NAME: Rock Hudson
BORN: 17/11/1925
BIRTH PLACE: Winnetka, Illinois, USA
DIED: 02/10/1985
BIOGRAPHY
Born Roy Harold Scherer, Hudson attended the New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois and soon decided to become an actor. His plans were put on hold for a while however, when he served as a Navy airplane mechanic during WWII, and as a truck driver after the war.
This, however, only further motivated him to get into the movies. Starting drama lessons, he was advised to change his name to something shorter and so he chose Rock and “Hudson”, in honour of the synonymous car.
His first film, ‘Fighter Squadron’ in 1948, did not lead to immediate stardom, but a good part in ‘Winchester ‘73′ led to better assignments, and the studio chose to concentrate its publicity on Hudson’s physical attributes, rather than his acting ability, which may explain why he spent a lot of his screen time without his shirt on.