cover image My Husband Rock Hudson

My Husband Rock Hudson

Bob Thomas, Phyllis Gates. Doubleday Books, $16.95 (232pp) ISBN 978-0-385-24071-0

In 1955, Gates, at the time secretary to a Hollywood agent, married Rock Hudson, the perennially popular actor whose AIDS-related death made recent headlines. In this memoir of their three-year marriage, she, with the help of celebrity biographer Thomas (Astair et al.), describes a conflicted man, one given to childish behavior, sudden depression, miserliness and physical abuse of his wife. Hudson's bisexuality was a late discovery for her in the marriage, and she relates her efforts to counter the nefarious influence of a homosexual Hollywood agent. Gates, who stresses that she was never a full partner in the marriage, gives herself high marks for not being vindictive in divorce. A scattering of anecdotes about the couple's filmdom friendsBrando, Bogart, Grace Kellyenlivens this confessional reminiscence of a misalliance. Photos not seen by PW. First serial to the National Enquirer; Literary Guild alternate. (May)