Rock Hudson and Marc Christian

Tom Clark flew back to L.A....Tom knew, by now, there was a rift, but he wanted a reconciliation. He believed that Rock and he could work things out if they had a chance to talk. When they did. Rock told him he had fallen in love with someone else. Marc Christian. Rock said, "Nothing will change. You go live in New York and let me spin this out." Tom said, "I have too much pride. I'm out."

A few nights later, James heard a fight between Rock and Tom in the kitchen. It was about nine-thirty, Claire had gone out to dinner and Rock and Tom had been drinking. James says, "I was in my room, which is next to the kitchen, and I heard this terrible row. They were shouting at the top of their voices. I heard Mr. Hudson say, 'I want you out of this house and out of my life . I should have kicked you out eight years ago. It was finished eight fucking years ago. It's finished!'

"Tom said, 'Oh yeah? I've done everything for you. I got you all the work you've done. . . .' And then I heard Mr. Hudson hit Tom. I heard Tom fall down on the bloody ground and say, 'You see what you've done? You punched me in the eye.' And Mr. Hudson said, 'It serves you fucking right. If you keep on, I'll belt you in the other eye.' Tom said, 'Go ahead, I dare you.' " James heard someone walk out the swinging door and there was quiet. James was stunned; it was the first time he had heard Rock, drunk or sober, tell Tom to leave.

Rock was enchanted with his new lover, and had romantic expectations of the future. With Marc Christian, he told friends, he could recapture the passion and sexual ecstasy he had known in younger years. Stockton Briggle says, "Rock was totally smitten with Marc, he couldn't keep his hands off him." When Rock was in Israel, he called Dean and said, "I wonder what Marc's doing. Why don't you call him? I can't wait to get back home and see him." He wrote passionate letters to Marc, who responded in kind.

Just before he left for Israel, Rock brought Marc Christian to the Castle and introduced him to the staff. Rock said to James, "Would it be all right if I let Marc move into the house while I'm away?"

"All right with me," James said.

"Thank you," Rock said. He gave Marc the keys to the Cadillac Seville, and told Mark Miller, "Marc will be house-sitting, he'll guard the house on James's days off, and he'll prevent Tom from moving back."

John Dobbs, an aspiring actor who was Rock's houseman and came in days to clean the house, says, "At first, everyone was joyous he was replacing Tom Clark. I liked Marc. He was intelligent and he treated me as an equal. He was farther to the left, politically, than the rest of the house, so I felt I had an ally."

Mark Miller sensed, instantly, that Marc Christian was more than a house-sitter, which Rock confirmed privately. Rock told Mark to put Christian on salary, so he could have health insurance. Christian was paid $400 a month from Rock's company, Mammoth Films, to look after the film library. He was given use of a car, membership in a gym and a private workout instructor.

Rock said, "Send him to Dr. Tennis, we're gonna fix his teeth, and we're going to restore his father's Chevy Nomad station wagon." Rock explained that Christian's father was dying of lung cancer, and to restore his 1959 car would lift his spirits. "Give Marc the money to get started on the car, and don't tell Wally."

Rock also wanted to send Marc to acting school with Nina Foch. Mark Miller says, "It was a crusade, like Pygmalion. Rock wanted to change the young man's life. He said he'd been living with a woman who had some kind of hold on him, and Rock was determined to break it." Mark Miller thought Christian was pleasant and would cause no problems for anyone. "Tom Clark had been so difficult at the end, we were relieved to have somebody new."

George Nader says, "Where Tom had been flamboyant, difficult and wonderful, Marc Christian took it slow and treaded on no toes. Like a snake enters the garden, that young man entered this house."

Marc Christian said he had never lived with a man before, and was reluctant to move in so soon after Tom Clark's departure. "I told Rock I didn't want to be his satellite or appendage," Marc says. "I'm very opinionated. I have a pretty good ego and can hold my own in a conversation, and Rock liked that. I was not some little blond twerp who couldn't talk.

No fool like an old rich fool

The only person who was not happy with Christian's arrival was James. A short time after Christian moved in, James went to a party and several strangers came up to him and said they had heard Marc Christian was Rock's new lover and had moved into the house. "They described him perfectly, and said he was very well known around town."

James was shocked that word had gotten out so fast. "Mr. Hudson was extremely discreet about these things." James told Mark Miller the next morning, "I hear he's bloody well known, and the word is out all over town." Mark said nothing to Rock, because "when someone is in love, you don't want to make waves."

James says that with Christian in the house, "things were easier for me, but I hated it. I could see what sort of person he was. I'm a good judge of character, I've had to be, and I thought he had no interest in Mr. Hudson. He was using Mr. Hudson. He was a user." On the surface, though, James was cordial to Marc.

Marc did not give James orders, as Tom Clark had done, but he would create chaos and walk away, leaving it for James to clean up.

"He'd come down to the kitchen, make his stupid bloody energy drink and leave his garbage all over the place. He kept having all his friends up to the house, and they'd leave the place a mess. Mr. Hudson's bedroom was a shambles —Marc would drop his clothes on the settees and they'd stay there for days on end. Mr. Hudson always hung his things up. He was a considerate person. I told Mr. Hudson, 'I'm not picking up after him/ and he said, 'Don't, let him pick it up himself.' "

When Rock came back on January 4, 1984, Marc met him at the airport. That night, James saw them in the living room, They had set up a Christmas tree in the room, and Marc and his friends had put little notes on it. "Mr. Hudson was so happy and pleased," James says. "He was just thrilled to be with Marc again."

Rock and Marc went out for lunches and dinners and on shopping trips to buy Marc clothes. "It was wedded bliss," Mark Miller says. Marc showed a videotape he'd made as a joke for Rock, a tape of himself impersonating Doris Day, in a blond wig and makeup, miming to one of her records. Christian told Mark Miller he and Rock were going to Europe.

Rock had always loved taking his new mates to Europe, showing them the Ritz, the Savoy, and all his favorite restaurants, but at the end of January, Rock said, "We're not going," and gave no explanation.

With Marc, Rock started going to gay restaurants and bars he had never set foot in before. When Mark Miller learned about it, he asked Rock why.

Rock shrugged. "Marc likes it." "Oh. So you don't care anymore, about . . ." "What people think?" Rock said. "I was going to say, your image."

"Marc says that kind of thinking is fifties shit. No one cares anymore. Hell, I'm not even recognized most of the time. Last week, we went to the Hayloft, and no one even looked twice."

"Rock, that's bullshit and you know it," Mark said. "I'm going on sixty. It's time to do as I please."

"You can go on acting until you're eighty. Look at Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart—the parts get older, but they're still there. But you can't if you go around throwing it in people's faces; you've always said that yourself."

Rock brushed him off with his customary wave of the hand. The next day, though. Rock was sitting in the kitchen, doing a crossword puzzle, when Marc came in and proposed they have dinner at a gay restaurant he liked, Cafe d'Etoile. Rock said no.

"Why not?" Marc said. "Boring. Been there too much lately." "But they're expecting us . . ." Rock looked up from the puzzle and stared at Marc. "No," he said, and waited. When Marc did not respond. Rock deliberately took a sip of his coffee and went back to work on the puzzle.

On January 17, just two weeks after Rock's homecoming, Mark Miller came to work and found Rock sitting in the kitchen in a rage. "Marc didn't come home last night," Rock said.

"Oh? Cute."

Rock said Marc hadn't called, he simply stayed out all night and appeared the next morning, as if nothing had happened. Rock refused to question him; it was beneath his dignity.

Marc soon established a pattern: He would get up at mid-morning (Rock started calling him "the sleeping prince"), set the video recorder to tape Days of Our Lives, leave for the gym, and when he came back, immediately turn on the TV and watch his soap opera. Once a week, he would drop into Mark Miller's office, turn in his receipts for meals in restaurants and purchases in stores, get his money and go on his way

James would ask Rock, "Will Mr. Christian be in for dinner?"

"I don't know," Rock would say. "He never tells me where the fuck he's going." Rock would walk into Mark Miller's office and start needle pointing. "Where does he go all day?" Rock asked Mark. "He says he's going to the gym. How long does that take? He calls at five and says he'll be home in thirty minutes. I wait three hours and he doesn't show up. Fuck him."

A wall went up between Rock and Marc that was evident to everyone in the house.

James says, "I felt sorry for Mr. Hudson. Marc Christian was treating him like a piece of dirt. There was no warmth or caring. Mr. Hudson would come down to the kitchen first, then Marc would come down and there'd be no words exchanged. They didn't have big fights, it just wasn't lovey-dovey ever again."

Rock and Marc led separate lives. At night. Rock would go have dinner with Dean Dittman or Ross Hunter and Jacque Mapes. Most of Rock's friends did not care for Marc. Stockton Briggle says, "As a friend of Rock's, I tried hard to like him, but I found him cold and calculating. Nobody knew his real past."

Occasionally, Liberty would invite Rock and Marc to dinner, and they'd take separate cars. John Dobbs says Marc complained to him that Rock would never go out with him. He wouldn't go to movies, he wouldn't do anything Marc proposed.

Marc said Rock had introduced him to his gay friends but not his straight ones. "He hadn't met Elizabeth Taylor. He told me he was lonely, and started trying to fill his days."

This is going to be heartbreaking, isn’t it?

Also, I’ve missed the Excerpt Staple (don’t want to call him/her a Troll).

More, please.

On February 24, Rock and Marc went to visit Mark and George in the desert. George met Marc for the first time, and was surprised to see "no affection between them, no jokes, no sweetness, no connection on either side. No sense of, this is mine, isn't it great? You'd have thought they were two strangers stranded together for the weekend."

The four went to dinner Saturday night at the Beach House, and Rock grew sullen when it was clear that no one in the place recognized him. He began barking rude orders to the waiter.

George looked up and suddenly felt sick at what he saw: "It was like a caricature of the aging star. Thirty-five years and this is what's left: a man whose cheeks are starting to fall in, who doesn't look good, sitting with a guy half his age that he doesn't like and who's using him."

Rock had lost weight in Israel, but George didn't think the weight loss was flattering. Rock, however, was pleased and proud. He'd go into Mark's office and say, "I've lost another two pounds!" Mark was envious. "We were eating the same food. Rock had a chocolate sundae every day. We'd discuss what we ate and why he was losing and I wasn't." Mark weighed 225, and Rock was down to 210.

Mark noticed, about this time that Rock had a peculiar smell, which was familiar but which he couldn't place. Then he remembered, and told George: "It's the smell my brother Philip had when he was dying." They were silent. Rock is dying? Impossible, George thought. Rock is invincible. Mark rationalized: Rock had started drinking gin again; it was probably the smell of gin seeping out of his skin.

[quote] "It was like a caricature of the aging star. Thirty-five years and this is what's left: a man whose cheeks are starting to fall in, who doesn't look good, sitting with a guy half his age that he doesn't like and who's using him."

Damn. 😢

Sometime in 1984, Marc Christian stopped sleeping with Rock in his bedroom and moved into Tijuana. Mark Miller says it was the spring of 1984. James thinks it was later.

Christian told me, "I never officially moved out of the room. Rock snored and had sweats at night—I thought it was from the alcohol. It was intolerable to sleep with him when he was sweating, it was like being in the ocean, so I'd get up at night, a few times a week, and go sleep in the red room."

Christian said in his deposition, taken under oath, in his lawsuit against Hudson's estate, that he and Rock had a constant sexual relationship until February 1985. Christian said he was faithful to Rock, and to his knowledge. Rock was faithful to him

James says Marc started staying out all night once or twice a week. "I'd go upstairs early in the morning, and be surprised to see only Mr. Hudson in bed. I'd check the red room and Marc wasn't there. I'd check the garage and the Seville was gone, so I knew he hadn't come home."

Other nights, James says. Marc would have friends stay overnight with him in Tijuana, "while Mr. Hudson was sleeping in the blue bedroom. I knew it galled Mr. Hudson, but he wouldn't let on. I'd say to Mr. Hudson, 'Why have him around? You're not happy with him, he's upsetting you and you never know where he is. Why don't you get rid of him?'

Mr. Hudson said, I'm going to,' and I'd always say, 'The sooner the better.' "

The cool disinterest Rock had adopted toward Marc turned into outright hostility. John Dobbs says, "Within three months of Rock's return from Israel, he exuded a cold loathing of Marc. He called him 'that asshole' or 'that ditz.' If Marc said 'Good morning,' Rock wouldn't answer. I couldn't have taken it. I would have packed up and left. But it didn't seem to bother Marc, he just went on about his business. I think he felt, I'm not going to be abused by this movie star."

To Christian's face, everyone in the house was pleasant. He received all the money he wanted, the charge accounts and cars. But there were always rumors whispered in the halls: "Any day now. Rock will get rid of him."

Mark Miller, sensing that relations were strained, took Rock aside. "It's time to have a talk about something. What do you know about Marc's background? People say he's well known around town."

According to Mark Miller, Rock told him the following: "When I came back from Israel, Marc told me, 'There's something I want you to know. Some of your friends might know, and I want you to hear it from me first. I've only done it a few times, when I was hard up and desperate for money. I was sent to people's houses, and I took money for sex.' "

Rock said he felt disgusted, duped. He had taken Marc in, thinking he was innocent and trustworthy. Rock said Marc had then told him how he'd "hooked him." Marc had learned that Rock went to Brooks Baths every afternoon for a sauna while he was shooting The Devilish Connection. Marc had gone to Brooks Baths and hung around the dressing room until he succeeded in meeting the star.

Rock said, "I promised him I'd fix his teeth and car. Give him the money for that, and I'll get rid of him."

Marc Christian says he has never taken money for sex, and never had such a conversation with Rock. But it is evident that in the spring of 1984, some event or sequence of events led Rock to turn against Marc.

When Rock went to dinner at Dean Dittman's, he mourned that the romance he had set such hopes on had turned to ashes. He said Marc was getting "all the advantages and wasn't putting out—not just sex, but companionship."

He ranted about Marc with such violence that Dean said, "You've got to get rid of him because you're suffering and you're making me suffer with these conversations."

Rock said, "I'm working on it, in my own way." Dean says, "Rock could never face things directly. He wouldn't tell Marc to leave. He was sure that Marc would pick up the message and would be 'too embarrassed to stay.'"

Dean tried to tell him it wouldn't work. "You spent five years giving Tom Clark the message. Are you gonna wait another five years?

Rock laughed, and nodded, and the next time he saw Dean, nothing had changed. Dean asked, "Does he have something on you? Is that why he's still in the house?"

Dean says Rock waved his arm and didn't answer, "but the subtext was, Rock felt he did have something on him. He was afraid of Marc. Rock had begun seeing other people and didn't want Marc to know. He said, 'I never want him to have that on me.'"

I don't have a soft spot for Christian. He was cute in OP's photo, but by the time he appeared on Donahue in 1989, his looks were long gone.

I will say this: If Hudson DID expose him to HIV without telling him, he deserved compensation.

Didn’t the relationship end and then Marc Christian wrote a letter to Hudson telling him that he was ill with AIDS?

I always thought it was Christian who gave it to Hudson..,

Rock was starting to be drawn to a new person, Ron Channell. Rock had met Ron on his own, at a gym. At first, Ron was businesslike; he and Rock did exercises together in the playroom to music Ron would bring.

In February of 1984, when Rock was becoming disenchanted with Christian, he encouraged Ron to spend more time at the house. Ron would come at 10:30, stay for lunch, then Rock would say, "Let's go shopping," and ask, "What are you doing tonight for dinner?" Rock showed films to Ron, paid for him to go to acting school and even did a screen test with him, because, he said, "The boy's talented and I want to help him."

Ron knew that Rock was infatuated with him and that he hoped the relationship would grow to something more than friendship, but Ron kept things on the buddy level, like guys in the locker room. He indicated that he was straight and didn't feel as Rock did.

Marc Christian saw what was happening and barely spoke to Ron. Rock had given Ron permission to borrow any videotapes he wanted from the vault, and when Marc discovered this, he went into the kitchen where Mark Miller was talking with James.

According to Mark Miller, Christian was furious, and said, "I don't want him coming in the house and taking tapes without my permission! If they're not careful, they'll find themselves in the Enquirer as lovers. I'm not afraid to go to the Enquirer and say I'm Rock Hudson's lover. You think I am? Test me." James said afterward, he thought Christian was serious and that the threat was real. "I said, that guy is out to ruin Mr. Hudson."

Christian says he never threatened to expose Rock. He says Mark Miller told him not to be concerned about Ron. "Relax, kid. You've got nothing to worry about. These things happen in every affair."

R15 BS

When Rock was out of town in the spring of 1984, Clarence Morimoto, the gardener, discovered Marc Christian in Rock's bed with another man. It was Clarence's habit to go up to Rock's bedroom in the afternoon to water the roses on the balcony.

"If he's home, I always knock on the door and say, 'Rock, are you there?' " Clarence says. "If he's out of town, I go right in." On this afternoon in the spring. Rock was off traveling and the bedroom door was closed.

Clarence opened it and walked through the dressing and bathing area to the main part of the room, where the carved wooden bed was. "When I passed the bathroom area, I could see, at the bottom comer of the bed. Marc Christian with a blond boy. I don't know his name. I could only see them from the waist up. They were on the bed, no clothes on, I could see Marc's face, I'm sure it was him, but they didn't see me and I didn't say anything. It was such an embarrassing place to jump in." Clarence turned, walked out and softly closed the door.

On May 15, 1985, Rock was invited to have dinner at the White House. He had met the Reagans at Hollywood functions, but they had never been close; he had voted for Reagan because he was a conservative Republican.

A week later, Rock was in Mark's office,when a photograph taken of him with the Reagans at the White House arrived, autographed by both of them. He hadn't asked for the picture, and thought it was a "classy touch" for them to send it.

Rock and Mark studied the picture: It was taken from the side, and showed a large red sore on Rock's neck, just below the hairline. Rock thought it was a pimple, but it had been there almost a year

"Rock, you've gotta do something about that pimple on your neck," Mark said. "Why didn't you wear Erase? You knew you'd be photographed." "I don't wear makeup, except on film. Never have." "It looks terrible, it's bigger, and it should have been gone by now. You should go see the skin doctor.

A few days after Rock had seen Dr. Bussell, and before his appointment with the plastic surgeon. Dr. Bussell called with the biopsy results. "Are you sitting down?" she said.

"No," Rock said.

"I think you'd better sit down. It's Kaposi's sarcoma. You have acquired immune deficiency syndrome. AIDS."

Rock immediately went to Dr. Kennamer's office for blood tests, and told no one. On June 5, he asked Mark Miller to drive him to the office of the plastic surgeon. Dr. Kamer, to have the "pimple" removed. Mark had no hint of the gravity of the occasion.

"I made the definitive diagnosis, and it broke my heart," Dr. Kamer says. "Mr. Hudson was one of my favorite patients. I knew, when I looked at his neck, it was Kaposi's sarcoma. He didn't look well, but his mood was up. He said he was gonna lick it, he'd licked other things, and if he didn't, it had been a good life."

At 2:25, Rock came into Mark's office and sat down in the lion's-head chair. "I have to tell you something. I have AIDS." He stared at Mark a long time. "Oh, shit," Mark said.

I sit and listen and I don't hear a word." Mark recalls, "My first thought was, run, get out and never come back, so you don't get it and die too. I got up and walked out of the room, but my body stayed. An inner voice said, 'Do not desert. Don't get out of the chair, don't even offend him by starting to get out of the chair.' Somehow, I held myself in that chair, but I was in utter panic.

Rock talked about who should know and who shouldn't. "Under no circumstances is Marc Christian to know. He can't keep anything to himself. He'll tell Liberty, and they'll tell the world."

Rock had told Mark that the first week, he had sobbed every night and couldn't sleep. The nights were the hardest for him.

Dr. Gottlieb said there were four stages patients usually go through: fear, denial, rage and acceptance.

Rock said, "What about sex?"

The doctor said it was not advisable to have sex because there was the possibility of transmission. If Rock did have sex, he should use a condom.

The doctor asked if Rock had a sexual partner. "Yes, well, that is, there has been . . ." Rock waved his arm. "It's over with."

Dr. Gottlieb asked if the partner lived with Rock. "He's still in the house, but it's finished."

Rock broke the silence. "It's like the plague. I've got the fucking plague. Nobody will come near me. If this gets out, I'm ruined. My career will be over. I'll never get another acting job. No actor will work with me." Rock said he felt ashamed and unclean, like he'd let everyone down. "I can never have sex anymore. I don't even dare touch people."

"What about Christian?" Mark said. "What are you going to do about him?"

"He goes immediately. Now—today."

"Rock, you can't do that. He's been exposed," Mark said.

"Bullshit, I could have gotten it from him!"

"That's not the point. What if he comes down with it, without health insurance? He'll be back living with Liberty on her sofa. He has no money, his parents have no money, Liberty has no money. Morally, you can't turn him out in the street."

"You're right," Rock said. "We'll leave him in the house, keep him covered. He's already sleeping in the other room. But I'm the one who has this, so, please, let me handle it my way, okay? He is not to know. Understand?"

Mark started to argue, but he knew the hard, flat tone of Rock's—when he used it, his decision was final.

"What about Ron Channell?" Rock shook his head. "I struck out with Ron. No worry there."

R14 Marc deserved the compensation (even if he was a hustler).

I think the only circumstance Marc would have deserved compensation would be if he had become HIV positive while with Rock.

Not that either party would have been able to prove or disprove that it was Rock gave him the virus.

I think the following scenario is the best scenario to describe this situation and I do not believe it is a false equivalency.

You’re at a friend’s house and you’re going out to eat and your friend insists on driving. He reaches speeds of 90 mph and you ask him to slow down. He says “it’s all right I want to test out my brand new tires”. He continues to speed but doesn’t have a accident.

When you return from the restaurant you happen to notice that all four tires are completely bald and you notice that the tires are so worn you can see the steel belt strands poking through the rubber.

If he had a blowout at 90 mph you surely would have died.

However, the tires held up without a blowout and you did not have an accident and sustain major injuries or die.

If he deserved any money at all it should’ve been a token amount for emotional distress.

To use the theme of a contemporary meme “But did you die?“

[quote] I sit and listen and I don't hear a word." Mark recalls, "My first thought was, run, get out and never come back, so you don't get it and die too. I got up and walked out of the room, but my body stayed. An inner voice said, 'Do not desert. Don't get out of the chair, don't even offend him by starting to get out of the chair.' Somehow, I held myself in that chair, but I was in utter panic.

This just made me tear up.

How did Hudson get infected? If it wasn’t Christian then how did it happen.

"You've got to get rid of him because you're suffering and you're making me suffer with these conversations."

LMAO

[quote] I think the only circumstance Marc would have deserved compensation would be if he had become HIV positive while with Rock.

I not only agree with this, I think it’s what actually happened.

Who the hell was the still-active whore in this relationship?

R24 Huh? First of all, Rock slept with other men before, during, after his time with Marc Christian. Also, Rock got infected by it Years before the symptoms began to show (Kaposi sarcoma in his case). You don't know that HIV take many years to manifest.

Since Rock informed three other lovers that he had AIDS, why did he not tell Christian? This is difficult to understand: Christian may have been exposed to AIDS and may have exposed other people.

As Rock's friends see it, Rock's intimate relationship with Christian ended shortly after Rock's return from Israel. Rock believed it was possible that Christian had threatened to blackmail Rock by going to the Enquirer or other publications, and revealing that he was Rock's lover. What would he do with an even more damaging, and valuable, piece of information—that Rock was dying of AIDS?

Rock kept saying, "As long as I can work, I'm okay." George Nader says, "I feel very certain about what Rock felt. He had spent almost his entire life creating his persona and career, so that his career and his life had long ago become commingled. If anything threatened his career—it was tantamount to an assault on his life." Rock had faced threats before, but the threat from Christian was so great. Rock felt, he had to defend himself by the only means he had: silence

Rock made his decision and never wavered. But Mark Miller suggested that Christian should be examined, somehow, by a doctor. Mark went to his own doctor, Barry Unger, and said, "I have a problem. My employer has AIDS, and he has a friend whom he's chosen not to tell. Would you give the friend a complete physical and check his white count?" Mark then said to Christian, "When's the last time you had a physical?" Christian said he couldn't remember, it was long ago. "You should have one every year, why don't you go to my doctor and Mammoth Films will pay?"

Dr. Unger saw Christian on September 27, 1984, and reported to Miller that Christian was in outstanding health and there was no impairment evident in his immune system.

His blood was not cultured for AIDS because at that time, the test could be done at only a few laboratories in the world.

It was Rock's intention to tell no one else he had AIDS, but shortly after receiving the diagnosis, he had broken down and told Dean Dittman. He had gone to Dean's for a dinner party and arrived an hour early. He walked over to the bar, took out his wallet and said, "Look what I got." He threw a package of rubbers onto the counter.

"Why, Rock, have you gone back to women?" Dean said. "No. I have AIDS."

As Dean stared at him. Rock said his doctors had told him if he had sex, he should wear a condom. The trouble was, he couldn't figure out how to put it on gracefully. "I've never worn a condom in my life. Won't I give the show away if I suddenly have to put one on?"

I thought the strain that was going around in the early to mid1980s was especially virulent, r27. Accordingly to some things I’ve read people would get infected, show symptoms, and then die in a couple of months. Obviously that wasn’t exactly the case with Hudson, especially if he’d had the signs of kaposi sarcoma on his neck for long.

Dean says Rock was overcome with shame. "He felt he'd committed a crime against his public. That was his main concern—that the public would find out. He said one night, 'I hope I die of a heart attack before they find out I have AIDS. If only that would happen.'"

Rock entered a period where he refused to believe he had the disease. He began staying out late, drinking and smoking more, even though he had been told that alcohol and cigarettes lower the white-cell count. He went to the opening of Evita, ignoring a warning to avoid crowds because he was susceptible to any sickness present. When Mark reminded him of the doctors' counsel, Rock silenced him with a wave. "I told you, I don't have it!"

Rock was losing weight rapidly, and friends began to ask Mark and Dean if he had cancer. Mark and Dean would say, no, but maybe he has anorexia.

In July, Dean received a letter from a woman in New York whose son had AIDS and had learned of a new drug, HPA 23, that supposedly could suppress the AIDS virus. The drug was being tested in Paris, and the woman's son had gone there for treatment and was improving. Dean showed the letter to Rock, who gave it to Mark, who called Dr. Gottheb and asked about HPA 23. Dr. Gottlieb said he could arrange for Rock to be given the drug by Dr. Dominique Dormont at the Percy Hospital outside Paris. He warned that it was experimental and might lead nowhere, but on the other hand, it might prolong Rock's life.

Who could go with him? Mark didn't want to leave George for eight weeks. Rock said he wouldn't go with Marc Christian. "Why should I take him to Paris and sit in my hotel room alone every day?

"What about Ron Channell?" Mark said.

"Great idea," Rock said. He had thought of taking Dean, but Dean knew he had AIDS, and it would be a heavy-hearted journey to the court of last hope. With Ron, he could pretend they were on Holiday.

Marc Christian did not have HIV.

This is from the LA Times:

Hudson was diagnosed in 1984 but did not publicly acknowledge his illness until July 1985; he died three months later at age 59. Christian tested negative for acquired immune deficiency syndrome several times after learning of Hudson’s diagnosis but contended that the star put him at risk of contracting the disease by concealing his illness and continuing to have sexual relations with him.

[quote] Christian tested negative for acquired immune deficiency syndrome several times after learning of Hudson’s diagnosis but contended that the star put him at risk of contracting the disease by concealing his illness and continuing to have sexual relations with him.

Then he shouldn’t have gotten shit. That’s like suing a drunk driver that whizzed past you just because you found out he was drunk and drove close to you.

On the second or third day, he accidentally took off" his shirt in front of Ron, revealing a bruise on his arm from the IV needle. "What the hell is that?" Ron said. "Oh, I banged into a chair on my way to the bathroom in my sleep," Rock said

In October of 1984, just before Rock was due to fly home to Los Angeles, Marc Christian learned that Ron Channell was with him. Ron's father had called the house and asked Christian, "When are the boys gonna get back from Paris?" Christian called Mark Miller in the desert and said, "Why didn't you tell me? Why was this done behind my back?"

"Marc, you're not having an affair with me, you're having an affair with Rock. It's up to Rock to tell you. Don't look to me for your information.

"But you and I are friends. You should tell me things like this."

"I work for Rock," Mark said. "When Rock says don't tell, I don't tell."

On October 7, Mark Miller picked up Rock and Ron from the airport and brought them back to the Castle. Marc Christian had gone away for the weekend. When Rock was alone with Mark in the kitchen, he told him he had great news: The serum had worked. There was no more AIDS virus in his blood. Mark nearly fainted with joy and relief. Rock did not tell him the rest of Dr. Dormont's message, that he still had the disease, Rock was elated. "I can work, I can do Dynasty, " Rock said. "I don't have AIDS. I've licked it! I told you, I never had it in the first place.

R33 that is a perfect analogy

R32 We know that Marc Christian didn't have HIV But he was exposed to the risk of infection from Rock.

Marc Christian deserved every penny he got.

Within a few weeks of Rock's return from Paris in October of 1984, the bubble had burst. "I've lost another ten pounds. What the hell is happening?" Rock said. The skin of his face had the creased and saggy look of elephant skin. He was sleeping twelve hours a night, and collapsing after lunch to sleep for another two hours. Mark Miller says Dr. Sugarman was upset that Rock had agreed to do Dynasty. He asked why Rock was jeopardizing his health, he might not get through the show, he might not see Christmas.

Rock's memory was failing, and he had to have cue cards, which was humiliating. It meant he could not perform the most basic part of his craft —memorizing lines.

Rock was pleased with his appearance on Dynasty. He would ask friends, "See Dynasty last night? Rock was disconcerted, though, when he received a script for an episode in which he would have to kiss Linda Evans. He walked into the kitchen where Mark Miller was sitting and threw the script on the table. "Jesus Christ. I've got to kiss Linda. What the hell am I gonna do?"

Rock discussed and fretted about the kiss with Mark. "Do I run to Gottlieb and Sugarman and say, there's a kiss, what do I do? Do I reveal it to Linda Evans, to Esther Shapiro and Aaron Spelling?" Rock kept coming to the conclusion that he could do nothing. Mark says, "He was trapped. He felt, either you announce you have AIDS, or kiss the lady.

R36 [bold]No[/bold], he didn’t deserve a fucking thin, especially considering he was well compensated throughout “the affair” (more like hustle).

On the day the kiss with Linda Evans was shot. Rock used every gargle, mouthwash and spray he could lay his hands on. He came home and told Mark, "The fucking kiss is over with. Thank God." He said it was one of the worst days of his life.

"How could he have kissed Linda without telling her he had AIDS?" Fans of Linda were furious. One man, who owns a small business in Los Angeles, said, "He flat-out exposed her, and I can't forgive him for that. Linda should have been told, so she could make the decision herself if she wanted to take the risk."

Mark Miller woke up in the middle of the night, worrying that Linda Evans would get AIDS from the kiss. "Even though I knew Rock couldn't give it to me by touching, I still shrank from his touch. When he asked me to rub salve on his back, I'd go in the bathroom afterward and scrub down like a surgeon. On Dynasty, there he was, rolling around the ground with Linda, kissing her, even though his mouth was closed."

Rock, however, did not give the matter a second thought, once it was over. It was a lifelong pattern: He did not seem vulnerable to guilt.

Rock had no further interest in sex. Where in the past, he had loved to hear details of sexual adventures, in the fall of 1984, he did not want to hear or see anything relating to sex. Dean Dittman says, "If a sexy scene came on television, Rock would shut it off. You couldn't discuss sex around him; he was dying because he'd had sex."

R38 A hustler or gold-digger don't deserve to be exposed to HIV without their knowledge. Marc Christian deserved his millions.

Linda Evans had more rights to that money than Marc Christian, r40.

Marc Christian didn’t deserve jack shit.

My next-door neighbors own guns. Does that mean I can receive compensation because they expose me to the possibility of gun violence?

I once had a very public argument with my father in his grocery store because he tried to tell me this bullshit that Marc Christian deserved all the money he could get.

In addition to my argument that he didn’t deserve a penny because he never had HIV one of my father’s more conservative customers contradicted him with this point, “no one should be financially compensated for engaging in sodomy and if you believe otherwise then you are not a Christian”.

The only thing that kept my father from banning this man from his store was the fact that that family did 100% of their grocery shopping at his store and they had seven children so even in the 80s he was spending $250-$300 a week there.

OP is a heterosexual conservative that is trolling.

Now that Trump has lost these trolls will take up these type of threads.

"What's with the sleeping prince?" George asked, using Rock's nickname for Marc Christian. According to George, Rock replied as follows.

"More of the same." Rock turned over and lay on his stomach, so he was facing George directly. He gave a grim smile. "He trapped me, you know? And then he laughed about it."

"How do you mean, trapped you?"

" Jesus Christ, I still can't believe it. Yours truly, set up and seduced."

"For God's sake, why didn't you throw him out?" George said.

There was an uncomfortable pause.

George wrestled with a question he'd been wanting to ask Rock for some time: Why he hadn't told Christian he had AIDS. George tried to gauge whether this was the moment. "Uh, Rock, when you found out about ..."

"The Plague? I just told you, for God's sake, I was finished with Christian, we hadn't had sex for months. And if I said anything to him, he'd run straight to Liberty and she'd have it all over town."

R42 You're slow and stupid. A man or a woman, gay or straight, whores and gold-diggers, anyone should be compensated if they were exposed to any risk of infection from their partners without their knowledge.

Now, fuck off you ignorant cunt. You're now on ignore

Oh, I'm glad that Marc Christian got his millions (now seethe).

R44 and I’m not the least bit sad Marc Christian died.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed about you.

"But ..." George tried to voice his concern that Christian had been exposed "Listen to me." Rock's voice was steely. "You know Christian's story. So fuck him. Because it goes with the territory."

.On May 28, Christian came into Mark Miller's office and asked "Does Rock have AIDS?" It was the first time Christian had raised the question with Mark.

"Why don't you go ask him?" Mark said.

That night. Rock was alone in the kitchen when Christian came in and told him the rumor. "Do you have AIDS?" Christian said.

Rock gave him a withering look. "No. Do you?"

"No," Christian said. "But there's something wrong with you. Why don't you get help? Why don't you go to a good physician, instead of the quacks you're going to?"

"I'm fine."

"Have you been checked for cancer?"

"Yes."

Have you been checked for AIDS?"

"Yes, I've been checked for everything and I don't have it!" The familiar veil dropped over Rock's face, so no expression could be detected. He said to Christian, in a cold, intimidating voice, "What would you do if you had it?"

"I don't know. I'd probably commit suicide," Christian said

In June, there was a crisis over Christian's 1959 Chevy Nomad station wagon. The car had been at Image Makers for more than eighteen months, being restored, and Mark Miller had been paying invoices each week. In May, he had totaled up what Rock had invested to date—$20,000—and when Rock was advised, he said, "That's it. I won't pay any more." Mark had relayed this to Christian, who nevertheless ordered more work done on the car. When a new bill arrived from Image Makers in June, for $10,000, Mark told Christian he would have to pay it himself.

"Wait a minute," Christian said. "The car is not finished. You can't leave me in the lurch." Christian said he had discovered that the manager of Image Makers, Mike Frawley, had been jacking up the prices because he thought it was Rock Hudson's car. "This man has charged you three or four times for the same part. He's been stealing from Rock, by writing up orders of the same parts time and again. I'm trying to protect you, I have all this evidence. You can't just pull out on me."

Mark said, "There have been too many problems. We're going to wash our hands of it."

"If you want me to, I'll just take the car off the lot," Christian said.

"If you can do that without breaking the law," Mark said.

Christian consulted George Nader's attorney, Margaret Saal, and concocted a plan to get the car off the lot without paying the bill.

When Frawley stopped receiving payments from Mammoth Films, he asked Christian what was wrong. Christian told him Rock was upset the job was taking so long and would not pay any more until the car was completed. Christian said Frawley should stop sending bills to the house. Christian would take them up personally.

Christian assured him he would be paid upon completion. Frawley asked his staff to work round the clock to finish the car in three weeks, and sent a final bill to Mammoth Films for $10,000. "I felt confident I was going to be paid when Christian tricked me into driving off the lot with him."

Christian told Mark Miller how he had "liberated" the car, and laughed about it. Christian went to Rock and said, "My car is ready, can I bring it up here?"Rock was in the kitchen with Ron Channell; they were about to start their workout

"Definitely not," Rock said.

"Why?" "You know how you got it. I don't want those people bothering me and coming up here after it."

"I live here too, this is my house, and it's my car."

Rock yelled, "I don't want that fucking car on my property and that's that!"

"How can you speak to me like that in front of a servant," Christian said, pointing at James.

Rock walked out; Christian picked up a chair and hurled it across the kitchen.

Ron Channell, who was at the kitchen door when Rock came out, said, "If I were you, I'd go right back in there and tell that guy to move out."

Marc Christian stormed into Mark Miller's office and swore he would bring his car there whether Rock liked it or not. Mark buzzed Rock in the playroom, and asked him to come into the office. "Talk it out, guys, come on," Mark said. Christian and Rock went back and forth, and resolved that the car could be parked at the Castle, but it would have to have a car cover on it at all times.

Meanwhile, James was in a rage and told Mark Miller he wanted to quit. "How dare Marc Christian call me a servant! He doesn't own this house. I'm an Englishman, I have an honorable profession."

Mark Miller went to Christian and said, "Listen, straighten out your relationship with Rock. Go talk to him. Either you straighten it out, or leave. The house is in an uproar, James is in an uproar. Nobody speaks. Rock won't even speak to you."

That night, while Rock was at the table poking at his dinner. Christian came in and sat down quietly across from him. "Can't we return to what we had two years ago?"

"No," Rock said. "I don't give a good shit about you anymore. As a matter of fact, don't even bother to speak to me. We have nothing to say. You've put me through the wringer for two years. It's too late."

Christian's mouth dropped open. Rock turned his attention to his plate, making it clear the interview was over. Christian waited a moment, then stood and walked out

....... Two years before. Rock had asked Dale if he could do anything to help Marc with his music project. Rock had showed him, with pride, the tapes Marc was compiling on the history of pop music. A few months later. Dale had told Rock he had some ideas about getting an institution to sponsor Marc's research, but Rock had waved him off. "Don't bother with that. It won't come to anything."

..... Mark drew up a list of visitors, and Rock approved everyone except Marc Christian and Tom Clark. Mark hired a guard and private nurses to watch Rock, and the hospital set up a lounge next to his room for visitors. Mark would schedule one guest in the morning and one in the afternoon. He brought them up and gave them a speech: Rock doesn't look as we remember, try not to register shock; he may not recognize you or talk, you'll have to do the talking; and don't stay too long. After the visit, the guests would go into the lounge and "fall apart,"

Mark was awakened by a call from Marc Christian in Los Angeles, who had heard the news on television and was enraged. According to Miller, the conversation went as follows.

Christian said, "How dare you not tell me!"

Miller said, "It was up to Rock to tell you. Rock had the disease, not me. Rock ordered me not to tell anyone."

"But why the hell didn't you tell me anyway? You should have told me. I've been exposed. It's not fair to me!"

I couldn't tell you," Mark said. "My loyalties are to Rock Hudson and you know that. I'm not a friend of yours for thirty-five years. I tried to give you clues. I asked you to get a complete physical last year, remember?

Miller told him they would bring him to Paris immediately so Dr. Dormont could culture his blood.

Marc Christian had flown to Paris the day after Rock returned to California. At Mark Miller's request, Bob Darcy met Christian at the airport. helped him find a place to stay and took him to Percy Hospital where he was examined by Dr. Dormont. While waiting for the results of his blood culture, Christian went to the South of France with Darcy. Christian was impressed that Darcy looked so well and did not seem sick.

"All the Europeans were scared of Americans," Darcy says. "When they heard the accent, they'd say, 'You all have AIDS,' and walk away."

Darcy was surprised that Christian "did not seem all that freaked out. I would have been panicked. He seemed more concerned about Rock than himself."

Darcy had known Rock for years and said, "Rock was one of the nicest, most generous people I ever knew, but I was angry he hadn't told Marc he had AIDS. My anger at Rock was stronger than Marc's."

On August 7, Dr. Dormont reported that Christian's culture was negative; there was no AIDS virus in his blood, and no antibodies to the virus.

The staff at the Castle jumped up and down and hugged each other when they heard the news. A few days later. Christian returned from France.

"Marc said Rock had introduced him to his gay friends but not his straight ones. "He hadn't met Elizabeth Taylor. "

This was Rock's big mistake, 'ol Liz would have seen right through that trollop and saved Rock a lot of grief and his estate a lot of money

I was just a kid when all this went down but being a little queen I never missed an episode of Dynasty and remember my grandma saying over and over that Rock "didn't look right."

Christian was a major hustler and the story going around school was that, for a cool million dollars, he offered to have sex with Linda Evans and suck the AIDS virus out of her and back into him and that Evans was seriously considering this offer but Aaron Spelling would had to have fronted the cash.

Joan Collins found all this hilarious but Yanni was not amused.

On August 12, Wally Sheft called Mark Miller from New York and said he. Rock and Dr. Gottlieb had conferred and decided that Christian should leave the house before Rock was brought home, because his presence would disturb Rock.

Mark called Christian and asked if he could meet him at the Castle at six. Mark asked James to be present, because he wanted a witness besides George. The four sat down in the large having room.

"Rock wants you to move out of the house," Mark Miller said.

"Why, is he afraid of publicity?" Christian said.

"No, he just wants you out. These are his last days, and that's what he wants."

"Why doesn't he tell me himself?"

"He doesn't want to speak to you."

"I don't believe it." Christian's voice began to rise. "How do I know you're telling me the truth? You lied to me for a year! If I wasn't told about AIDS, why should I believe what you're saying now? I don't have to leave this house. This is my house. It's not your house yet/"

George said to Mark, "That's it. You delivered the message. Let's go." He and Mark started walking out, but as they reached the bar, according to Mark and George, Christian shouted, "You're trying to kill Rock, Dr. Gottlieb is trying to kill Rock. I could have gotten Rock to go back to Paris for more of the drug and you couldn't."

George kept Mark walking in front of him, sensing that Christian was trying to incite him. Mark turned. "I tried to help you, I did everything I could to help you ..."

"You tried to murder me!" Christian yelled.

George kept pushing Mark toward the door and they left

Christian says he did not accuse anyone of trying to kill Rock or himself. He says he was enraged because "I was told a different story every day about why I had not been informed about AIDS."

He kept hearing from Mark Miller: "Let me tell you something that's been kept from you. I was not allowed to tell you before. This was Rock's decision, not mine. I've been following Rock's orders for a year and a half." Christian was frustrated to the breaking point, and decided to consult an attorney, Marvin Mitchelson, who was well known for palimony cases.

Mark Miller told Rock that Christian was refusing to move out unless Rock asked him personally. "Fuck him!" Rock said, waving his hand in dismissal.

But Mark kept after him, and Rock finally agreed to see Christian. Mark drove Christian to UCLA, brought him into Rock's room and then stepped out in the hall, where he waited with Tom Clark and the private nurse, Tammy Neu.

The door was open and Mark could see Christian standing at the foot of Rock's bed, but could not hear the conversation. It was a short visit, and after five minutes. Christian walked out. "Did he ask you to leave?" Mark said.

"No, I had to ask him—do you want me to leave? He said yes. So I said, okay, I'll leave. I just need some time to find an apartment."

Mark said, "Isn't that typical of Rock? He couldn't say the words, even on his deathbed."

Marc Christian version of the talk in the hospital room is as follows: Hudson asked how the house was, how the dogs were. Christian said, "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?"

"When you've got a disease like this, you're all alone." "I wouldn't have run from you. I didn't run from my father's cancer. I would have been there to help you." Christian then asked Rock, "Do you want me to move out?" "No, why would you do that?" Rock said. "Carry on as usual."

On August 24, Mark Miller learned that Christian had gone to see Marvin Mitchelson. Christian assured Mark he was not planning to sue, but he felt he deserved some compensation for being exposed to AIDS and had gone to "find out my rights." Mark said, "Trust me, you'll be taken care of in some way. Don't take this to court. It will hurt Rock and hurt you."

"No way," Christian said.

Mark told him they were bringing Rock home that night, and that Tom and a nurse were coming with him and would need to use Tijuana. Christian said he was moving out that day, and would be gone before Rock arrived. He packed his things in boxes and piled them in the playroom.

The next morning, James was up in Rock's room with the nurse when he saw the light come on on the desk phone. James went down to the kitchen and saw Tom watching a football game on television. "Who's on the phone?" James said. "Mr. Hudson isn't, the nurse is not, you're not." "I don't know."

"It's the line Marc Christian used to use. Let me go look in the playroom." Two minutes later James returned. "He's come back." "You're joking," Tom said.

"No, he's in the playroom. He sneaked right back in the house last night without telling anybody. He's sleeping on the sofa bed, and his things are all over the room. He's even put posters on the wall."

Christian said, later, that he hadn't been able to find an apartment. Tom called Mark Miller in the desert, who called Wally Sheft in New York, who consulted his attorneys and found that because of residency laws in California, Christian would have to leave voluntarily, or Rock would have to sign an affidavit and have the marshal evict him. Rock's attorneys suggested that they leave Christian in the house and ignore him.

"It was a mess," James says. "Both Tom and Christian were in the house at the same time, and I was caught in the middle." James says that Christian had a friend stay with him almost every night in the playroom, "sleeping with him in the same bloody bed while Mr. Hudson was lying up there dying."

Christian says he had friends stay with him because "I was afraid I might be poisoned."

It was also going around school that Joan Collins hated Linda Evans and when Rock was kissing her, Joan was off-camera yelling things like, "Yeah Rock, give it her good. Come on, let's see some tongue. Fuck her now, fuck her silly."

Gawd, none of these people have a clue what a real relationship is like. Everything is so transactional.

I’m surprised Christian didn’t run to the press and expose that Rock was both Gay and had AIDS. Hell, the guy who photographed Rock’s carcass being driven out of the hospital after he died made a small fortune. I mean, he could have snuck into the bedroom and took photos of Hudson lying on his sick bed, and then sold them for money. He also could have driven a panel van up to the house and cleared it out while Rock was in the hospital and then threatened exposure if they tried to go to the authorities. Then, after Hudson died, he could have flogged Rock memorabilia to the highest bidder.

If he’d only been smarter he could have made two fortunes instead of one.

Tom did not want Rock to know Christian was still in the house, so he was careful not to bring Rock downstairs if Christian was around.

Tom was civil to Christian when they met in the kitchen. "I decided, I can't deal with anything other than what's going on upstairs," Tom said. "All my energy is going up there and I'm not going to waste it."

Marc Christian was to do as he wished.

Ron Channell asked Mark if Rock would pay for him to take dancing lessons, so he could perform in Las Vegas. "Rock has always said he'd help me with my career," Ron said. "Let's go ask him," Mark said, and Rock said, "Sure, why not."

Mark Miller told Rock that Christian was still in the Castle, sleeping on the sofa bed in the playroom.

The news did not seem to upset Rock; on the contrary, George says, "a secret twinkle came to his eyes—they darted about the room as he thought about the situation. Rock loved intrigue, and I think he got a kick out of imagining Tom in Tijuana and Christian in the playroom."

"Has Christian got a job yet?" Rock said.

"I don't think so. Do you want to see him?"

"No, fuck him," Rock said. "

Mark and George also wanted to convey to Rock what had happened as a result of his announcement that he had AIDS. "We wanted him to know what he'd done for the world, before he slipped too far to be able to understand it."

George began, "Rock, you're a hero around the world and the world loves you."

"You are the biggest thing since the pay toilet," Mark said. "You're ten times more popular than you ever were as a movie star."

"Why? I haven't done anything."

"The announcement that you have AIDS stunned the world," Mark said. "You've made AIDS the number-one story in every newspaper; you've put it on the cover of every magazine. You've made the disease real —the world is tuned in to AIDS because of you."

"You're joking."

Mark said thousands of people were donating money for AIDS research, and governments were allocating major funds. The dinner that Elizabeth Taylor was helping sponsor in Los Angeles to benefit AIDS had had to be moved to a larger ballroom after Rock's announcement. "Before your announcement, they'd sold two hundred tickets. Now they've sold twenty-five hundred, and they've raised a million dollars."

"All that because I said I have AIDS?"

George explained that Rock was the first well-known person to contract the disease; if it could happen to Rock Hudson, it could happen to anyone. "We've got thirty thousand letters downstairs. You're getting more mail and publicity now than in all your years as an actor—through sixty-two films."

Rock turned on his side and propped his head on his elbow. "Isn't that neat."

Tom Clark went down to the kitchen and a few minutes later, the nurse buzzed him. "Could you come upstairs?" Tom walked into Rock's room and saw the nurse in tears. "We've lost him." Tom asked to be left alone with Rock

Tom had been given instructions as to what to do when Rock died, "but I hadn't paid attention because I thought Rock was gonna live." Rock had stipulated that he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes scattered at sea, but Tom couldn't remember the procedure. Ironically, Mark Miller had flown to New York for that one day.

Tom called Dr. Kennamer, then went and told Marc Christian Rock had died. "Do you want to see him?"

Tom brought Christian up to the room—the only time since Rock had come home from the hospital that Christian had been allowed there.

Sunday morning, among the small group that gathered at the marina, The guests included the entire staff" of the Castle, Rock's attorney and business manager, four female cousins who had lived with Rock in the house of Grandma Wood, a dozen male friends and three of Rock's lovers: Tom Clark, Marc Christian and Jack Coates.

Mark suggested that the three lovers all hold the container of ashes, but Tom wouldn't hear of it. He alone would scatter the ashes.

"By what right does he . . . ?" someone asked.

"He just does," Mark said

The house on Beverly Crest kept running as if Rock still were alive. There was a flurry of scheming and meeting to try to stave off a lawsuit by Marc Christian and the sordid publicity it would bring.

Susan Stafford met with Christian, Rupert Allan took him to lunch, George Nader had a heart-to-heart talk with him. All of them promised to help Christian obtain the money and insurance he needed, and Christian assured them he had no intention of suing, he had only gone to Mitchelson because he needed a powerful ally.

Yet even as he was making these assurances, papers were being drawn up for the court action.

Marvin Mitchelson told Rock's attorneys that Christian wanted a substantial settlement. Wally Sheft told James to have the locks changed at the Castle, to ask Christian for the keys to the Seville and to deny him kitchen privileges.

Christian started moving out on October 25, and the next night, James found that the playroom had been stripped bare of electronic equipment, films and records. In a cross-complaint against Christian, the Hudson estate would charge that he took three video recorders, approximately seven thousand records, 150 videotapes of films, eight pieces of audio equipment, a computer, a video camera and the most elaborate needlepoint rug Hudson had made. He had tried to take a large-screen television, but Moshe Alon, the security chief, pulled it out of Christian's station wagon.

Christian said, "Most of the things I took. Rock had given me before I moved into the house. He told me the records were all mine and said, 'Anything you need, just consider it yours.' "

On November 2, Christian and Mitchelson held a press conference, announcing they were suing Hudson's estate, Mark Miller, Wallace Sheft and two unnamed doctors for $14 million for conspiring to endanger Christian's life.

At the Castle, the staff watched it in the kitchen and James turned pink with rage. "How dare he drag Mr. Hudson's name through the mud!"

Christian said in an interview later, "I don't care if I win money in court. I made my point; I didn't let them treat me like an ant or a non-person."

A heterosexual, you say?

Based on the 2 biographies I read on Rock Hudson I came away with the feeling that Christian was pretty much an opportunist using Hudson. If Rock had not been a rich celebrity I doubt Christian would have given him the time of day, other than a quick fuck now and then.

Rock Hudson's Ex-Lover Marc Christian Wins Landmark Lawsuit Over AIDS Concealment(February 1989)

How much did Christian get?

R69 In 1989, a jury awarded Christian $21.75 million in damages, later reduced to $5.5 million.

Christian later defended Hudson's reputation in not telling him he was infected: "You can't dismiss a man's whole life with a single act. This thing about AIDS was totally out of character for him", he stated in an interview.

Marc Christian's side of the story:

Larry King Live- Marc Christian interview (2001):

Just to get things up to date, you were awarded $22 million. The judge reduced it to five. You eventually settled, right?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, we did.

KING: All legal things are over?

CHRISTIAN: It's all over.

KING: Did you think had you a good case right from the get-go?

MARVIN MITCHELSON, CHRISTIAN'S LAWYER: I thought it was not only a landmark case but a good case. KING: Landmark because it involved gays?

MITCHELSON: Not just involved gays, but involved the principle, you disclose to who you are with the problems you have. When you don't do that, you have a problem.

KING: We'll be coming back to you, Marvin. Let's go to the Marc Christian story. How did you meet?

CHRISTIAN: We met nearly 19 years ago, seems hard to believe. At the end of 1982.

KING: What were the circumstances?

CHRISTIAN: I had just worked for the Gore Vidal for Senate campaign, and...

KING: In New York?

CHRISTIAN: He ran for Senate here in California.

KING: Oh, he ran here. He ran for Congress in New York.

CHRISTIAN: Right, in 1960. After the campaign was over, we lost the primary to Jerry Brown, who then subsequently lost to Pete Wilson. A friend of mine was working for a bottle bill initiative, a thing to recycle bottles or whatever, and they needed someone to help out. So I went. And I was at a table, and I heard this big booming voice behind my ear, saying where the hell is the booze around here?

And I turned around, and it was Rock Hudson. I thought, what's he doing here? I didn't think of him as political. It turns out he really wasn't. We started talking about the campaign.

KING: He was there because his friends there?

CHRISTIAN: He came with a friend. And so, then we started talking music and he was very much into music, as well as, of course, being a film actor.

KING: Your specialty was...

CHRISTIAN: My specialty was sound engineering. So, basically, we just hit it off and he...

KING: So, you would take, like, his old records and put them on tape, getting the scratches out?

CHRISTIAN: Right, and in those days, of course, we're talking only 18, 19 years ago, it's pretty archaic. Today, I do it digitally with computer. But, then it was more cut and paste and filtering.

KING: When you met him, were there rumors he was gay?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yeah.

KING: That was around a long time?

CHRISTIAN: I grew up just an hour from Hollywood in Orange County. So, most people here in California knew.

KING: And you were gay?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: And are gay. Did you have any kind of a crush -- was he someone you saw on screen and said, boy, I would like to know him?

CHRISTIAN: You know, not so much a crush, but I always, you know, from other people that had met him, I always heard what a nice guy he was. It just seemed to be something about him that was real human, really unique. So, it wasn't so much that I had a movie star crush. I had already been living here for ten years and I was a little bit...

KING: Were either of you involved at the time?

CHRISTIAN: No, not at the time.

KING: Did it happen quickly, the relationship?

CHRISTIAN: No, as a matter of fact, we dated for nine months before we did anything together. And I knew him a year before I moved in.

KING: Now, how...

CHRISTIAN: We were friends, basically.

KING: Explain this. Since then, 1985, no one came out of the closet. How did Rock Hudson date?

CHRISTIAN: That's a pretty good question, because at the time I was living with a woman, my friend Liberty. And he would come over.

KING: As a cover?

CHRISTIAN: No, no, no, she and I had a relationship for three years. But by then, we were just friends. He would come over at lunch time, I would come back from work and we go out to lunch. He never seemed to be uptight about in public, but we didn't do a lot of physical affection anything.

KING: But you'd go to dinner together?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yes.

KING: And no one printed that in columns?

CHRISTIAN: No, the press was very very genteel 20 years ago, compared to today.

KING: Is there such a thing as looking gay?

CHRISTIAN: No, but if look at him in "Pillow Talk," you've got the Tony Randall character, and Tony Randall seems gay, but he's absolutely hetero, and you've got Rock, who was extremely macho and he was gay,or bisexual, so...

KING: And he had been married?

CHRISTIAN: He had been married, and he liked women as well.

KING: Was he -- when he was with you, did he also see women?

CHRISTIAN: No, not a bit.

KING: But he liked women?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yes, very much so.

KING: Did he every talk about it? Did he say to you -- when a relationship began, like I'm living a lie, this is -- I'm going to get caught?

CHRISTIAN: Not so much that. But he was aware that -- it's hard to believe it's only 19 years ago, how the world has changed -- you have got "Will and Grace" on TV now and gay actors everywhere. But for a leading man to come out at that time still would have been pretty career-killing.

KING: Unheard of.

CHRISTIAN: But he had a friend, Armisted Maupin, the writer, who nearly got him out of the closet, because...

KING: Wanted him to come out of the closet?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, because by this time, Rock was in his late 40s, early 50s, and he really was at a point where he wanted to become a character actor. He didn't want to just go on his looks any longer. And Burt Lancaster made that move from leading man to character actor.

KING: He wanted that.

CHRISTIAN: Rock wanted that.

KING:.When it began to be physical and serious, were you in love?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yes.

KING: You moved into his house?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: Didn't that create any talk?

CHRISTIAN: Not really.

KING: No?

CHRISTIAN: You know, I didn't really even tell many of my friends when I first moved in. I just wanted it to be something that was just seen natural. Rock's friends knew. I met most of his friends, and his close friends knew that he was with me.

KING: Did his close friends know that he was gay?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yes.

KING: The women too?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: Did actresses know?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yes.

KING: Elizabeth Taylor said she didn't.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, she knew.

KING: No? Early on, maybe?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, not early on, perhaps, no.

KING: Not when they were working on "Giant."

CHRISTIAN: No, not on "Giant," no, but she knew, of course, later in his life.

KING: What was he like as a boyfriend?

CHRISTIAN: He was a lot of fun. He was a very intelligent man, although it didn't always come off on screen because he kind of played the hunk. He loved reading books, he had a great sense of humor. Practical joker, he just had a sardonic sense of humor. And he was fun to be with. He would be with people he'd never met and he'd make you feel at ease. He never came off like the movie star.

KING: Kind?

CHRISTIAN: Very kind.

KING: Generous?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: Gifts?

CHRISTIAN: Everything, you know, he just loved giving of himself, you know.

KING: And was he loyal to you?

CHRISTIAN: Pretty much, except for the issue of Aids.

KING: Did he ever say to you, "I'm going to come out?"

CHRISTIAN: He said he would like to, one day. And he said if he did come out and it didn't work out, he would like to leave Hollywood, and maybe move up the coast and build a house on the beach.

KING: Do you think he would be shocked if he looked at it today?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, Yes.

KING: How quickly this is -- well, what does it do to you? What is the change for you like?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, well, you know, I gave up an acting career because of the lawsuit, and then I look around today and it's like everyone seems to be jumping out of the closet, and doesn't seem to affect anybody. I think if you're just honest and just, be yourself, and you're not carrying a political flag all over the place, people tend to accept you.

KING: OK, how did you find out he had Aids?

CHRISTIAN: Well, it was a series of events. I first asked him in springtime of '85, when he lost so much weight.

KING: And Aids was just in the news a couple years.

CHRISTIAN: Yes, it had been in a couple of years, and then most of the people affected were, ironically, in my age group, or a little bit older.

KING: Which was how old then?

CHRISTIAN: Well, at the time I was 30, 31. And I asked him, and he said I've been checked for cancer, I've been checked for everything, including the plague, meaning Aids, and I don't have it. And then the word got around the house that he had anorexia, which was typically a teenage female infliction. I didn't buy that either. I thought he probably had lung cancer. He was a very heavy smoker.

And the very day that the news broke, I was sitting in his living room, and he was over in Paris and he had collapsed. And his secretary called me and said, "We have very bad news, he's got liver cancer and they're going to say it on the news." And of course I'm devastated, thinking, "Liver cancer, it's inoperable."

So I'm watching the television, and Jenoit Coular (ph), who was the French press secretary for him, came on and said he has Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. And my first reaction was, "They just discovered this?" But then she said, later on, "which was diagnosed a year ago in the United States." And then I knew I had been lied to. It just was -- so I was devastated. I thought...

KING: Now he was everything good. Why do you think he didn't tell you?

CHRISTIAN: He was in total denial.

KING: So you're not angry at him?

CHRISTIAN: Now I'm not, no. I was then, of course. And fortunately I'm still HIV negative. But I, you know, when the years pass you kind of wonder to yourself, "Why he didn't tell me?" And I just think a lot of that had to do with the studio system. You know, he was a very young man, 20, 21. He was brought up by Universal. They do everything for you. You never write your own check, you never pay your own bill. You live in a fantasy land to a degree. And I think he probably thought, "This can't happen to me. And if I don't think I have it, then I won't have it."

KING: You never talked to him after that?

CHRISTIAN: Well, I did after the diagnosis, or I mean, after the television...

KING: And what did he say to you?

CHRISTIAN: He said, "When you have a disease like this, you're all alone." And I said, "No, you're not, not if you don't want to be. I would have been there for you." I didn't -- when my father was dying of lung cancer, I didn't run from him, and I certainly wouldn't have run from Rock...

KING: But you were in jeopardy at this announcement.

CHRISTIAN: Yes, I was, but you know, if he had told me when he was diagnosed, I couldn't blame him. You know, its' kind of the risk you take when you're with somebody. And if he didn't know it, it wouldn't have been criminally liable. It's...

KING: It didn't come from you?

CHRISTIAN: Right, but it's when he found out he had it and then continued to have relations with me, that's where it got into the...

KING: How much -- going back a bit -- we have a picture of him and John Wayne.

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: You have a story?

CHRISTIAN: I have a funny story about that. They were doing a movie together in the late '60s, I believe. And I think it was called "The Undefeated," and of course, Rock was in awe of John Wayne, who was just the greatest male movie star of all time. And Wayne, at the beginning, picked on rock a bit.

He found out that Rock's real name was Roy Scherer, Junior, that he was a junior. So, he started calling Rock,"June," on the set, and I think he probably knew or heard rumors that Rock was gay. So, he kind of picked on him, calling him June. And after about a couple of weeks of this, Rock was just, you know, really incensed. He thought, "Oh, this guy must be a real ass."

But one of the crew members took pity on Rock and said, "Come over here." Rock came over and he said, "You want to know what John Wayne's real name is?" And he said, "What?" And he said, "Marion Morrison." So, at that point, the next day, when Wayne said, "Hey, June, come over here, we've got a scene to do." Rock said, "I'll be right there, Marion." And that broke the ice, and Wayne just -- they just became pals after that.

But Rock said that one of the funniest sights that he saw was early in the morning, they had a shoot, and John Wayne was sitting on a bolder out in the desert, and he didn't have his toupee on, and he'd been up real late the night before, and he was sitting there with a compact and lipstick, putting lipstick on, and Rock said, "Why are you putting on lipstick?" And Wayne said, "I've had so much to drink over the years, I have no color in my lips, and they told me I have to do this for the next scene."

But he loved John, he thought he was a great guy, a real man's man.

KING: Did you wonder who gave AIDS to him?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, I did. I mean..It could have been anybody. You know, there was even a slight possibility, when he had open heart surgery, it could have, you know, been from tainted blood.

KING: But probably it was...

CHRISTIAN: Probably sex, yes.

KING: When you confronted him, and he said it was because of -- did he know you were angry? Did he feel your -- did you ever let him know how you felt, or...

CHRISTIAN: No, I really didn't because by the time I was able to talk with him, he was so far gone, physically, to pick on him, or to get angry, it would have been just pointless. And I also was torn because I also felt sorry for him. You know, here he was dying, so on the one hand I'm angry I wasn't told, but then I'm looking at him and he's becoming a skeleton and he's just not...

KING: And he went on -- Doris Day had a television show, right? For a short time -- he guested on that show, anyone who saw that show. Was that his first-time major public television appearance? With the disease?

CHRISTIAN: Well, he did "Dynasty" about eight months before that.

KING: Looking very slim.

CHRISTIAN: Looking very slim. You know, in person, he looked great. and when you see him every day, you don't see when someone is losing weight. But when we saw the rushes from the show, you could tell there was -- he was too gaunt. And then, the weight loss after that was just very, very rapid.

KING: Were you watching the Doris Day thing?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: That was scary.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, it was. But he wouldn't hear any, he said I have to be there for Doris. He's a very loyal guy. He loved Doris a lot. And he just, you know, he would have crawled there for her, because it was her new TV series.

KING: When he looked that way, did he care what the public thought?

CHRISTIAN: I don't think he saw himself looking that way. I don't think he saw -- when he looked in the mirror, I don't think he saw the reality of it. What...

KING: He did not have AIDS denial, though, did he? I mean, he knew he had AIDS.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, he did. Yeah, he did.

KING: And then he searched for a cure, right? Paris, is that true he went to Paris?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, he was told that if he went to Paris to take an experimental drug treatment called HBA 23, that he could at least prolong his life. And he did go for two months, but they told him he should be there at least six, and he...

KING: Since a lot of people, Marc, in the town knew that Rock was gay, did they know about you and Rock?

CHRISTIAN: Some did, some did. Some didn't. I wasn't, you know, although I was pretty comfortable with my own sexuality, I wasn't out there with banners, so people that knew me knew, but...

KING: But at the height of the rumor when Rock would have in a public restaurant, which is you and him, did people think it?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, I'm sure they did, yes.

KING: Now, why did you sue? Did you attempt to make some settlement without -- who did you sue?

CHRISTIAN: Basically, we sued the estate, because by the time we filed suit, Rock had died.

KING: Did he have any relatives?

CHRISTIAN: He had a half-sister, but he purposely cut her out of his will, I think.

KING: Was she the one that -- when you sued testate, who would have gotten -- if you didn't get any money, who would it have been?

CHRISTIAN: No, the two in the will were his friend and companion, I'm sorry, Rock's friend and his companion, George Nader, Mark Miller.

KING: They weren't his lovers?

CHRISTIAN: No, no, they were long-time friends of 35 years.

KING: And he left them money?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: You didn't challenge their getting the money?

CHRISTIAN: No. No. KING: So, you got the money from?

CHRISTIAN: The estate. So, the executors..

KING: Did you ask for a specific amount in the lawsuit?

MITCHELSON: Well, we asked for -- somewhat indefinite, we said in excess of five million. The jury came in with $22 million.

KING: Were you shocked at that, Marc?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, very, because as I was recalling to Marvin in the green room, when the jury foreman made the mistake of -- he didn't know how to write out 14 million, so he wrote out 14,500. And when it was read off in the courtroom, it was 14,500. And to me it was like, oh great, I won.

That's all I cared about, was that we were validated by the jury. But then our co-counsel, Harold Rhoden, brilliant, who was...

MITCHELSON: Wonderful -- who unfortunately died in a plane crash shortly after that.

CHRISTIAN: Incredible. Wonderful human being. Such a pearl, but he was writing down the amount, rather disappointed, and I was being the optimist, and I said no, it's probably 1,045,000. He thought it was 145, and then it came with the 14.

KING: And how did that come to 22?

MITCHELSON: Well, punitive damages were added onto it because of the intentional withholding.

KING: I see.

CHRISTIAN: But ironically, the estate could have gotten off for nothing, because I had originally asked them -- I didn't have health insurance at the time. I said, you know, it takes about 100,000 a year to keep an AIDS patient alive, and life expectancy is between two and three years. They said why don't you put 300,000 into a trust, if I come down with HIV or AIDS in the next five years, I get the money for medical. If after five years I'm still HIV negative, the estate gets it all back.

KING: They said no to that?

CHRISTIAN: They said get out of here, go to hell.

MITCHELSON: I even went to New York, I tried to settle the case much less than the jury came in with the verdict, but they just wouldn't do it. They were arrogant, and said couldn't see the problem here.

KING: It was reduced to five million by the judge.

MITCHELSON: Reduced to 5.5 million.

KING: By the judge. That's kind of common, right?

MITCHELSON: Yes, well, that was a large verdict, and sometimes juries get angry, and that's this jury...

KING: And were they going to appeal that, and therefore you settled?

MITCHELSON: Well, they did appeal it.

CHRISTIAN: They did.

MITCHELSON: They appealed it all the way, and actually, the day that we won the appeal, they settled.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, yeah, they came into the office not knowing we'd won the appeal.

MITCHELSON: I didn't tell them we won, we just settled it. But we settled it for just about what...

KING: Just about what the appeal was. Were you satisfied?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, I think so.

KING: Think you got the just rewards?

CHRISTIAN: Yes. And even then, like I said, it wasn't really the dollar amount, because if I had lost the case, I wouldn't have, you know, -- I was on, you know, contingency with Marvin, my lawyer. So with me, it was the fight to get the truth out there, and that was really for me the validation.

KING:Where were you when he died, Marc?

CHRISTIAN: I was in the home.

KING: In his house?

CHRISTIAN: Yes. He died -- by that time they had nurses brought in, so...

KING: He died at home?

CHRISTIAN: He died at home.

KING: You were there?

CHRISTIAN: I was there.

KING: Where?

CHRISTIAN: I was actually in the theater room which was like kind of a converted garage made into a play room, living room. He was upstairs in his bed with the nurses. About, I think, it was 8:30 in the morning, they came down to tell me he passed away.

KING: Not shocked?

CHRISTIAN: No, we knew it was coming. But it still was a shock.

KING: How soon before had you spoken to him? When was the last time you spoke to him?

CHRISTIAN: The day before.

KING: Remember what you said?

CHRISTIAN: Basically, I was just asking him if I could get him anything, because he was pretty much mentally gone by then. He was in and out of consciousness, so...

KING: Losing memory? Did he know who he was?

CHRISTIAN: When he was conscious, his memory was OK. He knew who he was talking to. But, it was just so short.

KING: Did he know he was going to die?

CHRISTIAN: I think so, yes.

KING: At that time you weren't thinking lawsuit, were you?

CHRISTIAN: No.

KING: When did that come about?

CHRISTIAN: Well, actually before he died, I had contacted Marvin. The reason I did that is because his executor for his estate, told me I had to leave the house. And I said I'll be happy to leave if Rock asks me to. When I asked Rock, do you want me out? He said no. He didn't know what was going on. So, mainly, I asked Marvin what my legal rights were, to stay in the house as long as he was alive. But as soon as Rock did pass away, I moved out.

KING: Aren't you free now?

CHRISTIAN: I would think so now, yes, because it's been 15 years and I had almost 30 tests, so...

KING: What was the court case like for you after they refused your seemingly mild offer?

CHRISTIAN: It was pretty ugly. They filed a counter suit against me to try to get help to drop my suit.

KING: Saying you were what?

CHRISTIAN: Saying I was a street hustler, drug addict, extortionist, arsonist, I don't know what they all came up with.

MITCHELSON: Everything.

CHRISTIAN: Then,of course, on the eve of the trial, they dropped their counter suit. But I must say, that the actual trial itself went very smoothly. We had a great judge, great jury, .

KING: How long was the trial?

CHRISTIAN: Two months.

KING: What was it like thinking you had AIDS?

CHRISTIAN: It was like a walking death sentence. You just didn't know -- every time you would get a fever or a cold, you wonder if it's the onset of the disease. There was so much more paranoia back then, too. We didn't know if you could get from the sharing a coffee cup, or you know, so...

MITCHELSON: Even if Hudson hated Christian in June '84 when Hudson learned he had AIDS, he had the duty to warn him. Why? Well, aside from the fact that he'd no right to kill him, what if as a result of their continued sexual activity Christian contracted the virus, their affair broke up, and Christian infected somebody else? Somebody Hudson didn't know? That person then got the bug and infected somebody else and on and on. Hudson had a duty to warn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back with Marc Christian and with Marvin Mitchelson. When you were on last time, Marc, you said you had never known anyone with AIDS. Rock Hudson was the first person you knew. Have you since known others?

CHRISTIAN: Unfortunately, yes.

KING: You've had friends die?

CHRISTIAN: I've lost 35 friends.

KING: 35 friends?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, including one of my very closest friends of 20 years, that I knew since a teenager and his brother. They both died.

KING: The stories around -- like, you can live much long with it now, with drugs, right?

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: I mean, it's no longer a three-year death sentence.

CHRISTIAN: No, not necessarily. But most of the people I know who died from it didn't have the advantage of using the modern cocktails they have now, the drug cocktails.

KING: So, a lot of people mad at you when you won this case?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, especially the gays.

KING: Why?

CHRISTIAN: Well, I wasn't politically correct, for one.

KING: Why was that incorrect?

CHRISTIAN: I found out that I got a lot more vitriolic hatred from liberal gays than I did from conservative straight people. Straight people were great to me, because I think they found themselves in a position of, gee, if my wife or my husband hadn't told me, I'd know how he would feel.

KING: What was the argument with gays?

CHRISTIAN: I think that liberal gays think that if you had AIDS, you couldn't do any wrong. You could go out and infect anyone you want, you're the victim.

KING: Really?

CHRISTIAN: There is this whole victim mentality that we have, not just in the gay world, but in America now, that it's always somebody else's fault. And you know, it's really about personal behavior. It's Rock's behavior I went after, not him as a human being.

But a lot of the groups like LANDA, GLAD, and amfAR, they didn't like me too much.

KING: In retrospect, can you understand his behavior? Remember, this is a new disease.

CHRISTIAN: I can understand his behavior, yes. But I think you still -- how can you not tell somebody and continue to have sex with them? It would be one thing if he stopped having sex with me and didn't tell me and ran off to a mountain somewhere. But I mean, to continue to act as if you're clean, and you...

.KING: Did Rock ever get you any jobs?

CHRISTIAN: No, he didn't.

KING: Why not?

CHRISTIAN: I don't know.

KING: Did you ask him?

CHRISTIAN: You know, what he did do, he did get me with Nina Foch -- she was a great acting coach and a wonderful actress -- he did get me into things like that. But I think he was afraid if he did too much for me, he might get caught.

KING: Caught, yes, good point. Were there times during the relationship where he had to pretend by going out with women?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yes.

KING: Like he would leave you to go out on a date?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, as a matter of fact, we went to the Ocsars in 1984, but he couldn't really sit with me. And then he found out he was going to be a presenter with Liza Minnelli, so he offered the tickets to my friend Liberty and myself to sit in the audience. So, if it would had been Rock and myself, "The Enquirer" would have had a field day.

KING: But he did -- he would see women?

CHRISTIAN: Oh yes.

KING: As a front?

CHRISTIAN: He had great friends, though, Piper Laurie, Elaine Stritch, of course, Doris Day and Elizabeth Taylor, and -- so he did love women, he had great relations with them.

KING: And didn't everybody like him?

CHRISTIAN: Just about. I never heard anyone that didn't like him.

Had to skim through Christina’s interview. $5.5 million dollars?

KING: Rock Hudson did speak about this with writer Sara Davidson, and she wrote that she looked up the men Rock had been involved with, you and others. And they were all blond, tall, well- built, manly, could easily have been taken for straight.

CHRISTIAN: I think that's pretty true. I think he mainly was attracted to blond men that were straight-acting. Rock himself couldn't act like a queen if you asked him to. I mean, I once said: "Can you camp?" You know, just to see how far -- he couldn't do it. I mean, he looked really awkward trying to...

KING: So, he couldn't be...

CHRISTIAN: No, what you saw on the screen really was the way he was in real life. He really was very masculine.

KING: What kind of internal torture would that be, do you think, for someone to look like that, act like that? All parts are -- he's a sex symbol, and you're thinking, you would rather be with a guy? I mean, what must it have been -- did you ever talk to him about that? He's a heterosexual image.

CHRISTIAN: Well, because he was that way in real life, he was very masculine, it's not as if -- it's not that gay people want to be feminine. I mean, some gays obviously are, there are stereotypes. But...

KING: He didn't want to be a girl?

CHRISTIAN: He didn't want to be a girl. He was a man and liked being a man. He was as masculine as you saw on the screen. So I don't think that was a problem. But I do think he wanted to live a more open life if he could have.

KING: You don't know why men attract you and women don't?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, women do. I've had many relationships with women. So I'm one of those other people that the gays hate, which is called a bisexual, because they think you don't make a choice. And for me, I do make a choice. If I'm in a relationship with a man or woman, I'm with that person, but...

What am I -- chopped liver?

KING: So, you wouldn't cheat on a woman with a man?

CHRISTIAN: No, no, or vice versa. But I see women that have incredible bodies, and beautiful faces, and they're intelligent, why wouldn't I be attracted?

KING: So, you can't explain, though?

CHRISTIAN: No.

KING: Did Rock ever want family?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, he did. He told me once he thinks he even had a son.

KING: Really?

CHRISTIAN: In Newport Beach.

KING: With who?

CHRISTIAN: Back -- you know, it was an actress, and I don't remember her name. It wasn't a real big actress, but they had an affair, and she did have a baby. And he kind of alluded that it might have been his, but -- so he always was wondering about that.

KING: Did you hire Marvin because of his fame?

CHRISTIAN: Yes and no. When I first heard -- well, I had heard of Marvin since I was a teenager, he is a very famous lawyer. And my first reaction was, I don't want to go to Marvin because he's palimony, and I don't want people to think I'm going to sue Rock for his mistake.

So I called three other lawyers, and every single one said you should talk to Marvin Mitchelson. So I thought OK, it won't hurt to talk. And I went into his office expecting this big guy sitting there trying to force me into a lawsuit, and he was the exact opposite. He was very sweet, he was very, you know -- he listened to me all the way through. He said, you know, I think you may have a cause of action here, by not being told, and he was very deliberate in getting the facts and taking it step-by-step, and not trying to -- because I didn't really want to have to go public.

I knew that any career I had would be finished if I did that. But, you know, the fighter in my knew that if I didn't see it through, I could never live with myself. But Marvin was so great in just saying, you know, let's see if we can do this without any publicity.

KING: And always tried for a settlement, right?

CHRISTIAN: Always.

MITCHELSON: Tried it from day one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITCHELSON: Marc Christian asked him at a time whether he had this disease. He said he did not have it. He was suffering from anorexia. He was losing weight as a result of dieting and exercise, which was a deliberate lie at the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: We're back. The one thing everyone would admit -- that when Rock Hudson, when we knew Rock Hudson had AIDS, that changed the whole focus of AIDS, including -- from President Reagan on down.

CHRISTIAN: Right. It really did.

KING: So the impact of his having AIDS, there sometimes says, "Bad produces good." I'll bet money was raised.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yeah. Millions and millions was raised. And just the whole awareness of the disease. Before that, it was kind of a underground, you know, certain gays have it. And after Rock, it's like everyone thought, oh...

KING: Became a worldwide topic of conversation. The disease became extraordinarily -- for want of a better term -- famous.

CHRISTIAN: Yes.

KING: So his life proved worth?

CHRISTIAN: Yes, it did. I only wish that he had been more conscious to know of it, because he was pretty ill at the very end. But he would be rather pleased that he became a hero to some people.

KING: Are there pictures of Rock Hudson in your house?

CHRISTIAN: Yes. Yeah, I still -- and I still have a chair that he used in the, when he was a guest star at "Carol Burnett," has his name on it, and says "Carol Burnett Show." Have a great photograph of him above it. So, yeah, I have great memories of rock.

KING: When you've had subsequent relationships, Rock Hudson had to be the topic of everyone, male or female.

CHRISTIAN: Sure, sure.

KING: First date, it's all you want to talk about, right?

CHRISTIAN: Maybe not on the first. But later on, of course. And you know, it's not something that comes up all the time. It's not something that after I did my interview with you 10 years ago, I refused all interviews. I think E-Channel and A&E did a special -- you know, I just didn't want to rehash the past at that time because I knew they were going to look for dirt. The wanted me to bad things about Rock.

But that time is now passed, and I have great memories of him. And I think there's an interest in him now as a movie star. I think people are getting interested in who Rock Hudson was again.

KING: Lot of kids are seeing his old movies.

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, and I think that's great.

KING: Did you and him ever watch his movies together?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yeah.

KING: What did he think of himself?

CHRISTIAN: He loved hating the bad movies, like "Taza, Son of Cochice"...

(LAUGHTER)

CHRISTIAN: There was some line about, "I'll take you to my wickiup," or something. And -- but he really, truly loved "Giant," and he loved the movie "Seconds," which was directed by John Frankenheimer.

KING: That was a failure, right?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, yeah.

KING: But it was a wild movie.

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yeah. Science fiction.

KING: About a guy who -- science fiction, right? A guy who's what -- it's not his face?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, he goes through this experimental procedure to make him young again, and the whole experiment goes awry. But he really acted his ass off on that. He was great. And he knew it. And he was only disappointed that the film didn't do better at the box office, but he got really incredible critical acclaim for it. It's become a cult classic since.

KING: And he liked the whole Hollywood scene, didn't he?

CHRISTIAN: Oh, yeah, yeah. He enjoyed parties, he enjoyed -- he enjoyed people.

KING: The red carpet...

CHRISTIAN: Yeah.

KING: Good seeing you again. Long time.

CHRISTIAN: Thank you, Larry.

KING: Marc Christian, the former lover of Rock Hudson, last on this program nearly 10 years ago. He won a multimillion dollar award against the Hudson estate, for Rock's failure to tell him help AIDS.

Always impressed with Marc Christian’s class, dignity and intelligence.

Marc Christian's response to DL hateful queens:

KING: So, a lot of people mad at you when you won this case?

CHRISTIAN: Yeah, especially the gays.

KING: Why?

CHRISTIAN: Well, I wasn't politically correct, for one.

KING: Why was that incorrect?

CHRISTIAN: I found out that I got a lot more vitriolic hatred from liberal gays than I did from conservative straight people. Straight people were great to me, because I think they found themselves in a position of, gee, if my wife or my husband hadn't told me, I'd know how he would feel.

KING: What was the argument with gays?

CHRISTIAN: I think that liberal gays think that if you had AIDS, you couldn't do any wrong. You could go out and infect anyone you want, you're the victim.

KING: Really?

CHRISTIAN: There is this whole victim mentality that we have, not just in the gay world, but in America now, that it's always somebody else's fault. And you know, it's really about personal behavior. It's Rock's behavior I went after, not him as a human being.

"So I'm one of those other people that the gays hate, which is called a bisexual, because they think you don't make a choice. And for me, I do make a choice. If I'm in a relationship with a man or woman"

Online comments about Marc Christian:

"He was our neighbor for years in the Hollywood Knolls neighborhood. He lived in a beautiful Mid-Century home and generally stuck to himself and wasn't particularly friendly w/neighbors possibly because of what he went through. I saw him about a month before he died about 10-years ago from a sudden lung infection. He still looked great in his mid 50s at the time of his death."

"Marc Christian set a precedent for future lawsuits for those who were exposed to Aids unknowingly from a partner who had knowledge that they were infected. Many people owe him gratitude for doing so."

"Rock Hudson had an ethical responsibility to tell his partner. Evidently he didn't. Marc Christian helped set a legal standard. In 1989 there was not enough Scientific data to be certain of the incubation period in contracting HIV . Christian may have been awarded an inflated amount of money but there was NOT a guarantee he was to see any of it. THATS what happened here. I applaud him for simply fighting to set some precedent where the severity of the irresponsibility was concerned."

"I see Marc as a true pioneer, without him stepping up, we might never have seen a law pass making it ILLEGAL to pull such an evil stunt. Knowing the mind set back then, it took phenomenal amounts of courage to do what Marc did."

So was Rock a top or bottom?

Was into rimming? Giving or getting?

Maupin has a Rock Hudson character in one of the Tales books. I don't recall the sex apart from the "baby's arm holding an apple" desciption of Rock's cock.

OP, you have posted 66 out of the 96 replies on this thread and you’ve been at it for nine hours.

You’re either mentally unbalanced or a paid troll or both. You should either get a life or get a real job.

You are a sick piece of shit!

[Quote] OP, you have posted 66 out of the 96 replies on this thread and you’ve been at it for nine hours. You’re either mentally unbalanced or a paid troll or both. You should either get a life or get a real job. You are a sick piece of shit!

This thread is comprised of excerpts. Of course, the OP is posting the majority, you twit.

I realized these are cut and paste excerpts R98 my point was 0P is a paid troll and has no life.

More online comments:

"Marc did not get all that money..He settle out of court for like $5m Also he died a from COPD.. Smoked his self to death."

"Rock Hudson was put in jail, but it was hushed up because he tried to pick up some college boy in the 70s in Austin, Tx. I don't know if he stayed in jail for a night or if he was even truly arrested. My aunt worked for the police chief at the time and told us. I was shocked. I was in high school"

"Marc Christian did exactly what he should have done and his lawsuit set presidence with the "Supreme Court" on rulings against people that knowingly have AIDS and do no tell their partners. I truly wish that Marc was still alive. In my opinion, Marc was a hero for bringing AIDS to the forefront and his pursuit for his actual and factual legal claims"

Harold Rhoden on Christian v Hudson

[Quote] 0P is a paid troll and has no life.

Paid by whom, dear?

Wow, I was somewhat sympathetic to Christian after reading the excerpts from the biography and hearing Rock’s employees’ accounts but the Larry King interview spun that around pretty quickly. He reminded me of Anne Boleyn in his use of withholding sex or affection to get what he wanted from Hudson.

Marc Christian seemed like a cunning, handsome loafer who would crawl up on top of just about anything if it took care of him and gave him a place to crash. I don’t think he was gay, straight, bi, or anything other than what he needed to be at that time to get what he wanted. He would have been great on reality tv.

Rock Hudson seemed like a needy, handsome adolescent who ran hot and cold, had very shallow of broad taste, and thought more with his little head than his big one. He was obviously homosexual, though a maladjusted one, and I think he truly fell in love with Christian or he’d have thrown him out sooner.

Interesting thread OP, does anyone know much about what became of Marc Christian? I am a fan of Hudson but it was shitty the way he treated Christian after his diagnosis. Christian was indeed good looking in a sort of Troy Donahue way. I always wondered if Hudson ever tried anything with Donahue and George Peppard when he worked with them as they seem to fit his type- tall, blond, masculine guys

R105 After the final settlement being reduced to 5.5 million dollars, Christian bought and renovated a mid-century modern house in the Hollywood Hills, filling it with his collection of musical instruments, antique Edison phonographs and tens of thousands of vintage 78s, LPs and CDs. He restored old recordings and was famous among friends for his ability to name almost any tune.

Christian died in 2009 from COPD as a result of his heavy smoking, which began in 1998, he died at the age of 56.

So was Rock Hudson cut or uncut?

In my fantasies, he's cut, but in real life, more likely he was uncut.

Anybody know?

R104 After reading Larry King interview, Marc reminded you of Anne Boleyn?!!!!

WTF?

Thanks R106. I find all these people fascinating it’s a shame most are dead now. I’d love to know inside stories about how Rock Hudson really was. I read his autobiography a long time ago. He was good friends with Marilyn Maxwell and Nancy Walker. He worked with Walker on McMillan & Wife. She was also good friends with Montgomery Clift.

I don't think Hudson fell in love with him. I think Hudson hated confrontation. And as someone pushing 60, he may have grown tired of trying to find "the one" so he just put up Christian just to have "a man about the house."

I disagree that Christian would have been great on reality TV. He was more of a courtesan than, say, that attention whore widower of Zsa Zsa Gabor.

The Anne Boleyn impression was more from the biography, but he did touch on how long he waited to consummate the relationship in the King interview.

I was really surprised to hear that Rock and Armistead Maupin were actually friends. While Maupin certainly had a conservative background, I thought he’d changed his time long before he’d have met Hudson. I can’t imagine what they had in common other than being gay.

What would two gossipy, humorous gay men have in common?

I think the actor David Gail who was in a few Aaron Spelling nighttime soaps looked remarkably like a young Hudson

I noticed a few times the mention of an ongoing sexual relationship after Rock’s diagnosis. How was that established? I hope it wasn’t just this guy’s word or just assumed. A lot of info here sorry if I missed it.

I wonder who Rock took to the Casting Couch in his younger day?

Marc Christian's side of the story

From "Idol Rock Hudson : the true story of an American film hero" (unbiased book , unlike the other book (OP), designed by Rock Hudson's estateand whose main only sources are Rock Hudson's employees)

In the fall of 1982, a new man—young. sexy, and vital—came into Rock's life. Mage Christian MacGinnis was six feet, blond, blue-eyed, moustached, and well built—the ultimate Southern California surfer boy. He had a winning smile and a quick, biting wit. He sported nicely faded jeans, open-collared sport shirts, and white tennis shoes—a per fect “hunk.”

Christian, by his own admission, was bisexual. At the time he met Rock, he was living with an older woman named Liberty, with whom, he claimed, he had shared an intimate relationship. Christian and Liberty had been friends since he was twenty.

Clean-cut, athletic, and masculine, Ma¥¢ Christian was the kind of young man to whom Rock had always been attracted. Then twenty-nine, twenty-eight years Rock's junior.

Christian wasn’t just another pretty face on Santa Monica Boulevard. He was bright and articulate, inter- ested in politics, knew theater and film, and claimed he was a musicolo- gist working on a project dealing with the history of pop music.

Just as Roy Fitzgerald secretly dreamed of becoming a movie star in Winnetka, Christian grew up in the conservative Orange County, Cali- fornia, community of Villa Park in the late 1960s with visions of becom ing a rock musician or an actor. Only after he moved to Los Angeles did he acknowledge his sexual proclivities to his parents. Christian claimed his parents were accepting.

In 1982, when author Gore Vidal was seeking the Democratic nomi nation for U.S. senator in California. Christian and Liberty met Vidal at a university lecture. Liberty claimed they became friends. As a result, Christian became a driver and advance man for Vidal, shuttling him around as he spoke at political gatherings in Southern California that year.

One of those meetings was on Ventura Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley community of Sherman Oaks, just over the Hollywood Hills from Rock's place in Beverly Hills. Rock met Christian at this meeting. They shook hands firmly.

Rock asked Christian if he was involved in the campaign. telling the young man that he himself was apolitical but had come to the party with a friend. They had a drink. Rock chain-smoked. They small-talked.

Somehow the conversation turned to music. “Rock told me he was a jazz. buff.” Christian recalled. “He liked a lot of the jazz records from the thirties and forties. | told him 1 was working on a project on the history of music, so I dealt with a lot of the types of records he liked.”

Wasn’t there a rumour that shortly after Hudson brought Lee Majors to Hollywood, he introduced him to Henry Willson, telling Lee that he was leaving for the rest of the day and that Lee would have to be nice to Willson. Apparently Lee had to have sex with Willson for the first few months that he was in town and he always resented how Hudson had pimped him out.

I found Christian much more believable and sincere than Rock Hudson employees. The book in the OP, was only based on the recollections of Rock Hudson "loyal" friends who always downplayed the relationship between Mark Christian and Rock Hudson. They protected Hudson's public image, even after his death and had no problem with their boss having sex with his lover (and probably other men) without disclosing the truth about his illness.

Christian’s project was a chronological history of pop music, starting with Edison's invention of the phonograph. The project involved track ing down records, transferring them to tape, compiling biographies of the artists, and documenting when the records became number one. He hoped to sell the project as a documentary for radio.

As the other guests swirled around them, Ruck and Christian stayed in a corner together. There was an immediate chemistry between them, and a mutual interest.

Rock asked whether it was possible to clean up the quality of old 78s and transfer them to tape. “I said yes. And he told me about his enormous record collection. He asked me if I could transfer some of his records to tape and enhance the sound quality. | said, ‘Sure.’ (In fact, Rock owned professional music equipment and was quite knowledgeable about recording techniques himself.)

Rock appeared pleased. He asked for Christian's telephone number and said he would get in touch.

Christian didn’t think Rock was coming on to him by asking for his number. “I had just met him. | knew that he was gay. Everybody did. But [ didn’t know whether he had a relationship or what was going on in his life. He was attractive. but I had no inclination at the time.”

Three days later Rock called. “I'm getting all my records out of boxes for you,” he told Christian enthusiastically. “I'm going away for a few weeks, and when I get back, I'll call you and you can get started.”

As promised, Rock telephoned when he got back. “Are you free this afternoon?” he asked. “I'd like to drop by.”

A short time later the movie star parked his Mercedes 450SL in the driveway of the two- story, yellow frame apartment building on a quiet. palm-lined. blue- collar residential street between Sunset and Santa Monica where Christian shared a small. neatly furnished unit with Liberty.

It would have come as a shock to any passersby or residents who might have spotted Hudson getting out of his car that November day in 1982 and walking up the rickety outside steps to Christian's apartment. It certainly was a surprise to Christian.

“I thought it was strange at first that he'd come here—a big movie star like him coming here. Usually they like people to come to them. But actually I thought it was very nice that he wanted to come to where I lived.”

Later Christian became convinced that Rock called on him because he wanted to hide the budding relationship from Clark and others in the Castle.

On that first visit, Rock brought some Benny Goudman for Christian to hear-—"What's New?” and “A Long, Long Time.” Christian played some of his tapes that he had transferred successfully. Rock was im pressed. Rock and Christian spent two hours listening to and talking about music.

When Liberty came home, Christian proudly introduced Rock to her.

A few days later, Rock telephoned to ask Christian to lunch in Santa Monica. He also hired him to work part-time on his record collection for $150 a week.

"Our relationship developed gradually.” Christian said. “We had lunch almost every day. We didn’t really get to a conversation about us for a long, long time. He seemed intimidated. I think he was intimidated by my mind.

"How do you know so much about so many things?” he asked me. “You see, | didn’t have much of an education.” When he finally did start to tell me how he felt about me. he was very inhibited. He even asked me once, “Do you think I'm attractive?’ It was as if he needed the approval.”

Rock began seeing Christian on the sly regularly. He’d drive to the apartment around noon, and they'd go out for a drink or lunch. After- ward, Rock would drop Christian off at his apartment so that he could get back to the Castle by 4:00 p.m. without arousing the suspicions of Clark, his secretary Mark Miller, and the other household help.

After about two months of midday meetings, Christian got fed up and demanded to know why Rock hadn’t taken him to his house. According to Christian, Rock told him about his friendship with Tom Clark. Rock claimed the friendship had soured and that the situation at the Castle had become difficult.

After Hudson opened up to Christian about Clark, their relationship became more intimate and intense. Christian claimed they saw each other almost daily from the fall of 1982 to the fall of 1983, when he moved into the house.

Christian says that he and Hudson had sex sometime in spring 1983, about six months after their first rendezvous at Christian's apart- ment.

“We'd been out to dinner at the Black Forest [a German restau rant in the Valley, one of Rock's favorites] and he didn't want to go home,” Christian recalled. “ ‘I'm just going to stay here in the Valley. I don’t want to go back. I'll just get a room.” He asked me if I would stay with him. I said yes. We went to a motel.” They had sex that night. Rock was nervous, according to Christian.

“He told me he had only been in Jove twice in his whole life and that | was the second time. The first time was in 1960 with someone named Lee, a blond-haired guy named Lee. I don’t know anything about him. He just said that he was young and blond and my type and that he flipped out over him and that it didn't last very long. maybe six or seven months.”

He just said that he was young and blond and my type and that he flipped out over him and that it didn't last very long. maybe six or seven months.”

Rock also sneaked Christian into the house for a tour while Clark was on a trip to New York in April and Miller was out on an errand. The only person in the house was Rock's English butler, James Wright. “James probably thought | was just some guy off the street,” Christian recalled.

Rock continued seeing Christian through the summer of 1983—still hiding the relationship from Clark. In September, Rock took Christian on a trip to San Francisco, where they stayed at the Fairmont Hotel and ate at the Blue Boar, a French restaurant in the Pacific Heights—Marina area. Rock was happier than he'd been in months.

“I was a little worried about going into the bars.” said Christian. “Oh, God. I thought. what if somebody recognizes Rock? It could be a problem for him. But nobody did. He got recognized more in L.A.”

Rock wasn't worried when he went out in public with Christian. “He kept saying he didn’t care what the public thought. He said he wouldn't go out of his was to tell people he was gay. “If they know. they knows he'd say. “If they don't. they don't, Fuck “em!”

Most of the time they went to gay bars and restaurants anyway. One of Rock's favorites was the Rose Tattou on Robertson near Santa Monica, in predominantly gay West Hollywood. Rock was especially fond of going to talent night. on Mondays, which featured amateur singers. Rock was well known there and felt comfortable. No one bothered him.

After returning from San Francisco, Rock confided in his secretary, Mark Miller, that he was seeing a young man, but did not tell him who he was.

With Christian in his life, Rock turned his attention toward his failing career, which was at an all-time low. Flo Allen, his longtime agent at the William Morris Agency, hadn't come up with a decent project that excited Rock in several years. Rock's last feature film had been The Mirror Crack'd in 1980; subsequently there had been some forgettable television films. Rock wanted to work, but no big parts were coming his way.

In recent years, Rock had gotten offers that never materialized into pictures, deals from producers that nobody had ever heard of in Spain and Italy. The salaries were in the range of $150,000 to $200,000.

“He liked her as a person,” Christian said, “but he didn't like her as an agent anymore.” Rock—so anxious to get work dropped Flo Allen—just as he was soon to cut his ties to Tom Clark.

In October 1983, just before Rock was scheduled to leave for Israel, Clark moved out of the Castle. Clark and Rock agreed that they should spend some time apart. Clark decided to stay at Rock's Central Park West apartment in Manhattan.

But Rock had no intention of talking it over with Clark, Christian maintained. “Once he was out—he was out. At the time, I was still doing the records for Rock. He said. "Well, Tom's going to be out of the house and I'm going to be leaving for Israel. Can you come up to the house to work?"

I said "Could you let your secretary know or whatever?’ And Rock said, ‘Well, just stay there. I'll be gone for two months. There will be nobody there at night except for James. So stay in the house.’ So I moved in. When Rock came back, I stayed. Tom didn’t come back to L.A. for a year. By the time I'd moved in, he'd heard about me and knew there was a relationship going on.”

Christian said he received several letters from Rock sent from Israel. “In all the letters he kept saying how much he missed L.A. and his house and me. He said he was glad to be working because he hadn’t done a film in a while, but he said he didn’t like the conditions over there, the food. He just wanted to be home. He wrote me three or four letters. They were very romantic and heartfelt.”

The letters were later to become evidence in Christian's controversial fourteen-million-dollar lawsuit charging that Rock and others had put his life in jeopardy by not telling him Rock had AIDS. His attorney, Marvin Mitchelson, felt the letters “established a relationship” between Christian and Rock.

While Rock counted the moments until he could leave Israel and return home, his friends in California were adjusting to Marc Christian's arrival, and Tom Clark's departure from the inner circle.

Mark Miller and George Nader gave a party at a home owned by Hudson on Mullholland Drive.

“| was invited to a dinner for eight to be introduced to Marc ,” said Susan Stafford. “I thought Marc Christian was so sweet. I was told he was the new man in Rock's life. Everybody seemed to know. | was invited to the dinner specifically to meet Rock Hudson's new friend."

Another guest at the party, Matthew West, said the introduction of Mare Christian came as a surprise to him. “I walked in and I said, ‘Is Tom Clark coming?’ And Mark Miller said. “Oh, Matthew. | want to have a quick word with you.”

| said, “What's happening?’ And Mark said, “There've been some changes made.’ He smiled and said, “Tom Clark is in New York and there is now Marc Christian.” I said, "Who the hell is Mare Christian?’ And he said, “Well, | just want to tell you we don’t discuss Tom Clark anymore.”

“Five minutes later, in walks Mare Christian—nice-looking, young, and all that.”

Another guest at the party, Matthew West, said the introduction of Mare Christian came as a surprise to him. “I walked in and I said, ‘Is Tom Clark coming?’ And Mark Miller said. “Oh, Matthew. I want to have a quick word with you.”

I said, “What's happening?’ And Mark said, “There've been some changes made.’ He smiled and said, “Tom Clark is in New York and there is now Marc Christian.” I said, "Who the hell is Marc Christian?’ And he said, “Well, I just want to tell you we don’t discuss Tom Clark anymore.”

“Five minutes later, in walks Marc Christian—nice-looking, young, and all that.”

Christian said he met most of Rock's friends, and initially they accepted him into the fold. “The night that I met Ross Hunter, he threw his arms around me and said, ‘Oh, you're the one we've been waiting for all these years!’ I felt like ‘mail-order bride’ or something,” Christian quipped.

Rock returned home around Christmas time looking terrible. “He looked tired and he had lost a lot of weight.” recalled Susan Stafford. Before leaving for Israel, Rock had been slightly overweight: by the time he returned. he looked twenty pounds lighter.

Rock's depression seemed to fade after being home a few weeks. Exhausted from the shooting in Israel. he needed rest, palatable food, and the comfort of the Castle to get him back into better spirits. But the weight he lost never came back. It was now 1984—the last full year of his life.

Christian was happy to see Rock. They hadn't been together in two months.

"When Rock got back from doing The Ambassador was when we really started living with each other.” Christian said, “It was the best for the first six or eight months of 1984. He was very happy."

Even Mark [Miller] said, ‘l haven't seen him smile like that in five years.” He cut down even more on his drinking. He couldn't really quit smoking, but he tried. He was just happy. He just bounced around. We spent a lot of time with each other.”

Christ, what an insufferable bunch of people. Car crash stuff.

R129 LAMO

Indeed, friends said Rock and Christian seemed a happy couple. Matthew West, for one, often invited them to parties and dinners at his house. "Rock would bring Marc with him quite a lot. They were fine together. Rock certainly was very fond of him, attracted to him."

Rock also introduced Christian to his friend Jimmy Dobson. “At first I didn’t know that he was living there.” Dobson said. “He seemed to be very nice. I liked him very much. I found him to be bright and likable.”

Producer Jon Epstein recalled meeting Christian on several occasions at the Castle. Epstein said he “surmised” that Rock and Christian were lovers.

In the spring, Rock met Christian's parents for the first time. “They didn’t know the true nature of our relationship.” Christian said. “Out of the blue Rock said. "Let's take your parents out to dinner.’ He was apprehensive. He was worried about what their opinion of him would be. I called my mom and told her we were all going out for dinner. When we arrived to pick them up, all the neighbors were out on their front lawns. We drove to Laguna in Rock's Cadillac—Mom, Dad, Rock, and me.”

Rock was very generous to Christian's parents. They held their fortieth-wedding-anniversary party at Rock’s house, and Christian's sister had her wedding reception at the Castle. When Rock died, Christian, his mother, and his sister attended the service. They even brought along Liberty.

The relationship seemed to be flourishing. And yet Rock continued his nonmonogamous pattern. Shortly after meeting Christian's parents, around Easter 1984, Rock took a trip to Hawaii. telling Christian only that he was staying with friends.

Christian said he discovered later that Rock had taken another young man on the trip, someone Rock had met shortly after he found Christian.

After Rock's death, Christian asked Mark Miller about the Hawaiian trip. “Oh, he was just another one,” Miller said breezily. “

When Rock returned from Hawai, Christian recalled, their relationship continued as before.

On June 8, 1984, Rock was given his death sentence. He was told he had Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), The biopsy revealed that the growth, one of a small number found on his body, was Kaposi's sarcoma, a rare form of skin cancer. The purplish lesions, along with the results of the blood tests, confirmed the fatal disease.

A monstrous virus, AIDS was mostly striking gay men, and, to a lesser extent, intravenous drug users. Among homosexuals, the virus was transmitted primarily through anal intercourse. Semen carrying the virus entered the bloodstream through tears in the anal wall. The virus could lie dormant for years before symptoms appeared. There was no valid treatment or cure for the disease when Rock was diagnosed.

According to the lawsuit Christian filed after Rock died in October 1985, only Rock's doctors, Mark Miller, and Rock's business manager, Wallace Sheft, knew Rock had AIDS. There may have been others.

One of them is said to be an actor who had befriended Rock in the last few years of his life. Because of the nature of the following allega tions, the actor, a homosexual in his fifties. must remain nameless.

Because he possessed a positive attitude toward life, Rock felt very comfortable with him. According to several sources, Rock confided in this man and revealed to him that he had AIDS.

“Rock had to tell someone,” said one of the sources. “He couldn't keep it inside. Rock felt secure with ___.”" Understandably, the actor felt intense compassion for Rock. He saw the depression and anxiety that Rock was hiding from the world.

With what must certainly have been a misguided sense of friendship and loyalty, the man began supply ing Rock with sexual partners, mostly young men. They had no idea Rock had AIDS. The trysts were held at the man’s apartment. “Rock met a lot of boys at —____‘s place.” said one friend.

After Rock died, the man revealed to an acquaintance what he had done. “He was bragging as if he had done a good deed for Rock,” an insider asserted.

“When I told him that he could have been sending those kids to their deaths, he told me. ‘I told them to wear a rubber and they'd be all right.” “

After the news broke that Rock had AIDS, one of the insiders claimed, “There were a lot of nervous boys who had been to bed with Rock, riding up and down the elevators at _____'s apartment build ing.

Attempts were made to interview the actor to determine the truth of the allegations. but the actor declined, he said, on the advice of an attorney.

For thirteen months, from the time he learned he had AIDS until it was revealed to the world, Rock lied about his health to every body— friends. fellow actors and actresses. directors. producers. lovers.

The revelation of his disease and his homosexuality the following summer would shock the world. But until that time, the dying star put on the best performance of his life—acting as if nothing was wrong, despite a visible physical and mental deterioration that first worried and later horrified everyone who saw him.

Marc Christian observed: ‘He was an actor. He was in a dream world. Everything was celluloid phoniness. When you're a Rock Hudson, you think nothing's ever going to happen to you. You feel invulnerable. You're never going to get run down by a car. Everything you do is sanctified.”

“All of a sudden he was told that his life was over.” Marty Baum said sadly. “Here was a man who was fifty-eight, with an estate worth mil lions, a man in love, a new agent, getting lots of work, and all of a sudden he’s told that he’s dying. The amazing thing is he kept working, kept functioning, and never allowed anyone to see that depression he must have felt."

Before he left for Paris, Rock had told Christian about the “Dynasty” offer “He said he discussed the offer with Mark Miller. who thought he should do it, and that Marty Baum was on his case. He thought it might be okay to do it and take the money and run. | always had the feeling he was very reluctant.”

R134, here in the UK as soon as he began to visibly deteriorate there was speculation that he had AIDS. Did that happen in the US?

OP asks a question and then proceeds to—literally—write a book in the thread.

R136 It's not "literally" a book, It's the specific parts concerning Marc Christian and Rock Hudson.

Rock was accompanied to France by thirty-year-old Ron Channel, who had been his exercise coach since his heart bypass operation.

Channell, a straight, good-looking. easygoing Floridian with a country twang, was trying to start a singing and acting career.

En route to Paris, Rock stopped off in New York to take care of some important business. On August 23, 1984, he signed a codicil to his last will and testament dated August 18, 1981, Signing the document “Rock Hudson AKA Roy H. Fitzgerald.” he declared: “I hereby delete in its entirety Article Fourth of my said Last Will and Testament. I purposely make no provision for the benefit of Tom H. Clark.”

In the original will, Rock had given Clark “all of my automobiles. household furniture and furnishings. clothing, art objects, jewelry, mo tion picture equipment, my collection of motion picture films, cassettes and all other tangible personal property and personal effects of mine ... Clark may retain for himself those items that he would like as a memento and may distribute the other items among such other friends of mine whom he may select and the persons and organizations named in the revocable trust created by me, dated April 3, 1974... .”

This is one of the few pieces of evidence that exists suggesting that Rock, some two months after his diagnosis, was getting his affairs in order. All of his actions and statements before and, particularly, after changing his will indicate a denial of the disease.

Christian claims that before Rock left for Paris, he had told Christian about his plans to change the will. He quoted Rock as saying, “I could be in a car crash and he'd get everything. I'm going to take him out.”

Vindictive old queen.

In Paris, Dr. Dormont was shocked when, early in the process, Rock told him he could not continue the treatments beyond six weeks because he had an acting commitment to fulfill. Rock Hudson had decided to appear on “Dynasty"—despite Dr. Dormont's repeated warnings that this decision would cut short his life.

“Mr. Hudson told me he wanted to leave Paris after six weeks be cause he had to appear on a TV show—"Dynasty’—and he wanted to do his job. So he told me he could not stay in Paris. I told him that the treatment he was getting would not be efficient for a long time. But he wanted to go back and do the television show. I explained to him that it was a bad choice, and I explained to him that continued treat ment would be better for him. We did the most we could do at that time.”

Several months after Rock died, Marty Baum was still confused by Rock's decision to stop the treatments in order to do Dynasty.”

“| can't understand his thinking or his motivations.” said Baum. “The show wasn't life-or death. He didn't need the money. Making another half-million dollars or not making another half-million didn't matter to him. | don't know what his thinking was at that time. It's not like he was leaving the treatments for something of great artistic value or importance.

I just don’t know what was going through his mind, It's hard to fathom. There was no pressure about the show from me. I brought him the offer as | always do. He's turned down things in the past. so it would have been another turndown. I didn’t say, “Rock, you must do this for your career, because it’s very good money for what you're doing.”

Now, if | had known he was sick, it would have been a totally different situation. But U didn't know it, and I don’t think very many people did know it.”

Rock returned to Los Angeles early in October 1984. He had exactly one year to live.

The honeymoon period between Rock and Marc Christian had ended,and there appeared to be growing tension between them. They started to have arguments for the first time in their relationship.

Christian was jealous of the camaraderie between Rock and Ron Channell, typical of Rock's relationships with his straight buddies.

“Rock and Ran were able to get along in a dumb way—they could just talk about dumb things and crack fart jokes. They would crark the dumbest yokes of all tame, They had that kind of sense of humor they could share with each other” Christian maintained.

AS 1984 drew to a close. Christian began tiring of Rock's friends, and they became increasingly bothered by him “They'd camp and they'd hang out,” he said with disdain.

Jon Epstein had met Christian at the house on several occasions and was not fond of him.

"I was never connecting with that kid in any way. We had nothing to talk about.” Epstein said. “I didn’t like what was coming out of his mouth. He talked about politics, he was farther to the left, and the things he said, well, there was an attitude about it that I didn’t care for. My feeling was, “Who is he to be talking this way?" ~

....... Seven months later, in the final stages of AIDS. Rock didn't bother to sugarcoat his feelings about being on Dynasty. He described his “Dynasty” experience as “all right.” and said that any future appear ance “depends on the money. If they're willing to pay what I'm asking. they're fools. If it [the work] were great. I'd do it for free. Well, I won't be doing it for free.”

Rock played a character named Daniel Reece. a millionaire horse breeder who falls for Krystle Carrington. played by Linda Evans. One scene included a kiss between Rock and Evans. That love scene caused a furor when it became public knowledge that Rock kissed Evans knowing he had AIDS. TV news programs showed clips of the segment, and the supermarket magazines and the daily tabloids ran stills of the kiss.

While there was no conclusive medical evidence that All could be transmitted by kissing, the turmoil caused by the “Dynasty” love scene between Rock and Evans sparked a change in Sereen Actors Guild rules. Weeks after Rock’s death, the union required the seven thousand producers and agents with whom it had contracts to notify performers in advance of any scenes that required open-mouth kissing.

After Rock died and Christian sued his estate, Christian's attorney, Marvin Mitchelson, added to the kissing-scene controversy. Mitchelson re vealed that Rock was actually being treated by a nurse for open sores in his mouth on the “Dynasty” set. He claimed that the treatments had been investigated by health authorities. “It's documented,” the lawyer stated.

I want to know why someone who was paid a monthly stipend, gifted with a myriad other things - including renovations of his /his father’s car totaling upwards of $20,000 - sheltered, and fed, and who apparently was not sufficiently exposed to the HIV virus to contract it, deserved $5.5 million dollars.

That is what I would like to know.

[quote]They would crark the dumbest yokes of all tame

No one likes their eggs wild.

I also firmly believe that the only reason Christian won this lawsuit, or at least won such a staggering amount, is because he was lucky enough to file it during the height of the “AIDS panic” of the 80s.

R144 Hahaa It's "They would crack the dumbest jokes of all time"

Sorry for the copy/past spelling errors

R143 R145 It's very simple, Christian won because Rock continued to have sex with him (like he did with other men), after being diagnosed with HIV. He didn't tell Marc about his HIV diagnosis. Rock deliberately put Marc Christian's health and life at risk.

Would't you also sue if you knew that your partner/lover had HIV and continued having sex with you without telling you?!

R147 I want to know why that is worth $5.5 million (original upwards of $20 million). Had Mr. Christian contracted HIV, I would understand and even support the exorbitant amount, but he didn’t contract it. And as I noted, he was already being compensated in myriad ways.

Why did he deserve so much money for something that, in the end, didn’t really impact him?

Shortly after the new year started, rumors that Rock had AIDS began to surface. In one instance, Rock himself mentioned the rumor to Jimmy Dobson, While having breakfast with Rock at the Castle, Dobson became con cerned about his friend's appearance and weight loss, He asked Rock about it.

“I wanted to lose weight,” Rock responded. “I think look better this way, I'm working out every day with a workout instructor, Ron Chan nell.” He accepted his explanation because Rock had been overweight many times in his career.

Then Rock startled Dobson:

“This producer (a homosexual] who wants to get even with me be- cause [ wouldn't sign a contract he wanted me to sign has started a rumor that I have AIDS.” Rock said. “It's ridiculous that I have AIDS.”

A worried Dobson said. “Yes. 'm sure it is.” Rock said nothing more and Dobson asked no further questions.

Thinking about that conversation several months after Rock died, Dobson said.

“Rock was normally a very honest person. but at the point when we had that conversation he had had AIDS for a while. I think there was a little brain damage. Obviously this thing he said about the pro ducer was crazy—although the producer Rock mentioned is a vicious man and he did want Rock to sign a contract.

At the time I accepted it to be true because Roy told me. Now. in light of what I know, it sounds paranoid.”

There's no fool like an old fool.

As early as January, Marc Christian had also started hearing rumors that Rock had AIDS.

“I'd run into people and they'd say, ‘God, Rock looks terrible. Is he ill? Does he have AIDS?’ I'd say, “No, he's okay. He’s just trying to lose weight.” And they'd say, ‘Well, we hear he has AIDS.” And I'd say, “Oh, that’s ridiculous.’ At that time anyone who was gay and looked sick was thought to have AIDS.”

Many of Rock's actions during the last months of his life are difficult —yet not impossible—to understand. This was a man dying his best to hang on to life by continuing to do exactly what he'd always done: work hard, show up where he was expected, and plan for future projects. This was his attempt to keep the demons at bay. and pathetic and ill-chosen as it might have been. there was nonetheless something valiant in it.

Toward the end, though. there were unavoidable signs that Rock was no longer capable of seeing reality as others saw it. Certainly he had no idea of how sick he looked. how much his appearance had changed. His desperate attempt to play one last role—to act as if there was nothing wrong with him—had succeeded only too well. He had managed to convince himself it was the truth.

In April, when nearly every friend he saw came away shocked by his appearance, Rock made plans to launch a publicity campaign. He in structed his publicist. Dale Olson, to set up interviews, and he himself made arrangements with a portrait photographer for a photo session.

[quote]I want to know why that is worth $5.5 million (original upwards of $20 million).

It sets a precedent and a deterrent.

If you can knowingly be infected with AIDS and willingly have sex and expose others then there needs to be a steep recourse.

If the damages amounted to $500 then no one would think twice about infecting others.

Not to mention how scary it must have been for Christian waiting for the results knowing it was a death sentence at the time

I've always thought that there was something ineffably poignant about Rock Hudson and his life.

While I'm sure there are stories about his being a nozzle, he's always come across to me as a sweet guy who was not well-equipped to deal with the circumstances in which he found himself.

Of course, knowingly hiding his HIV positive status and infecting who knows how many people makes him a much less sympathetic.

I don’t know. The impression I always got of him is a sort of Dickie Greenleaf type: it's like the sun shines on you, and it's glorious. And then he forgets you and it's very, very cold.

If I was Lee Majors, I’d be pissed too, R119

So Rock was a procurer for Willson, that’s interesting

From the time Rock returned from Israel after shooting The Ambassa dor in winter of 1983 to the eve of his departure to Paris in 1985, Christian maintained, he confronted Rock at least four times with suspicions that the actor had either cancer or AIDS, and Rock denied them each time.

Rock’s extraordinary weight loss, his general weakness, malaise, and sudden aging, pointed to those diseases. Initially, Christian suspected lung cancer because his father, like Rock, was a heavy smoker and was dying of it. But Rock assured him he had been to the doctor and had had his lungs checked and everything was fine.

Besides the weight loss. Christian had noticed that Rock had heavy night sweats. which were a symptom of AIDS. When Christian men tioned AIDS to Rock, he got angry. “How can you accuse me of that?” he bellowed.

Whenever Christian told him how bad he locked because of his weight loss, Rock became defensive. “I want to keep the weight off.” he'd say. “I want to have the same kind of physique I had when I did Pillow Talk with Doris.”

Christian claimed that at one point Miller told him a rumor was circulating that Christian had AIDS and had given it to Rock. which was why Rock looked so bad. Christian told the story of the confrontation that ensued.

“I went into the kitchen that afternoon and I said, "Rock, have you heard the latest rumor?’ And I was kind of joking about it because I thought it was so fantastic. He said, "What is it?" I said, “People say that I have AIDS.”

He looked at me very sternly and said, "Well, do you?’ And I said, ‘Of course not.’ I looked back at him. I said, “Do you?”

He said. “No. I told you no. I said, ‘Okay, but what do you have? There's something wrong with you.” And he said, ‘There's nothing wrong with me. I'm just exercising.” He just didn’t want to admit anything was wrong. He was very proud.”

With all the strident denials, Christian said. he had finally been convinced that Rock was not dying of AIDS. He said he felt assured that Rock really was going to Switzerland to get a “miracle drug” to cure anorexia, as Miller had told him.

Marc Christian wasn’t aware that Rock planned to do Doris Day's show. He learned about it on July 14, the night before, while sitting in the kitchen with Rock and Mark Miller. When Rock mentioned the show, both Christian and Miller tried to talk him out of it. They knew how bad he looked and felt. But Rock remained adamant. Then Rock told Christian that a few days after the Doris Day show he planned to go to Europe again.

After Rock left the room. Christian asked Miller about the European trip. Miller claimed Rock was going to Switzerland where “a miracle drug” was available to treat anorexia, which is what Christian was led to believe Rock was suffering from. Christian was also informed that Ron Channell would accompany Rock to Europe.

When Mark Miller learned that Rock had collapsed. he called Maze Christian at the Castle to tell him he was going to Paris. Miller, accord- ing to Christian, said that Ron Channell had telephoned him from Paris in a panic to report what had happened and wanted to be relieved of the responsibility. “But Mark didn’t tell me Rock had AIDS,” Christian said. “He just said he was going to Paris to relieve Ron.” Collart said that as far as she knew, Ruck had come to Paris alone, and she never saw Channell.

When Army Archerd’s story ran, the phone at the Castle started ringing off the hook. The calls were mostly from friends of Rock. Christian told these he hardly knew that Rock had gone to Paris to try to quit smoking: he told others he knew better that Rock might have anorexia. But he denied the AIDS report to all. He had no reason not to. "I was still legitimately defending him because I knew nothing else,” Christian said.

Christian was alone in the house, sitting in the playroom watching the evening news, when he saw the report that Rock had AIDS. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

At first he thought they were just repeating rumors that had been floating around since the “Dynasty” appearances. When he heard the reporter say that Rock had been in Paris a year earlier for treatments, Christian said to himself, “No, he hadn't. He was over there for the film festival. I still hadn't realized that I had been lied to.”

Christian was alone in the house, sitting in the playroom watching the evening news, when he saw the report that Rock had AIDS. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

At first he thought they were just repeating rumors that had been floating around since the “Dynasty” appearances. When he heard the reporter say that Rock had been in Paris a year earlier for treatments, Christian said to himself, “No, he hadn't. He was over there for the film festival. I still hadn't realized that I had been lied to.”

Two days later Miller called Christian, who was still waiting for some official confirmation from Paris, not knowing what to believe. According to Christian, Miller said he hadn't told him Rock had AIDS on the advice of Rock's physicians.

“Mark said, “The doctors told Rock and myself never to tell you because they did a study on partners of people with AIDS and the partners became so depressed that they wound up in mental institutions. Rock forbade me to tell you.’ ”

Christian never believed that Rock authorized the press release in Paris.

“He never had any intention of letting anyone Know he had AIDS. Christian said, “At that point. Rock had no long-term memory. I don't think he knew what they were talking about. He might have understood for about ten second and then thought about a steak. He might have thought he had measles”

Thank you OP. This has been a great read. Love these excerpted bio threads about Hollywood. This and Tatum’s thread are unputdownable. Now I want to read the whole thing. Great for book industry.

As soon as Miller hung up, the phone rang again. This time it was Dale Olson, who apologized to Christian. “I forgot to call you before the press conference. I was going to soften the shock by telling you first. but I got busy.”

Christian was in a state of panic. He realized now that he himself risked getting AIDS—since. he claimed. he had slept with Rock on and off between the spring of 1983 and February 1985.

Ron Channell was sick for Rock and frightened for himself when he heard the news. He and Rock had horsed around and shared food. Rock had kissed members of Ron Channell's family when he met them. What if the disease could be transmitted through saliva? Ron was worried the press would identify him incorrectly as Rock's lover, and that his own career would be ruined because of the taint of association with someone who has AIDS. Mark Miller arranged for Ron to take the Concorde to New York the next morning. "

On Wednesday, July 24, when Mark Miller went to the hospital, he found Rock much improved, due to the intravenous feeding. Mark started to tell him how wonderful he looked, but Rock waved his hand and said, eagerly, "Where's Ron?"

"I put him on the Concorde to New York. He left two hours ago."

A veil seemed to drop over Rock's face, wiping away all traces of expression. His next words were toneless. "Two hours ago. Why?"

"He went to pieces," Mark said, "into total panic, when he found out you had ...

Rock finished the sentence. "The plague." He stared past Mark. "I knew this would happen. That he'd desert me when he found out."

"He was shaking with fright," Mark said. "He cried most of the night. I booked his flight and then got him out of the hotel by the usual routine . . ."

There was desolation in Rock's voice, though his face and eyes still showed no expression.

"Nothing. Not even a good-bye."

"He wasn't thinking," Mark said. "He couldn't. He's afraid the press will peg him as your last lover. "

As soon as Miller hung up, the phone rang again. This time it was Dale Olson, who apologized to Christian. “I forgot to call you before the press conference. I was going to soften the shock by telling you first. but I got busy.”

Christian was in a state of panic. He realized now that he himself risked getting AIDS—since. he claimed. he had slept with Rock on and off between the spring of 1983 and February 1985.

Ron Channell was sick for Rock and frightened for himself when he heard the news. He and Rock had horsed around and shared food. Rock had kissed members of Ron Channell's family when he met them. What if the disease could be transmitted through saliva? Ron was worried the press would identify him incorrectly as Rock's lover, and that his own career would be ruined because of the taint of association with someone who has AIDS. Mark Miller arranged for Ron to take the Concorde to New York the next morning. "

On Wednesday, July 24, when Mark Miller went to the hospital, he found Rock much improved, due to the intravenous feeding. Mark started to tell him how wonderful he looked, but Rock waved his hand and said, eagerly, "Where's Ron?"

"I put him on the Concorde to New York. He left two hours ago."

A veil seemed to drop over Rock's face, wiping away all traces of expression. His next words were toneless. "Two hours ago. Why?"

"He went to pieces," Mark said, "into total panic, when he found out you had ...

Rock finished the sentence. "The plague." He stared past Mark. "I knew this would happen. That he'd desert me when he found out."

"He was shaking with fright," Mark said. "He cried most of the night. I booked his flight and then got him out of the hotel by the usual routine . . ."

There was desolation in Rock's voice, though his face and eyes still showed no expression.

"Nothing. Not even a good-bye."

"He wasn't thinking," Mark said. "He couldn't. He's afraid the press will peg him as your last lover. "

Rock arrived in Los Angeles before dawn on July 30 and was taken by ambulance to the UCLA Medical Center.

Shortly after Rock was hospitalized there, the results of the tests conducted in Paris were made available to Dr. Gottlieb. Bringing Rock home had been the right decision. The tests showed that nothing could be done for him. “He was in the very last stages of AIDS,” Dr. Dormont said. ‘The tests showed he was about to die.” Rock Hudson had about two months to live.

Miller choreographed visits to Rook's private suite with the clockwork precision. He would schedule the time precisely and usually accompany the visitors to Rock's room, where he would announce them. This was done so that there would be no embarrassment to Rock. who was often confused and unaware of what was happening around him. Many times Rock didn't recognize his visitors. all of them old friend

Other times he'd quickly forget they had been there at all. Sometimes he'd nod off as they stood at his bedside. He couldn't remember who he saw from one day to the next.

Marc Christian, fearful for his own health after learning that Rock had AIDS, went home to Orange County to be with his mother. No one called Christian to tell him that Rock had returned and had been admitted to UCLA. He heard about it on the radio and immediately drove to the Castle.

Christian was told that he should leave as soon as possible for Paris to be tested for AIDS. ‘They told me to go the very next day because Rock insisted that I be tested,” he said. I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect.” Christian spent about ten days in France. The tests were negative.

Before returning, Christian visited Vivian Glenavy, Rock’s writer friend. During the visit, Miller called and asked her if she would be interested in writing Rock's biography. Christian was surprised by the call because Rock had once told him he never wanted such a book. “I don't want a book written until I can write it myself,” Rock told Christian. “I don’t want to write about Rock Hudson. I want to write about Roy Fitzgerald, and I don't know who Roy Fitzgerald is yet.”

In August, with Rock's death imminent, Mark Miller and several other intimates were pushing for an “authorized” book.

According to Christian, Glenavy didn’t like the way Miller wanted her to write Rock’s biography. “They wanted the book written fast.” Chris tian said. “They were desperate to get it written even before he died.”

Glenavy told Miller she would have to interview hundreds of people to get a true picture of Rock, but they wanted to control her work. So she flatly refused. Another writer, Sara Davidson, agreed to do the book.

Christian returned to the Castle in mid-August. He had not seen Rock since the day Hudson had left for Paris. When Christian got to the hospital, he was told he could not see Rock because his name was not on Mark Miller's list of visitors.

R165 The book, pushed by Rock Hudson's estate/close friends and sycophants that was ultimately written by Sara Davidson, It's the first biased book I posted in the OP.

He had not seen Rock since the day Hudson had left for Paris. When Christian got to the hospital, he was told he could not see Rock because his name was not on Mark Miller's list of visitors. Christian was furious. His anger must have aroused the suspicion of security guards because, he claimed, he was stopped and questioned as he left the building.

Back at the Castle, Miller told Christian he would have to move out within forty-eight hours. “Rock wants you out.” Christian said he was told by Miller. Christian was tired of being pushed around. “If Rock wants me to leave, have him call me, and if he really wants me to go, I will go,” Christian told Miller.

Miller reiterated, “He won't speak to you.” Christian said, “Well, I'm not going to leave. If he can’t be a man and tell me to leave, I'm not going to leave.” Christian felt that Miller personally wanted him out of the house but was throwing the blame on the hospitalized Hudson.

A couple of days later, Miller relented and gave Christian permission to visit Rock.

At 1:00 pm. Christian walked into Rock's room. Rock was lying in bed. To Christian he looked even worse than he had when he went to Paris. His body was even thinner, his complexion had a gray cast to it. But Rock seemed lucid.

Christian felt like crying but held back the tears. He asked Rock how he was feeling, how the food was. Rock asked Christian about his dogs and if everything was okay at the Castle.

Finally, Christian moved closer to Rock, placed his hand on his arm, and said, “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” Rock let his eyes wander, then turned his focus on Christian and said, “Well, you know, when you've got a disease like this, you are all alone.”

“Well, you're not,” Christian said. “Not unless you want to be.” Christian went on to tell Rock that he should never have ended his treatments in Paris in 1984 to do “Dynasty.” He told him he should have gone back for treatment; Christian would have gone with him had he known. Rock began to nod off.

Before he left. Christian said, “I've been told by Mark that you want me to leave the house. Is that true?" Rock said, "No. Why should you leave?” Christian touched Rock’s hand and said good-bye. Rock turned over and went to sleep.

“But Rock never admitted anything,” Christian said. “He never apologized.” Despite that, Christian could only feel pity for him.

It had been almost two years since Tom Clark had moved from the Castle. Like everyone else, Clark knew or strongly suspected after the Doris Day press conference that Rock had AIDS. When Rock collapsed in Paris and the world knew he had AIDS, Clark felt he had to do something for his dying friend. Miller and Clark talked. It was decided that Clark would return to the fold to aid and comfort his longtime companion during his final days.

Christian claimed that one of the first item on Clark's agenda, once he had taken charge of the Castle again, was to tell him not to see Rock, According to Christian, Clark and Miller told him that Rock was already under the impression he had moved out of the house.

But Christian ignored their orders and would sneak up to Rock's room to visit him when Clark was out on an errand. “He was pretty far gone,” Christian said. “He'd ask about the dogs. or ask me what was on television. He never talked about his disease. I get the impression he had no idea he even had AIDS. He just kept saying he was tired of not feeling well.”

Christian says "If Rock was conscious, which he was less frequently now, he would watch old movies on cable or on tape. He would sometimes make a comment to one of the nurses about a particular actor or actress with whom he had worked on a film. He refused to watch “Dynasty.” And he never talked about his disease or about dying."

Although Christian had tested negatively for AIDS in Paris, doctors warned him that he could develop the disease because he had been repeatedly exposed to the virus through sexual contact with Rock. They told him that the disease could hide in his bone marrow and might appear several years later.

Christian decided to seek legal counsel. Late in August he quietly contacted Marvin Mitchelson, the flamboyant Beverly Hills attorney. In the early 1970s the lawyer had gained worldwide notoriety representing actor Lee Marvin's live-in girl friend, Michelle Triola, with whom Marvin had broken up. Ironically. one of the stars who expressed concern was Rock Hudson. “What a can of peas you've opened!” he remarked to Michelle Triola at a party.

Christian's fourteen-million-dollar suit, which was not to be filed until after Ruck died, was based on the premise that he had been exposed to AIDS by Rock, who kept the disease a secret from his lover.

As Mitchelson so succinctly put it: “If you invite someone into your home and you know you have a hole in the living room and you don’t tell them it’s there and they fall through, that’s actionable.”

Christian also sued Muller, Wallace Shell, Rock's business manager, two doctors who were not named; and a number of other unnamed persons on the grounds that they “consciously and callously disregarded [his] safety... his right to life and his right to be informed that the person with whom he was having sexual relations was afflicted with a fatal disease transmitted by such relations.”

When Miller flew to New York late in August for a meeting with Sheft, Mitchelson called to inform them he was representing Christian in an action against the estate.

The next day Miller flew back to Los Angeles and confronted Chris tian. “Well, I guess you know by now that I know what you've done,” he said. Christian accused Miller of only caring about himself and told him he had to get a lawyer to protect his interest, too.

Christian's threatened lawsuit was kept from Rock during the remain ing days of his life. There was no reason to burden him with the impending scandal. Not even Christian wanted that.

Not all visits were as pleasant. One night Martha Raye and a few other friends were sitting in the kitchen when Raye. who spent hours at Rock's bedside, made some critical remarks about Christian. She was aware that he had seen an attorney and was contemplating filing a suit.

At that moment, Christian entered the kitchen and Epstein tried to introduce the two. Raye refused to acknowledge his presence.

Christian. who had apparently heard what Raye was saving, snapped, “Keep your opinions to yourself.” After Christian left, Raye was furious. “It was not a pleasant moment,” said a friend who was there. “Martha was very emotional and she was talking on that level.”

Once Roddy McDowall came to visit and Rock didn’t recognize him. McDowall became so upset by Rock's condition that he had to be escorted from Rock's room.

The only time Jimmy Dobson saw Rock at home was a depressing one. Not realizing how Rock's condition had deteriorated, Dobson offhandedly asked his friend whether he had been visited by Betty Abbott, who had remained friends with Rock over the years. Rock looked quizzically at Dobson, not seeming to comprehend the simple question.

Finally, Rock responded, “We don’t have much fun anymore.” Dobson looked puzzled and asked Rock what he meant. “Well, nobody drinks anymore.” Rock said. “I don’t drink. Betty doesn’t drink. So when we go out, we have nothing to drink. It’s no fun at all." Rock was out of touch with reality.

On the night of September 14, Rock's favorite nurse. Toni Phillips, was working the 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 4.4. shift. The born-again Christian had often chatted with Rock about religion when he was lucid. Sometimes she would turn the cable-TV dial to a religious program called the “700 Club”—and Rock would watch. Or she‘d put on an audio cassette of contemporary religious music or a tape with a religious message. Some- times as he lay in bed she would talk about God in a general way.

Over the weeks, she felt she had established a close enough relationship with Rock to ask him directly whether he wanted to accept Jesus,

As Rock came out of the bathroom that night and sat on the edge of his bed, Phillips moved next to him. She asked him a few questions to test whether he was aware and coherent.

“Then I just asked him whether he knew Jesus personally,” Phillips said, Rock said he didn’t. “Then I asked him whether he wanted to know the Lord, or invite the Lord into his heart.” Rock said, “Well. | guess it's about time.”

Phillips told Rock to hold her hand and to repeat her words: “Jesus, come into my heart and be my Lord and savior.” Rock followed her instructions, He continued holding Phillips's hand, and she eventually had to tell him to let go. She helped him get into bed. “Well, it looks like you're stuck with me for eternity.” she said. “It looks that way, said Rock, who fell asleep immediately.

A cynical Marc Christian was aware of what happened that night and scoffed. “Rock would have taken Muhammad Ali or Khadafi into his heart at that point. Rock was an atheist. He was just too out of it to know what was going on.”

....... In fact, as Burt Lancaster stood at the dais reading the statement, Rock Hudson, his weight down to ninety-seven pounds, lay virtually comatose, an I.V. in his arm pumping life-sustaining nourishment into his body as a nurse sat at his bedside. It would not have been a pretty picture to show to the Rodeo Drive crowd at the hotel.

The fact is, Rock Hudson never wrote the words read by Lancaster. Moreover, he was not even aware that there was a benefit. By this point, he didn’t even know what AIDS was. He wouldn't have known the difference between Elizabeth Taylor and one of his nurses. His mind was not tracking and had not been for weeks.

Tom Clark finally told the truth the day after Rock’s death. “The statement was not written by Rack.” he said.

A spokesman for the AIDS Project L.A.. John Latham, acknowledged that the statement had come from the office of Dale Olson, Rock's publicist, Eventually Olson confirmed to a Los Angeles Herald Examiner gossip reporter that the words were not Rock's.

Elizabeth Taylor's spokeswoman. Chen Sam, confused the issue by claiming that Mark Miller had recorded Rock's statement.

After Rock's death. producer Ross Hunter charged that Rock was being manipulated by people who wanted to use the star's name against AIDS. “Rock never. never publicly acknowledged he had AIDS."

Hunter angrily told columnist Marilhn Beck. “ALL these statements made in his name were lies. He knew nothing about any of them. He fought all his life to stay out of the limelight, and the last thing he would have wanted was to have been thrust into it the was he was.”

"Rock didn’t know what was going on: he couldn't have known, 95% of the time he wasn't lucid"

Hunter had spoken out against the myth makers of his own industry and was treated for a time like a pariah, intent on destroying Rock's heroic stature. Reluctantly. with obvious misgivings, he decided against talking further.

Hunter had consulted with Nancy Walker before making that decision. She, too, questioned what had been going on but decided to be silent. Walker advised Hunter to do the same.

“Every time I try to tell the truth, people have attacked me.” he said Can you imagine what would happen if I said anything that was against what Elizabeth said, or any of the others?”

Marc Christian awoke that day at about 8:00 a.m. He was getting dressed to go to a dental appointment when Tom Clark knocked on the door “We're having a hospital bed brought in,” Clark told Christian. “It'll be better for Rock to sleep in.”

Christian asked Clark if he needed any help, and Clark said no.

.....‘The next person to arrive at the house after Shirley Boone was Rock's longtime personal physician, Rex Kennamer. He stated on the death certificate that the time of death was 9:00 a.m.

As the tributes to Rock were being made, the struggle to keep Christian from filing his suit was continuing.

Christian met Susan Stafford for lunch at Butterfield’s, a trendy health-food restaurant on Sunset Boulevard. She had made the date with Christian before Rock's death, and both of them decided to keep it because nothing more could be done at the Castle.

Stafford made the date because she had learned from Mark Miller that Marc Christian was planning to sue and she hoped to talk him out of doing so.

"Marc arrived looking stunning.” said Stafford. As they played with salads, Christian reiterated to Stafford all the reasons why he intended to sue.

Stafford told Christian that Mark Miller and the estate will claim that he had worked as a prostitute while living with Rock. She warned him the allegations would become public if he sued. Christian denied the charges, and the two parted company.

At the private memorial, There were other remembrances from Roddy McDowall, Tab Hunter, Angie Dickinson, Lee Remick,, Robert Wagner, , Susan Saint James, Dr. Rex Kennamer, Glenn Ford, Marc Christian, Tom Clark, Mark Miller. Ross Hunter apparently did not attend and neither did anyone from “Dynasty.”

“Now, let's all go upstairs to the patio and lift a glass in memory of our friend,” said Elizabeth Taylor after the final guest had spoken. The mariachi band struck up the music, and everyone moved off to eat and drink, the way Rock would have wanted it. “What a turnout it was,” said Jon Epstein. “It was a marvelous affair.” By 8:30 everyone had left. The Castle was quiet. There would be no more parties there.

Around ten the next morning, Beth Burt picked up Rock Hudson's ashes at the mortuary, placed them in the trunk of her vac, and drove toward Marina del Rey.

Rock’s celebrity friends had decided not to attend. Elizabeth Taylor sent two of her security people to help, though, The group included Tom Clark, Miller, Nader, Marc Christian and his friend Liberty, and Susan Stafford were present.

It was very quiet as Beth Burr carried the urn to the stern of the boat. She gave the ashes to Clark to scatter. The small group stood motionless, waiting. Overhead, a lone sea gull flew by.

At the precise moment the ashes were dumped, against all laws of probability, science, or good taste, the lone sea gull far up in the sky took aim and scored a direct, massive hit all over Mark Miller.

Miller, standing up on the fly bridge with several others, glanced down at his ruined jacket, then up at the sky. “All right, Rock,” he said, managing to grin. “You got the last laugh.”

No one who witnessed it, or heard about it later, doubted for a moment that he had. It was all in the timing. No one but Rock could have timed it that well, his friends later agreed. The mood had been too solemn and dignified, not like him at all. It was Rock's signature.

Despite intense lobbying, none of Rock's friends could stop Mare Christian from filing suit against the estate. On November 12, the suit caused a sensation. For the first time, Marc Christian's name became a matter of public record,.

Wallace Sheft and Mark Miller denied Christian’s assertions that he had been exposed to AIDS because they hid from him the fact that Rock had the disease. They claimed that Christian was aware of Rock’s deteriorating condition and knew the symptoms of AIDS. By continuing to have “sexual relations with Rock Hudson after June 1984,” Christian “assumed the risk . . . he would expuse himself to contract AIDS,” they declared in court papers.

Christian's lawyers called the charges “scurrilous and perjurious.”

Rock’s will was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court becoming public information. There were more headlines, revealing that Rock had changed his will to cut Clark out. The more important news was what

Miller and Nader remained at the Castle. which was put on the market for $4.7 million. Miller was in charge of helping to show the house to prospective purchasers and handling the day-to-day business of the estate.

The apartment that Rock shared with Clark in New York City was sold for two million dollars. Despite the fact that it overlooked Central Park and was in the prestigious Beresford, the apartment was not snapped up when it went on the market. Insiders said that potential buyers were put off when they learned that the apartment had belonged to an AIDS victim.

[quote]He said he felt assured that Rock really was going to Switzerland to get a “miracle drug” to cure anorexia, as Miller had told him.

Rock didn't have AIDS.

He was just pooped.

Pooped!

[quote] He said he felt assured that Rock really was going to Switzerland to get a “miracle drug” to cure anorexia, as Miller had told him.

Like Jane Wyman’s sight was cured in Magnificent Obsession

You should thank Marc Christian twice! First for setting a precedent for future lawsuits for those who were exposed to Aids unknowingly from a partner who knew that they were infected and a second time after death! read the article below.

Why Californians May Need to Thank Rock Hudson's Partner

The California Court of Appeal’s positive ruling on inheritance rights for same-sex partners stands to set an influential precedent — and it involves a famous name from a past court case.

In early May the court ruled that Brent Beckwith could proceed with his lawsuit against Susan Dahl, the sister of his late partner, Marc Christian MacGinnis. He claims Dahl prevented MacGinnis, who died in 2009, from signing a will giving Beckwith a share of MacGinnis’s estate.

While many other states have recognized the right to sue for what’s known as “intentional interference with expectation of inheritance,” California is the first to do so in a case involving same-sex partners, says Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which filed a brief supporting Beckwith. The ruling came even though the men, together for 10 years, were not married or registered domestic partners. “California has always been a leader in protecting unmarried couples,” Minter says.

If MacGinnis’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he was once the partner of movie star Rock Hudson. After Hudson died of AIDS complications in 1985, MacGinnis, known publicly as simply Marc Christian, sued the actor’s estate, claiming Hudson had knowingly exposed him to HIV. MacGinnis tested negative but won a multimillion-dollar settlement.

That case was sensational, but the newer one will likely have more important legal implications. Beckwith says MacGinnis, while hospitalized shortly before his death, asked him to print out a will from his computer, splitting his estate between Beckwith and Dahl, and bring it to him to sign. According to Beckwith’s suit, Dahl thwarted that plan and promised to set up a trust instead, which she did not do. The Los Angeles Superior Court ruled in a probate action that MacGinnis had died without a will and awarded the entire estate to Dahl.

Beckwith sued Dahl in Orange County Superior Court, which dismissed the suit and said the appeals court had to decide whether to recognize the claim. The appeals court did recognize it and sent the case back to Orange County to see if the evidence supports him. So while Beckwith’s case remains open, it has been established that unmarried partners have a right to pursue such actions. “If you’re in a relationship with someone and have a reasonable expectation that they’re going to leave their estate to you, you can go to court and have them look at the facts,” Minter says. While the court’s ruling technically affects only California, it’s a state that others often look to as a leader in legal matters. “California is very influential with other states,” Minter says.

A recent California Court of Appeal case attempts to remedy one potential injury which could result from this inequality. Brent Beckwith is the longtime partner of Marc Christian MacGinnis.

Mr. MacGinnis had an estate worth approximately $1,000,000. Mr. MacGinnis prepared (but did not sign) a will leaving half of his estate to Mr. Beckwith and the remaining half to his sister, Susan Dahl. Both Mr. Beckwith and Ms. Dahl knew about the draft will. When Mr. MacGinnis was admitted to the hospital for lung surgery, he asked Mr. Beckwith to bring his will to his hospital room so that he could sign it. Mr. Beckwith could not find the will, so Mr. MacGinnis asked him to create a new will with the same provisions.

Mr. Beckwith did so, emailing a copy to Ms. Dahl. Following Mr. Beckwith’s email, Mr. Beckwith and Ms. Dahl spoke on the telephone. Prior to their conversation, Mr. MacGinnis’ doctors had informed Ms. Dahl that Mr. MacGinnis’ surgery was high-risk and potentially fatal. Under medical privacy regulations, doctors could not share this information with Mr. Beckwith because California law did not recognize him as Mr. MacGinnis’ family member.

Ms. Dahl also did not inform Mr. Beckwith of the risks that Mr. MacGinnis faced. Instead, she instructed Mr. Beckwith that a will was not necessary, and told him that she would arrange for attorneys to prepare a living trust for Mr. MacGinnis following his surgery. However, as doctors feared, Mr. MacGinnis’ surgery was not successful.

Mr. MacGinnis was placed on life support and passed away less than one week later. Mr. MacGinnis died intestate, i.e., without an executed will or trust in place. Ms. Dahl then petitioned for the intestate probate of Mr. MacGinnis’ estate asserting that she was Mr. MacGinnis’ sole surviving heir. Mr. Beckwith, Mr. MacGinnis’ longtime partner and the intended 50% beneficiary of his estate, was to be left empty-handed.

Mr. Beckwith filed a complaint alleging, among other claims, that Ms. Dahl had intentionally interfered with his expected inheritance rights. The trial court dismissed his claim on the ground that this tort did not exist under California law. In its recent decision, Beckwith v. Dahl (2012) 205 Cal. App. 4th 1039, the California Court of Appeal reversed, for the first time officially recognizing intentional interference with an expected inheritance (“IIEI”) as a tort under California law. In so doing, California joined 25 other states which recognize the tort.

Marc Christian MacGinnis, who won a multimillion-dollar settlement in 1991 from the estate of his ex-lover, actor Rock Hudson, after convincing a jury Hudson had knowingly exposed him to AIDS, has died. He was 56.

Hudson was diagnosed in 1984 but did not publicly acknowledge his illness until July 1985; he died three months later at age 59. Christian tested negative for acquired immune deficiency syndrome several times after learning of Hudson’s diagnosis but contended that the star put him at risk of contracting the disease by concealing his illness and continuing to have sexual relations with him. Christian included Miller in the suit because he said Miller lied to him when asked if Hudson had AIDS.

In 1989, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury said Hudson had displayed “outrageous conduct” and awarded Christian $21.75 million in damages, later reduced to $5.5 million. The $5.5-million award was upheld by a state Court of Appeal, which called it just compensation for the “ultimate in personal horror, the fear of slow, agonizing death.”

After the California Supreme Court, citing requests from both sides in the dispute, decided not to hear the case, a private settlement was reached for an amount Christian later said was less than $6 million.

He was portrayed by Hudson estate lawyers as a gold-digging hustler and criticized in the gay community, which at the time had little understanding of the need for sexual responsibility.

“It was obviously a groundbreaking case,” said Tammy Bruce, a former president of the National Organization for Women’s Los Angeles chapter and an openly gay conservative talk-show host. “It was the first public acknowledgment that gay relationships are complicated, important, and that responsibility is attached to them. . . . A lot of people owe a great deal to that man and the way he handled it with particular grace, not only at the trial but in the years afterward.”

Several years after the sensational case ended, Christian told People magazine that his purpose was “not to sleaze Rock. It was to say that if you have AIDS, you ought to tell your partner, whether you’re a movie star or a postman.”

He later often found himself defending Hudson’s reputation against those who viewed the late actor’s conduct as reprehensible. “You can’t dismiss a man’s whole life with a single act. This thing about AIDS was totally out of character for him,” Christian said in the People interview.

Christian was born in Hollywood on June 23, 1953, and grew up in Orange County. After graduating from Villa Park High School, he attended Cal State Fullerton, where he earned a business degree.

After college, he worked as a waiter and learned about sound engineering, his sister said. He was interested in acting, but his two greatest passions were music and politics. Christian met Hudson in late 1982 at a fundraiser for then-senatorial candidate Gore Vidal.

When Hudson began losing weight and looking ill, he told Christian, who was about 27 years his junior, that he was merely dieting; later, associates said he was anorexic.

Christian said he learned the true cause of his partner’s increasing gauntness the way the rest of the world did -- from a 1985 television broadcast from Paris, where Hudson had flown to seek treatment for AIDS.

“I thought I was a dead man,” Christian recalled thinking at the time.

He tested negative for the disease after several tests. Told by medical experts that the best treatment would cost $100,000 a year with a life expectancy of three years, he approached Hudson’s managers after the actor’s death and asked them to place $300,000 in a trust fund to cover his care if he developed AIDS, with the funds returning to the estate if he remained AIDS-free.

When the managers turned him down, “That’s when he went to Marvin Mitchelson,” the famous palimony attorney who filed the lawsuit against Hudson’s estate, said Brent Beckwith, who was Christian’s lover and best friend for nine years.

After the settlement, Christian bought and renovated a mid-century modern house in the Hollywood Hills, filling it with his collection of musical instruments, antique Edison phonographs and tens of thousands of vintage 78s, LPs and CDs. He restored old recordings and was famous among friends for his ability to name almost any tune.

Contrary to Internet reports that said he had died of drug abuse or AIDS, which he never developed, Christian’s death was the result of his heavy smoking, which began in 1998, “the day he found out Frank Sinatra died,” Dahl said. “He loved Frank Sinatra.”