Rock Hudson Swings

We have all heard that Rock Hudson was a swinger; now Daveland provides photographic evidence.



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Gonna' Comb That Girl Right Out Of My Hair...

Shown in a very staged publicity shot, actor Rock Hudson and wife Phyllis Gates "share" the morning paper and a bit of breakfast. Gates was a secretary to Rock's Hollywood agent, Henry Willson, shown here dancing with Shirley Temple in 1945:



Some say Phyllis entered the marriage with full knowledge that it was only an attempt to keep the gay rumors about Rock at bay, while others (including Phyllis herself) claim that she was truly in love with him. The marriage was brief (less than 3 years), and neither was ever married again.

Another vintage shot of Rock, admiring himself in the mirror while he combs his hair:



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Rock Goes Shopping

These two images from 1956 show matinee idol Rock Hudson shopping for clothes in Palm Springs. I'm not sure that the salesman has done a great job of selling this pair of checkered shorts to Rock.



One thing he DID sell to Rock was an athletic supporter. Apparently Rock wore a medium.



Don't you just love the details you can get from a negative?

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Rock and the Canonflex

This vintage shot of actor Rock Hudson shows that Canon was his camera of choice. Most likely this is a Canonflex camera, which was introduced in May, 1959. It was Canon's first 35mm single-lens reflex camera, which came with a standard 50mm lens. Discontinued five months after release, approximately 17,000 were produced. Today, you can pick one up for around $100.

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Rock Hudson in Palm Springs

As a follow-up to yesterday's entry on The Colony Palms Hotel, today's post features 50's matinee idol Rock Hudson during a few visits to Palm Springs. Bob Beerman, staff photgrapher for Modern Screen Magazine, shot these images between 1954 & 1955.

Betty Abbott was a script girl at Universal, working on nine successive Rock Hudson pictures at the beginning of his career. At night, the two would get together socially and gab about what had happened during the day at the studio.



The gossip rags of the day claimed that Betty was on her way to being the "second Mrs. Hudson," which would seem fairly believable when looking at these photos taken at the Palm Springs Racquet Club.



As most are aware of now, Hudson was gay and most of the dating fodder published in the rags was for appearance's sake. Whether Betty knew she was being used for publicity purposes or not is unknown.



From much of what I have read though, most in Hollywood knew about Rock and his sexual preferences.



Here the two enjoy a frosty treat at a local ice cream shop.





Rock butches it up for these two photos, as he looks under the hood of the car of Palm Springs resident and actor Charles Farrell.



Farrell was big in the silent era and had a respectable career that spanned into the talkies as well as TV "My Little Margie." Once retired from the screen, he opened up The Racquet Club along with actor Ralph Bellamy.



See more Rock Hudson photos on my Rock Hudson photo web page.