The man who invented Rock Hudson : the pretty boys and dirty deals of Henry Willson / Robert Hofler.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hofler, Robert.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Willson, Henry, 1911-1978.

Willson, Henry.

Theatrical agents--United States--Biography.

Theatrical agents.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 468 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Edition:

First Carroll and Graf edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Carroll & Graf, 2005.

Summary:

Rock Hudson and Henry Willson. In Hollywood's inner circles, the two men epitomized the quintessential powerbroker and the impressionable yet ambitious young man who would do anything to fulfill his dream. The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson is the story of that controversial, legendary relationship, which took Roy Fitzgerald from lowly truck driver to star of Magnificent Obsession, Giant, and Pillow Talk. From 1957 to 1965, Rock Hudson reigned as the most popular movie star in the world. But there was a price for such glory. And it was one that Henry Willson, a gay man and Hollywood's most "notorious" starmaker, brokered repeatedly in the twenty years he masterminded Rock Hudson's career and kept the star's name out of the scandal sheets.

Variety reporter Robert Hofler chronicles Willson's maneuvers to sidestep the FBI's investigation into Hudson's homosexuality, the tradeoffs to expose the police arrests of Rory Calhoun and Tab Hunter to keep Hudson's name out of Confidential magazine, the use off-duty LAPD cops and Mob ties to intimidate Hudson's blackmailers, the "arranged" marriage between Hudson and Willson's secretary Phyllis Gates, and the movie star's affair with a Universal Pictures vice-president to help secure starring roles in Magnificent Obsession and Giant.

Henry Willson, however, was much more than the man who kept Rock Hudson's name in marquee lights and off the front page of Confidential. He discovered Lana Turner. He turned Natalie Wood into an adult star with the role of James Dean's girlfriend in Rebel Without a Cause. But it was Willson's representation of male actors that made him as powerful as he was notorious. As head of talent for Gone With the Wind producer David O. Selznick, Willson came to the job of Hollywood starmaker with an uncanny eye for male beauty that in time would define the post-World War II sex symbol. Much as Hugh Hefner created the Playboy Bunny, the homosexual Henry Willson cornered the other half of the flesh market with Guy Madison, Rory Calhoun, John Derek, Robert Wagner, Troy Donahue, Tab Hunter, Clint Walker, John Saxon, and Chad Everett, among hundreds of others.

Contents:

Introduction: Hollywood's Adonis Factory ix

1 Rock Tab Troy 3

2 Polishing the Rock 9

3 An M-G-M Rejection 17

4 A Note from Walter Winchell 25

5 Ginger Rogers Sat Here 37

6 Bloodsuckers on the Neck 49

7 Junior Hollywood 59

8 Cary Grant's Roommate 65

9 Lana Turner at the Troc 73

10 Memos from David O. Selznick 85

11 Monty Clift Escapes 97

12 The Face and the Beard 103

13 Guy (Madison) Worship 109

14 Saint Jennifer Jones 115

15 Faux Fiancees 125

16 Ex-con Rory Calhoun 135

17 Never a Groom 141

18 Jaguar in the Rain 147

19 Farewell to Tara 151

20 Self-reinvention 159

21 Big Fish, Big Pond 167

22 Dazzling at Ciro's 171

23 From Race to Touch 179

24 Up the Ladder with Tony Curtis 185

25 And Natalie Wood Makes Three 201

26 Wholesome, But Never Fresh 209

27 Tabloid Mole 217

28 BHPD Interrogation 223

29 Around the World at Universal 233

30 Confidential Reports 239

31 Sacrificial Lions 247

32 Jimmy Dean's Maker 253

33 Revenge on Tab Hunter 259

34 Trial of the Tainted Stars 267

35 Giant Step 275

36 Vampira among the Ivy 287

37 Importing John Saxon 291

38 Troy Donahue, Again 299

39 Pick-up on Sunset 307

40 Alain Delon on the Tarmac 311

41 John Gavin Plays Rock Jr. 317

42 Hollywood Leg Breaker 323

43 Suddenly, Last Saturday 333

44 FBI File: Mr. Rock Hudson 345

45 The Trouble with Warren Beatty 353

46 Jock-Turned-Extortionist 363

47 Married to Suzanne Pleshette 367

48 Bazooka and Brillcreem 375

49 Henry's Last Chance 381

50 Losing the Rock 385

51 Bel Air Breakdown 391

52 Camelot Before Dying 399

53 Mannix for Lunch 407

54 Finally, No Name 415

Epilogue: Best of Friends 419.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [421]-454) and index.

ISBN:

078671607X :

OCLC:

61494232

Publisher Number:

9780786716074 52695