Idol, Rock Hudson: The True Story of an American Film Hero
Both of these accounts of Hudson's life and tragic death from AIDS show him as a simple, fun-loving man with a talent for friendship, who inspired love and loyalty. The authors' task was made more difficult by Hudson's lifelong habit of deviousness and embellishment, so that no story was told the same way twice. Davidson was chosen to write the "authorized" biography and given entree to his closest friends and lovers. She spent time with Hudson during the last four weeks of his life, although he was too ill to add much to the book. Her interviews with several of Hudson's lovers are full of graphic quotes, which often tell more than the reader may want to know about Hudson's love life. For the titillating bits of gossip, this is the book readers will want. Journalists Oppenheimer and Vitek have written a coherent, moving account of Hudson's life with more emphasis on his film work and professional relationships than personal relationships, though these are by no means neglected. They delve into Hudson's fatherless background and psyche, looking for answers to his homosexuality, and make a strong case for Hudson as a boy who never grew up emotionally. They interview, mostly, a different set of friends and co-workers, so this book is full of other anecdotes, many very amusing. With either book, readers may be shocked by Hudson's lifestyle; still, they will like and respect Hudson, and won't be dry-eyed. Marcia L. Perry, M.L.S., Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.