Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. November 17, 1925 in Winnetka , Illinois , † October 2, 1985 in Marina del Rey , California ) was an American actor .
In the 1950s and 1960s he was a sought-after Hollywood actor, among others in the melodramas of Douglas Sirk and as a comedy actor alongside Doris Day . In 1985, Hudson and the young activist Ryan White helped to multiply American AIDS coverage. He was one of the first celebrities to die as a result of the disease.
Life
Rock Hudson was born in Illinois in 1925 . He was the only child of operator Katherine Wood and auto mechanic Roy Harold Scherer. After graduating from high school, he served in the US Navy as a mechanic during World War II . When he returned to his homeland after the end of the war, he made his first contacts in the film industry. In 1948 he got his first role in the war film Fighter Squadron , but was not mentioned in the opening and closing credits . After that first appearance in a Hollywood movie, Universal Picture Studios became aware of Hudson and signed him. Since Hudson had a sporty, muscular build, he was mainly cast in westerns of the 1950s, for example at the side of James Stewart in Winchester '73 .
Hudson starred in many films in the 1950s and 1960s. His roles were mainly those of the smart lover, womanizer and husband. After the westerns, it was melodramas first , directed several times by Douglas Sirk . One of his most famous films was Giants directed by George Stevens and starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean . From 1959 he starred in comedies alongside Doris Day in Bettgeflüster (1959, for whose soundtrack he also sang), Ein Pajama für Zwei (1961) and Schick mir keine Blumen (1964). He had another success in this category together with Paula Prentiss in A Goldfish on a Leash (1964). However, Hudson could not build on these successes again in the next few years. In the 1970s he was still involved in some film productions and US television series; for example in the dystopian science fiction film The Man Who Lived Twice and in the detective series McMillan & Wife and in 1980 in the feature film Murder in the Mirror based on a novel by Agatha Christie , in which Hudson appeared with Tony Curtis and Elizabeth Taylor.
Rock Hudson was gay. From 1955 to 1958 he was married to Phyllis Gates (1925-2006). She was the secretary of Hollywood agent Henry Willson , who also represented Hudson. Two years after Hudson's death, she published the book My Husband, Rock Hudson .
Illness and death
Rock Hudson was one of the first celebrities and the first Hollywood star to die of complications from AIDS , which drew media attention to the subject. His last television appearance was a role as a special guest star in the television series Denver-Clan from December 1984 to April 1985. On July 21, 1985 , he collapsed at the Hôtel Ritz and was taken to the Hôpital américain de Paris . Army Archerd first wrote about the diagnosis in his July 23 column in Daily Variety magazine :
“The whispering propaganda about Rock Hudson can and should stop. He flew to Paris for more help. […] His illness was no secret to close friends of Hollywood, but its true nature was revealed to very few. Doctors warn that if a cure is not found soon, the anxiety disorder will reach catastrophic proportions in all communities. "
On the same day, Hudson's neighborhood decided to make the diagnosis public. On July 25th, Collart read the note outside the hospital. On July 30, he arrived in Los Angeles, where he at the University Hospital of UCLA a pneumonia auskurierte and was subsequently discharged home.
Elizabeth Taylor hosted the first AIDS benefit gala where Burt Lancaster read a message from Hudson:
“I'm not happy that I'm sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if it helps others, at least I can be certain that my misfortune will have a positive effect. Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you to all of my friends who attended this evening and to the thousands for their prayers, thoughts, love, wishes and support. "
An appearance on Doris Day's Best Friends , Doris Day's talk show on CBN , was his first public appearance after hospitalization. He had a friendship with his fellow actors Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor, which lasted until death. He died on October 2, 1985 at the age of 59. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered in the sea. At 6104 Hollywood Boulevard , Rock Hudson received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .
Filmography (selection)
- 1948: Fighter Squadron
- 1949: Deadly Suction (Undertow)
- 1950: In love, engaged, married (Peggy)
- 1950: Winchester '73
- 1950: The Desert Hawk
- 1951: Counted out (Iron Man)
- 1951: Victory over the Dark (Bright Victory)
- 1951: Tomahawk - uprising of the Sioux (Tomahawk)
- 1952: Curse of the Lost (Horizons West)
- 1952: Has anyone seen my bride? ( Has Anybody Seen My Gal? )
- 1952: Mutiny at the Bend of the River
- 1952: The Red Angel (Scarlet Angel)
- 1953: Seminola (Seminole)
- 1953: Against all dangers (Back in God's Country)
- 1953: The Höllenriff voice as narrator (Beneath the 12-Mile Reef)
- 1953: Gun in hand (Gun Fury)
- 1953: Dangerous Blood / The Lawless Breed
- 1953: The Golden Sword (The Golden Blade)
- 1953: In the shadow of the Corsican (Sea Devils)
- 1954: Taza, son of Cochise (Taz, Son of Chchise)
- 1954: The Magnificent Obsession
- 1954: Rifles for Bengali (Bengal Brigade)
- 1955: And if it weren't for love ... (One Desire)
- 1955: All That Heaven Allows (All That Heaven Allows)
- 1955: Just You Alone (Never Say Goodbye)
- 1955: When the Chains Break (Captain Lightfoot)
- 1956 giant (Giant)
- 1956: Written on the Wind (Written on the Wind)
- 1957: Flames Over Africa (Something of Value)
- 1957: The Angel with the Bloody Wings (Battle Hymn)
- 1957: Duel in the Clouds (The Tarnished Angels)
- 1957: In Another Land (A Farewell to Arms)
- 1959: This Earth Is Mine
- 1959: Pillow Talk (Pillow Talk)
- 1961: A pajama for two (Lover Come Back)
- 1961: El Perdido (The Last Sunset)
- 1961: Happy End in September (Come September)
- 1962: On the Black River (The Spiral Road)
- 1963: The Commodore (A Gathering of Eagles)
- 1964: A goldfish on a leash (Man's Favorite Sport?)
- 1964: Send Me No Flowers (Send Me No Flowers)
- 1965: An Apartment for Three (A Very Special Favor)
- 1965: stranger Bedfellows (Strange Bedfellows)
- 1965: New York Express ( Blindfold )
- 1966: The Man Who Lived Twice (Seconds)
- 1966: The Tobruk cannons (Tobruk)
- 1968: Ice Station Zebra (Ice Station Zebra)
- 1969: The Undefeated (The Undefeated)
- 1970: Darling Lili
- 1970: The Wasp 's Nest (Hornets' Nest)
- 1971–1977: McMillan & Wife (TV series, 40 episodes)
- 1973: The vultures are already waiting (Showdown)
- 1975: Diagnosis: Murder (The Deadly Cure)
- 1976: embryo (embryo)
- 1978: Avalanche
- 1980: The Martian Chronicles ( The Martian Chronicles , Miniseries)
- 1980: Murder in the Mirror (The Mirror Crack'd)
- 1981: The Star Maker (TV movie)
- 1982: World War III ( World War III , TV movie)
- 1982: The Devlin Connection III
- 1984: The Sharks of Las Vegas ( The Vegas Strip War , Movie made for TV)
- 1984: The Ambassador (The Ambassador)
- 1984–1985: The Denver Clan ( Dynasty , TV series, 9 episodes)
Awards
- 1957: Nomination for an Oscar for the film Giants
- 1958, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1964: Bravo Otto
- 1958, 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1963: Bambi (the 1961 Bambi was received for him by his mother)
- 1959, 1960, 1961 and 1963: Henrietta Award as World Film Favorite - Male at the Golden Globes
- 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1963: Golden Laurel as Top Male Star at the Laurel Awards
- 1956, 1957 and 1959: Most Popular Male Star of the Photoplay Awards
- 1977: TP de Oro in Spain for Best Actor in McMillan & Wife (1971)
Discography (selection)
- 1959: Pillow Talk Soundtrack
- 1971: Rock, Gently
- 1996: Pillow Talk Soundtrack (Extended)
literature
- Michael Althen : Rock Hudson. His films - his life. Heyne, Munich 1986 (= Heyne Filmbibliothek . Nr. 93), ISBN 3-453-86095-0 .
- Mark Griffin: All that Heaven Allows. A Biography of Rock Hudson. HarperCollinsPublishers, New York 2018, ISBN 978-0-06-240885-3 .
Aftermath
Movie and TV
- Rock Hudson (1990) - TV film directed by John Nicolella with Thomas Ian Griffith in the title role
- Rock Hudson's Home Movies (1992) - Documentary about the life and career of Hudson by Mark Rappaport . The film was in 1993 at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards as Best Documentary nomination, while in the National Society of Film Critics awards a Special Mention for "the clever combination of fictional narrative and essay to rock Hudson Canvas picture to deconstruct" followed 1994th
- E! True Hollywood Story: Rock Hudson (1999) documentary
- Rock Hudson: Dark and Handsome Stranger (2010, German: Rock Hudson - Beautiful strange man ) - Documentary by Andrew Davies and André Schäfer
- Stars of the Silver Screen: Rock Hudson (2015, German: Legends of the Screen - Rock Hudson ) or Rock Hudson - Discovering - Documentation by Lyndy Saville
- Hollywood (2020) - Ryan Murphy's fictional miniseriesabout sexism and homophobia in Hollywood in the 1940s. Rock Hudson is played by actor Jake Picking .
Exhibitions (selection)
- Change of scenery 2.0: Rock Hudson and the AIDS crisis , Schwules Museum * Berlin 2016/2017
Web links
- Literature by and about Rock Hudson in the catalog of the German National Library
- Rock Hudson in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- A deceptively real enthusiast article about Rock Hudson at prisma-online
Individual evidence
- ↑ A deceptively real enthusiast article about Rock Hudson at prisma-online , accessed July 5, 2015
- ↑ Petra Eiden, Klaus Schönbach: 1987: AIDS reaches Germany. The "Bild" newspaper and the fear of a new epidemic - a case study . In: Journalism . tape 52 , no. 4 , 2007, ISSN 1862-2569 , p. 524–538 (including references to US studies).
- ↑ spiegel.de: So big, so indestructible
- ↑ tagesspiegel.de: How Rock gave Hudson Aids a face
- ↑ content.time.com: The Double Life of an Aids Victim
- ↑ nytimes.com: Review / Television; The Life, Death and Secrets of Rock Hudson
- ↑ thefreelibrary.com: Outing Mrs. Rock Hudson: the obits after Phyllis Gates died in January omitted some important facts: Those who knew her say she was a lesbian who tried to blackmail her movie star husband.
- ↑ Robin Abcarian: Army Archerd dies at 87; Variety columnist watched over Hollywood for half a century. In: Los Angeles Times . September 9, 2009, HTML page 2.
- ↑ a b c Rock Hudson - Beautiful Stranger (Rock Hudson - Dark and Handsome Stranger). Director: André Schäfer and Andrew Davis, November 14, 2010, ORF2, with: Michael Gottlieb (Rock's doctor at the UCLA hospital, Los Angeles), Yanou Collart (Rock's press officer in France and friend), Philippe Siou (Rocks [Not] - Doctor in Paris), Stockton Briggle (theater director and close friend).
- ^ Rock Hudson (1990) . In: imdb.com (accessed April 23, 2020).
- ^ Rock Hudson's Home Movies Awards . In: imdb.com (accessed April 23, 2020).
- ↑ E! True Hollywood Story: Rock Hudson . In: imdb.com (accessed April 23, 2020).
- ^ Rock Hudson - Dark and Handsome Stranger . In: imdb.com (accessed April 23, 2020).
- Jump up ↑ Stars of the Silver Screen: Rock Hudson . In: imdb.com (accessed April 23, 2020).
- ↑ Rock Hudson - Discovering . In: imdb.com (accessed April 23, 2020).
- ↑ http://www.schwulesmuseum.de/ausstellungen/view/tapetenendung-20-rock-hudson-und-die-aids-krise/
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Hudson, rock |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Scherer, Roy Harold junior (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | US-American actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | November 17, 1925 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Winnetka , Illinois |
DATE OF DEATH | 2nd October 1985 |
Place of death | Marina del Rey , Los Angeles County , California |