Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson, born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr on November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois. He died on October 2, 1985 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles due to Aids. After his death, his former lover Marc Christian sued Hudson’s estate and won because of contracting the disease from his lover.

When he was eight years of age, his father (an auto-mechanic) left him and his mother (a telephone operator). He tried out for school plays, but wasn’t given any parts, because he couldn’t memorize his lines. Upon graduating high school, he went to work as a postal employee until World War II, when he enlisted in the United States Navy as an airplane mechanic. Once the war was over, Hudson went to work as a truck driver, it was in one of his deliveries to a movie studio that he once again tried his hand at acting in the movies and this time he was a success. He signed a contract with Universal Studios. Universal changed his name to Rock Hudson, surgically lowered his voice, capped his teeth, and sent him for lessons in acting and singing. On his own, Rock had fencing and horseback riding lessons.

In 1948 he made got his first film part in "Fighter Squadron" where he had a one liner part. His big physique made him a big box office tease for over twenty years and women flocked to see him, not knowing that he was homosexual.

He made many films in the 1950s mainly consisting of Westerns, but it was not until the 1960s that he really got noticed in movies opposite Doris Day. This dynamic duo made many comedy hits including Lover Come Back, and Pillow Talk, and were an instant icon.

The following is a list of films that he has been in courtesy of the Internet Movie Database:

Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (2001) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself
And the Band Played On (1993) (TV) (uncredited) (archive footage) .... Himself (epilogue sequence)
Vegas Strip War, The (1984) (TV) .... Neil Chaine
... aka Las Vegas Strip War (1984) (TV)
Ambassador, The (1984) .... Frank Stevenson
... aka Peacemaker (1984)
"Dynasty" (1981) TV Series .... Daniel Reece (1984-1985)
"Devlin Connection, The" (1982) TV Series .... Brian Devlin
World War III (1982) (TV) .... President Thomas McKenna
Star Maker, The (1981) (TV) .... Danny Youngblood
Mirror Crack'd, The (1980) .... Jason Rudd
Superstunt II (1980) (TV)
Circus of the Stars #5 (1980) (TV) .... Ringmaster
"Martian Chronicles, The" (1979) (mini) TV Series .... Colonel John Wilder
Avalanche (1978) .... David Shelby
"Wheels" (1978) (mini) TV Series .... Adam Trenton
... aka "Arthur Hailey's Wheels" (1978) (mini)
"McMillan" (1976) TV Series .... Commissioner Stewart McMillan (1976-1977
Embryo (1976) .... Dr. Paul Holliston
... aka Created to Kill (1976) (USA: reissue title)
Showdown (1973) .... Chuck Jarvis
"McMillan and Wife" (1971) TV Series .... Police Commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan
Once Upon a Dead Man (1971) (TV) .... Commissioner Stewart McMillan
Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) .... Michael "Tiger" McDrew
Hornet's Nest (1970) .... Captain Turner
... aka Lupi attaccano in branco, I (1970) (Italy)
... aka Vespaio, Il (1970)
Darling Lili (1970) .... Major William Larrabee
Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969) (TV) .... Himself
Undefeated, The (1969) .... Colonel James Langdon
Ruba al prossimo tuo (1969) .... Captain Mike Harmon
... aka Fine Pair, A (1969) (USA)
Man Who Makes the Difference, The (1968) (uncredited) .... Himself
Ice Station Zebra (1968) .... Cdr. James Ferraday, Captain of USS Tigerfish
Tobruk (1967) .... Major Donald Craig
Seconds (1966) .... Antiochus "Tony" Wilson
Blindfold (1965) .... Dr. Bartholomew Snow
Very Special Favor, A (1965) .... Paul Chadwick
Strange Bedfellows (1964) .... Carter Harrison
Send Me No Flowers (1964) .... George Kimball
Man's Favorite Sport? (1964) .... Roger Willoughby
Marilyn (1963) .... Narrator
Gathering of Eagles, A (1963) .... Colonel Jim Caldwell
Spiral Road, The (1962) .... Dr. Anton Drager
Lover Come Back (1961) .... Jerry Webster
Come September (1961) .... Robert Talbot
Last Sunset, The (1961) .... Dana Stribling
Pillow Talk (1959) .... Brad Allen
This Earth Is Mine (1959) .... John Rambeau
Twilight for the Gods (1958) .... Captain David Bell
Farewell to Arms, A (1957) .... Lieutenant Frederick Henry
Tarnished Angels, The (1957) .... Burke Devlin
... aka Pylon (1957) (USA)
Something of Value (1957) .... Peter McKenzie
Battle Hymn (1957) .... Colonel Dean Hess
Written on the Wind (1956) .... Mitch Wayne
Giant (1956) .... Jordan "Bick" Benedict
Never Say Goodbye (1956) .... Dr. Michael Parker
All That Heaven Allows (1955) .... Ron Kirby
Captain Lightfoot (1955) .... Michael Martin
One Desire (1955) .... Clint Saunders
Bengal Brigade (1954) .... Captain Jeffrey Claybourne
... aka Bengal Rifles (1954) (UK)
Taza, Son of Cochise (1954) .... Taza
... aka Son of Cochise (1954) (USA)
Magnificent Obsession (1954) .... Bob Merrick
Back to God's Country (1953) .... Peter Keith
Golden Blade, The (1953) .... Harun
Gun Fury (1953) .... Ben Warren
Sea Devils (1953) .... Gilliatt
Seminole (1953) .... Lt. Lance Caldwell
Lawless Breed, The (1953) .... John Wesley Hardin
Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952) .... Dan
Here Come the Nelsons (1952) .... Charles Jones
... aka Meet the Nelsons (1952)
Horizons West (1952) .... Neil Hammond
Bend of the River (1952) .... Trey Wilson
... aka Where the River Bends (1952) (UK)
Scarlet Angel (1952) .... Frank Truscott
Fat Man, The (1951) .... Roy Clark
Air Cadet (1951) .... Upper Classman
... aka Jet Men of the Air (1951) (UK)
Iron Man (1951) .... Tommy 'Speed' O'Keefe
Bright Victory (1951) .... Dudek
... aka Lights Out (1951) (UK)
Tomahawk (1951) .... Corporal Burt Hanna
... aka Battle of Powder River (1951) (UK)
Desert Hawk, The (1950) .... Captain Ras
I Was a Shoplifter (1950) .... Store Detective
Peggy (1950) .... Johnny Higgins
Winchester '73 (1950) .... Young Bull
... aka Montana Winchester (1950)
One Way Street (1950) .... Truck Driver
Shakedown (1950) .... Ted, the Night Club Doorman
Undertow (1949) .... Detective
Fighter Squadron (1948) (uncredited) .... 2nd Lt. (Pilot)

Rock Hudson (real name Mr. Ranson, but everyone calls him this after the actor) is the main character in “The Sound of Hollyhocks”, a short story by Hugh Garner. He is in a mental hospital for trying to kill himself over the breakup of his marriage and the death of his wife. During our window of insight into Rock’s life, we learn that he hears and talks to flowers.

The Hollyhocks represent his wife and her life. They were her favourite flower. His relationship with the Hollyhocks is his way of letting his wife live on. By having some connection into the life of a Hollyhock, he can still have a relationship with his wife. This is why he hears them, because he really wants to hear his wife again and rectify their problems. This is a means of avoidance of his current reality; the reality that his wife is dead.

Here is a bit of writing I did to get inside Rock’s head, to actually hear what the flowers were saying to him in the courtyard of the mental hospital.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ROCK HUDSON, MENTAL PATIENT EXTRAORDINAIRE.

"Your feet smell, go away."
"Shut up. At least I have feet."
"Yeah, well I smell nice." At this, I stomped the infernal weed into the soft dirt. Ah, the advantages of feet.
"You shouldn't have done that."
"What do you know?" I asked, looking down at the Daisy.
"I know you shouldn't have done that. Your feet do smell bad."
"You want to die too?"
"No, but if you come any closer, your stench will kill me."
"You don't even have a nose!"
"My sensory receptors are to complex for you to fathom…"
"You're a friggin daisy. Shut up."
"You're telling me to shut up and I'm not even talking."
"Well I can hear you, can't I?"
"People hear what they want to hear."
"So I want to hear flowers."
"Yeah, too bad we don't say what you want."
"How do you know you're not saying exactly what I want to hear?" The daisy paused for a moment, contemplating the cosmic events of coincidence and perception. I cut him off before he could get out his next sentence. "If I had my way I wouldn't hear you at all, weed." It was a lie. Sometimes people say things just for the sake of saying something; this was one of those things. I disregarded it. He began to sing.
"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do…" He was ignoring me, but I stayed and listened all the same. His singing was soft, but the other Daisies listened intently. This must be their anthem. A lone thistle began a quiet grumbling to himself. It wasn't disrupting, but after the Daisy finished his tune, the thistle began to yell.
"Right! Pretty wussy song for a pretty wussy flower! Oh yeah, it's the best thing since Sinatra! We're all bloody tired of it, all of us!"
"I'm not really," remarked a Buttercup, too quiet for the thistle to hear.
"If I were you, I'd use those legs and get out of here!" I walked away as an angry verbal battle ensued. Only the Buttercup remained silent. I could hear an operatic tone over the lawn as a lone Dandelion recounted The Marriage of Figaro. I passed her and bid hello to a Hollyhock. We would talk more after lights out, him being right outside the window. For now I was content to walk in the sun. There was a quiet singing, timid and afraid, yet determined. I scanned the featureless pavement for the source.
"…I am a rock…"
It was coming from a teeny tiny Buttercup amongst a sea of concrete.
"...I am an island…"
I stayed where I was, not wanting to disturb her. Finally her song came to its end.
"…And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries." At this her voice wavered and broke. She sobbed. I was about to go over to her when a nurse took me by the arm, walking towards the door.
"Time for afternoon meds Rock."