Rock Hudson Died of Aids-Related Illness

FEATURE

Rock thirtyH years on IT’S BEEN THIRTY YEARS SINCEudson ROCK HUDSON DIED OF AIDS-RELATED ILLNESS. ANDY WASLEY LOOKS AT HOW THE SCREEN LEGEND’S DIAGNOSIS AND DEATH CHANGED THE PUBLIC’S ATTITUDE TO HIV AND AIDS

AUTUMN 2015 | @pridelife | /Pridelifemagazine | pridelife.COM | 075 FEATURE

here was AIDS before Rock Hudson’s diagnosis was no more tragic Hudson, and AIDS after,” than the 15,500 other diagnoses reported by wrote Randy Shilts in And the the end of 1985, when there was no effective Band Played On, his treatment for HIV. But shortly after the monumental“T 1987 history of the epidemic. announcement his friend Joan Rivers – an Perhaps the statement seems a little glib; early advocate for AIDS awareness and support perhaps even meaningless to young gay men who – was clear about what the actor’s honesty could can’t remember Rock Hudson, or the dark days do for public perceptions. “Rock’s admission is when AIDS cut a swathe through generations of a horrendous way to bring AIDS to the men whose illness was seen by many as attention of the American public,” she said, comeuppance for their “preference”. Actually, “but by doing so, Rock, in his life, has helped Shilts was acknowledging a fact: Rock Hudson’s millions in the process. What Rock has done death on 2 October 1985 from an AIDS-related takes true courage.” illness shifted perceptions worldwide. Perhaps, in recognising the effect of Hudson’s Swarthy, sturdy and smouldering, on screen in death on public attitudes, it’s instructive to recall the 1950s and 60s Rock Hudson seduced some just how hostile American political culture was of Hollywood’s most iconic starlets as one of towards HIV/AIDS at that time. It took until film’s most popular ladies’ men. Following an 1987 for the US President Ronald Reagan – a Oscar-nominated close personal friend appearance alongside of Hudson’s – to James Dean in Dean’s publicly acknowledge last movie, Giant, the disease and its Hudson’s frequent “It remains saddening impact. According to appearances alongside the US Foundation Doris Day in a series that the last few for AIDS Research, of romantic comedies more than 40,800 CLOCKWISE FROM FAR secured the duo’s months of Hudson’s life people in the USA LEFT: ROCK HUDSON place in American had died from AIDS WITH LINDA EVANS hearts as a much-loved by the end of that IN DYNASTY; WITH were somewhat marred LIZ TAYLOR IN GIANT; romantic pairing. year. Even following IN 1985; WITH Off-screen Hudson Hudson’s death JULIE ANDREWS IN was an intensely by public ignorance” Reagan’s statement of DARLING LILI; PRESS COVERAGE OF HIS private gay man whose sympathy betrayed no LIFE AND DEATH; close friends included interest in the fact STUDIO SHOT the Tales of the City author Armistead Maupin. that Hudson was one of more than 12,000 Unfortunately his friends’ discretion was not people whose lives had been lost to the illness. enough to keep the star’s private life strictly out The public’s and media’s moods, too, weren’t of public view. As early as 1955 the LA scandal entirely sympathetic to Hudson’s misfortune. sheet Confidential threatened an exposé of An on-screen kiss with his Dynasty co-star Hudson’s sexuality. His studio bought the paper Linda Evans in February 1985 – several months off with a story about another gay actor so that after Hudson’s diagnosis – sparked a furious the star’s reputation could remain unsullied. response from viewers and actors who felt Despite rumours and public revulsion against Hudson had put Evans’s health at risk. We gay people, Hudson enjoyed a successful career know now that kissing cannot spread HIV. in film before turning to TV in the 1970s. There, Though we should, perhaps, make some too, his good looks and charisma helped him allowance for the fact that less was known secure roles on wildly popular shows like the about the virus 30 years ago, it remains detective series McMillan & Wife and, latterly, saddening that the last few months of Hudson’s the 1980s soap Dynasty. It was during his stint on life were somewhat marred by public ignorance. Dynasty, early in 1985, that his illness started to Maybe that overstates the fact a little, become apparent. though. What can’t be denied, on reading press Hudson was diagnosed with AIDS in June coverage of Hudson’s public battle with AIDS, 1984. He was known as a heavy drinker and is a clear shift in public attitude. In the ten smoker who had had a heart bypass operation in weeks between the announcement of his illness 1981 – he later speculated that he had caught and his death, private donations to HIV/AIDS HIV from a blood transfusion during that research topped more than $1.8 million – operation – and for some time it was possible for double the amount collected in the whole of his team to deflect rumours that he was suffering 1984. Two weeks after his death, the US Senate from the illness. approved a doubling of AIDS research spending While gossip columns were already to more than $220 million. speculating on Hudson’s condition following Barely a month before he died, Rock problems with his speech on Dynasty, a press Hudson released a statement to a celebrity conference with his former screen partner Doris fundraiser which collected more than Day ignited wider speculation about his health. $1 million for AIDS research: “I am not happy During the press conference, on 16 July 1985, that I have AIDS, but if that is helping others, Hudson appeared painfully thin and confused. I can, at least, know that my own misfortune Following more than a week of press speculation, has had some positive worth.” on 25 July Hudson’s publicist confirmed the Thirty years on, a cure for HIV remains actor’s AIDS status, making him the first beyond our grasp. Arguably, though, it remains celebrity to publicly acknowledge his illness. Ten undeniable that, in Shilts’s words, there was weeks later, on 2 October 1985, Rock Hudson indeed a difference between “AIDS before Rock died in his sleep at home in Beverly Hills. Hudson, and AIDS after”.