Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson

Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. on November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois. His father lost his job and abandoned the family during the Great Depression. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Hudson moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He appeared in nearly 70 films and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned more than four decades. In 1984, Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS.

About Rock Hudson in brief

Summary Rock HudsonHudson was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. on November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois. His father lost his job and abandoned the family during the Great Depression. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Hudson moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He appeared in nearly 70 films and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned more than four decades. In 1984, Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS. The following year, he became one of the first celebrities to disclose his AIDS diagnosis. Hudson was the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness, on October 2, 1985, at age 59, in Los Angeles, California. His last role was as a guest star on the fifth season of the primetime ABC soap opera Dynasty, until AIDS- related illness made it impossible for him to continue. He was known by many in the film industry during his lifetime that he was gay. The name was coined by combining the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River. He had a good part as a boxer in Iron Man, starring as a gambler in Bend of the River. He supported the family of Laurie Nelson, who had been cast in My Anybody Has Anybody, by supporting her in The Fat Man. He also supported the Nelson family in Here Come the Nelsons, opposite Yvonne De Carlo, in which he co-starred with Tomahawk Hawk. His first screen credit was in Peggy Winchester ’73, which gave him his first screen parts to be featured in.

He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for All That Heaven Allows and Giant, for which he received a Best Actor nomination. Hudson also found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co- starring Doris Day: Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, and Send Me No Flowers. During the late 1960s, his films included Seconds, Tobruk, and Ice Station Zebra. Unhappy with the film scripts he was offered, Hudson turned to television and was a hit, starring in the popular mystery series McMillan & Wife. He died of AIDS in 1985, in LA, California, at the age of 59. He is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son, Roy Hudson Jr., and a stepson, Roy Harold Jr., who was also an actor, and two stepdaughters, Katherine Scherer-Fitzgerald and Kimberly Scherer, both of whom are still living in the United States. Hudson had no children of his own; he was adopted by Wallace Fitzgerald, a former Marine Corps officer whom young Roy despised. In 1947, he sent talent scout Henry Willson a picture of himself in 1947, and Willson took him on as a client and changed the young actor’s name to Rock Hudson; later in life, Hudson admitted that he hated the name. Hudson made his acting debut with a small part in the Warner Bros. film Fighter Squadron, and took 38 takes to successfully deliver his only line in the movie.