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

As any number of books on the subject have shown, including Mary Astor's 'My Story' (1959), editor Rudy Behlmer's 'Memo From David O'Selznick' (1972), Kenneth Anger's 'Hollywood Babylon' (1981), Lawrence J. Quirk's Norma: 'The Story of Norma Shearer' (1988), and John Gilmore's 'Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia Murder' (1998), life near the power centers of the entertainment industry during Hollywood's Golden Age wasn't any less desperate a place than it is today.

At first glance, Robert Hofler's 'The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson' (2005) appears to be little more than another lowbrow show business expose, but Hofler is actually providing a service by responsibly shedding some badly-needed light into the darker corners of the American psyche. One of the book's themes is the sociology of the American Dream: Hofler examines a world where physical desire and the hunger for power meet and intertwine freely.

Broadly stated, 'The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson' concerns the lengths many now well-known men were willing to go to be given an opportunity at stardom. For a great number, this meant repeatedly spending time on the homosexual casting couch, regardless of what their own public persona, sexual orientation, or marital status might be. 'The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson' supports the idea that yesterday's gossip and scandal is often presages today's historical record.

While the book focuses on Willson, Hofler makes it clear that he was only one of many Hollywood agents and talent scouts who typically found the average handsome young man on the California streets more than willing to climb into his bed in return for even a slight industry favor. Hofler underscores that, once his reputation was established, Willson was not always the initiator; while he freely exploited his clients, he was also actively pursued by men who offered their bodies to him freely. At the height of Willson's power, which endured for decades, the problem was not too few willing candidates, but too many: one witness recalls the line of male hopefuls trailing down the stairs of the agent's second floor office and continuing down the block.

Despite the publication and notoriety of 'The Kinsey Report on Male Sexuality' in 1948, most Americans of the era remained ignorant about same sex relationships; many were unable to conceive of how such a relationship was possible or could be enacted physically. Supporting Kinsey's conclusions, Hofler provides abundant evidence that there was indeed a much wider range of sexual behavior occurring between males of the period than generally assumed, especially among the ambitious and the opportunistic.

Thus, ironically, the idols of millions of teenaged girls, as well as many of the ruggedly handsome heroes of television westerns of the Fifties and Sixties, who were the masculine role models for American men and boys everywhere, were actually both Willson's clients and his sexual partners.

The difference between 'The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson' and similar books is that Hofler names names, and names names hand over fist. Hofler is unafraid to refer to Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and Caesar Romero as "homosexuals," or follow the meandering path of a sexual relationship between Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun, going so far as to inform readers which man was the physically dominant partner and which the submissive.

Like many of the men discussed, Troy Donahue seems to have lived in an uncomfortable state of liminal sexual orientation, but Hofler quotes him as admitting that he "got into a pile" at one of his agent's all-male orgies. A later passage describes a firsthand account in which Donahue, "zonked out of his mind," is found hosting a "midday drug orgy" composed of "degenerates," "degenerates" being standard code of the era for "homosexual." Hilariously, Donahue's new bride, Suzanne Pleshette, files for divorce when she finds her spouse sneaking in "through the bathroom window at 5 a.m."

Unsurprisingly, those clients of Willson's who are still living, such as John Saxon and Mike Connors, state they were able to successfully fend off the agent's advances, or that no advances upon them were ever made, while evidence suggests that most of those who have passed away surrendered willingly or succumbed eventually.

Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Anthony Perkins, Roddy McDowall, Farley Granger, George Nader, even Raymond Burr--not all of whom were Willson clients--Hofler tosses the idols of a generation on the fire. Other famous "Willson boys" included Alain Delon, John Gavin, Robert Fuller, Clint Walker, Van Williams, Guy Williams, and Chad Everett.

Willson, who also arranged sham marriages, publicly betrayed those who had outlived their sexual usefulness, and threatened those who opposed him with extreme violence, is today as fondly remembered by some as he is loathed by others.

'The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson' will make uncomfortable reading for those who would rather not know either the facts or the compromises that many of their childhood heroes made in the name of entertainment industry success. Readers will also have to decide whether the evidence presented is credible on a case by case basis.

But Hofler's book, like the missing piece of a complex mosaic, balances out several equations, including the extreme and awkward stratification between 'heterosexual' and 'homosexual' identities still presumed to exist today.

This author rambled on so much I just skipped so many pages. There were errors in dates etc. and places. Rock Hudson was not married in a church but at a hotel. Also he passed away October 2nd, 1985 (not August 5th 1987 - as stated in the book by Robert Hofler). With these errors the details had not been well researched. Would not recommend the book. I was disappointed with it.

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.

I was initially going to only give this book four stars because it is not a perfect book, but then I saw the negative reviews and became more than a little angry. First of all, this is one of the best written books I've yet to come across. In fact, the first thing that jumped out at me was the incredible urbane and sophisticated style of the writing. For that Robert Hofler gets an A+++++. Next, the content. He really did his homework and it shows. Also, this is not a "get even" type of book that tries to out those we didn't already know about, rather, it is a very honest, even-handed approach to not only Mr. Hudson's life, but those other clients of Henry Willson.

My only complaint with the book has been echoed by a couple of other reviewers. I found that the author would mention a star in the beginning of a chapter, then move on. Okay, I thought that was it. Then later, more stories about that star would emerge and the dates he would be discussing were out of sinc. In that way, I would have liked for the book to be more chronological.

The only other problem I had with the book was my own: I thought this was going to be more about Rock Hudson, when, in fact, and true to the title, the book was about the agent Henry Willson. This is not the author's fault, simply my own for mis-reading the title.

Overall, fascinating reading about a man whom I didn't know even existed. Also a very sad tale of the intricate workings of Hollywood and what happens to Henry Willson in the end--or rather, what doesn't happen.

Again, while this book was not perfect, I found it to be one of the most fascinating and well-written things I've ever read. I highly recommend it for those interested in Hollywood and its workings.

Would also recommend the biography of Cary Grant for another great book.

"The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson" often seems like a series of magazine articles padded out to a book. The early and very late chapters move too quickly and it seems as though pieces are missing from Willson's early and late life, not to mention the sudden reappearence of his father (who I thought had died) to bail out Willson, financially.

The bulk of the book covers Willson's most influential years from the late 40s to the beginning of the 60s. Unfortunately, the chronology drifts all over the place and its easy to lose track of Willson's various proteges (there were three Troy Donahues, if memory serves). Willson was undone by changing tastes (a trend that began in the mid-50s) and by the shifting ways in which Hollywood was run. He was a character who belonged in the studio heyday and the book is a reminder that, although television weakened the film industry, it actually helped keep some aspects of the studio system alive. Television rapidly moved to filmed (rather than live) series and needed studios just as the studios decided that they needed to get into television. The same assembly line processes that built the studios (scripts that were endlessly recycled among shows, cheap unknown performers made into stars) also created the era of filmed television that epitomized and gave name to "the vast wasteland". Willson resented television and was tentative about getting involved with it, but it probably kept him from becoming an anachronism sooner. He comes across as a cheesy, obvious saleman whose motives were all too obvious--a real phony, even for a place that deals in fantasy and works in ways less tangible than other industries.

Much of the book's promotion centered around Rock Hudson and Willson's bedding of him and lesser known performers. If Willson exploited his young men, sexually, so does the author. He is coy about the actual experiences of various performers (including those who acted as informants). He tells us that gay men avoided Willson's bed (although he never explains how), while "straight" men slept with the gent. Even the most lacivious of the moguls, Zanuck & Cohn didn't bed every starlet, but given that the book is largely promoted as opening a door on Hollywood's closet, many readers will be disappointed and some, such as myself, will see Hofler as a man who expolits the innuendo surrounding these young men in much the same way that Willson exploited them in the bedroom.

The book would have benefited from more pictures (all the Tabs and Troys run together--it would help to have some reference points), along with better quality reproductions. The research is clearly uneven. Hofler presents the many conflicting accounts of Rock Hudson's "marriage" and other key points in his life, but gives short shrift to the equally confusing stories attached to James Dean and other figures who intersect with Willson and his proteges. We also never really find out how he was dropped by performers he discovered---this is particularly true in the case of the women, who include important stars like Natalie Wood.

People looking for sleaze will probably be somewhat disappointed. Those who aren't movie junkies will find some of the people in the book too obscure and poorly described. In general, the context is weak. Many people will wish there was simply a better researched, better told story. After reading this, I began Tom King's bio of David Geffen. In some ways, Geffen is the Henry Willson of his time (closeted--for a long time, expolitive, consumptive, and lonely) except, he is smarter, more ambitious and more able to change with the times, as well as a better judge of talent. Willson tended to place looks and certain bland sort of "charisma" over anything else. He hit a home run with Hudson, but even with the studio machine, he had far less luck with many others. Hofler ends by suggesting that Willson prefigured the Tom of Finland genre of idealized gay men--a weak attempt at trying to make him seem less pathetic. The Tom of Finland guys have far more depth than the Tabs and Rocks, even though they are only drawn on paper. Willson was a Willy Lomanesque character who, in some ways, is only interesting because his life helps explain a period of time in an odd industry.

This is a fast-paced, very readable and overdue bio of agent-Svengali Henry Willson. Author Hofler shows himself to be a shrewd observer of Hollywood's inner workings and prized self-delusions, and his book is most interesting in its portrait of gay life in postwar Hollywood with its rules, repressions, pleasures and terrors, and the fraught ways it co-existed with the film business and press at large. Hofler also dissects the differing ways that gay and straight actors and filmmakers perceived the gay casting couch and the closet. This is an entertaining work of sociology and pop culture, a time capsule to a time in L.A. that gay movie fans have always wondered about. And it's an irreverent, delicious, gossipy read to boot.

I found a typographical error on the flyleaf which did not bode well for the book (if they can't even get that right, how accurate would the rest of the book be?). I was almost immediately disappointed by the asides and catty comments of the author about every location and person in the book. I did not finish it nor can I recommend it.

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.

A terrific story of how stars--and movies--used to be made, and unmade. It's hard to believe that it's taken so long for the true story of Henry Willson to be told. He was a fascinating, compelling and conniving creature whose genius was outdone only by his self-destructiveness. Yes, there are typos and the book could have been better edited--facts that are true of almost every book published these days--but most readers won't notice any of this once they get caught up in the wonderful and horrible tale of Willson, Hudson, and the rest.

I liked a lot of this tawdry book...the pictures especially...and really got a feel for the back story and machinations of early Hollywood. However, I found it very suspect that every famous actor who was either discovered or repped by Henry Willson and who is now dead ( Rock Hudson, Rory Calhoun,) had sex with men and the same type of actors who were discovered or repped by the same man but are still alive ( Mike Connors, Robert Wagner, Tony Curtis)...NEVER had sex with men and managed to escape the apparently lecherous clutches of Henry Willson. Are the stories wishful thinking and fiction that cannot be proven or unproven??? Are the living threatening lawsuits?? I enjoyed reading about how the right look was all he needed to make a star..the talent was secondary , or could come later...I drew a lot of comparisons to today's stars, especially in the music business, and no longer have to wonder why so many mediocre singers and no-talents get so much press and get on so many shows. I guess there will be a book about the casting couch of today in about 40 years...