For many, who perhaps came to know him later, Rock Hudson was known as one of the first Hollywood stars to die of AIDS in the mid-1980s. The shocker of it all was that, throughout his legendary career, mainly in the 1950s and ‘60s was that he was one of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men— the embodiment of romantic masculinity and heterosexuality. At least until his AIDS diagnosis and then death upended the public’s view of him and then revealed that he had led something of a double life his entire existence in the public spotlight. A handsome leading man, Hudson was closeted, and no one other than his closest friends knew it. And the new doc “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” obviously looks to unpack that further.
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Of course, there’s more to Hudson; he was a fantastic actor regardless, starring in many classic lush and romantic films from Douglas Sirk (including “All That Heaven Allows,” the classic movie where this new doc takes its title). He also came to fame opposite Doris Day in the comedies “Pillow Talk” and “Lover Come Back” and then pivoted to television in the ‘70s with a successful run in “McMillan and Wife.”
Directed by Stephen Kijak—known for some excellent music docs like “We Are X,” “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man,” and the music-drama “Shoplifters Of The World”— this revealing portrait unveils the complex man behind the mythic screen presence. “All That Heaven Allows,” tells the story of a man living a double life. While his public persona was carefully manufactured by his handlers, orchestrated by the studio system, and reinforced by a marriage of convenience, Hudson had to keep his private life shrouded in secrecy since the revelation of who he really was would have ended his career given the anti-gay attitudes of the time.
Here’s the official synopsis:
ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED is an intimate portrait of actor Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood’s most celebrated leading men of the 1950s and ’60s and an icon of Hollywood’s Golden Age, whose diagnosis and eventual death from AIDS in 1985 shocked the world, subsequently shifting the way the public perceived the AIDS pandemic. Born Roy Fitzgerald and renamed “Rock Hudson” by his agent, with his 6’5” frame, strong physique, and chiseled good looks, Hudson was the embodiment of romantic masculinity and heterosexuality. The film explores the story of a man living a double life, one whose public persona was carefully manufactured by his handlers and orchestrated by the studio system, while fearing a potentially career-ending discovery that he was privately living as a gay man.
“Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” debuts on HBO and Max on June 28, 2023. The doc also premieres this week at the Tribeca Film Festival. Watch the first trailer below.