Rock Hudson

by David Bret

This is the first full account of Rock Hudson’s career and private life to appear since his death in 1985. With frankness, David Bret discusses every aspect of the actor’s life: his painful childhood, his scores of male lovers, the constant pressures of concealing his homosexuality from the press, and four decades of box-office success. Drawn from new material—including candid interviews given by Hudson himself and withdrawn until after his death—Bret’s portrait of this warm-hearted actor also sheds light on his later life. Rock Hudson was the first major public figure to announce he had AIDS, and his search for a cure drew international attention. After his death, his long-time lover successfully sued his estate, again calling attention to the homosexuality the star had hidden for most of his career.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

306 pages, Paperback

First published June 17, 2004

About the author

David Bret is a French-born British author of showbiz biographies. He chiefly writes on the private life of film stars and singers.

Reviews

[Debi Emerson · Rating 2 out of 5]

My 1st inclination as I plowed through this book was to give it only 1 star. It is poorly written & poorly edited - lots of typos, misspelled words, poor grammar, incomplete thoughts, etc. However, it did get marginally better toward the end, so I gave it a 2nd star. My problem with this book is that it focuses almost exclusively on Hudson's sex life and his many lovers, only mentioning his films in passing, and, even then talking about who were his sexual partners on each film. Also, if one is to believe the author (I don't!), nearly everyone in the film industry is gay or bi-sexual, and the majority of marriages are shams, what he calls "lavender marriages" to cover up the participants' true sexuality. While nothing can be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, many of those named as gay by the author, beggar belief! The author does much better when discussing Hudson's AIDS and the trial initiated by Marc Christian after Hudson's death; still, this isn't really a very well rounding telling of Hudson's life. I'm sure there are better ones. I bought the 2017 edition of the book, which, according to the author, was much revised and changed from the original. Too bad he didn't have a better proof-reader!

[Bluegirl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Could have been a great book, but the author spent too much time giving detailed accounts of the plots of each of Rock's movies. This drove me mad. The book got much more readable towards the end. Unfortunately this was the saddest part of the story.

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very bitchy and not well-researched. I felt like I knew more about Rock Hudson than the author just by watching his movies. Although, the pictures that he included were very za za zing!

[Terry · Rating 2 out of 5]

The last and final installment of my Summer with Doris Day, was an utter disappointment. Not only is the book poorly written, but the author

[Mark Glidden · Rating 1 out of 5]

Apparently there's only homosexuality and AIDS where Rock Hudson's life is concerned...

[Adrien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A friend lent it to me.
I like a biography.