Book Bonus Interviews

One of the most intriguing aspects of working on All That Heaven Allows: A Biography of Rock Hudson was conducting interviews with Rock’s co-stars, friends, family members and former companions.  I’m very grateful that over a hundred individuals took the time to respond to my questions concerning the extraordinary life and career of my subject.  

Alas, sometimes in the final editing process, an insightful observation or an entertaining anecdote is deleted from the manuscript – which happened to be the case with the following quotes.  Although these remarks were trimmed from the book prior to publication, I’m pleased that I have an opportunity to share them with you here… Mark Griffin 

Philip ‘Bud’ Davis

(New Trier High School classmate)

“I knew him when he was still Roy Fitzgerald…he grew up in Winnetka and I grew up in a suburb just south of there, Wilmette.  I was a pretty good friend in high school and we had some mutual acquaintances.  But I don’t remember him having a lot of close friends in those days.  Charlton Heston also went to New Trier, but he was a couple of years ahead of us.  Chuck was my den master in Cub Scouts.  He obviously had very high self-esteem.  I’ve often told people that he started auditioning to play Moses from the time he was twelve years old.  He literally did.  But Roy Fitzgerald was something special – just an incredibly nice guy.  I can still remember seeing him in the hallway at school.  There he was, with this very disarming smile, which stood out in a sea of faces solemnly looking for their locker or reluctantly heading for their next class.”  

David Thomson

(film historian, author of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film):

“I think that he came into the business at a time when Universal had a set way of dealing with newcomers.  In the beginning, Hudson was regarded as a big, strong, handsome guy and the natural instinct was to put him in a lot of cheap adventure films, many of which are very entertaining.  I think that it took time for people at the studio to look at this pretty awe-inspiring human being and to see that what they had there was a much subtler actor than they ever guessed.  Eventually, they figured out that despite his being 6’4, there was a gentleness, a tenderness…a sort of caring attitude about him that really worked.”  

Earl Holliman

(actor, played ‘Bob Dace’ in Giant):

“I’ll never forget the day that we shot the Christmas scene.  It’s that part of the picture when Rock Hudson’s character, Bick Benedict, offered my character the chance of taking over his ranch and I have to turn him down because I had just been drafted.  George Stevens, the director, called me into Rock’s dressing room before we started that scene.  He wanted to prepare us for it, and I noticed that Rock was drinking Scotch, and this was very early in the morning.  I assumed that George was letting him do that, or it’s possible that it was actually George’s suggestion.  Whatever the case, he really loved actors and was sensitive to all that we have to go through.  He knew that this might be a tough scene for Rock to do and he didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable playing a guy who was getting a little high because he’s sad about being turned down…

I remember going to the Encino Theatre for the sneak preview of Giant.  That scene played beautifully as George had taken such care with it.  In fact, I walked into the lobby at intermission and I thought, ‘This is the greatest film I’ve ever seen…’” 

Joe McElhaney

(Film Historian):

“Giant takes on the history and myth of Texas, addresses racism and sexism and ties them to the expansion of the American West and to the very notion of empire…The famously slow, contemplative approach of director George Stevens both in terms of shooting and in terms of the editing, creates a strong sense that the film is being discovered as it is being made.  Stevens seems to be constantly searching for the right kind of image, the right kind of cut – and you can feel this as you watch.  You virtually see the creative process at work.  In Giant, Stevens is telling us a story.  But he’s often finding that story less through dialogue and conventionally dramatized situations than through the image.”

Derline Smithson

(actress; credited in films as ‘Tandra Quinn’):

“I was Rock’s neighbor for a while in Newport Beach.  People used to invent reasons to go knock on his door.  One of the gals who lived nearby said, ‘Do you think it would be impertinent if I went over to Rock’s place and asked to borrow a cup of sugar?’  I said, ‘Come on, lady. Like he isn’t going to see through that?’  But he was such a sweet guy, he probably wouldn’t have minded.  The kids in the neighborhood would get their kites tangled up on his roof and he’d drop whatever he was doing and climb up there and retrieve them.  He wasn’t one bit stuck up.  I ran into him once in the produce aisle at Richard’s Market.  He asked me if a new shipment looked fresh.  Well, who could focus on a cantaloupe when you had Rock Hudson towering over you?  I mean, this guy made a Greek god look like Pee-wee Herman.”

Cynthia Chenault

(actress, played ‘Buz Dietrick’ in This Earth is Mine; billed as ‘Cindy Robbins’):

“I was in a shoe store in Beverly Hills.  This was back in the 60’s and girls were wearing short hot pants with these very tall boots.  The boots were very hard to pull on and there was a salesman who was trying his best to put them on me.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rock come into the store but I acted like I didn’t.  He sat right down next to me and said, ‘And why are you buying these, may I ask?’  I said, ‘Well, it’s none of your business…’ and I just pretended to totally ignore him.  We had this whole funny conversation going on, as though we didn’t know one another.  Suddenly, the salesman looked up and saw that it was Rock and I thought he was going to have a heart attack.  At the exact moment he recognized Rock, he gave one of the boots a final shove and in the process, he went all the way up my skirt and accidentally goosed me.  I almost jumped through the roof.  It was just this really funny scene.  Then, Rock started walking out and I yelled after him, ‘Well, good riddance!’  The salesman just about fell over, you know?  But I knew Rock so well and that whole scenario was very much his sense of humor.  Years later, whenever I would run into him we would laugh about that.” 

Lynn West Mullen:

“My aunt, Lynn Bowers, was a publicist and close friends with Rock.  She met him through [producer] Ross Hunter.  In August of 1967, Aunt Lynn said that we had been invited to NBC studios to watch the preview performance of the Kraft Music Hall, which Rock was hosting.  At the taping, Aunt Lynn introduced me to Jack Coates.  Very nice looking.  Very friendly.  Maybe because we were about the same age, they sat us together.  There was conversation between us and although he was very polite, it was clear that he wasn’t into me at all.  Not that I expected every guy to be into me but he was so clearly infatuated with Rock.  At that time, there were all kinds of rumors circulating about Rock Hudson.  I remember asking my Aunt Lynn, “Is he gay?”  And she said, “Oh, no.”  I was curious – as teenagers are – but I really didn’t care.  I had the biggest crush on him.  Everybody did.  Men and women.” 

John Leslie Wolfe

(played ‘Sir Castor of Cornwall’ in the touring company of Camelot, 1977-1978):

“I have nothing but good memories of that tour.  Whoever the guy at the top is – and in this case it would be Rock – sort of sets the tone and everyone else behaves in a similar fashion…If you asked me the first two words that come to mind when I think of Rock, I would say ‘kind’ and ‘gentle.’ He was the nicest, most genuine person that I worked with that was a major star.  And I thought he was just perfect as King Arthur.  I can’t imagine anyone playing that role with more empathy.  There was something heart-wrenching and very moving about him, particularly in the second act.  I don’t want to say tragic – but there was something in Rock’s character that had you completely believing all of his struggles in Act II.  It was just very poignant.” 

Madison Mason

(actor, played ‘Gray Ryan’ in The Vegas Strip War):

“My daughter came to visit when we were shooting in one of the casinos.  She said, ‘Do you think I could play one of the slot machines?’  I got her a roll of quarters.  She was so tenuous and scared about putting money in.  She didn’t want to lose a single quarter.  If she didn’t get anything out of one machine, she’d move on to another one.  Rock said, ‘Watch this, Madison.’  He goes up to her, gets behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders.  She was about to give up on another machine and Rock said, ‘No, no.  Stay. Put in another quarter.  Just try.  Trust me.’  She puts in another quarter and hits a jackpot.  I said, ‘That is amazing, Rock.  I want to see you at the roulette wheel.’  He said, ‘No-no, I can do this for other people but I can’t do it for myself’…true story.” 

Michael Childers

(photographer):

“I had known Rock socially but not well.  I had never photographed him.  His great friend John Foreman, who was an agent at ICM, called me and said, ‘Rock just got back from doing a film in Israel.  He’s not feeling well but he would like some new pictures and we feel like you would make him look good and feel good about himself.’  When he arrived at our studio, my assistant and I took one look at him and knew that he was not well.  I think he’d already lost thirty pounds at that stage, so we worked especially hard on the lighting and the make-up and re-fitting the clothes.  But, of course, he was completely professional.  Charming.  Well mannered.  I wanted him to look good in these pictures, as that was really the point – to reassure him that he still had it and that he was in the right shape to go on working.  I think we achieved some of that – the best that we could – but my heart was breaking the whole time.”

Barry Sandler

(screenwriter, The Mirror Crack’d):

“When Rock went public with his illness, it put AIDS on the map.  It made people aware that it wasn’t just in the underground gay community, that it was everywhere and somebody as iconic as Rock Hudson could have AIDS.  The announcement about him elevated the public consciousness and that only helped.  I mean, it took a long time before anything was done through the government as long as Reagan was there, but I think the disclosure about Rock brought a lot of attention, which was crucial.  When it became public that he was sick, there was a lot of fear and panic because the thinking was, ‘If Rock Hudson can get it, anyone can get it…’  So, it was sort of a double-edged sword that way.  But in retrospect, I think it certainly elevated awareness and consciousness and that made an enormous difference.”