Free PDF The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson, by Robert Hofler
Free PDF The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson, by Robert Hofler
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The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson, by Robert Hofler
Free PDF The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson, by Robert Hofler
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Review
"Those who think Hollywood’s current predatory political scene and celebrity partner-swapping activities are new phenomena would be wise to dive into this tell-all tale of Henry Willson, an agent who became a major star maker to actors like Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, and Troy Donahue in the 1950s."—Publishers Weekly"A trove of enticing gossip and little-known facts . . . Hofler chronicles Willson’s life of privilege. He roams through the origins of his paradoxical right-wing attitudes, early intrigues to obtain sexual power, conspiracies hatched in glamorous fabled nightclubs, the Trocadero, the Macombo. He describes nasty sexual antics among powerful studio heads."—Los Angeles Times "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson is a gritty, often coarse but well-researched biography of a tough Hollywood power broker famous for his ‘Adonis factory.’"—Salon.com "Hofler, a Variety editor and reporter, is well matched to this shark-tank of a life." —Washington Post
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About the Author
Robert Hofler survived a forty-year career in journalism, working as an editor at Life, Us, and Variety, among many other publications. He is now the theater critic for The Wrap and lives in New York City. Hofler is also author of the books Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to “A Clockwork Orange”—How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos, Variety’s “The Movie That Changed My Life,” and Party Animals: A Hollywood Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll Starring the Fabulous Allan Carr.
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Product details
Paperback: 472 pages
Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press; Reprint edition (February 15, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0816691290
ISBN-13: 978-0816691296
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 1.4 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
3.9 out of 5 stars
92 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#632,551 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This was an eye opening read. I knew about the infamous casting couch for actresses but this really shed a light on the debauchery of how agent's procured talent and what the young hopefuls had to do to get into films. I remember from my childhood, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue and all the Chads, Vans, etc from movies and television shows of the time. Who would of thought how many of them really got where they were and the dignity they gave away to get there. Sure, some like Rock Hudson were not innocent and knew the game. But how many others coming from fatherless backgrounds trusted Willson and allowed him to do whatever with them because fame is such an aphrodisiac. Arrogance in Hollywood still goes on today. How many still sell their soul to make it into the celebrity pool? Power and money doesn't make the famous happy. So many of them succumbed to alcohol and drug addiction, even today. Bad behavior and arrogance is maybe just more transparent, nowadays. Actors today are actually, in my opinion, less talented than actors of past decades. At least I went to the movies in the sixties. These days movies stink. But, I really don't feel sorry for Willson, Rock, Troy or any of these people who had everything and threw it away. I enjoyed this book.
This author rambled on so much I just skipped so many pages. There were errors in dates etc. and places. Rock Hudson was not married in a church but at a hotel. Also he passed away October 2nd, 1985 (not August 5th 1987 - as stated in the book by Robert Hofler). With these errors the details had not been well researched. Would not recommend the book. I was disappointed with it.
Great book. Very well researched tale of Hollywood in the heyday of the studio system and in its decline. LOTS of juicy gossip about who was zooming who. Tragic tale of Willson's ascent, his hubris and his decline. And the dangerous rise of Rock to top box office star, his staying power and his sad tragic end which ultimately lead to Elizabeth Taylor's championship of AIDS awareness..A sweeping tale of how society and Hollywood reacts to homosexuals both to cover and expose.
This book was written in a strange style which made the first half a difficult read. Having worked in Hollywood for the last 50 years, many of these stories were familiar to me. Also, I met Henry Willson at Villa Frascati in the early 60s. Yes, I got the familiar line and, no, I did not bite. His reputation preceded him so buyer beware. It is amazing to see what compromises people will make for a chance at celebrity. I do not judge as they were driven by their ambitions.
I read this book a few years ago and it seems like someone edited several occurences from the book. So i must give it 2 stars. It definitely was better before ; though it does show that men were also subjected to ssxual harassment too.
Like most books these days, it could have used a better editor. But it's a lot more compelling and readable than I expected, and it makes a good argument that Hollywood needed Henry Willson -- with his bevy of idealized Rocks, Tabs, and Guys -- as much as he needed Hollywood. And, of course, when tastes changed, Hollywood abandoned Willson. So it shall always be.Willson's deals may have been dirty, but so were most of his peers'.
Like himself, many of agent Harry Willson's clients were gay, most notably his most successful client, Rock Hudson. Willson was known for the men he represented, whether straight or closeted gay. There were a few women, but mostly men.Many clients were gay, many were straight, and without doubt there was another group that was straight but ambitious. Willson had numerous clients and endless casting couch options, which he enthusiastically pursued. In fact, his penchant for promising to make pretty young men who parked cars and waited tables into movie stars got his tires slashed on a regular basis.Willson's approach was to seek out people with startling good looks. He signed Lana Turner and Rock Hudson with no concerns about whether or not they could act. Which was handy, because they couldn't. In a way, that handicap worked in their favor. Turner and Hudson were deliberately cast in some of their first few roles based on the fact that they were gorgeous and couldn't act. Like Hudson, many improved with experience.Rock Hudson was a typical Willson name for midwesterner Roy Fitzgerald. Willson gave them names that reflected a post-war macho, square-jawed image that spawned others like James Dean to come up with their own hilarious variations. Few of the recipients of those names liked them. Rock Hudson made no secret he hated his name. On the other hand, Troy Donahue liked the name change; he felt it was the name of an actor he aspired to be. Even if Willson had tried it twice before on other actors.Willson schooled his gay clients to help eliminate any mannerisms that might mark them as gay to anyone paying attention. How to sit, how to light a cigarette, and so on. Hofler writes that Rock Hudson was one of those who needed such instructions.What about documentation, you ask. Hofler does not footnote, but he does have a section in the back of the book that attributes quotes and narrative segments. I don't know how thorough it is, but I checked on one of the more incendiary incidents described (he never gets into really graphic detail) and found that it, at least, had attribution.Numerous celebrities like Roddy McDowell, Shirley Temple, Tab Hunter, and others contribute their observations on Willson. For example, Song of Bernadette star Shirley Temple' describes her attempts to avoid womanizing producer David O. Seznick's clutches. Her co-star Jennifer Jones at the very least tripped when she tried to get away from Selznick. And, Krisha help us, the Virgin Mary in the production was played by Selznick's alleged mistress, Linda Darnell.Hofler doesn't hesitate to name names, saying outright that Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, and Ceasar Romero were gay. In fact, Grant and Scott lived together in the 1930's until studios started responding to Hollywood morality complaints. A lot of actors starting out shared houses and that didn't make them gay, but Hofler claims that Grant and Scott were.Willson had a talent for getting first notice of new scripts by spreading gifts among secretaries, limo drivers, and other lower level employees in the industry. After he left David O. Selznick and struck out on his own, Willson focused on a new audience, newly dubbed as "teenagers," offering Rock Hudson, Natalie Wood, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Van (Green Hornet) Williams, as well as his earliest post-war discoveries, Guy Madison who would eventually be TV's Wild Bill Hickok and ex-con and future TV Western star Rory Calhoun.Willson famously threw gay former clients Tab Hunter and ex-con Rory Calhoun to the wolves at the magazine Confidential to avoid top breadwinner Rock Hudson's exposure as gay, then married Hudson off to his secretary to quiet the rumors. Tab Hunter said in his autobiography, which led me to this book on Willson, he wouldn't doubt that that is exactly what Willson did, although he wrote that the Confidential story outing him did not seem to have much ripple effect.As the 1960's dawned, the studios began downsizing, which included drastic cuts to movie production. Warners put its dwindling number of contract players into TV shows that dominated the airwaves in the early days before the studios panicky blockade of television finally dissolved completely. For a handful of years, Warners was in the drivers seat. After that, their list of contract players was reduced even further. Chad Everett, another Willson product, was the last Warners contract player. (Everett left Willson for another agency because of Willson's notoriety which cast a shadow over his clients.)Excellent book. Interesting insights into Hollywood. Lost of gossip, lots of names.
More of a gossip driven expose' on a particular Hollywood scene/era, than a biography of Henry Willson. A less reputable aspect to the 40's - 60's Tinseltown star machine is covered in all of it's sordid "glory". The seamier side to many A-list and no-list figures of the day are exposed in frank detail. Once read, you likely won't be able to look at certain films, television shows, or celebrities in the same fashion as you once did. Yet, you also won't have much of an understanding of the man at the center of it all, aside from what he did and where those actions ultimately left him.
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