known to have difficulty memorising lines, which resulted in his use of cue cards, it was his speech itself that began to visibly deteriorate on the show. He was originally slated to appear for the duration of the show’s 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 HIV on June 5, 1984, just three years after the emergence of the first cluster of symptomatic patients in the US, and only one year after the initial identification by scientists of the HIV virus that 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 progress of the disease.
While his career developed, Hudson and his agent Henry Willson kept the actor’s personal life out of the headlines. In 1955, Confidential magazine threatened to publish an exposé about Hudson’s secret homosexuality. Willson stalled this by disclosing information about two of his other clients. Willson provided information about Rory Calhoun’s years in prison and the arrest of Tab Hunter at a party in 1950. According to some colleagues, Hudson’s homosexual activity was well known in Hollywood throughout his career, and former co-stars Elizabeth Taylor and Susan Saint James claimed that they knew of his homosexuality, as did Carol Burnett.
The screen star died at his Beverley Hills mansion ten months after telling the world that he had AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Pushed as the all-American boy in the 50s, Hudson quickly established himself as a Hollywood heartthrob. However, the public image of Rock Hudson bore no resemblance to reality. The Hollywood publicity machine helped him to hide his sexuality. Hudson spent the last two years of his life denying his illness and refused to believe that it would prove fatal.
Although he was raised Roman Catholic, Hudson later identified as an atheist. A week before Hudson died, his publicist Tom Clark asked a priest to visit. Hudson made a confession, received communion and was administered the last rites. Hudson was also visited by a Pentecostal prayer group. Hudson died from AIDS-related complications to become the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness. News of the star’s death hit the media barely 40 minutes after it occurred. A horde of photographers descended on the scene before the mortuary van had departed with the body, which was immediately cremated – Rock Hudson had never wanted a funeral.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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