Rock Hudson (1990)

Wissenswertes

Rock Hudson is a 1990 American biographical drama television film directed by John Nicolella and written by Dennis Turner. The film is based on My Husband, Rock Hudson, a 1987 autobiography by Phyllis Gates, actor Rock Hudson's ex-wife (1955–1958). It is the story of their marriage, written after Hudson's 1985 death from AIDS. In the book, Gates wrote that she was in love with Hudson and that she did not know Hudson was gay when they married, and was not complicit in his deception.

Background and production

In addition to Gates autobiography, the movie is also based on magazine articles, interviews and court records, including transcripts of the Los Angeles Superior Court trial after which Marc Christian won a settlement of $21.75 million from the actor's estate because Hudson had hidden from him the fact that he was suffering from AIDS. Later, Marc Miller, who was Hudson's secretary, accused the movie of malicious lies.

In 1989, both ABC and NBC started developing plans for a biography of Hudson, NBC had announced it had commissioned a script, but ABC had already completed a movie. It aired on ABC on January 8, 1990. NBC later decided not to complete its four-hour miniseries.

Writer Dennis Turner initially turned down an offer to write the screenplay because "he had also led a double life." Turner recalls he eventually agreed because they kept contacting him about doing the movie, and the reason he originally said no, was because he "didn't know how seriously they wanted to treat his homosexuality." He said that he didn't want this one to resemble the Liberace movies where "they didn't adequately acknowledge his homos…

Thomas Ian Griffith, who had gained considerable fame in the 1980s for his recurring role on the NBC soap opera Another World (1984–1987) and as the villain in The Karate Kid Part III (1989) was chosen to portray the actor; he is 6 feet 5 inches tall and Hudson was 6 feet 4 inches. He had to spend up to four hours in makeup to portray the older Hudson.

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