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Rock Hudson 1925 - 1985

Rock Hudson of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California United States was born on November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Cook County, IL, and died at age 59 years old on October 2, 1985 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, CA. Rock Hudson was buried in October 1985 at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Ramon Rd - TOWER OF MEMORIES, in Cathedral City, Riverside County.

Rock Hudson

Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California United States

November 17, 1925

Winnetka, Cook County, Illinois, United States

October 2, 1985

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California, United States

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Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (1925 - 1985)

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Rock Hudson's History: 1925 - 1985

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Introduction

Rock Hudson was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. Wikipedia Born: November 17, 1925, Winnetka, IL Died: October 2, 1985, Beverly Hills, CA Height: 6′ 4″ Birth name: Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. Spouse: Phyllis Gates (m. 1955–1958)
11/17

1925

Birthday

November 17, 1925

Birthdate

Winnetka, Cook County, Illinois United States

Birthplace

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Ethnicity & Family History

Family Members Parents Photo Roy Harold Scherer 1899–1982 Photo Katherine Marie Wood Olsen 1900–1977 Spouse Photo Phyllis Lucille Gates 1925–2006 (m. 1955)
Early Life & Education

High School Graduate. Actor (76) Dynasty (TV Series 1984-1985) Daniel Reece (9 episodes, 1984-1985) The Vegas Strip War (TV Movie 1984) Neil Chaine The Ambassador (1984) Frank Stevenson The Devlin Connection III (1982) Brian Devlin World War III (TV Mini Series 1982) President Thomas McKenna (2 episodes, 1982) The Devlin Connection (TV Series 1982) Brian Devlin (13 episodes, 1982) The Patricia Neal Story (TV Movie 1981) Rock Hudson (uncredited) The Star Maker (TV Movie 1981) Danny Youngblood The Mirror Crack'd (1980) Jason Rudd The Martian Chronicles (TV Mini Series 1980) Col. John Wilder (3 episodes, 1980) Avalanche (1978) David Shelby Wheels (TV Mini Series 1978) Adam Trenton (5 episodes, 1978) McMillan & Wife (TV Series 1971-1977) Stewart McMillan (40 episodes, 1971-1977) Embryo (1976) Dr. Paul Holliston Showdown (1973) Chuck Jarvis Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) Tiger Hornets' Nest (1970) Turner Darling Lili (1970) Major William Larrabee The Undefeated (1969) Col. James Langdon Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (TV Series 1968-1969) Guest Performer (3 episodes, 1968-1969) Ice Station Zebra (1968) Cdr. James Ferraday A Fine Pair (1968) Capt. Mike Harmon Tobruk (1967) Maj. Donald Craig Seconds (1966) Antiochus Wilson Blindfold (1965) Dr. Bartholomew Snow A Very Special Favor (1965) Paul Chadwick Strange Bedfellows (1965) Carter Harrison Send Me No Flowers (1964) George Man's Favorite Sport? (1964) Roger Willoughby A Gathering of Eagles (1963) Col. Jim Caldwell The Spiral Road (1962) Dr. Anton Drager Lover Come Back (1961) Jerry Webster Come September (1961) Robert L. Talbot The Last Sunset (1961) Dana Stribling Pillow Talk (1959) Brad Allen This Earth Is Mine (1959) John Rambeau Twilight for the Gods (1958) Captain David Bell A Farewell to Arms (1957) Lt. Frederick Henry The Tarnished Angels (1957) Burke Devlin Something of Value (1957) Henry's Son - Peter Battle Hymn (1957) Col. Dean E. Hess Giant (1956) Jordan 'Bick' Benedict Jr. Written on the Wind (1956) Mitch Wayne Never Say Goodbye (1956) Dr. Michael Parker All That Heaven Allows (1955) Ron Kirby One Desire (1955) Clint Saunders I Love Lucy (TV Series 1955) Rock Hudson (1 episode, 1955) Captain Lightfoot (1955) Michael Martin, aka Capt. Lightfoot Bengal Brigade (1954) Capt. Jeffrey Claybourne Magnificent Obsession (1954) Bob Merrick Taza, Son of Cochise (1954) Taza Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) Narrator (uncredited) Back to God's Country (1953) Peter Keith Gun Fury (1953) Ben Warren The Golden Blade (1953) Harun Sea Devils (1953) Gilliatt Seminole (1953) Lt. Lance Caldwell The Lawless Breed (1952) John Wesley Hardin Horizons West (1952) Neil Hammond Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952) Dan Stebbins Scarlet Angel (1952) Frank Truscott Bend of the River (1952) Trey Wilson Here Come the Nelsons (1952) Charles E. 'Charlie' Jones Iron Man (1951) Tommy 'Speed' O'Keefe - aka Kosco The Fat Man (1951) Roy Clark Bright Victory (1951) Dudek Air Cadet (1951) Upper Classman Tomahawk (1951) Burt Hanna Shakedown (1950) Ted The Desert Hawk (1950) Captain Ras Peggy (1950) Johnny 'Scat' Mitchell Winchester '73 (1950) Young Bull I Was a Shoplifter (1950) Si Swanson - Store Detective One Way Street (1950) Truck Driver (uncredited) Undertow (1949) Detective (as Roc Hudson) Fighter Squadron (1948) Second Lieutenant (uncredited)
Military Service

In 1944, he joined the Navy and served in the Philippines as an airplane mechanic.
Professional Career

Rock Hudson Born November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois, USA Died October 2, 1985 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA (AIDS) Birth Name Roy Harold Scherer Jr. Height 6' 5" (1.96 m) Mini Bio (1) Rock Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. in Winnetka, Illinois, to Katherine (Wood), a telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer, an auto mechanic. He was of German, Swiss-German, English, and Irish descent. His parents divorced when he was eight years old. He failed to obtain parts in school plays because he couldn't remember lines. After high school he was a postal employee and during WW II served as a Navy airplane mechanic. After the war, he was a truck driver. His size and good looks got him into movies. His name was changed to Rock Hudson, his teeth were capped, he took lessons in acting, singing, fencing, and riding. One line in his first picture, Fighter Squadron (1948), needed 38 takes. In 1956 he received an Oscar nomination for Giant (1956) and two years later Look magazine named him Star of the Year. He starred in a number of bedroom comedies, many with Doris Day, and had his own popular TV series McMillan & Wife (1971). He had a recurring role in TV's Dynasty (1981) (1984-5). He was the first major public figure to announce he had AIDS, and his worldwide search for a cure drew international attention. After his death his long-time lover Marc Christian successfully sued his estate, again calling attention to the homosexuality Rock had hidden from most throughout his career. Family (2) Spouse Phyllis Gates (9 November 1955 - 13 August 1958) (divorced) Parents Wood, Katherine and Scherer Sr, Roy Harold and stepfather, Fitzgerald, Wallace Trade Mark (5) Deep, sensuous voice Thick black hair Moved from westerns to sob stories to sophisticated comedies Towering, sculpted frame Ideal leading-man good looks
Personal Life & Family

After his death his long-time lover Marc Christian successfully sued his estate, again calling attention to the homosexuality Rock had hidden from most throughout his career.
10/2

1985

Death

October 2, 1985

Death date

AIDS.

Cause of death

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California United States
Death location

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10/dd

1985

Gravesite & Burial

October 1985

Funeral date
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Ramon Rd - TOWER OF MEMORIES, in Cathedral City, Riverside County, California 92234, United States
Burial location
Obituary

Rock Hudson, the actor whose handsome looks and flair for comedy made him a romantic idol of the 1950's and 60's, died yesterday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 59 years old and had been suffering for more than a year from AIDS. Mr. Hudson, whose search for medical treatment in recent months focused worldwide attention on the incurable disease, died peacefully at 9 A.M. in his sleep, according to his spokesman in Los Angeles, Dale Olson. The actor was the first major public figure to acknowledge openly that he was suffering from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a mysterious and usually fatal illness that primarily afflicts male homosexuals, intravenous drug users, and recipients of contaminated blood transfusions. Mr. Hudson was in Paris in July and collapsed at the Ritz Hotel. He was taken to the American Hospital in Neuilly, a Paris suburb, where it was first said that he had liver cancer. Reports circulated, however, that he had AIDS and had gone to Paris for treatment, and a few days later, a spokesman confirmed them. Acquaintances often described Mr. Hudson as being homosexual but the actor never publicly commented or acknowledged the reports. An Outpouring of Concern Mr. Hudson was flown back from Paris at the end of July to Los Angeles, where his acknowledgment of his illness prompted an outpouring of concern for him and for other victims of the disease. For more than a decade, the name Rock Hudson was synonymous with masculine good looks. Blessed with a broad-shouldered, 6-foot-4 physique, dark, brooding eyes, and a sonorous voice, Mr. Hudson was an enormously popular screen presence. In a career that included 62 movies, he twice was voted the nation's top box-office draw. Yet he did not begin to win broad respect for his skills as an actor until he played an imperious Texas rancher in ''Giant'' (1956), a role that earned him an Academy Award nomination, and a series of romantic comedies in which he was paired with Doris Day. Critics Pleasantly Surprised In the first of those comedies, ''Pillow Talk'' (1959), Mr. Hudson began to poke fun at the hysteria his looks provoked. The catalyst for the plot is a telephone party line where Miss Day overhears Mr. Hudson pitching the same corny lines to a variety of It’s Never Too Late to Follow Your Spiritual Calling Continue reading the main story Critics voiced pleasant surprise at his deft performance. Then after ''Lover Come Back'' (1962), which featured Mr. Hudson as a rake who disguises his identity to trick Miss Day, and ''Send Me No Flowers'' (1964), where he plays a hypochondriac convinced he is dying, the critics deepened their respect for his comedic talent. More recently, Mr. Hudson starred on television in two series, ''McMillan & Wife'' and ''The Devlin Connection,'' and he had a recurring role on ''Dynasty.'' The production of ''The Devlin Connection'' was interrupted in 1981 when Mr. Hudson underwent heart surgery and five heart bypasses. Reportedly Reclusive as a Boy Rock Hudson was named Roy Scherer Jr. when he was born in Winnetka, Ill., on Nov. 17, 1925. During the Depression, his father lost his job as an automobile mechanic and left the family. His mother, a telephone operator, remarried, and the actor, then 8 years old, took the surname of his stepfather, Wallace Fitzgerald. His mother's second marriage ended after nine years. The reportedly rather reclusive boy took odd jobs to help support the family and tried out for school plays, but could not hold parts because he could not remember his lines. That failing dogged him in his early years in Hollywood, where he took 38 repetitions to say correctly the line: ''Pretty soon you're going to have to get a bigger blackboard.'' In 1944, he joined the Navy and served in the Philippines as an airplane mechanic. After his discharge in 1946, he worked as a piano mover, then moved to Los Angeles to live with his father, who had remarried. After doing poorly as a vacuum cleaner salesman in his father's appliance store, he took a job as a truck driver. Desirous of lining up work as an actor, he bought a tan gabardine suit and started parking his truck outside a film studio's gates, waiting to be discovered. Name Changed by Agent Henry Willson, a talent scout for Selznik Studio, liked photographs the actor had sent him and took him under his wing in 1947. One of the first things he did was change the actor's name from Roy Fitzgerald to Rock Hudson. Years later, the actor confided to an interviewer that he hated the name. The director Raoul Walsh put Mr. Hudson under contract and gave him acting lessons, but a year later sold Mr. Hudson's contract to Universal-International Pictures. The studio paid Mr. Hudson $125 a week and gave him small roles in 28 pictures. His career did not really take off until the film ''Magnificent Obsession'' (1954), where he appeared opposite Jane Wyman as a playboy who causes Miss Wyman's blindness and then becomes a surgeon to cure her. That role was followed by a few lackluster films, but ''Giant,'' the story of how the growth of oil in Texas unhinged the feudalistic culture of the ranch barons, catapulted him into the ranks of the top stars. The 3-hour-17-minute film, based on a novel by Edna Ferber, was directed by George Stevens and also starred Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Other Films Cited To take advantage of Mr. Hudson's popularity, the studio released an earlier film called ''Something of Value'' (1957), in which Mr. Hudson played a white settler in a Kenya torn by the Mau Mau uprisings. He went on to play Lieut. Frederick Henry in ''A Farewell to Arms'' (1958), based on Ernest Hemingway's novel of World War I. His other films included ''Written on the Wind'' (1956), ''Twilight for the Gods'' (1959), ''Come September'' (1961), ''The Spiral Road'' (1962) ''Ice Station Zebra'' (1968), and ''Darlin' Lili'' (1969) In 1955, he married Phyllis Gates, who had been the secretary of his agent, Mr. Willson. The marriage ended in divorce three years later. On Sept. 19 many well-known entertainers joined in a special performance to help raise money to find a cure for AIDS, and although Mr. Hudson, who bought $10,000 worth of tickets, was reported too ill to attend, he did send a telegram. It said in part: ''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.'' There are no known immediate survivors.

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