All That Heaven Allows
Page 52
Hudson and Sidney Poitier in a scene from Something of Value (1957). Rock couldn’t decide who was more terrifying—director Richard Brooks or the Mau Mau. (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
Doris Day and Rock in an iconic sequence from Pillow Talk (1959), which skirted Production Code censorship and became a symbol of an entire era. (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
Rock and Gina Lollobrigida starred in the hit comedy Come September (1961). “When we did our love scenes, he was quite . . . normal,” said Lollobrigida. (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
Rock’s boyfriend, William Dawson, in his Physique Pictorial days. (Photo courtesy of Bill Dawson)
Lee Garlington, Emory University photo. (Courtesy of Lee Garlington)
Rock and Marilyn Monroe attend the Golden Globe Awards in 1962. After her death, Hudson narrated the documentary Marilyn and donated his salary to help establish a memorial fund in Monroe’s name at the Actors Studio. (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
Rock eyes partner Jack Coates, who would eventually leave Hudson for Dr. Frederick Whitam, at right. (Photo courtesy of Cathy Hamblin)
Rock and John Wayne were teamed for the first and only time in The Undefeated (1969). (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
Hudson had a fling with costar John David Carson during the making of the notorious Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971). (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
A beautiful friendship began when Rock guest-starred on Carol Burnett’s variety special in 1966. When they teamed for the stage musical I Do! I Do!, they earned rave reviews and broke box office attendance records. (Courtesy of Everett Collection)
In 1975, Rock celebrated his fiftieth birthday by wearing a diaper. (Photo courtesy of Diane Markert)
Sherry Mathis (as Guenevere), Rock (as King Arthur), and Jerry Lanning (as Lancelot) in director Stockton Briggle’s 1977 production of Camelot. (Photo by Bob W. Smith)
With Claire Trevor and Peter Kevoian backstage before a performance of John Brown’s Body (1976). (Photo courtesy of Peter Kevoian)
Rock and protégé Jack Scalia starred in the ill-fated NBC series The Devlin Connection, which debuted in 1982. (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
“A Yalta Conference of Hollywood’s finest,” is how one critic described The Mirror Crack’d (1980). Kim Novak, Rock, Elizabeth Taylor, and Tony Curtis in a scene from the film. (Photo courtesy of Photofest)
Rock and Gunther Fraulob enjoyed a Hawaiian getaway in 1984. (Photo courtesy of Gunther Fraulob)
About the Author
MARK GRIFFIN is the author of A Hundred or More Hidden Things: The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli. Griffin’s interviews, reviews, and essays have appeared in scores of publications, including the Boston Globe, Premiere, Movie-Maker, and Genre. His work has been featured in anthologies such as Humor Us: America’s Funniest Humorists on the Power of Laughter.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Also by Mark Griffin
A Hundred or More Hidden Things:
The Life and Films of Vincente Minnelli
Copyright
ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS. Copyright © 2018 by Mark Griffin. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design by Sarahmay Wilkinson
Cover photograph courtesy of Photofest
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition DECEMBER 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-240887-7
Version 10222018
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-240885-3
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* Some references list 1924 as the year of Rock Hudson’s birth, while others suggest that his given name was “Leroy Harold Scherer.” Retrieved from the Cook County (Illinois) Bureau of Vital Records, the official birth certificate reveals that 1925 is the correct year and that Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., is how his name was recorded by the attending physician.
* Rock Hudson’s paternal great-grandfather, Adam Scherer, was born in Bavaria, Germany, and arrived in America in 1836 at the age of two. Rock’s paternal grandfather, Theodore Scherer, was born in Richland County, Illinois, in 1870. Rock’s paternal grandmother, Lena Blatter, was born in Richland County in 1874; her father was Swiss born while her mother was from Illinois.
* Kay’s mother remembered September 2, 1931, a bit differently. In March of 1933, Mary Ellen Wood testified as a witness in Kay’s divorce hearing and told the court that on the day Scherer walked out “he packed his things and left, never said a word to anybody . . . [He went] across the street and got into a car that he had stationed there.”
* “My father said that when he and his siblings were youngsters, they spoke mostly German in the home,” says Rock’s cousin Gaylord Scherer. “However, after they reached a certain age, my grandmother Lena said they were no longer going to speak German. They were American citizens and, therefore, they were going to start speaking English at home and on their farm.”
* After Roy Fitzgerald became Rock Hudson, he told several interviewers that Jon Hall’s spectacular diving had inspired him to become an actor. Then he made an important discovery. As he told Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times: “Years later, I was skin diving with Paul Stader, the stuntman, and I told him this story. He said, ‘Why, that was me, not Hall.’ I said, ‘So you’re the one responsible for getting me into this whole crazy thing.’”
* “Burning Love of Carol G. for Fireman Told” is how an exposé in the Chicago Daily Tribune was headlined: “The epic of the Woods of Winnetka and the mysterious Carol G. who entered their lives eighteen months ago went unrolling itself in court. Captain David J. Wood of the Winnetka fire department is suing his wife, Gertrude, for divorce, and she is seeking separate maintenance on a cross-complaint charging adultery with Carol G.”
* A year after Kay’s divorce hearing, the Superior Court of Cook County filed the following addendum on September 24, 1942: “Upon the court being advised that the defendant desires to offer his services to the United States Marine Corps, and the plaintiff having demonstrated to the court that she desires to release said defendant into the service of her country, it is ordered that all provisions requiring payments of alimony be suspended for the duration of the war.”
* According to New Trier records, Roy was expected to graduate in June 1943. However, he voluntarily withdrew in June 1942 (after his junior year). The offici
al reason for withdrawal is listed only as “Los Angeles, California.” At one point, Roy intended to move in with his father and complete high school on the West Coast, though he later changed his mind. There is no re-enrollment date listed but there are grades on file for the 1942–43 school year and the first semester of 1943–44. Roy finally graduated from New Trier on February 4, 1944.
* In recent years, Susan Dent has met with Hudson’s relatives, friends, and estate manager and virtually all of them find her story credible. More than one individual interviewed for this book insisted that while Hudson was in the Navy, he actually fathered two daughters—by different mothers—though no evidence has been produced to support these claims.
* Scheele managed the bookstore at Marshall Field’s, where Samuel Steward was also temporarily employed.
* Over the years, Hudson would tell a number of interviewers that he had repeatedly flubbed one of his few lines in Fighter Squadron. For a sequence in a recreation room, Rock was supposed to say, “Pretty soon you’re going to have to get a bigger blackboard,” only he kept saying “bligger backboard.” When Hudson first told the story, it was twenty takes that were ruined, later it was thirty-eight. However, in the Warner Brothers Archives, there doesn’t appear to be any evidence supporting this. Neither the Fighter Squadron production files nor the assistant director’s daily reports mention Hudson blowing his lines. However, in his 2005 memoir, actor Tab Hunter recalls visiting the set and that an “incredibly nervous” Rock “blew many takes, dozens.”
* In the official cast list, Hudson is billed generically as “Lieutenant,” while Rock’s studio contract refers to his character only as “Second Pilot.”
* This is more than likely the correct amount, though some sources state that Hudson was earning $75 a week when he was initially put under contract to Universal.
* The Big Frame was the working title of Rock Hudson’s first film for Universal-International. Midway through production it was retitled Undertow.
* Sins of Jezebel was a camp favorite of Rock’s friend, the actor Roddy McDowall, who could recite some of the more outlandish dialogue from memory. The film’s low-budget look inspired a memorable review from the Toledo Blade: “The desire was strong but the cash was weak.”
* In May of 1952, Universal’s publicity department issued a bizarre press release concerning The Lawless Breed: “Rock Hudson is one of those young actors who will go all out for his art . . . The script requires John McIntire, in the role of Hudson’s stern father, to whip Rock with a leather strap. McIntire tried some experimental blows. ‘Harder,’ said Rock, and McIntire laid on with more vigor. After the realistic scene was filmed, McIntire, curious, asked Rock to remove his shirt. Hudson did, and his torso and arms were a mass of welts.”
* The film was originally titled The Sword of Damascus and both Farley Granger and Tony Curtis passed on the role ultimately played by Hudson. Several years before she made a splash in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, Anita Ekberg appeared as one of Piper Laurie’s handmaidens. Future McCloud star Dennis Weaver can be briefly spotted as the “Rabble Rouser.”
* Jeff Chandler had played the Indian chief in both Broken Arrow (1950) and The Battle at Apache Pass (1952). When Douglas Sirk invited Chandler to reprise the role in Taza’s opening sequence, the actor balked: “My God, I’m a star! Just to do five minutes and then die!” Chandler eventually gave in, though as Douglas Sirk remembered, this involved “a large sum of money” as well as a reference to Chandler’s character in the title.
* In the 1954 version of Magnificent Obsession, the surname of Helen’s unseen late husband was changed from “Hudson” to “Phillips” as Universal didn’t want to create any confusion between the dead character and a leading man the studio frequently touted as the picture of robust vitality.
* Both Frank Launder’s Captain Boycott (1947) and John Ford’s The Quiet Man (1952) featured some exterior sequences that were shot in Ireland, while other scenes were completed on studio soundstages.
* When production launched in November of 1954, the movie was entitled Tacey, which was closer to the title of the bestseller it was adapted from, Conrad Richter’s 1942 novel, Tacey Cromwell. By late December of 1954, the title had been changed to One Desire, which Universal’s publicity department felt “would provide more potent romantic appeal, especially since we have Rock Hudson in the lead.”
* Universal production reports from December 27, 1954, back up Adams’s account: “While photographing the fire scene on Stage 18, the fire got out of control at approximately 6 p.m., [special effects advisor] Nick Carmona received back burns from hot water, but otherwise there were no injuries . . . Grips, propmen, electricians, laborers all pitched in to minimize the danger and damage.”
* Sirk was responsible for bringing the film’s female star, Cornell Borchers, over from Germany. After completing some preliminary work on Never Say Goodbye, Sirk turned his attention to Written on the Wind and only returned to Never Say Goodbye during the final stages of production. This included reshooting several scenes featuring George Sanders.
* In addition to mourning Dean, Taylor was plagued with ailments throughout production, including a throat infection, acute bladder pain, laryngitis, sciatica, and what was either a bout of appendicitis or complications from her recent caesarean section. In a Warner Brothers memo dated August 31, 1955, production manager Tom Andre reported that Taylor complained that she had “a very bad headache.” In response, an exasperated Warners executive scrawled “Hangover!” in the margins.
* The long shadow cast by Giant has been explored in a number of works, most notably Ed Graczyk’s play, Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. Robert Altman directed a 1982 film version in which Sandy Dennis, Cher, and Karen Black play members of a James Dean fan club who reunite in 1975, twenty years after the actor’s death. In 1961, Billy Lee Brammer published an acclaimed novel, The Gay Place, in which a wily governor visits the set of a movie being made in the desert. Brammer covered Giant’s Marfa shoot for the Texas Observer.
* One thing that hadn’t changed since Fighter Squadron was the disparity between Rock Hudson’s salary and Robert Stack’s. As a Universal contract player, Hudson earned $27,000 for Written on the Wind, compared to Stack’s $50,000. Of the leads, Lauren Bacall earned the most, taking home $100,000, even though she was billed below Hudson.
* The grand staircase prominently featured in Written on the Wind was known around the Universal lot as the “Stairway of the Stars.” The most durable staircase in cinema history, it made its screen debut in the 1925 silent version of The Phantom of the Opera starring Lon Chaney. Written on the Wind marked its 320th film appearance.
* Andrew Marton, who had directed such action yarns as King Solomon’s Mines (1950) and Men of the Fighting Lady (1954), shot some of the battle sequences for A Farewell to Arms but was uncredited. After principal photography was completed in August of 1957, Selznick’s eldest son, Jeffrey, also captured some “atmospheric” footage with a second unit crew.
* Rock’s secretary, Lois Rupert, remembered that when Hudson was shooting Seconds, “I received a call from [publicist] Rupert Allan with the news that David O. Selznick, for whom Rock had done A Farewell to Arms, had died. I told him. Rock fell very silent. I could see the director watching him, I’m sure he thought it had brought tears to his eyes. But the news did not. His first words were about Mr. Selznick’s widow, Jennifer Jones, of whom Rock was most fond. He said, ‘What a relief it must be for Jennifer. She hated him, you know.’”
* According to Douglas Sirk, it was a Universal “salesman” who came up with the film’s title, The Tarnished Angels. “Pylon doesn’t work as a title,” Sirk told interviewer Jon Halliday. “I remember when I was taking it round, people kept saying, ‘What is this title Pylon? It sounds like something to do with electricity.’”
* On June 18, 1958, Universal’s publicity director, Jack Diamond, sent production manager George Golitzin a memo regarding the fact that
the ordinarily publicity friendly Rock Hudson had canceled plans for a personal appearance tour to promote Twilight for the Gods. It’s unclear whether this was a result of the recent separation from Phyllis Gates or more of a reflection of how Hudson felt about his latest vehicle.
* Although the screenplay was originally entitled Pillow Talk, the Production Code of America found this too suggestive and the script was retitled Any Way the Wind Blows. However, by August of 1959, producer Ross Hunter had managed to have the original title reinstated.
* While critics and audiences at the time didn’t catch it, Pillow Talk was already a proven property. It’s basically a redressed variation of the 1940 Jimmy Stewart–Margaret Sullavan comedy The Shop Around the Corner, which was musicalized in 1949 as In the Good Old Summertime for Judy Garland and Van Johnson. In both films, a feuding couple doesn’t realize that they’ve already been communicating as secret pen pals.