Rock Hudson (Schere, Roy, Jr.) (1925-1985) As the independent movie Rock Hudson’s Home Movies (1992) argues, Hudson’s career represents a telling lie embedded within American culture. Tall, handsome Hudson romanced Doris Day in sitcoms writ large, while other romantic roles made him a popular male actor in film and television. At the same time, his secret identity was known to many gays, but was shielded from his general fan audience until his death from AIDS. The split between his public and private personae adds eerie intertexts to his film romances like All that Heaven Allows (1955) and Man’s Favorite Sport (1964).