Rock Hudson

Trivia

• Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#28).
• The Prudential Life Insurance Co. stopped using its slogan "Own A Piece Of The Rock" after Hudson died of AIDS and many jokes were made about him and the slogan.
• Ashes scattered at sea.
• Worked as a truck driver when he first moved to Los Angeles, but he spent his spare time idling outside of studio gates and sending photographs of himself to various producers.
• His real name was Roy Scherer, but talent scout Henry Wilson invented a new name for his protégé by combining the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River.
• Although he tried out for roles in school plays, Hudson failed to win any because he could not remember lines.
• Enamored of movies as a teenager, he worked as an usher.
• Before taking his first film role, he got his teeth capped and was coached intensively in acting, singing, dancing, fencing and riding. Still, it took no less than 38 takes before he could successfully complete one line in his first picture, Fighter Squadron (1948).
• Production on the television series "The Devlin Connection" (1982) was suspended for a year while he was recovering from quintuple heart bypass surgery.
• By the time he had taken the role of a suave and stately horse breeder on "Dynasty" (1981), the AIDS virus was consuming him. Before long, he suffered memory loss and was forced to use cue cards. He also had difficulty speaking.

Quotes

• "I've heard that rumor for years and I just don't care about it. I know lots of gays in Hollywood. Some have tried it on with me, but I've always said, 'Come on, you've got the wrong guy!' As soon as they know that, it's okay! "
• "I welcome my birthdays. Relish them, as a matter of fact. I have confidence now and can look forward to trying new things. I don't think fifty was a crucial age. Forty was, and thirty-nine because I was facing forty. But lately everything has fallen into place."
• "I love to smoke. I keep hoping someone will discover it's a healthy habit because the smoke kills all the germs in your system. I love to drink, and I hate exercise. I don't mind going out on the side of a hill and chopping down a tree, but I hate organized exercise. I built a gym in my house but I never use it. I don't even like to walk through it."
• "Someone asked me once what my philosophy of life was, and I said some crazy thing. I should have said, how the hell do I know?"
• "I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth."
• "I have no philosophy about acting or anything else. You just do it. And I mean that. You just do it. However, I can say that with ease after thirty-five years."
• "I can't play a loser - I don't look like one."
• "I did a movie with Duke Wayne and was very surprised to find out he had small feet, wore lifts, and a corset. Hollywood is seldom what it seems."
• "I had to overcome the name Rock. If I'd been as hip then as I am now, I would have never consented to be named Rock."