The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals (51 page)

In the mid-1980s, AIDS was still a mysterious disease that caused a great deal of confusion, with misinformation rife in terms of how it could be transmitted and prevented. It was a condition that was talked about in hushed voices; a secretive illness that nobody wanted to discuss openly; and many people stuck their heads in the sand in the hope that ignorance was bliss. However, things have a habit of being found out, and in 1985 the world was rocked by the discovery that Hollywood star Rock Hudson was dying as a result of AIDS, and no one could deny its existence any more.

Born in Illinois as Roy Harold Scherer Jr on 17 November 1925, Rock had an unsettled early life after his father left the family home during the days of the Great Depression. Fortunately for him, he acquired a new father when his mother remarried and he went on to have a decent life as a teenager, singing at high school, taking part in school plays and working as a newspaper boy to earn pocket money.

Rock had a keen interest in acting and after serving in the Philippines during World War II, he moved to Los Angeles to make it big. Success came slowly, however, and he spent some of his time working as a truck driver to pay the rent, before finally earning a small part in the 1948 movie,
Fighter Squadron
. The part was a success and he was featured heavily in magazines of the day, where women began to sit up and take notice thanks, for the most part, to his smouldering good looks.

By the mid-1950s Hudson’s popularity was ensured when he was cast alongside Jane Wyman in
Magnificent Obsession
(1954). Then his dreams came true when he was nominated for an Academy Award after co-starring in
Giant
with Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean.

In spite of Rock’s huge appeal to women as a romantic figure, he was harbouring a secret – he was gay. It was a fairly well-known “secret” in Hollywood, with Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor both later saying that they had known of his sexual orientation. However, to everyone else Hudson was most certainly a straight man and, after a near miss in the mid-1950s when
Confidential
magazine threatened to “out” him, the actor married a secretary called Phyllis Gates, which reinforced the public’s belief that he was, in fact, heterosexual.

Strangely, Ms Gates later claimed that she married Hudson out of love, not as a favour made to keep his sex life out of the newspapers, but sadly it would seem that the actor did not feel the same way. After several years they were divorced, with Phyllis citing mental cruelty as the reason for separation. She came away with a hefty alimony and Rock was able to continue projecting an untarnished romantic image, which did him no harm at all when in the late 1950s and into the 1960s he starred in a string of romantic comedies with Doris Day, including the hugely successful
Pillow Talk
(1959) and
Lover Come Back
(1961).

The 1970s saw Hudson making a successful move to television in the long-running TV show
McMillan & Wife
, though by this time it did seem quite apparent that his career was slowly but surely winding down. He was a big drinker and heavy smoker, and this resulted in a series of health scares including a heart attack in 1981 and then heart-bypass surgery. But in spite of this, he did continue to work, and was cast as Linda Evans’s love-interest in the highly successful drama series
Dynasty
. However, by this time his good looks were quite obviously ravished and his speech was becoming slow and somewhat slurred. This raised more than a few eyebrows, particularly when he was photographed with former co-star Doris Day, looking extremely thin and drawn, clearly weighing several stone less than just a short time before.

The reason for Rock’s haggard looks was – of course – because he was suffering from HIV. However, knowing the stigma that was attached to the fledgling disease, neither he nor his publicity staff wanted to admit that this was what was causing him to be so gaunt. Added to that, it was still not public knowledge that the actor was even gay, so to suddenly announce that he had HIV would have led to more gossip and questions than anyone was prepared to handle.

But being able to keep the news a secret was getting to be an impossible task, and on 23 July 1985 – after the actor had collapsed in a Paris hotel and was rushed to hospital – it was reported that he was in the city in order to receive treatment for an undisclosed illness. The gossip mills went into overdrive and it was clear from the start that the media were never going to just let the story go without a solid answer to their questions.

Finally Hudson’s press people stepped up to make a statement, though it was not quite what everyone was expecting . . . At first they announced that he was suffering from inoperable liver cancer, but then this backfired when it was discovered that the hospital where he was staying was a leading facility in AIDS research. The newspapers went into overdrive again and a great deal of speculation ensued, which led to the disclosure that the actor was actually in hospital for tests. What kind of tests? asked the newspapers. “Everything” was the reply.

But still, neither the public nor the media were satisfied with the answers being given, especially when it was found that this was actually the actor’s second visit to Paris for treatment. Everyone pressed for a true comment but none was immediately forthcoming, and instead his representatives tried desperately to dampen down the rumours. They told newspapers that it had definitely been confirmed that his condition was inoperable liver cancer, then when the questions became too much, suddenly no one was available for comment and the whole camp went silent.

Finally, everyone involved with Rock Hudson knew that they were fighting a losing battle to keep his illness out of the newspapers, and it was decided to admit the truth once and for all. This grisly task was given to his spokeswoman, Yanou Collart, who told waiting reporters that, yes, the actor did have AIDS and that he had actually been diagnosed over a year before.

Strangely, though, instead of answering the queries asked by the media and public over the course of the past few weeks, the statement actually caused more questions when Collart added the bizarre “fact” that recent tests had shown that Hudson was now free of the disease and he was, in fact, cured. Since there was no known cure for AIDS then – or now – this comment was confusing to say the least. Did they really believe the actor was now cured, or were they still trying to cover up the truth? Nobody seemed to have a clue.

The news that Hudson had recovered from AIDS was soon disputed by doctors throughout the United States who stepped in to say that no treatment could currently cure the disease and that if the actor had been suffering from AIDS at some point, then he would still have it now. More confusion came when it was revealed that Hudson had been first treated in the Paris hospital without any of the doctors knowing that he had previously been diagnosed with AIDS. Without being aware of this important information, they had surmised that his liver was suffering abnormalities and that it was – quite tragically – an inoperable condition.

The media reports into Rock Hudson’s illness were littered with untruths and speculation. Hudson was receiving an experimental drug which would block the disease, said one statement. No, it was far too late for him to receive any treatment like that, said another. Rock had flown to France in order to seek help with his AIDS treatment was another comment. No, he had only ended up in hospital after collapsing in his hotel, said another. With the stories getting more and more out of hand, at last Rock’s spokeswoman had to confirm the real situation once and for all. Yes, the actor still had AIDS, she confirmed, but no, none of his people knew how he had actually become infected. “I have no idea if he knows how he got it,” the spokesperson told the
Los Angeles Times
.

Of course, this brought up the question of whether or not Rock Hudson could possibly be gay, and it was not long before newspapers were quoting columnist Armistead Maupin as saying that nine years earlier, he had asked the actor about his sexuality. Apparently Maupin was of the opinion that Hudson was gay and had enquired as to whether or not he would ever discuss it. “Rock seemed to take to the idea,” Maupin told the
San Francisco Chronicle
, before adding that Hudson had told him one of these days he would have a lot to tell, and that he had learned the Hollywood lesson very well: keeping quiet about his real love affairs and being happy to allow various gossip columnists to make up imaginary girlfriends for him.

Despite the rumours and comments, no official statement on the star’s love life was forthcoming and his representatives announced – rather questionably – that they knew absolutely nothing about his sexuality at all. Still, while the press attention that centred on the actor’s illness was most unwelcome in the Hudson camp, something quite extraordinary was bubbling away behind the scenes. Instead of people immediately lambasting the actor for having the dreaded and mysterious AIDS virus, many were responding to the news reports by raising their own awareness of the disease and coming forward to get themselves tested.

Information about the illness was no longer being swept under the carpet; now everyone seemed to know what AIDS was, and even President Ronald Reagan gave his support to the ailing actor by telephoning him in the hospital. Furthermore, donations were beginning to trickle in to AIDS charities and a walkathon was held in Hollywood which attracted twice as many people as it had the year before, raising $630,000 for those suffering from the syndrome. The executive director of AIDS Project/Los Angeles said that the announcement that Rock Hudson had the disease was the most important thing that had ever happened in the fight against the illness, and this most certainly seems to be the case. Whether he knew it or not, Rock Hudson was now a strong force within the AIDS community and he was doing more to spread awareness than any person or campaign had ever done before.

Sadly, while the actor’s plight was bringing attention to the disease as a whole, it was also the subject of yet more gossip and misunderstanding from those who refused to educate themselves. Various individuals began asking if Hudson could have given AIDS to his
Dynasty
co-star Linda Evans, as the two had shared kissing scenes in the television show before it was announced he was ill. This was such a topic of concern and intrigue that it even appeared on news programmes; rumours began that producers would now insist on AIDS tests for all actors before shooting intimate scenes, and that actresses would most likely refuse to kiss gay actors on camera.

Doctors were brought in to dispute the tale that you could contract AIDS from kissing or touching someone, but many people still did not believe it. In fact, when Princess Diana was later seen shaking the hand of an AIDS patient in a UK hospital, there was outrage that the future Queen of England could possibly have exposed herself to the disease. It was a ridiculous concept, of course, but one that was very much on the minds of misinformed people during the mid-1980s.

Meanwhile, on a personal level, Rock Hudson was discharged from the Paris hospital where he had been staying since his collapse, and flew back to California. He was immediately admitted to the UCLA hospital where his condition was reported as fair, and from which a statement was made to say that he had approved the idea of a Rock Hudson Foundation to be set up to raise money for AIDS. Then on 25 August 1985 came the news that he had been released from hospital in order to rest at his home, though it was made clear that he would still need continuous care.

A surprise announcement came when it was said that despite his illness, Rock Hudson was preparing to write his autobiography with an author called Sara Davidson. All proceeds were to go to AIDS research and the book would be written using interviews given from Rock’s bedside. The fact that he was strong enough to attempt to do such a thing was a positive sign and the future began to look rather more hopeful. He also sent a statement to be read out at an AIDS project event, where he thanked Elizabeth Taylor for her friendship and said that while he did not wish to be sick, he was glad that his illness was at least having some positive effect on others who needed help.

Unfortunately, while Hudson’s comments showed some kind of lucidity on his part, any concept of a return to health was sadly something of an illusion. At 9 a.m. on 2 October 1985, Rock breathed his last; surrounded by members of his staff, he slipped quietly away at his home in Beverly Hills. Fans wept when the death was announced and funeral plans were quickly drawn up, which saw his body cremated and the ashes scattered into the Pacific Ocean. Then a hundred of his closest friends gathered in the garden of Hudson’s home to pay tribute to the man who had soared to the very top of the Hollywood list, only to come crashing back down due to ill health. Mexican food was served; a mariachi band played; and friends including Elizabeth Taylor and Carol Burnett remembered their pal in his heyday when the world of showbiz had been at his feet.

Along with the tributes from co-stars and friends, a strange undercurrent of anger and suspicion began bubbling away in the newspapers over the authenticity of many of the statements Rock Hudson was supposed to have made over the course of his illness. Some friends told reporters that the actor had not even known his disease had become public knowledge, while one of his associates, Ross Hunter, told columnist Marilyn Beck that for the most part the actor was not lucid when he had gone to visit him. Hunter later added that of course he hadn’t been with him all the time, which prompted other friends and staff members to recall that when they had visited the actor in the final months, he had always been perfectly coherent with them.

However, this revelation of whether or not Hudson knew his disease was public forced his spokesman, Dale Olson, to admit that it had been himself, not the actor, who had written the statement which was read out at the September AIDS event. However, he made it clear that Rock had approved every word and very much understood what he was reading.