Homo confidential: The secret double lives of 50's heartthrobs

[Maven]

A fascinating article about Tab Hunter, Rock Hudson, and gay Hollywood power broker Henry Willson, who created both stars and many other closeted leading men.

Oct. 19, 2005 | Even as a kid, watching "Pillow Talk" on Dialing for Dollars during the long, rainy afternoons of the pre-cable era, I knew there was something odd about Rock Hudson. Apparently, a sex comedy can be so devoid of sexual energy that even a child in the latency stage will notice its absence. Later, when I went off to college in the San Francisco Bay Area, I learned what "everyone" knew: Rock Hudson was not only gay, he was the basis for the closeted movie star who romanced one of the male characters in Armistead Maupin's serialized novel "Tales of the City." That, I figured, explained Hudson's implausible performances. Unlike other gay performers, he wasn't a good enough actor to convincingly simulate the lust for Doris Day that he never personally felt.

On the other hand, the bizarre, glossy comedies Hudson made with Day were huge hits. Plenty of Americans bought Hudson as a heterosexual leading man, enough to make him the No. 1 box office attraction for several years in the '50s and '60s. Enough to prompt shrieks of shock and disbelief throughout the land when Hudson died of AIDS in 1987.

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(Salon.com article. You'll need to view a short ad if you don't subscribe.)

[bobbieinok]

1. in late 50s at a TX college everyone heard that Hudson was gay

[IndianaGreen]

6. I didn't believe a word of it!

The guys were saying that Rock Hudson was gay, and I just thought he was a very good looking man, unlike his detractors.

I was very young and naive at the time....

[Skarbrowe]

2. Yeah, it was fairly well known Hudson was gay..I was told Day was gay.

Doris that is. I have no idea it was true and it doesn't matter. It was way back in the early 70's and someone said a friend of hers had been "approached" by Ms. Day in a obviously upscale clothing store. I took it as just a rumor. No big deal. But, in the same way that young gay men of the era knew there was something about Rock Hudson, many young gay women from that time also "fell in love" with Doris Day. :)It was like the female introduction into, "Hey, I think I like girls!"

Must have been something about the repressive "50's" and early "60's".

[bumblebee1]

3. The other day at Borders

I saw Tab Hunter's biography. I forget the name of the book.

[ronnykmarshall]

4. Thanks for the link, Hedy!

[cwydro]

5. Hey, we've come a long way

babes....