September 17, 2013
This actress was B list back in the day. Mostly movies. She was kind of like Pamela Anderson. She was famous for being in Playboy and doing some movies, but not much acting talent. The actress also dated a lot of men. She says the worst sex she ever had was with this screen legend. She didn't know at the time he was gay but was wondering why he didn't seem to know what to do and "laid there like a sack of potatoes."
Mamie Van Doren/Rock Hudson
Hmmn wasn't so easy to figure out after all Honey Badger the great LSU defensive back now NFL playa knew.
ReplyDeletefunny, my gran and mom knew……..so how could a woman not sense it ?
ReplyDeleteHe was giving her an acting lesson.
ReplyDeleteshe used to look nice for an older woman in the 80's & 90's, she's really gone tooooooo farrr with the cosmetic surgery now...she's a freak show
ReplyDeleteIt was hidden and he had been married so for a very long time until he got sick it was pretty secret.
ReplyDeletea lot of the film stars were effeminate during the 60's...so it's possible she didn't know...
ReplyDeletethey were both very good looking---I had to google them--I have heard of Rock Hudson and what happened but never came across her
ReplyDelete@Anna Belle, Hudson was in no way effeminate. Gay, gay, gay, but not effeminate. Did a few ladies here and there, but preferred gentlemen.
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ReplyDeleteDoes this offically make Rock bi?
ReplyDeleteMamie's mammaries. Well, one of them anyway.
ReplyDeleteHoney Badger had got it...
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ReplyDeleteOh yes he was...just flipped accross one of his movies with Doris Day & Tony Randall yesterday afternoon...both him & Randall were more effeminate than Day
ReplyDeleteNo one knew, except insiders in Hollywood. The general public did not, until he was diagnosed with HIV.
ReplyDeleteSecret my ass. When I was in 6th grade (that would be 1973-ish) and watching Pillow Talk on TV, my dad, who knows nothing about celebrities (for example, at the height of Thriller he had never heard of Michael Jackson) told me that Rock Hudson was famously gay. Of course he probably said "queer" - sorry to say.
ReplyDeleteThe same "people" didn't know Rock Hudson was gay that didn't know Anderson Cooper was gay....
Wow looked at pictures of Mamie and she's become a caricature of herself. I hate when older ladies put bows in their hair.
ReplyDeleteNot surprising that he was a lump. He just didn't like her lady parts but trying to keep up appearances and all..
@Sara, I agree. I also grew up it the suburbs, and heard the rumors about 'Rock Hudson marrying Jim Nabors' in the early 1970s. Even in the 1950s, there were rumors about his sexuality, which is why he married his agent's secretary in a set-up and ultimately unhappy marriage.
ReplyDelete"The Man who Made Rock Hudson" is an excellent book about early Hollywood by the way - it's about Henry Wilson, the guy who named Hudson and Tab Hunter and Rory Calhoun and lots of other 50s hunks. He was gay and slept with a lot of his protegés.
When he first met Roy Fitzgerald, the man who was to become Rock Hudson, Roy was sterotypically gay, and Wilson 'trained' him to act in a more traditionally butch manner. He also made Roy scream and scream on a day when he had a sore throat, which damaged his vocal cords and lowered his voice permanently.
I think Hudson is an underrated star because all the excitement about his sexuality and death from AIDS. There was also an excellent documentary, 'Rock Hudson's Home Movies', about what the documentarian said were clues about his sexuality in many of his movies. Certainly in 'Pillow Talk' there is a long sequence in which he pretends to be gay.
I think he's a strong actor, particularly in the Douglas Sirk movies he did in the 1950s, like 'Magnificent Obsession' and 'All that Heaven Allows' and 'Written on the Wind.' He also got an Oscar nomination for 'Giant.'
Mamie's the best. She's quite a lively presence on Facebook. Loves the animals and has many liberal causes she strongly supports. I'd love to read her memoir, "Playing the Field." She looks her most natural in the pix she posts of herself at the beach. Once a blond bombshell, always a blond bombshell.
ReplyDeleteI read Marnie's book, Playing the Field and that is NOT how she described the sex they had on the floor in her parents kitchen.
ReplyDeleteJust saying.
I wonder if the sack of potatoes came from his "wife" then Vera. I have heard that line about him.before. Has anyone read that book and can comment?
ReplyDeleteNutty you make me want to run and get that book now.
Hey Enty, how about " best book of a celebrity ever read" post.
@Nutty I started to read Dana Thomas' "Deluxe" after your recommendation. It looks to be quite interesting
ReplyDeleteI don't care what anyone says, Mamie looks fabulous. I should look as great as she does at her age!
ReplyDeleteHudson back then was like Hugh Jackman is today. It's a glass closet and some people chose/choose not to know.
ReplyDeleteI an glad that I grew up in a household that cherished old movies/ movie stars.
ReplyDeleteAnyway...
Even before the late eighties AIDS scare with Rock, MT grandmother used to say "that's Rock Hudson he's gay". She always introduce the old movie stars with the most prominent fact swirling around in her head. Lol
She'd always announce Tony Curtis as a "pretty man". So I agree that some people choose to ignore the obvious.
Thanks for the old Hollywood blind Enty. Anything on Tallulah Bankhead? She's one of my faves as far as quips are concerned.
ReplyDelete;^)
The whole Jim Nabors and Rock Hudson thing was actually a joke that's lost its punchline over the years:
ReplyDelete"Hey did you hear Rock Hudson is going to marry Jim Nabors?" He's gonna change his name to Rock Pyle!"
@Zeeky, I never knew that about the joke! But it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteAnd, of course, Nabors is now out 'n' proud himself.
@OneEyedCharlie, glad to hear you're enjoying the book! I read it a long time ago, so I hope I didn't get any of the details wrong.