Rock Hudson had initially worked various odd jobs, including truck driver and mechanic, before being discovered by talent agent Henry Willson who helped him establish a career in acting. The actor made his debut in the 1948 Warner Bros. film Fighter Squadron before going on to feature in other movies like Undertow, Peggy, Winchester ’73, The Desert Hawk, Tomahawk, and Air Cadet.
Hudson got his breakthrough role in the 1954 film Magnificent Obsession, and he continued his career all through the ’60s solidifying his role as a leading man in romantic comedies and dramas. Sadly, the actor, who lived a highly secretive life as a gay man, passed away on October 2, 1985, at the age of 59, due to complications from AIDS.
Mark Griffin, Rock Hudson’s biographer, says that the late actor made sexual advances at fellow actor, James Dean during the production of ‘Giant’
In the recently released HBO documentary Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, Mark Griffin disclosed that during their time working together on the Western film Giant, Hudson made sexual advances towards James Dean. The biographer further explained that Dean had a dislike for Hudson’s personality during their time working together. “According to some accounts, James Dean was rather disdainful of Hudson,” Griffin admitted. “Dean considered it hypocritical that Rock was maintaining this hetero facade in public.”
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However, Griffin asserted that Dean was in no way better than Hudson as he was involved in a romantic relationship with a gay radio executive, a friend to Henry Wilson. “Some might consider that a case of the pot calling the kettle black,” he added. “If you’re talking about shrouded sexuality, they weren’t all that different.”
Rock Hudson also never liked James Dean
While speaking in a 1983 interview, Hudson openly talked about his aversion towards Dean, who played the character of Jett Rink. He claimed that director George Stevens decided to cast Dean in the project because he was considered fresh and popular at the time, following the success of the 1955 movies Rebel Without a Cause and East of Eden which earned him an Oscar nomination.
“As I said, I didn’t like the fella too much. I don’t know if I should say anymore. Jimmy was dead before the picture was over,” he confessed. “I don’t like to talk against anybody, and I don’t like to talk against the dead, so I think I should shut up.”