For Immediate Release: December 21, 2005
Contact: Sherri Eng (415) 557-4282
seng@sfpl.org
The Making of Rock Hudson
New tell-all book reveals how Hudson
and other Hollywood stars came to be
Henry Willson may not be a household name, but he is the Hollywood reporter-turned-agent responsible for discovering and introducing actors Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Troy Donahue
and others to the silver screen during the 1950s and ‘60s. Willson was known for seducing young men (many of them gay), “butching” them up, and marketing them to movie studios and an unsuspecting public.
Join author Robert Hofler at 6 p.m. on Jan. 26 in the Koret Auditorium at the Main Library where he will share stories from his recently-published The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and the Dirty Deals of Henry Willson.
In his book, Hofler, a senior editor for Variety magazine, delves into the shadowy, sometimes seamy, world of Hollywood dealmaking. He also chronicles Willson’s maneuvers to sidestep the FBI’s investigation into Hudson’s sex life;
the starmaker’s use of off-duty Los Angeles Police Department cops and mob ties to scare off Hudson’s blackmailers; Hudson’s “arranged” marriage to Willson's secretary, Phyllis Gates; as well as Hudson’s affair with a
Universal Pictures vice president to help secure starring roles in Magnificent Obsession and Giant.
“Unlike the heterosexual variety, same-sex relationships from the golden age of Broadway and Hollywood do not leave behind a paper trail of marriage certificates, family photos, gossip-column mentions, and obits,”
Hofler said in explaining the difficulty of telling this side of the Hollywood story.
Hofler’s books will be available for sale and signing at the event. The event is cosponsored by the James C. Hormel Gay and Lesbian Center and is free and open to the public.
For more information, please call 415-557-4277.
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