The Secret Rock Hudson Kept for 30 Years That Changed the World скачать в хорошем качестве

The Secret Rock Hudson Kept for 30 Years That Changed the World

Rock Hudson wasn't really Rock Hudson—he was Roy Harold Scherer Jr. born November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois whose father abandoned the family when Roy was a toddler and whose stepfather Wallace Fitzgerald was an abusive drunk who beat Roy regularly, realizing he was attracted to men in his early teens during an era when homosexuality was literally illegal and could mean prison, serving in the Navy during World War II in the Philippines as an aircraft mechanic returning in 1946 with no direction, moving to Los Angeles working as a truck driver when talent agent Henry Willson discovered him in 1948 seeing dollar signs in his six-foot-four handsome physique, being renamed from Roy Fitzgerald to "Rock Hudson" at age 23 with Henry Willson who was gay and predatory using his power to sexually exploit Rock making him a star while Rock belonged to him sexually and professionally, learning acting on the job through the late 1940s-early 1950s being terrible at first but so handsome studios kept giving chances, becoming a star in 1954 with "Magnificent Obsession" opposite Jane Wyman at age 29, having Universal Studios build him into America's ideal man through the mid-1950s with "All That Heaven Allows" and "Giant" in 1956 earning an Oscar nomination alongside Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, facing rumors about his private life and men seen leaving his house threatening his career, being forced into a lavender marriage with Phyllis Gates in November 1955 when Confidential magazine prepared an exposé about his homosexuality to protect his image divorcing her in 1958 after three miserable years, reaching his peak in late 1950s-1960s with romantic comedies opposite Doris Day including "Pillow Talk" 1959, "Lover Come Back" 1961, and "Send Me No Flowers" 1964 becoming America's most masculine leading man playing straight while being gay, living a carefully managed double life with relationships with men always in absolute secrecy using a separate entrance at his Beverly Hills house for male visitors while the public Rock Hudson dated starlets, declining career through the 1970s transitioning to television with "McMillan & Wife" 1971-1977 as his movie star days ended, meeting Marc Christian in 1984 beginning a relationship at age 58 finally having something resembling normal love, being diagnosed with AIDS in June 1984 in Paris which was a death sentence with no treatment and heavily stigmatized as the gay disease, keeping his diagnosis secret continuing to work appearing on "Dynasty" in 1985 kissing Linda Evans on screen while knowing he had AIDS without telling anyone, collapsing in Paris in July 1985 with his publicist shocking the world on July 25, 1985 announcing Rock Hudson has AIDS making international headlines as America's masculine ideal had the disease associated with gay men, changing everything as AIDS suddenly wasn't just "those people" but Rock Hudson someone America loved forcing President Reagan to finally address it after being silent despite thousands dying and increasing AIDS research funding dramatically, being sued by Marc Christian who claimed Rock never disclosed his AIDS diagnosis potentially exposing Marc to the virus through continued sexual relations, dying on October 2, 1985 in his Beverly Hills home at age 59 having lost over 60 pounds and deteriorated completely with Elizabeth Taylor who knew his secret for decades beside him, becoming the first major celebrity to die of AIDS bringing the disease into mainstream consciousness with Elizabeth Taylor founding amfAIR raising hundreds of millions for AIDS research, spending his entire thirty-seven year career hiding who he was playing straight marrying a woman he didn't love having relationships in secret living in fear that discovery would destroy everything, being remembered today in two contradictory ways as Hollywood's ultimate leading man and as the man whose death finally made America care about AIDS, leaving behind a legacy as a cautionary tale about the cost of the closet told through one of Hollywood's most tragic and important lives where the perfect man America wanted was a performance and Roy Fitzgerald the real person barely existed consumed completely by Rock Hudson.