Actor Rumors That Turned Out To Be True

Another «open secret» that most people knew within Hollywood but still managed to stay mostly a secret from the public was the sexual orientation of Rock Hudson. One of the most popular actors of the Golden Age of Hollywood — if not of all time — Hudson spent much of his career being the leading man in romance films. Ironically, one of those films, «Pillow Talk,» saw Hudson play a straight man who, at one point in the film, pretends to be homosexual. He had been playing the exact opposite role for most of his life in terms of who he really was and who he presented himself as to the moviegoing public.

In the 1970s, a joke about Rock Hudson marrying actor Jim Nabors gained so much traction that it eventually became a full-blown urban legend. There was no truth to it, though it did begin speculation that Hudson and Nabors were gay. By the end of the decade, Nabors had begun making public appearances with partner Stan Cadwallader, whom he eventually married in 2013. As for Hudson, he never confirmed the ever-mounting rumors of his own homosexuality. 

However, once he passed away in 1985 from complications related to AIDS, friends and colleagues confirmed that Hudson was gay, in large part as a way to try and destigmatize the disease. It became a major turning point in the public’s perception of HIV and AIDS and led to an increase in funding research for treatment, research, public awareness, and prevention.