Rock Hudson made sexual passes at James Dean while they were working together on a movie, says the actor's biographer in new HBO documentary
Rock Hudson made passes at James Dean while they were working together on the 1956 movie, "Giant."
That's according to the late star's biographer, who features in a new HBO documentary.
He said that Dean was "disdainful" of Hudson's "hetero facade."
Late gay Hollywood star Rock Hudson — who famously kept his sexuality secret at the height of his fame — made sexual passes at James Dean while they were working together on a movie, according to the actor's biographer.
Speaking in the new HBO documentary, "Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed," Hudson's biographer Mark Griffin said that while the two were filming the 1956 western drama "Giant," Hudson was "privately hitting on Dean."
In "Giant," which was released after Dean's death in 1955, Hudson portrayed a wealthy Texan rancher who forms a rivalry with a surly ranch hand-turned-oil tycoon, played by Dean. Set over several years, the sweeping epic chronicles how their competitiveness ends up seeping into every aspect of their lives.
Discussing the two actors' time working together, Griffin said: "According to some accounts, James Dean was rather disdainful of Hudson."
"Dean considered it hypocritical that Rock was maintaining this hetero facade in public while privately hitting on Dean," Griffin said. "Some might consider that a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
"If you're talking about shrouded sexuality, they weren't all that different," added Griffin, claiming that Dean himself had a relationship with a gay radio executive who was friends with Hudson's agent, Henry Willson.
Willson, who also discovered the likes of Lana Turner, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, and countless other Golden Age stars, helped make Hudson a marquee idol and even gave him his stage name.
In the documentary, it's claimed that Willson arranged for Hudson to marry his secretary, Phyllis Gates, when the press began to get wind of rumors about Hudson's sexuality.
The relationship between the two men was dramatized in Ryan Murphy's 2020 Netflix series, "Hollywood," in which Jake Picking portrayed an early-career Hudson and Jim Parsons played the Svengali-like agent.
As for Hudson and Dean, it turned out that Hudson, at least publicly, wasn't too keen on Dean either. In an archival interview featured in the documentary, conducted after the release of "Giant," Hudson said he "didn't particularly like him, personally."
Hudson claimed that director George Stevens only hired Dean because he was "new and hot," following the release of "East of Eden" and "Rebel Without a Cause," the former of which scored him an Oscar nomination.
"As I said, I didn't like the fella too much. I don't know if I should say anymore. Jimmy was dead before the picture was over," Hudson said."I don't like to talk against anybody, and I don't like to talk against the dead, so I think I should shut up."
While Hudson and Dean didn't care for each other, working on "Giant" did introduce the actor to Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he became lifelong friends.
According to Griffin, Hudson and Dean's animosity was "sharply contrasted with how much he loved and cherished" Taylor, who played his love interest in the movie.
After Hudson died in 1985 at age 59 from AIDS-related complications, Taylor became an activist for HIV/AIDS awareness and cofounded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).
"Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed" is available to stream on Max.
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