Gay actors in the 50s

A Hollywood producer once called him "Prince Charming" — a fitting nickname for a man whose life seemed, for most of it, like a storybook. Rock Hudson started steaming up the screen in the s, and continued for nearly four decades, in more than 60 films. But today he's perhaps overlooked, said documentary director Stephen Kijak.

Smith asked, "Why do you think his name is not up there with the James Deans and the Marilyn Monroes? Kijak replied, "I don't know. In the documentary, Hudson's friend Ken Jillson said, "Our social life with him was very private. We didn't go out to restaurants. We would go to Rock's house.

It was called the Castle. Yes, Prince Charming really did call his home "the Castle" — a Beverly Hills mansion that must have seemed a million miles away from Winnetka, Illinois, where Hudson grew up as Roy Fitzgerald. It was a very modest background, said Hudson biographer Mark Griffin. And when Roy from Illinois met notorious Hollywood agent Henry Willson, Griffin said, the first thing he did was change his name to a "manly" Rock Hudson.

Brad Rock Hudson : "Look I don't know what's bothering you but don't take your bedroom problems out on me. There's nothing in my bedroom that bothers me. In real life, Hudson was dating men, like Lee Garlington, who in the documentary recalled, "We were ordered never to have our picture taken together, because somebody would know that we were gay.

"Love like Matter is much Odder than we thought." -W.H. Auden

Hudson even married his agent's secretary, Phyllis Gates. It lasted just three years. But Hudson's commitment to playing straight never faltered. And friends like Doris Day kept his secret. In an archival interview Day said, "Many, many people would ask me, you know, 'Is Rock Hudson really gay?

First of all, I know nothing about his private life. Kijak said, "It was still the dark ages, and so, everyone was afraid. There was a lot of fear, there was a lot of denial. And I think his way of coping was just to keep working, and to deny that anything was wrong. As his health worsened, Hudson took on one last role with one last leading lady, Linda Evans, on "Dynasty.

At a time when some feared that kissing could transmit the virus that causes AIDS, the script called for just that. And I knew he knew how to kiss passionately, and that's why I was surprised," said Evans. He knows what he's doing. So, it was confusing.