Exposed: The sleazy deal that kept Rock Hudson from being outed
[HMG] – When Ricky Martin bravely outed himself back in March a few people were shocked. But hiding a star’s true choices is not a new thing – In 1955, Hollywood legend Rock Hudson was almost exposed, but his reps cut a deal and outed a less famous actor instead.
After decades of rumor, all matched by denials, Rock Hudson died of AIDS in 1985. He never admitted his own sexual choices, and his friends all said they knew he was gay, but did not even care. But in the ’50’s things were less easy.
In 1955 a tacky Hollywood gossip-sheet called ‘Confidential’ threatened to out Rock as a gay man, so his manager, Henry Willson made a deal – Keep Rock’s tastes a secret and he’d give them scandal on another actor instead.
The mag took the deal. And Henry had just the guy…
Timothy Francis McGowan was born on August 8, 1922 and had a unsettled life – His father died when Tim was in diapers, then his mother remarried, and from the age of 13 his life was a string of petty crimes and incarceration; Ending in a spell in San Quentin until he was 21.
Tim then met Henry, who changed the ex-con’s name to ‘Rory Calhoun’ and groomed him for fame as an actor. ‘Rory’ then made several [bad] movies with Shirley Temple, Edward G, Robinson and even co-starred with Marilyn in ”How to Marry a Millionaire.”
Life was good, you would think? Well, not so much…
This was when ‘Confidential’ threatened to ‘out’ Rock. So Henry threw Rory under the bus and told the mag about his time in prison, in exchange for not outing Rock.
But Rory stole their thunder and told the intelligent press about his past on his own. And the fans ate it up – His career from that day until his death on April 28, 1999 from emphysema [He was a smoker] got better in bounds.
Rock, meanwhile, underwent endless treatments to try and beat his disease, but he finally slipped from this world at his home “The Castle’ in Beverly Hills on October 2nd 1985 at 8:37am local time. He was just 59 years of age.
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Exposed: The sleazy deal that kept Rock Hudson from being outed