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THE SECRET DEAL THAT KEPT ROCK HUDSON IN THE CLOSET!

By the National Enquirer

When a Hollywood scandal sheet of the 1950s was going to OUT closeted heartthrob ROCK HUDSON, his manager cut a secret deal and outed another star instead!

RORY CALHOUN, a rising star, was nearly blacklisted after Confidential magazine cut a secret deal by Hollywood studio ops to keep their biggest, seeming hetero, male star ROCK HUDSON safely in the closet.

Calhoun, who was born Timothy Francis McCowan, had a troubled early life, drifting in and out of reform schools to hard time in San Quentin by the time he was 21.

After his release, he met actor Alan Ladd's agent wife Sue Carol Ladd who introduced him to David O. Selznick Studio employee Henry Willson who managed a stable of hunky young men who showed "promise".

Willson carefully groomed his young protégé, and changed his name to Rory Calhoun.

Rory's first public appearance was as Lana Turner's male escort to the premiere of Hitchcock's Spellbound and after generating some PR heat, Selznick loaned Calhoun out to other studios.

After costarring with Shirley Temple and tough guy Edward G. Robinson, Calhoun's star was on the rise as he soon appeared in two Marilyn Monroe films How to Marry a Millionaire, and River of No Return.

During Calhoun's big build-up, Willson kept a firm grip on his leash.

After vetoing Calhoun's engagement to French sex kitten Corinne Calvet, Wilson did the unthinkable - he sold out one client to protect another.

Shockingly, in 1955, Willson divulged hush-hush information and details about Calhoun's years behind bars to Confidential magazine in exchange for the mag to not print a bombshell exposé revealing the secret gay life of superstar Rock Hudson.

Boldly, Calhoun trumped Confidential's "scoop" by going public first.

The jailhouse revelation seemingly did little to damage Calhoun's reputation, solidifying his bad boy image to moviegoers - much like Robert Mitchum's post-marijuana bust in 1948.

Yet, Calhoun never rose above B-movie status working more in European films like sword and sandal epic The Colossus of Rhodes and as a frequent guest star on TV shows before his death in 1999.

Hudson remained in the closet to his legion of fans despite long-standing rumors until his death from AIDS in 1985.

To Hollywood insiders, Rock's closeted truth was NO secret.

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by Anonymousreply 74September 29, 2019 2:18 PM

Rock

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by Anonymousreply 1June 8, 2010 4:50 PM

Since when is this news?

by Anonymousreply 2June 8, 2010 4:54 PM

I thought George Nader was also sacrficed in order to keep Rock in the closet.

by Anonymousreply 3June 8, 2010 4:56 PM

Wilson sacrificed more than just Calhoun to keep Hudson's star from falling. Paging George Nader.

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by Anonymousreply 4June 8, 2010 4:59 PM

Both Nader and Calhoun are fug.

by Anonymousreply 5June 8, 2010 5:05 PM

This story has been known for many years.

by Anonymousreply 6June 8, 2010 5:06 PM

So did they all have to service the vile Henry Wilson?

Did Rock, George, and Rory bump dickheads with wild abandon? Verificatia of size meat?

by Anonymousreply 7June 8, 2010 5:10 PM

Interesting thing about Rory Calhoun, he finished his career on a daytime drama where he played a aged former politico whose career was killed by false stories planted in the press by his political rival years earlier.

by Anonymousreply 8June 8, 2010 6:07 PM

What a waste! Hudson was a self-loathing fucker, period.

by Anonymousreply 9June 8, 2010 6:13 PM

Rock was reputed to have 10 inches of uncut sizemeat with low hangers.

Unfortunately, he was also a bottom!

by Anonymousreply 10June 8, 2010 6:20 PM

You would think that any story in the "National Enquirer" about the unethical practices of "Confidential" needs to be accompanied by the disclaimer "...not that there's anything wrong with it."

by Anonymousreply 11June 8, 2010 6:30 PM

R9, Rock Hudson lived in a very different time period. You have to take that into account. What was he supposed to do, come out of the closet in the 1950s? Stupid ass.

by Anonymousreply 12June 8, 2010 6:31 PM

I guess Karma wrapped this one up.

by Anonymousreply 13June 8, 2010 6:31 PM

In other "breaking" news, World War I is over.

by Anonymousreply 14June 8, 2010 6:34 PM

Yawn.

by Anonymousreply 15June 8, 2010 6:38 PM

is this 1985?

by Anonymousreply 16June 8, 2010 6:39 PM

Now we understand Rory Calhoun's later behavior, using preservatives and such.

by Anonymousreply 17June 8, 2010 6:39 PM

Rock remained in the closet, but everyone knew. My mom, who barely cares anything about movies and nothing really at all about Hollywood gossip, once told me that everyone knew Rock was gay. If she knew it, it was definitely widely known.

by Anonymousreply 18June 8, 2010 6:47 PM

I never knew who Rory Calhoun even was, just that according to Monty Burns, one of his greyhound puppies looked like him when he stood up on his two hind legs.

by Anonymousreply 19June 8, 2010 6:47 PM

R19

Same here.

by Anonymousreply 20June 8, 2010 6:52 PM

Rory Calhoun was an early heartthrob of mine, after I read or saw a magazine article entitled "Rory Calhoun sleeps in the nude." He haunted my dreams and fantasies for years after reading that.

by Anonymousreply 21June 8, 2010 6:56 PM

lol R20. Glad it wasn't just me.

by Anonymousreply 22June 8, 2010 6:59 PM

Who's Rory Calhoun?

by Anonymousreply 23June 8, 2010 7:01 PM

Rory in color

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by Anonymousreply 24June 8, 2010 7:09 PM

He's the person who's always standing and walking, R23.

by Anonymousreply 25June 8, 2010 7:10 PM

I first heard about Rock being gay back in 1971 when my college English prof. mentioned the supposed relationship between Rock and Jim Nabors. I laughed at the time, but it always stayed in my mind. Of course in the 80s it all came to become front page news. Poor Rory, made to pay for the "sins" of others.

by Anonymousreply 26June 11, 2010 9:16 PM

r18, both of my parents were movie buffs, though they didn't read the tabloids, and both of them were shocked to learn that Rock was gay.

by Anonymousreply 27June 11, 2010 9:46 PM

[quote]I thought George Nader was also sacrficed in order to keep Rock in the closet.

I thought it was John Bromfield who was sacrificed.

by Anonymousreply 28June 11, 2010 9:51 PM

I just heard that the Hindenburg crashed!

by Anonymousreply 29June 11, 2010 9:53 PM

Calhoun was slated to get the role of James West in the tv series The Wild Wild West until the last minute, when Michael Garrison, the creator, met Robert Conrad, slept with him, and cast him in the role instead. Made Conrad's career, probably ended Calhoun's.

by Anonymousreply 30June 11, 2010 9:55 PM

Rory Calhoun was in the Angel teenage hooker movies. They are pure camp.

Also he was in Motel Hell with Nancy Parsons AKA Beulah Ballbreaker.

by Anonymousreply 31June 11, 2010 11:56 PM

Many years ago, a professor of mine in grad school talked about meeting Hudson in LA in the late sixties. My professor was in grad school in those days, and worked as a waiter at this place that Hudson would come in. I heard that Hudson was very nice, real, real easy on the eyes, and gayer than a tree full of parrots. Apparently, off camera, the inner lavender came out with a vengance.

by Anonymousreply 32June 12, 2010 12:13 AM

Whether the story is true or not, I still get the vapors thinking about Rory and uberhunk Guy Madison fucking in a car during a rainstorm in Hollywood. Allegedly, Henry Willson spied on them as the car rocked and rolled. Guy and Rory were friends for life, going on camping and fishing trips as they got older, just like Jack and Ennis!

by Anonymousreply 33June 12, 2010 1:05 AM

Rory Calhoun was on the soap Capital. I'd never heard of him before and was completely unimpressed with his performance.

I'd say the reason he never rose about B-list had little to do with his past being exposed.

by Anonymousreply 34June 12, 2010 4:52 AM

[quote]Motel Hell with Nancy Parsons AKA Beulah Ballbreaker

There's no other horror/camp movie like that one. How it ever got green light I'll never know.

I have a famous director friend who has movie nights up at his big house in the Hills and he'll haul that out now and then. It's one of his most popular picks. Lots of weed and it's a true howler.

by Anonymousreply 35June 12, 2010 5:05 AM

Wow. Rory Calhoun looks a LOT like George Clooney.

Honestly. Same complexion and eyes and everything.

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by Anonymousreply 36June 12, 2010 5:39 AM

"Rock Hudson lived in a very different time period. You have to take that into account. What was he supposed to do, come out of the closet in the 1950s? Stupid ass."

The times are not that different. Plenty of closet cases in Hollywood. At least Rock did enter a fake marriage like Revolta and Cruise.

by Anonymousreply 37June 12, 2010 2:16 PM

I always liked Rory Calhoun in those westerns - and he knew Monroe and Betty Grable too - he is with them in How to Marry a Millionaire, River of No Return and MM's early flick Ticket to Tomahawk. He was always a second lead though.

I'd like to think that story of him and Guy Madison is true ....

by Anonymousreply 38June 12, 2010 2:27 PM

"[R9], Rock Hudson lived in a very different time period. You have to take that into account. What was he supposed to do, come out of the closet in the 1950s? Stupid ass."

And what's the excuse for today's self-loathing fuckers?

by Anonymousreply 39June 12, 2010 2:40 PM

r36, he looks exactly like Robert Taylor and Robert Mitchum's love child in that pic.

by Anonymousreply 40June 12, 2010 2:44 PM

[quote]The times are not that different.

You can't be serious. Anyone with a modicum of intelligence could see that there's a HUGE difference. Men no longer get arrested for consensual sodomy in the privacy of their homes.

by Anonymousreply 41June 12, 2010 3:30 PM

"Rory Calhoun", aka Francis Timothy McCown.

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by Anonymousreply 42June 12, 2010 9:03 PM

Hudson's rock

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by Anonymousreply 43July 30, 2014 3:31 PM

Rory Calhoun and Guy Madison having sex is legendary!

by Anonymousreply 44July 30, 2014 3:42 PM

CPR....to an old thread. This picture is quite telling - look at how soulfully Guy stares at Rory.

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by Anonymousreply 45August 24, 2015 2:53 AM

I ♥ r25

by Anonymousreply 46August 24, 2015 4:28 AM

Was this a common practice back then?

[quote]I thought George Nader was also sacrficed in order to keep Rock in the closet.

[quote]I thought it was John Bromfield who was sacrificed.

I have never heard of either of these people, what's the story behind these rumors?

by Anonymousreply 47July 13, 2016 1:45 PM

Who do we think was the bottom/top in the Rory-Guy affair? Or were they like most men, versatile?

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by Anonymousreply 48July 13, 2016 1:56 PM

If Henry Wilson's story is any indication, Guy was the bottom.

by Anonymousreply 49July 13, 2016 3:22 PM

Any info on John Bromfield? That was some slab of manmeat.

by Anonymousreply 50April 25, 2019 10:28 AM

The old story goes that Roy Calhoun's scandal being in jail was brought to the public. However, Roy was bi so why didn't Hollywood Confidential dropped that bomb on Roy? You would think Roy being bi or a homo would have been a major shocking scandal? I don't get it.

BTW, Roy and Guy were super studs. Some on here who say Roy was ugly should be worried because you are going blind.

by Anonymousreply 51April 25, 2019 10:56 AM

Oh please. Hudson wasn’t gay.

Next OP will tell us J. Edgar Hoover was guy. Pffffft.

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by Anonymousreply 52April 25, 2019 11:44 AM

This thread ought to be about WIllson.He was vile. Guy Madison, Rory Calhoun, Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, George Nader and countless others.

by Anonymousreply 53April 25, 2019 11:47 AM

[quote]Roy Calhoun

[quote]Roy

[quote]Roy

[quote]Roy

Who is this Roy?

[quote]Roy

[quote]Roy

by Anonymousreply 54April 25, 2019 1:55 PM

Sir John Geilgud was 'Outed' in the 1950's without a huge effect on his career, most of his movie success came after his arrest and conviction for "importuning for immoral purposes".

He was way past 'leading man' age though.

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by Anonymousreply 55April 25, 2019 2:39 PM

The grounds Guy Madison gave for their divorce are quite telling. Apparently, he would leave all the time on hunting trips with Calhoun and they'd be gone for days at a time. That was his second marriage. First marriage was to "troubled" alcoholic lesbian Gail Russell.

by Anonymousreply 56April 25, 2019 2:54 PM

* sorry, that should say "The grounds Guy Madison's second wife gave for their divorce..."

by Anonymousreply 57April 25, 2019 2:55 PM

so what? Neither had their careers hurt. Nader was never outed in any of the rags in the 50s..............he didnt have the ambition to be #1 at th box office that Rock had. He was also committed to his partner mark Miller and they were together over 50 years. Nader had the chance to play along with studio wishes as his secretary offered to marry Nader in a lavender marriage to help his career but Nader declined. Nader was extremely good looking but he didnt have the charisma/heat on screen really.

Late in life he authored a book and wrote a book or screenplay right before he died, never published, entitled...........the perils of Paul..... it was about a 50 s hunk trying to climb the ladder of film stardom and the sexual favors he was constantly having to navigate to get there.........now that is a book and or movie I would have liked to have seen.

by Anonymousreply 58April 25, 2019 9:07 PM

[quote]”importuning for immoral purposes".

So he was a top? I guess if he was a bottom he would’ve been charged with “being importuned for immoral purposes.”

Who knew Sir John was a top?

by Anonymousreply 59April 25, 2019 9:27 PM

Sir John could not deal with being gay. He was completely self loathing. Yet, the guy gets caught in a public men's bathroom having sex with another guy in the 1950s. Uh? does that make any sense? So Sir John was a top?

BTW, was Trevor Howard gay as well?

by Anonymousreply 60April 26, 2019 8:55 AM

R56 Guy did father an out-of-wedlock son in Italy in the 60s. That certainly wouldn't have been for publicity. The son is an actor and good looking, but no Guy.

by Anonymousreply 61April 26, 2019 9:06 AM

Gail Russell went on the casting couch and it messed her up for the rest of her life. They brutally raped her to the point she was never the same there after. You could imagine, she could have been gang raped. If a male was just friendly to Gail Russell or just gave her a hug, she thought the man wanted to have sex with her. John Wayne gave her a hug and she asked him so that means you want to have sex with me, right? John said to Gail, of course not! You are my friend. He asked her what was wrong with her, and she told him everything. He was furious at those big wigs in the studios. the casting couch and what they did to women was one thing that pissed John Wayne off tremendously. Her story is a very sad one. Those bastards should have fried!

by Anonymousreply 62April 26, 2019 9:30 AM

Wow, R62, is that a true story about Gail Russell and John Wayne?? Fascinating and tragic if true....

by Anonymousreply 63April 26, 2019 10:03 AM

r61 I wouldn't trust anything you read online about Guy Madison without checking the source first. It still says on his wiki that he had an affair with Gia Scala but that's false.

by Anonymousreply 64April 26, 2019 12:01 PM

R64 the son is named Robert Madison and there's definitely a resemblance to Guy.

R62 do you have a source for that? I believe that Russell started drinking very early on because she was so nervous in front of the camera. While it's possible that she also started due to the trauma of being raped, I have never read about that happening to her.

by Anonymousreply 65April 26, 2019 12:23 PM

r65 I don't really see the resemblance. I'm not saying he isn't Guy's son, but I can't find any sources on imdb or wiki for their claim that he is.

by Anonymousreply 66April 26, 2019 9:32 PM

the grounds for divorce that one of Rory Calhoun s ex wives gave was that he slept with at least 80 some different women while they were married and she named each one of them as correspondants in the divorce decree!

Even having said that I suspect Rory and Guy had a thing going on most of their lives. They looked too intense when they were photographed together in their haydays with Henry Willson acting as shotgujn.........another tidbit nobody has mentioned...is Rory was super hung..............and guy was somewhat shortchanged in that dept/

by Anonymousreply 67April 27, 2019 1:28 AM

So Guy had the tidbit.

by Anonymousreply 68April 27, 2019 1:58 AM

Amazing that all the guys that Willson represented said that he put the moves on them, but they never gave in...it was always the OTHER guys who gave in.

by Anonymousreply 69April 27, 2019 2:15 AM

R69 among those "not mes" is John Saxon. I've always wondered. That was some morsel.

by Anonymousreply 70April 27, 2019 2:26 AM

John Saxon was one of the few "Willson Boys" who got better looking with age. Wasn't Mike "Mannix" Conners another of Henry's discoveries?

by Anonymousreply 71April 27, 2019 3:00 AM

As far as who knew Rock Hudson was gay, my great uncle in Ireland knew. I remember being in his home in the early 80s, before he was on “Dynasty” but it was in the papers he would be or something like that, but anyway old Uncle Martin passed the comment “I can’t believe no one’s ever caught him yet!” I asked what he meant, he said something about being a big strapping chap, truck driver and popular on the road with other drivers then he gave me a nod and a wink, and that was it. Of course young gayling that I was, couldn’t wait to find out more about Rock and see pictures. I was a bit disappointed with how he looked on “Dynasty” vs how he looked in other pics.

Fast forward some 20 years, I agreed to meet a friend at The Townhouse of all places for shits and giggles. Wound up chatting with a regular who had been an escort, found a sugar daddy, inherited a bit, and now was an elder gay employing escorts himself. He claimed he was a regular of Rock’s anytime he was in NYC. He told some great stories, confirmed Rock was really hung, and to this guy’s dismay a bottom - or as it put it “not a versatile bone in his body, and with his equipment, what a waste!” lol

(*that descriptor he used for Rock, that friend and I still employ it lol)

by Anonymousreply 72April 27, 2019 3:08 AM

shhhhh

by Anonymousreply 73September 29, 2019 2:18 PM
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