But in 1984, when the world first learned that Hudson was dying from an AIDS-related illness, the truth about his sexual orientation came as a shocking bolt from the blue.Īlthough the fact was well known in Hollywood society, the publicity machine that stood between him and the movie-going public had created an impenetrable smoke screen, preserving his ideally heterosexual image for almost 40 years. Looking back on Rock Hudson's movies with Doris Day, they seem infused with a camp sensibility, derived not least from the fact that Hollywood's main romantic icon of the 1950s was, in real life, a gay man.
