Rock Hudson interview one year before he passed away.

city to talk with rock I found him open I found him curious I found him interested in a lot of aspects of life and that day very very willing to share seemed like he was in kind of a rare mood we'd like to bring you this two-part interview now we started back at the beginning and I talked about or asked him about the depression days his father had walked out on his family so I asked him if that had an enormous impact on his life oh yeah a great pill yeah for years I was a little kid but I think that was amazing my mother's influence she resented when did you find him again when I was 17 what was that like awful why what happened well you see somebody that you thought about on your life well first of all when he left I was I never for a moment thought Charles are telling you no they're good thought for a moment did enough my movie I thought it if for me I didn't like that so I had this curiosity to see him again or great love for whatever he was working nights I come in on the Greyhound bus and I was sitting with his wife and I heard you him upstairs get up we do now I say and I'm sure he was thinking the same thing but never occurred to me that he would be worried about it he came to understand and he said hi there I told her really what I was looking for I guess I was looking for some sort of emotional confrontation or something calm oh and then your mother married a man named Fitzgerald and you actually took his name document so you were a doctor then another name well who I sure was actually one right here the nose is Gerald yeah genius dies by man and Harry will spirit Henry Wilson how'd that happen he says time change your name and I said that's a wise old age of 22 why what's wrong with Roy Fitzgerald and I say it now but in those days it was the thing you must change name because for no reason at all people just did it what made you succeed when others failed we even thought about that mm-hmm I don't have it I probably don't have an Angie I remember starting with lots of lots of guys not two guys are going to acting class or school tutoring or what have you oh yeah I got a job at Fox you know I got a job a waterbed and little by little if these guys would fall away or disappear mode sometimes or get out of the business or you do something else I don't know why this is something inside that your projected well I can't be objective about myself so I can't answer that question there is that undefinable thing that makes people look I don't know if I have it or not but some people have that attraction other people do not really put you on the map with Elizabeth Taylor there are those who say that do you agree what about your relationship today with Liz Taylor are you friends and your own services really why why was it just an early friendship that grew well I call Elizabeth the earth-mother really cuz she is I think she's one of the best people I've ever known I don't like all of the bad publicity that comes out on her I don't like her attacks that she gets all the time so she's not does not deserve it she's a good woman and believes in being good and she minds her own business and then another lady she had an association with stars day we only did three pictures and yet it seemed that there was a formula there why only three since the last one we've been looking for another one that twenty years later we can't find one wouldn't you think there would be some story somewhere can't do it every one of them is I've made a lot of people have written in scripts and ideas and they can see how it's another pellet ah well we did pillow time so I do it again you know another lady who was important in your life Susan Saint James do you still keep in touch no I haven't seen Susan Susan was married with her family then she divorced and married again moved back east here I of course was busy and so forth and so on so you know you we haven't seen each other alright I mean she has sent photographs of the children growing up and so forth son I'm sure we are I just we just haven't seen each other McMillan and wife was that a departure for Rock Hudson was it planted it just happened well just happened you see the first one which was ultimately you could call them you would call the pilot was not it was a movie of the week and it was to be a one-shot and then after that the network decided let's make a series out of it and then negotiations and then we decided to do it we did it for six years now change your life in any way it took about 25 years out of my life but that's hard work that's relentless hard work lots of hours during the Devlin connection television show something happened to you that's when you realized that something was going awry with your body well it was during that time when I felt the thing you'd referring to the heart surgery yes yeah no that was kind of in a sense all of a sudden I had I hesitate to say this but uh because it makes me a fool but I had had the warnings for a couple of years now were they chest pains and I thought it was indigestion and very foolishly I did nothing about it and then what had happened in the middle of the night with this dead arm I thought oh no not me where those things happen to other people never to you right so I thought right I set up all night rest tonight but throws afraid to lie down and then alone on seven o'clock I call the doctor he said bran down to emergency and uh I did they could find nothing wrong why didn't you get up right away when you thought oh no setup and share but weren't you what you're tempting fate by just sitting there not doing anything I mean I waited two years I'm a factor why not four hours do you think you waited was their fear closed in the middle of night I didn't know really where to go to be honest never occurred to me to go to an emergency hospital no but I did finally and they could find nothing wrong and then he said I think you better have an angiogram Oh I said what for so I heard you got four days later and he came in and he said we strongly suggest surgery because if you don't we'll give you about a month and I said well why don't you do it yesterday why don't you do it now well I'll have to wait till Monday okay kind of what hidden did it what kind of things went through this head of yours this successful well-respected man who now finds out that without surgery that is also dangerous you might have a month left what would things do you think about when you face that I didn't think too much about that because that's not me just give into any other nonsense but I did think about surgery tomorrow morning okay it's night before right well if I make it terrific if I don't terrific I'll never know the difference isn't it interesting you said it's not me to think about all those things are you the big macho type that nothing's gonna get no no strengths but one of the strengths that I suppose perhaps stupidly so because that I will not be sick I will not be dependent upon anybody else simply won't happen well that might be a dumb statement but it got me out of the hospital faster hmm and it got the pain out of me faster and I recovered faster what's the best part of Rock Hudson and his life now today or possibly tomorrow but not yesterday I don't I don't know I don't waste time I think it's all wasted time think about all that worry about your mistakes or pat yourself on the back right it's a waste of time for me it seemed pretty regular to me I think oh she's nice to meet you accent really nice to meet you thank you very much [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] it's good day today

Channel: Eileen Prose

Views: 598,252

Keywords: Rock Hudson, Susan St. James, Doris Day, Pillow Talk, McMillan and Wife, The Devlin Connection, Elizabeth Taylor, AIDS, Maqnificent Obsession, Giant, Ice Station Zebra, Send Me No Flowers, Top 1950's Actors, Top 1960's Actors, Eileen Prose

Id: MYzX5nvsKfY

Length: 11min 40sec (700 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 23 2017