The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson

Enjoyed the narrative. The facts, stories and gossip. Appreciate the author’s ability to put it all out there from various points of view and allow the reader to see truth as both big and little T. Perspectives we see are from a wide range of interviews, yet rarely do we hear the same story of Henry Wilson told twice. This is how to tell a story without forcing a point of view. Laughed out loud on more than one occasion as memories and quotes offer a well rounded portrait of not only the protagonist, but of the many people in his orbit. Smart, sad, funny, well written.

Like himself, many of agent Harry Willson's clients were gay, most notably his most successful client, Rock Hudson. Willson was known for the men he represented, whether straight or closeted gay. There were a few women, but mostly men.Many clients were gay, many were straight, and without doubt there was another group that was straight but ambitious. Willson had numerous clients and endless casting couch options, which he enthusiastically pursued. In fact, his penchant for promising to make pretty young men who parked cars and waited tables into movie stars got his tires slashed on a regular basis.Willson's approach was to seek out people with startling good looks. He signed Lana Turner and Rock Hudson with no concerns about whether or not they could act. Which was handy, because they couldn't. In a way, that handicap worked in their favor. Turner and Hudson were deliberately cast in some of their first few roles based on the fact that they were gorgeous and couldn't act. Like Hudson, many improved with experience.Rock Hudson was a typical Willson name for midwesterner Roy Fitzgerald. Willson gave them names that reflected a post-war macho, square-jawed image that spawned others like James Dean to come up with their own hilarious variations. Few of the recipients of those names liked them. Rock Hudson made no secret he hated his name. On the other hand, Troy Donahue liked the name change; he felt it was the name of an actor he aspired to be. Even if Willson had tried it twice before on other actors.Willson schooled his gay clients to help eliminate any mannerisms that might mark them as gay to anyone paying attention. How to sit, how to light a cigarette, and so on. Hofler writes that Rock Hudson was one of those who needed such instructions.What about documentation, you ask. Hofler does not footnote, but he does have a section in the back of the book that attributes quotes and narrative segments. I don't know how thorough it is, but I checked on one of the more incendiary incidents described (he never gets into really graphic detail) and found that it, at least, had attribution.Numerous celebrities like Roddy McDowell, Shirley Temple, Tab Hunter, and others contribute their observations on Willson. For example, Song of Bernadette star Shirley Temple' describes her attempts to avoid womanizing producer David O. Seznick's clutches. Her co-star Jennifer Jones at the very least tripped when she tried to get away from Selznick. And, Krisha help us, the Virgin Mary in the production was played by Selznick's alleged mistress, Linda Darnell.Hofler doesn't hesitate to name names, saying outright that Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and Ceasar Romero were gay. In fact, Grant and Scott lived together in the 1930's until studios started responding to Hollywood morality complaints. A lot of actors starting out shared houses and that didn't make them gay, but Hofler claims that Grant and Scott were.Willson had a talent for getting first notice of new scripts by spreading gifts among secretaries, limo drivers, and other lower level employees in the industry. After he left David O. Selznick and struck out on his own, Willson focused on a new audience, newly dubbed as "teenagers," offering Rock Hudson, Natalie Wood, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Van (Green Hornet) Williams, as well as his earliest post-war discoveries, Guy Madison who would eventually be TV's Wild Bill Hickok and ex-con and future TV Western star Rory Calhoun.Willson famously threw gay former clients Tab Hunter and ex-con Rory Calhoun to the wolves at the magazine Confidential to avoid top breadwinner Rock Hudson's exposure as gay, then married Hudson off to his secretary to quiet the rumors. Tab Hunter said in his autobiography, which led me to this book on Willson, he wouldn't doubt that that is exactly what Willson did, although he wrote that the Confidential story outing him did not seem to have much ripple effect.As the 1960's dawned, the studios began downsizing, which included drastic cuts to movie production. Warners put its dwindling number of contract players into TV shows that dominated the airwaves in the early days before the studios panicky blockade of television finally dissolved completely. For a handful of years, Warners was in the drivers seat. After that, their list of contract players was reduced even further. Chad Everett, another Willson product, was the last Warners contract player. (Everett left Willson for another agency because of Willson's notoriety which cast a shadow over his clients.)Excellent book. Interesting insights into Hollywood. Lost of gossip, lots of names.

The book was exactly as presented. Flawless. The book arrived before it was scheduled and packed so well a truck could have run over it with no damage. (OK, slight exaggeration.) Will be shopping here again soon.

For fans of early Hollywood and those interested in details of the movie-star / studio system of the 40's, 50's and 60's, this book will be a treat. It will be somewhat less of a treat for readers expecting blow-by-blow details of 50's gay Hollywood through the prism of talent agent Willson and his most fantastic invention, Rock Hudson.As I read, I kept waiting for the inside story, the details of peccadilloes and of closeted relationships, but author Robert Hofler does a fan-dance. No part of the book ever really gets 'down and dirty' or reveals much of the 'blow-by-blow' reportage one would expect from the blurbs and come-ons for this book. I was expecting details of affairs, who was doing whom, dirt from jilted lovers and tricks...details that were rumored for years before and even now after Rock Hudson's death. While there is the occasional peek under the covers, (or into the underwear), these peeks are not very meaty. The smut (I guess that's what to call it) in the check out line at the grocery store is better....Readers of this book will get a good history of life in 50's Hollywood and the making of Hudson and others into a stars through the machinations of Wilson, a shifty, shallow superficial character if ever there was one. But, if it's details of gay relationships among Hollywood's 50's hunks you're after, you'll come away hungry.For example, 50's beefcake George Nader is mentioned several times throughout the book, but nowhere is Nader's close and ongoing relationship to Hudson expanded upon in the book. (Nader who was also gay, and Hudson remained close for many years after Nader left Hollywood but their friendship / relationship is practically ignored or only referred to tangentially in the narrative.) Similar screens are thrown up for many of the male stars discussed in the book...it's like expecting a hearty meal, but being served cotton candy.Also glaringly missing is discussion of Hudson's last years. While this may be because Hudson had fired Willson as an agent in the late 60's - early 70's, that is part of this story and should be included. Details of Hudson's relationships with Marc Christian (his lover when he died) are completely missing from the book. This information would help complete a narrative that seems like it falls off a cliff at the end. Perhaps Christian will write the book that this one aspired to be.Would I recommend this book to friends? Yes, if they are Hollywood buffs and interested in the way the studio system worked during the 'contract' days. But if readers buy this book expecting dirty details, inside scoop and facts on the sex lives of Willson and his creations, and specifically Rock Hudson, plan to be underwhelmed. But, what the hey, the book is a fast read and Hofler's style is generally breezy and entertaining. Not great stuff, but fun. Three stars.

So glad I bought this book. It tells the reader a whole lot of the things that went on back in a time when Gay was closeted and could not be allowed to be known about those actors that were. Casting couch for both genders and sexual preference seem be the norm for aspiring young pretty actors. A good read.

Good grief this book is boring. Really dull. Tedious in fact. ‘Sex and scandal’ it claims…but then the author uses a word salad to mush maybes, ifs and buts, to create a real life tale that is dull as dishwater. Where’s the sex!? Where’s the rumoured salacious detail? We’re talking about the biggest male stars of the golden age of cinema for goodness sake. I skipped endless pages of often repetitive writing hoping to find a morsel of the sex and scandal promised. Nothing. It’s almost as if the author is a prude and prefers implication and the nuance of (expecting) the reader to ‘wink wink, nudge nudge’ between the lines. There’s nothing Rock in this book.

Really enjoyed this. The casting couch of Hollywood is well known and Henry Willson made sure that this was an equal opportunity phenomenon as it was men who were expected to provide him sexual favours in return for career advancement. The picture of Willson that emerges is quite complex. Some in Hollywood hated him and saw him as evil others considered him very professional at least in regards to his abilities as an agent. Willson loved Hollywood and stars or at least the glamour he does not seem to have been too interested in the artistic aspect of cinema. For him sex appeal was the most important asset for an actor or actress, talent was not that important. Rock Hudson was of course his most famous client and Willson was sometimes blamed for turning Hollywood's leading macho man into a homosexual. Of course this was just the way Hudson was made and Willson and the film studios went to extraordinary lengths to prevent the public finding out about Rock's sexuality. They thought probably correctly that this would destroy his image and cost them millions in revenue.Willson was a very plain looking man in a world of beautiful people a fact of which he aware. His main asset apart from family connections at the beginning of his career was his self belief. He believed that he could spot a potential star within a couple of minutes of meeting them and then transform them from a nobody into a star or at least someone with a respectable career. They just had to trust him. His downfall appears to be an inability to change with the times. This refers to both his personal life and professional acumen. The male clients he lusted after were increasingly distant from him in age and must have felt little connection with him whatever their sexuality. He also drunk too much something a young person can get away with but not an older man. Most importantly the tastes of the public had changed. His clients had tended to be very good looking but somewhat limited in acting ability or at least emotional range. In the 60's and 70s the public looked for actors that could project a sense of danger, classical good looks without emotion were not in fashion. Talent actually became more important and while looks still mattered someone did not have to be physically perfect to become a star. Instead of looking for a different kind of actor Willson still seemed to be focused on clean cut pretty boys even if the movie going public had long since lost interest in that kind of performer. Overall the books is sympathetically written, the author is very knowledgeable and often very funny.

This is a fascinating book, these are men who made the Hollywood goose produce the golden eggs. The talent spotters, dealmakers, agents and film makers when Hollywood was the dream factory that tried hard to never let the public see the constant and necessary nightmares that were happening behind the silver screen keeping the box office dollars flowing in.We know that Hollywood in the period covered by the book was the hard as nails machine that ground up and discarded the many thousands of individuals who went there to be 'discovered' and to make their fortune in the movies. This book, in graphic detail describes the demands and the cost to the human spirit that fame and fortune can make upon the talented and the talentless in the ruthless climb to be a 'star'.It is a timely book and reminds in a truly honest and poignant telling that sometimes the price that is demanded and paid to be 'a star of the silver screen' is one that is counted out in tears and pain and that ultimately is one that costs some everything they have and are. Henry Willson was a remarkable man in a time when Hollywood was dominated by remarkable men and women, he has earned his place among the greatest of them thanks to this book. Highly recommended if you want to share briefly the magical dream Hollywood made about the men who defined masculinity for the masses and a generation of movie goers across the world.

I was eager to find out more about Henry Willson, particularly his influence on and connection with Rock Hudson. But I was very disappointed with this authors account. He seemed to be padding the book with endless repetitions and frequently I found myself losing the will to read on. If only the authour had given us more about Willson himself. He hardly seems to have researched the man at all. In the end I found this books confusing and unenlightening. A scattershot approach to the subject made the book repetitious and almost unreadable.

Hollywood stars of yesterday shown as they really were - the behaviour of their manager was appalling!