Rock Hudson (1989)

[Music] 21-year-old Roy Fitzgerald arrived in Hollywood in 1946 writing the American dream to become a movie star he was a big strapping goodlooking shy kid with no acting experience and no contacts in the film business 10 years later he was Rock Hudson starring opposite Elizabeth Taylor and giant honored with an Academy Award nomination for his performance in this Classic Hollywood film and about to become the top box office star of the next decade he was the last major star to emerged from the Hollywood studio system on screen he was the traditional heroic romantic Idol born in an earlier era when Studios created Stars they trained them supported them and protected them it was a type that disappeared from the screen sometime during the tougher realisms of the late 60s but the Legacy lives on captured on film of the most successful romantic Idol of them all Rock Hudson tall dark and handsome the first impression was God how tall he is he was uh remarkably tall his behavior was movie like he was a movie star he was everything that a movie star I think ever would be Rock's image to me was the best kind because he was this wonderful goodlooking handsome great guy who was also nice I think Rock was the same kind of a guy that I first met when he was a freshman in high school great big likable warm guy I do hate to interrupt but would you mind hanging up please who's that the other half of my party line just ignore her she'll go away at the peak of his career in Pillow Talk Rock was swaave and sophisticated confident he also had a great time making the picture as he reveals in a rare candid interview about his career so was like going to a party wasn't work at all it was a day's work of fun Doris and I boy what a comedian so distant we became terrific friends she's wonderful I to see you tonight oh I'd love to Rex but I already have a date tonight of course you ain't the kind of guy who would break a date no I'm not and I ain't the kind of guy who'd ask you to I know you're not I'll pick you up at 8 I'll be ready Pillow Talk was Universal's first big Blockbuster and Rock Hudson and Doris Day became the romantic comedy team of the' 60s following in the footsteps of Tracy and heern Gable and Lumbard Rock was riding a crest of popularity Beyond his wildest dreams but it hadn't come easy he was born Roy Sherer Jr on November 17th 1925 in WKA Illinois he was a 5-year-old when his father Roy senior abandoned the family several years later Roy's mother Kay married Wallace Fitzgerald who legally adopted Ed him but life didn't get easier Wallace physically abused K and Roy he escaped to the movies and secretly began to dream of becoming one of the most romantic figures on the screen Kay divorced Wallace during Roy's junior year at New Trier High School and he had to drop his after school activities to help support his mother and himself awkward and shy he never shared his secret ambition back in a small town I could never free say I'm going to be an actor when I grow up because that just that's stuff nor did I enter in the drama Society or anything like that first of all I was too busy and hadn't work all the time so I couldn't do any form of extracurricular activity went the Navy in World War II and went back home for a summer and I thought this place is not for me now is the time to to do what I want to do I did know one person in Los Angeles my father so I came out and stay with him in Los Angeles a friend suggested that Roy get some pictures made and take them around to the major Studios only talent agent Henry Wilson showed any interest he signed Roy on site Wilson had a talent for spotting and developing raw potential and was known for coining catchy names Roy Fitzgerald became Rock Hudson I asked him once where he got the name and he said well it was better than jump or click which were the other two choices that he got and I thought click Hudson was pretty funny but you know and that's how he looked at it now Rock never liked the name he once joked that he had trouble pronouncing it but it was the Hollywood way of doing things and he wanted to become a star Wilson introduced him to director R Walch who took one look and growled even if he can't do anything he'll make good scenery Walsh Gabe Rock a bit part in Fighter Squadron at waren brothers and rock flubbed one line 38 times he took his mother now living in Los Angeles to see the picture she told him to save his money but wal recognized the special Chemistry Between Rock and the camera and signed him to a personal contract Walsh couldn't get him work so he sold the contract to Universal who reimbursed him for Rock's acting lessons and capping his teeth signed by Universal in 1949 Rock joined the legendary Studio contract system in exchange for grooming and training to become an actor the studio could use him in an unlimited number of pictures for a salary of $125 a week during that year then I started going to class and going to diction lessons learning how to lower my voice learning anything I could because something within this Midwestern hi stupidity of mine told me that if you're going to do something do it and do it the best you can and learn I knew that I don't know of any Studio that had uh the great training uh opportunities that Universal uh offered they had fencing lessons boxing lessons uh singing lessons uh anything that you wanted to do to um better yourself uh in the business Universal in those days it was a wonderful Studio it wasn't the glimour studio that Metro or Fox had it was a working Studio that made little pictures little investment and little profit in Winchester 73 one of Rock's earliest speaking Parts he put his new training to use as a Hollywood Indian they are old worn out they are not the guns of which we [Music] spoke this is gun I want you just show up and do whatever they told you to do and half the time he was acting as a stunt man and he was so green that he didn't know that you got paid double or or even triple if you did stunt work they said go down to make up and get made up as an Indian go go out to lot three guy the director says well get on the horse go around the Ben then come galloping then you get hit by a bullet and you fall off and you you fall off where this twig is he he knew so little that he did it he'd never been on a horse in his life director comes up to him and says you missed the twig he had to do it three times before someone said to him are you getting stunt paid for this this is a stunt man's job during the first 3 years he worked in 15 pictures everything from one scene Walk-Ons to more substantial Parts Rock was becoming an established leading man the Quint to sensual romantic hero and learning how to act along the way well here this kid came along with no training but he was working in this picture and that picture he was playing sometimes he played three different roles in one day you were like their family and they just nursed you along when the contract system for rock and the volume of work that he did created his talent he got used to acting the America of the 50s was a land of Traditional Values and unbridled optimism the post-war generation lived the good life they didn't have a care in the world and onc Screen simple stories and glamorous Stars reflected the national innocence for rock those times and his growing career combined to make him a star when finally after 25 films the studio decided he was ready for a major vehicle and cast him in Magnificent Obsession opposite me rock was nervous and I was so sympathetic having been there myself it was just the right vehicle at the right time and the right guy two weeks before shooting began i b AO surfing in an in tube and so I called the studio and a panic good got him to lose this part and it was a plum roll and a great chance for advancement so many people at the studio went to bform when one of the executives wanted me to be replaced and the head of the studio Bill gets said no that part is for him and he's going to do it nobody else so I did it with a broken shoulder never healed properly and Janie Wyman we do these love scenes and here's where her head is and the B creep broken bone make her sick but she kept right on we do this love scene she gets a [Music] shepher oh I can't believe it it's been so long much too long oh you did come to the plane and you hardly rode all these months oh I'm so glad you're here I'm not only going to show you the town I'm going to show the town you oh Rob Wy couldn't have been nicer Janny knew that I was new and anxious and nervous and I'd go high go for my lines 34 takes she say a word years later I said to her I said you really went out of your way Jane to be nice to me when you didn't have to I I want you to know that I do know that and I appreciate it and I love you for it and thank you she said um it was handed to me by somebody and I handed it to you and now it's your turn to hand it to somebody else and then he was a star now he was playing leading roles and he still didn't know anything about acting later he did learn to act but he learned to act after he was a star rock was now a hot property and the studio kept him busy on the set of Captain Lightfoot in Ireland he found a few moments to relax it was also his first time abroad and he indulged in a European tour his Newfound Fame opened doors to experiences that he had never imagined possible at a Command Performance in London he waited to meet Queen Elizabeth now back home in America he did his bit for Uncle Sam with a pitch for us saving bonds never seem to have enough time for all my Christmas shopping problem is easier this year because I'm giving more savings bonds than ever I buy them regularly the whole year round because they're a good investment if you want to say Merry Christmas in a very special way this year give US savings bonds we made the first of many Cameo appearances on television as a guest on the popular I Love Lucy show pardon me aren't you Mrs Ricky Ricardo yeah yes I mean yes well I'm Rock Hudson oh yeah well I know that you mind if I join you oh certainly M but would you like a piece of rock Mr candy no thank you in 1954 Rock and I were reunited in Ross hundreds All That Heaven allows and again I was the older woman Rock was the younger man a provocative theme that established the popularity of women's pictures in the 50s all theow was very playable and a hell of a good story and a hell of a good role and rather daring in those days there was a woman with a young garden and she's a not well to do but comfortable Widow where that's common practice today in those days I just simply wasn't done so it was a little bit naughty well it's it's getting a little late I'm sorry I I wasn't trying to arrange your life after all it's it's none of my business he looked like a star the public at least in those days Wanted movie stars just gorgeous men and women I always think of Rock Hudson as the last of that kind of almost unbelievably good-looking guy in the movies I mean just unbelievable he had the most perfect teeth he had the most perfect skin he had the most perfect hair uh his neck was absolutely round his skin was like a little babies just he's just a gorgeous looking person muscles everywhere just huge muscle and he never worked out he never trained he never lifted weights he just had it all that heaven allows was an enormous success I'm happy to say I attended the opening with producer Ross Hunter and Hollywood's most handsome Bachelor showed up with Phyllis Gates his agent secretary the photoplay awards that year confirmed Rock's overwhelming popularity with his fans I was so happy for him it was well deserved uh success is usually good for people I think success finally gave him a feeling of confidence in himself in 1955 director George Stevens borrowed Rock from Universal for the lead in Warner Brothers giant Stevens cast rock over William Holden Gregory peek and Alan lad for the highly prized role of bck Benedict after seeing Rock in the Lawless breed where he aged over a period of 40 years and retained sympathy for his Outlaw character based on the best-selling novel by Edna Ferber giant was the prestige picture of the year Stevens had me so rich and so bigoted I was big Benedict before we ever shot frame one I think that's a brilliant directing I having lunch with him one day and he said would you like to go down and see your house which was down in the car shop being built in sections oh yeah I said not giving a damn about the house and that's another department wrong but still that was my attitude and he said um what color you want it I said tan with brown trim okay boys painted tan with a brown trim where it's my house it was mine from then on who would you like as your Leading Lady Grace Kelly or Elizabeth Taylor and he was serious so I said Elizabeth finean we'll get Elizabeth well I was 18 ft tall however had I said Grace Kelly he would have found a way to make me think Elizabeth would be better he spoke the most highly of of giants as as being the Pinnacle and how much fun it was to do it and who was really the quintessential Texan when you stop to think about it and that's Rock Hudson playing big bened day when he first arrived in Virginia to begin shooting Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Michael Wilding invited Rock to dinner let's kind of get acquainted we are going to play the husband and wife for the next 6 months so we had a terrific time so much so that we all got smashed and suddenly it's 4 in the morning 2 hours later I have to get up and I'm hung over as is Elizabeth and we had to shoot the wedding where Elizabeth was matron of honor and I had to come in and get behind now in between shots we're running out and throwing up I mean we're hung over we shot that scene and all the women on the set we're all sobbing oh what a moving scene what we couldn't we were so sick we couldn't move are you ready to come back to your old beat up Cowan Jordan I I'm no different than I was when I left well we Texans like a little vinegar in our greens honey gives them flavor we became close friends and I think she is one of the best people and I think she likes me too I love her giant catapult Rock to top box office star in 1957 and a the Academy Award nomination his hands and feet were embedded in the cement outside Gran's Chinese Theater and he was standing firmly planted at top the Hollywood Mountain like most big stars at that time the studio manufactured his Public Image he supported it cheerfully but hated being interviewed he didn't consider himself particularly interesting as a person and couldn't understand why anyone else would after completing giant rock married Phil skates in a private ceremony at the builtmore hotel in Santa Barbara California Phyllis played the dutiful star's wife and appeared at all public events with rock at the premiere of battle him the dream continued for rock for a kid who never made it to College he took pride in an honorary degree and enjoyed the fans agulation I had made only three movies before a farewell toor arms also it was my first time abroad it was so exciting I couldn't believe it and then I had to face the still more unbelievable experience of going to work the first day and meeting Rock Hudson well I don't know whether many actresses have done that but I'm made up to go to makeup so that in case I run into Rock Hudson that I'll look as good as I possibly can look so I did run into him his behavior was moving like he came over now this is the Romantic side of Rock Hudson he ran over and picked me up and said welcome to A Farewell to Arms well I tell you I got hysterical you know it was like a scene in a movie Jennifer Jones and I are both nurses in the hospital I devised this wonderful idea to to smuggle in booze to Rock Hudson and I brought him those Italian Brandy bottles and I put them in my uniform so they look like me that's how I got them into rock now turn away I'm over 21 here it's a pity they were very becoming mhm when Rock Hudson asked me to go out to dinner the second night of the movie I almost fainted I was going to dinner in Rome Italy with Rock Hudson and I walked down a winding staircase of the Grand Hotel and standing at the bottom of with Rock Hudson in a navy blue suit and a white button- down shirt I mean I was in a movie Rock had chosen A Farewell to Arms over cyanara and benur because he wanted to work with director John Houston and producer David oeli of Gone With the Wind Fame but Houston quit before production started and the picture became a test of rocks endurance where I had these highly emotional scenes to do crying and carrying on never cried before and somebody who doesn't know how to D saying okay now cry well I mean it doesn't happen Desa was a marvelous man and he saw that the director didn't know how to tell me so he got my eye went into a dressing room and in his very limited English talk to me and got me so grief strick that I couldn't stop crying was very good of that man to do that can I do anything that was not a happy film and at the end when we got into the tragedy of it that's what I was crying about cuz it was 7 months of misery I couldn't stop once I started back on location in the California wine country for this Earth is mine Rock performed for the camera but behind the scenes he and Phyllis were going through a bitter divorce he gave up the first house he ever owned in the settlement in the 60s Ross Hunter's Pillow Talk single-handedly brought back the popular style of the sexy romantic comedy it was also Universal's first colossal hit transforming them into a major Studio overnight and rock their first major star along with Doris Day was responsible for this huge success it was a comedy he had never played one moment of comedy in his entire life and everybody always tells you well comedy is the hardest thing there is the fact is he was damn good and he was a natural comedian and when he started on pillow talk I think he was full of that fear my God they got me doing the hardest thing there is to do but he he caught on offly Fast well he had a great sense of humor he was really a funny guy when he felt like being funny and this role brought it out of him and as he found himself doing it you know it was like I I'm playing comedy and I'm good at it it lit him up from within rock also demonstrated a knack for physical comedy Now sit down where in seat [Music] yeah can't you get your other leg here hope so ma'am sure hate to leave without [Music] it can you drive well I think I can manage a stiring but somebody else have to work the pedal we all liked each other very much the atmosphere was always very up I guess that's one reason playing comedy is more fun than anything else you you sit around laughing and joking so much the trouble we had of course was trying not to laugh the crew would laugh and ruin a t nobody ever said shut up none of that and they became up around so we knew as we went along what worked and what didn't which was terrific Doris and I would laugh and laugh we couldn't look at each other I think they added two weeks to the shooting schedule because of our laugh [Music] rolling he he adored women he romanticized About Women Rock loved women I think that I you'd count if he had 10 close friends I'd say that six of them were women his agent was a woman and Liz was in his life if you see the career of the women in his life they all had a marvelous sense of humor and rock loved to laugh better than anything he had this huge laugh that when it came out of him was just really extraordinary I mean the room shook when Rock really laughed and Elizabeth made him laugh a lot Rock stepped into television as a host for the first time in 1958 on the big party with guest stars Esther Williams and Tula Bankhead now Rock you're an honest fair man darling we'll leave it to you tell us now which of us looks better in this don't be aard unbiased opinion I this is Harry Cary I I I uh uh well uh Tula uh that gown makes you look younger and more glamorous there every day and Esther that gown makes you uh more mature and more sophisticated every day and my name is Dick Clark and everybody that you know when Rock was wonderful when he was when he would spoof singing and dancing on television with big stars he was adorable yeah talk another night I hear myself talk talk talk talk my pillow and and I both agree there must be a girl must be a pillow must be a pillow I hope I'm right see what happen I better be right oh there must be a pillow talking girl for me play it again Matt will you I see that singing it 11 times is a little too much for you I don't think so you don't you wouldn't say that to Perry coma but the story that went along with it was the thrill that this man had when he finally got a dance step the dance step was like Beyond Compare could have been an Oscar for him in come September he demonstrated his dance enthusiasm with co-star Gina Lola [Music] Bria his top-notch comedy performance revealed a leading man with sa War fair and enough confidence to get silly you want me to take you seriously okay I take you seriously what do you want me to do marry you okay I'll marry you you sound like you do me a favor I'm not doing you any favor by marrying you you don't seem happy about it I've never been happier look damn it I'm smiling Lisa I'm asking you in a nice way now stop being an idiot get off that blasted bus and marry me no lover come back was exactly the same as pillow talk only better Pete you are pioneering a method that will make you a legend on Madison Avenue it will the most convincing demonstration of the power of advertising ever conceived you have sold a product that doesn't exist yes by Thunder even dad didn't do that right I don't think I better either telecoming I want five $1,000 bills also give me the address of Dr lius Tyler lonus Tyler the only chemist who can come up with this no no he's a troublemaker he's a dangerous non-conformist he's been fired by three companies why pick him cuz he's brilliant avail and he probably needs money no money can't buy him he's Incorruptible and as dad always said a man who can't be bribed can't be trusted isn't it comforting to know that you can trust me rock played those um understated comedy scenes just marvelously I remember one he was always lying to her telling her terrible lies and she was believing every word he said and he said as my uncle the philosopher said knock at my door knock at my door and I shall take you in and she said I'm knocking I'm taking you in rock you know rock I think always felt that and I think he was right and I think it'll always be true that that light comedy has never been even comedy has never been given much respect or regard by for instance the Oscars I think he would have liked to have been recognized you're sweet Julie I really don't need a wheelchair oh darling you need to conserve your strength you're a sweetheart as a comedy duo Rock and Doris are indelibly fixed in our mind yet send be no flowers only their third picture together was their last but Judy what's wrong asking to B will you let me in Judy I swear to you please let me in I'll catch my death of cold good and be sure to give it to [Music] Linda that was Rock's lot that was Universal Studios his dressing room was a fine Bungalow and half the time he would just stay there Rock never really took on the studio he was very much a game player and and a family man when he came to Universal in the studio that he was with you know he felt a lot of loyalty the organization of the studio system was wonderful you had the publicity Department you had this department you had that department at your fingertips and at hand they took care of everything the house you live in the shopping the gardening if you didn't like the cook that you had you told the studio somebody else was hired it was all done for you so that the only thing you had to be concerned about was your performance there's no question in my mind that rock uh paid a lot of attention to uh what was coming up uh I think that sometimes uh some of the things that maybe they wanted him to do um he may not have U thought that that was right for him at the time but he did it because he was under contract in 1966 Rock formally cut his ties to Universal studi his home for 17 years and became a free agent one day he woke up and he had all that talent and he had done so many films that's why I think he was always on the search for someone that would reach in there and pull out something else his only frustration was he didn't get the opportunities that often like seconds the movie that he did with John frankenheimer uh he loved that that's what he talked about rock talked to me a great deal about seconds which was a film that he really uh loved a lot in working with uh John frankenheimer and he enjoyed that very much and he felt that in that film he he showed what he was capable of doing and he took risks with seconds seconds is the thing we'd all love to do which is to get the second chance to be younger and handsomer and and start our life over and of course what you have to give up which you don't think of in the moment of saying oh I can be young again and I can have all of these things the people that you love the places that you know I thought that film was more far out than he was but I thought his performance was great I think from a real acting point of view he thought seconds was his best wait a minute what's happening well my good sir uh when we have finished you will go on to the next stage I don't mean that ultimately Mr Wilson ultimately we'll be called to face the Creator that's no answer I want to know what's happening to me now oh shout please blessed shalt thou be coming in and blessed shalt thou be in going out and he said thou can not see I am [Music] the second was a box office failure Rock discovered that his fans didn't want him changing his image but Hollywood was no longer making the kinds of film that once made him [Music] famous he was a very practical man when the the movies as we knew the movies were over and like that switched to television didn't bother him in the least he wanted to work he did not want to sit around if you have to do a TV series to work fine I'll do a TV series he brought a a legitimacy and energy a vitality and interest to everything he did you see that McMillan show and by George he's there that year that we went on with McMillan wife Glenn Ford Jimmy Stewart Henry Fonda Shirley mlan all came on with television series that year and the only one that survived the first C was Rock it's much easier to go from television to the big screen than it is to go from the big screen to television it's a totally different audience these people are sitting in their homes eating their dinner and you better not bug them because they'll just turn you right off I don't think it's really changed much in terms of what the people in Hollywood or the people in the wood you know think about the difference between television and films the way the characters on McMillan o for first defined to us we were supposed to be these rather elegant people with a great sense of humor with uh obviously we must have had old money in the family cuz I don't know what police Commissioners make we had tons of dough great clothes but Rock was supposed to be this fantastic um commissioner and the only way that he could ever be involved in a crime personally of course was if it was one of our best friends that committed the crime because otherwise why would the commissioner be researching these crimes so we ran out of friends after five years we don't got a friend left that isn't in jail serving timer dead it was very sexy the first show extremely sexy and uh I would I just thought that rock was the sexiest thing around I mean I had great visions of completely falling in love with him and and did really and he loved pranks we were pulling pranks on the set all the time you and most of all may your happiness be as happy as mine has been happy be you let's give him a third chance go things are a fourth chance cut go what is it sir uh things are starting to oh God one time we did a thing where we came down the stairs and I to say goodbye darling and don't forget your gun or I was always telling him not to forget his gun you know and to be careful and he just he said I'm so sick and tired of you and just turned around and just whacked me and I just fell back dead and passed out on the steps well why not man too dangerous idea it's not that dangerous I think it's a fantastic idea that's final I learned every bit of style that I have as a celebrity on a set I learned from people like Rock Hudson where they just set the tone the tone is we're here to have a good time and work hard he never came in unprepared we had a great fondness for actors he was always really generous for actors I never saw him like not be there for the other half of a closeup or anything like that never he treated me like a big star and I love that and that makes you act better rock rock never really felt jealous of of of actors that he worked with that had enormous Talent uh he thrived on it as a matter of fact it made him work even harder and rock had all these stipulations in his contract that he could stop working at six you know and not have to do this and that but I never saw him once where a director would say we're going to run a little over where he didn't stay he made life better for other people it's just a way of living your life you know you get around people like that where they are there in a confident Manner and including you and all of a sudden you just feel like you're sitting on the biggest lap in the world Rock was very childlike in his desires I mean his idea of a great night was to have a couple of scotches and make ice cream and eat the whole tub his favorite thing in the world was meatloaf and it was the only thing that I remember that he could really cook and I remember that he used to love to have a dinner party and the greatest Pride he would have would be when he bring in a meatloaf now you got to understand when you're talking meatloaf in Rock Hudson's house you weren't talking meatloaf you were talking meatloaf it would come in a dish about it was the biggest meatloaf they must have killed two cows to get that Meatloaf they were gigantic meat Lo he was a man that loved to read he was a man that loved the crossword puzzle was always on the last two words every single day loved Mind Games word games you know he loved playing games you know like Scrabble or cards great sports fan um we used to have a great big Super Bowl party and everyone would come over and Betty Lov the Super Bowl I don't know what it was about Christmas that was so special for him but he created an atmosphere at his house with Christmas wrapping and 30 kinds of ribbon and theme packages and bought great gifts and he used to give me all his old fan pictures you know dear sus and fondly Rock huts and then you know be sitting there with the sleeves rolled up and the greasy hair and stuff and I loved all that stuff you know I could have I ate this St and he knew I did of course it wouldn't be Christmas bre us around here without you oh The Last 5 Years 5 years in a row 5 years in a row you remember the first one where we built the h fire in the fireplace without any log remember they didn't have the logs there no no no no no no no that's I made eggnog the first year what year was it you made the chicken I didn't make any Chick yes you did make chicken don't you remember you couldn't find the oven you put it in the oh I put it in the cupboard and then the he had put vermouth all over with herbs and the fragrance for days around the studio it's a wonder it didn't catch fire do you do you remember that time we did the 12 Days of Christmas and uh you pinned your Partridge on the wrong fact that you remember that don't you what year was that that was the fourth year yeah we never will do that song again I got we got the giggles I got I got pinned everywhere but once his mom died died he never liked Christmas again when his mom died that was just I mean it was he was just inconsolable it was just like the I she was it as far as someone that had known him all his life and known the whole picture you know there was nobody else in his life Rock once said that Kay was Mother Father and sister to him and he was son and brother to her in 1973 Rock's close pal Carol Bernett asked him to tour with her in I do I do rock was enthusiastic to try something he'd never done before he loved to challenge and I do I do was that 17 songs and a dance solo Rock Hudson was was not a good actor on the stage and in time he became a very good stage actor he uh and he never acted on the stage but he toured in I do I do with Carol Bernett singing and acting two-man show the stage is too damn naked for rock hson you have to be pretty good to do a two-man show well Rock was not really a singer you know um uh he loved to sing we all try it in the shower you know but Rock was willing to do it in front of thousands of people The Marvelous thing about Rock Hudson is the guts that he had to go on the stage and do it what he brought to them to to being a stage actor was an enormous desire to to conquer that Medium to really get in and and and put his rear end on the line out there and say you know help me do this because it's something I really want to do and he worked so hard did you ever break her up in any yes well one night one night I completely forgot the rest of the show oh in the in Dallas what in Dallas completely forgot the rest of the show in the middle of the song and Carol broke up and sat right down on the floor laughing you know what this silly goose did we're right in the middle of a song He Stopped he said well how does the rest of it Go Carol go Carol like come on tell me you know I got his sttle sat on the floor we had to March toward each other singing very intently gazing into each other's eyes well there was no way we could get through that no G Champion directed and he was he was wonderful one of the best directors in the world and we laugh for about 4 days could not and it was the very opening of the show and this is rehearsals finally he took us aside like two bad little kids yeah and he said now this has got to stop we have had our last children we must go back and do this the right way we're all adults here and we have to get this on I felt like I had been sped and then I looked at him so the whole first two weeks of the show I looked at his chin I never looked in his eyes the first part and then he painted eyes on his [Laughter] chin I'll never forget one night Liz had been doing little foxes and she was at one of those Heights of her career where she was feeling good about herself and getting tremendous reviews and raves on Broadway and everyone in the cast worshiped her because she's another one that was a great fun and sharing person and we went backstage and just come in come in come in and went in and she goes let's call Roy I didn't have a clue I mean I always called him Rock next thing she's dialing Rock's number and I hadn't even talked to rock in I don't know how long and she goes Roy hi I'm here with your wife and you could just he probably dropped the phone I mean like what wife and uh she goes talk to him talk you know we're talking about you and and I get on and go hi Rock it's Sally you know and oh it was was fun and we ended up sitting there and talking on the phone and she saying tell him how great I was in the play and tell them what you thought of the costumes and tell him you better get his butt over here and see this play in Washington and talk back and forth and she really kind of got us back together after a lot of years unbeknownst to her and it was I mean he had a real friend in Elizabeth Taylor they were really good friends they spoke to each other a lot we're opening in Camelot in Dallas that is a treat and yes it really is it's a wonderful role and uh a beautiful story and a great score oh the best and romantic and has every single thing going for I only have one problem what's that the crown doesn't fit I it it's not a comedy show you just have he was very proud of he was very proud of Camelot and the efforts that he made and there was some very difficult things in that musical to do in addition to the sing you had to dance now this is a very big guy and he had to dance and he had to move and and you know and the most difficult thing of all for someone like Ro to wear tights you know I mean this is not an easy thing for a big guy like that to do to get out on stage and a pair of tights which was the period kind of stuff with the with the tunics and things and where everyone can see your legs and nothing is covered up and you got to really know how to do it so once we got over the kind of the embarrassment of wearing tights and all of that CU that was a little tough on him um um you know he went on to do he did wonderfully in it I think movie stars can get that sort of feeling of isolation because they go to a studio they shoot they go home but when you're playing in front of those that many people it was really something for rock because he would walk out and you could literally feel the waves of affection come across those foot lights to him and he just it it was it always was a very lifting experience for him because the public loved him and they were with him all the way even when he couldn't sing all that well they were with him all the way Camelot and how much you loved doing that and you know when you'd go in his house he'd have all the the Broadway shows and all the albums done and his performances and the music that he used he always had a piano and you know because that was the things that he had to work so hard for and I think that he was of the belief that if you didn't have to work really hard and it wasn't a stretch for you that it wasn't of quality okay go along with me I've already failed the first part or or this one better on that one here's another [Applause] [Music] one when do you ever use your voice like that quite often really holding your tongue and doing your ease we never gave the same performance no good actor ever would either you know it was it was different for him every night the greatest problem he had in Camelot was that speech that closes the First Act that was the only part of the of of the script that he was terrified of but it's what he did best it was his best moment in it proposition I am a king not a man and a civilized King could could it possibly be civilized to destroy what I love could it possibly be civilized to love myself above all but of their pain and their torment did they ask for This calamity can paston be selected is there any doubt of their Devotion to me or to our [Music] table by God ex caliber we shall be a king this is the time of King Arthur and we reach for the stars this is the time of King Arthur where violence is not strength and compassion is not weakness we are civilized resolved we shall live through this together Excalibur they you and I and God have mercy on us all rock had a a real affection for Southern Methodist University and sou Southern Methodist University had a film archive and so this event was planned which would raise money for the film archive and we had brought in the Marfa Texas High School Marching Band I hadn't told rock that they were part of the evening so I brought rock into this tent and it was an extraordinary moment because when Rock walked in the tent those kids they all came up to him and they wanted to touch him and they wanted to shake his hand and they all yelled and screamed and some of them blew their trumpets and and rock stood there and got very big tears in his eyes it was a a very big moment for him I think when Rock appeared on Nine episodes of Dynasty in the fall of 1984 people noticed how thin he looked and he dismissed it as dieting at the Golden Globe Awards with Liza Manelli and Elizabeth Taylor it was becoming evident that he was Ill he made his last television appearance as Doris Day's first guest on Doris Day's best friends what was your favorite movie that we did what was my favorite mhm I think I like pillow talk pill yeah yeah did you no I liked uh I Station Zebra you rat he felt a very great loyalty to his fans which I think underlies a lot of his behavior through the years of keeping his personal life very personal and his public life very public an actor is a fool if he lets the public know too much about himself uh the great Henry Irving said I cannot convince a man I'm Hamlet if I was telling jokes with him in a bar 10 minutes before I come on stage it's better if the public doesn't know anything about you then they can believe what they see on the screen even Rock in his private life he was very private maybe we'll talk about AIDS one day like we talk about polio but until then I mean it's a role that he would have chosen I'm sure not to play I think the reason that Rock Hudson had the impact that he did on the world in regards to AIDS and regards to the gay community in AIDS was because that the human race even after they found out the American public that he was gay could not stop loving him they loved him too much it would be like a mother whose son came home and said Mom I'm gay and she couldn't accept it and he said but I'm dying of AIDS and found herself 6 months later with a whole different relationship with her son and still loving him but all of a sudden a man that we all really loved and you couldn't take it away you can't just say oh now he's gay I never lik those films and I never like they already loved him they already loved him so much and and um I just think that you know that in a way it's terrific that it his life had so much meaning meaning that he never probably knew or intended to have in his life but on the other hand it should be completely separated from his work I think that his death did a great service in in a very strange sad way that is it put AIDS up there people began to think about it and talk about it he helped a great many people that way but it was so sad so tragic the dream ended Rock died of AIDS at his home on October the 2nd 1985 he was 59 years old shortly after his death on her show Doris gave a loving tribute to rock hello I'm happy that you could be with us today although our show is very young an awful lot has happened since we started filming a few months ago um the first thing we did was think about our guest list and I said I had to have Rock Hudson as my first guest so I called him and he said Eunice that's what he called me don't ask me why but he he said whenever I think of you as Unice it makes me laugh so it was okay and he said I'll Be There You Can Count On Me and that was the truth all his friends and there were so many could always count on Rock Hutson Not only was he a very talented dramatic actor as we all know his favorite thing was comedy and he always said to me the best time I've ever had was making comedies with you and I really felt the same way we had a ball and I feel that without my deep faith I would be a lot sadder than I am today I know that life is eternal and that something good is going to come from this experience [Music] oh [Music] oh following the money or the gun we'll bring you the making of a legend the story behind the greatest film ever made Gone With the Wind that's at 9:30 here tonight on ABC stay with us now for a news update [Music] lady

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Length: 56min 44sec (3404 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 23 2023