He cut an imposing figure on the big screen: Tall, brawny, boyishly handsome, with wavy dark hair and a dazzling smile, Rock Hudson was one of the last major stars developed under the studio system. And make no mistake about it: he was wholly a studio creation. A former mail carrier, mechanic, and truck driver, he determined to break into films on the strength of his looks alone and, after getting a bit role in Warner Bros.'Fighter Squadron (1948), won a berth at Universal-International. He was given lessons in acting, elocution, riding, fencing, and singing; his teeth were capped and he learned how to hit the "marks" placed on movie sets by cameramen to ensure critical focusing. He posed for hundreds of publicity photos, which were already appearing in fan magazines before he'd appeared in his first U-I film, Undertow (1949).
Owing to his total lack of acting experience, Hudson was brought along slowly, playing bits and supporting roles in One Way Street, Winchester '73, Peggy, The Desert Hawk (all 1950), The Fat Man, Air Cadet, Tomahawk, Iron Man, Bright Victory (all 1951), Bend of the River and Here Come the Nelsons (both 1952) before getting his first lead, opposite Yvonne De Carlo in Scarlet Angel (1952), a modestly budgeted Western. After taking a few more supporting roles, he starred in several mundane actioners-including The Golden Blade, Back to God's Country (both 1953), and Taza, Son of Cochise (1954)-before winning his star-making role, that of a drunken playboy who becomes a respected surgeon after unintentionally blinding costar Jane Wyman in an auto accident, in a remake of the 1935 hit Magnificent Obsession (1954). He received his best reviews to date, and the picture, like its predecessor, was an enormous box-office success.
Hudson continued to star in big-budget Universal-International films, alternating action pictures with glossy soap operas throughout the decade:Bengal Brigade (also 1954), Captain Lightfoot, One Desire, All That Heaven Allows (all 1955), Never Say Goodbye, Battle Hymn, Written on the Wind, Four Girls in Town (all 1956), The Tarnished Angels (1957), Twilight for the Gods (1958), and This Earth Is Mine (1959). He got the best U-I had to offer, but his best roles during this period were those he got while on loan. George Stevens cast him as maverick oilman Bick Benedict, a performance for which he received his only Oscar nomination, in George Stevens' massive adaptation of Edna Ferber's Giant (1956, which paired him with Elizabeth Taylor, who would become a lifelong friend), and David O. Selznick selected him to play an Army ambulance driver opposite Jennifer Jones in Ernest Hemingway's WW1 saga A Farewell to Arms (1957).
Back at Universal, Hudson entered a new phase of his career when he made Pillow Talk (1959) with Doris Day; a lively, fast-paced sex comedy, it demonstrated his adeptness with lighthearted, witty, and ever-so-slightly naughty material, and set the pattern for several spinoffs, also costarring Day. By now at the zenith of his personal popularity, Hudson spent most of the next decade at Universal, starring in The Last Sunset, Come September, Lover, Come Back (all 1961), The Spiral Road (1962), A Gathering of Eagles (1963), Man's Favorite Sport? (1964, directed by Howard Hawks, and a particular favorite of movie-comedy aficionados), Send Me No Flowers (also 1964), A Very Special Favor (1965), Blindfold (1966), and Tobruk (1967), among others. His infrequent forays off the Universal lot included starring stints in Seconds (1966), a gripping (and decidedly nonglamorous) psychological thriller directed by John Frankenheimer, and one of Hudson's alltime best films;Ice Station Zebra (1968), a Cold War suspense drama set in the frozen Arctic;A Fine Pair (1969), a dismal comedy-thriller that could have been called "A Fine Mess"; and The Undefeated (also 1969), a Civil War Western in which Hudson costarred with John Wayne.
The 1970s saw both the demise of the studio system and a gradual diminishing of Hudson's box-office potency, and even while appearing in Darling Lili (a 1970 fiasco in which he supported Julie Andrews), Hornets' Nest (also 1970), Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971, a clever black comedy), Showdown (1973), Embryo (1976), Avalanche (1978), The Mirror Crack'd (1980, costarring him with three of his contemporaries-Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Curtis, and Kim Novak), and The Ambassador (1984), he lavished much of his energy on the small screen, where he top-lined the popular TV series "McMillan and Wife" (1971-77), made a handful of telefilms, and guest-starred on the hugely popular "Dynasty" (1984-85). Appearing in the latter series, Hudson seemed tired and gaunt-and he was. By that time he was already fighting the AIDS virus, a struggle he lost in 1985. But before he died, Hudson courageously went public with details of the disease and how he caught it: Rock Hudson, the romantic idol of millions, had been a closet homosexual; his earlier marriage had been a union of convenience. -Leonard Maltin
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