New Documentary Explores Rock Hudson’s Life Through The Eyes Of His Boyfriends

The life of closeted gay actor Rock Hudson will be the focus of a new HBO documentary, exploring the story of a man living a double life who kept his personal life under wraps as a gay man up until his death from AIDS in 1985. 

The new HBO documentary, Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed, will explore the Hollywood actor’s career, death, and legacy of his sexuality during a time of immense homophobia and scrutiny. 

The synopsis of the documentary reads, “Nearly four years into the AIDS pandemic, Hudson’s death was a wakeup call for the public and helped elevate serious discussions of the treatment of HIV and AIDS into the mainstream, forcing a reckoning both socially and politically”.

Hudson’s acting career spanned three decades and during his time in Hollywood, starred alongside James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, and Doris Day, and 2-/ recognised as a leading man in romance films during the 1950s and 1960s. 

A Gay Icon

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed includes interviews with Hudson’s friends, colleagues, and past partners. 

In the trailer, an ex-partner reflects on their relationship, telling producers, “We were ordered never to have our picture taken together because somebody would know that we were gay”.

All That Heaven Allowed Director Stephen Kijak spoke to The New York Times last week, describing Hudson’s story as fascinating to explore, as both a gay icon and movie star.  

When asked what it was about Hudson that drew Kijak to make the documentary, the director stated that he initially didn’t know much about the actor’s life and loved the journey of discovery that was inbuilt into the creative process. 

All That Heaven Allowed was initially titled ‘The Accidental Activist,’ which Kijak described as “100 per cent accurate but a little bit limiting”. 

“I thought there was a bigger story there, even though that is also an interesting element to his story: someone who doesn’t at all intend to change anything but inadvertently ends up being culturally, politically and socially a catalyst in a way that I think most people have completely forgotten about”, he said.

The Hollywood Closet

Kijak asserted that there were several facets of Hudson’s life that deserved a spotlight, including the  “Hollywood closet, the manufactured personality, the double life, the way the private existed weirdly under the surface of the manicured facade”. 

“He was having this kind of great rampant, randy gay sex life right there under everyone’s noses, but seemingly living without a care. There wasn’t the kind of angsty, oh-I-wish-I-could-just-be-an-out-gay-man. It was a generation that I don’t think considered that to be an option, or even something that they would want”, he added. 

Kijak told The New York Times that viewers will see in the documentary a “short stack” collection of gay men involved in Hudson’s life, as a lover, a playmate, wingman, co-stars, best pals; anyone he revealed himself to. 

“What you get is an arc of gay men that takes you from pre-Stonewall, pre-gay liberation to the other side of the AIDS crisis. It’s Rock’s life that could have been through the lens of these guys”, Kijak said.

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed is scheduled to debut on HBO and Max on June 28, 2023. The documentary’s release in Australia is yet to be announced.