Rock Hudson’s wife had no problem playing the part of a Hollywood wife — until her husband, who was hiding a secret, asked for a divorce.
Although it is known today that the popular 1950s actor was gay, Universal Studios went to great lengths to protect his image, including keeping his sexual orientation a secret. Hudson was married to talent agency secretary Phyllis Gates from 1955 to 1958.
“She kept quiet throughout her marriage,” author Josh Young told Fox News Digital, “but it was clear that it had an impact on her life. And ultimately, when it became clear that her husband was leaving her nothing, I think she felt she had to do something.”
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Rock Hudson was married to Phyllis Gates from 1955 to 1958. (Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)
Young recently teamed up with Manfred Westphal “The Fixer: Moguls, Gangsters, Movie Stars, and Marilyn.” The film delves into shocking revelations based on never-before-seen investigative files from notorious private investigator Fred Otash.
Rock Hudson is pictured here with Marilyn Monroe. (Getty Images)
For the book, Westphal had access to the Otash archives with permission from Otash’s daughter, Colleen, whom he first met at Otash’s funeral and would become close friends with for years.
Mr. Otash, a Marine Corps veteran of World War II, died in 1992 at age 70.
Private investigator Fred Otash was known in Hollywood as “The Fixer.” (© Otash/Hauck Archive)
“While Locke abandoned Phyllis Gates and didn’t pay child support, Fred Otash fought to get her the amount she deserved in the divorce settlement,” Young explained. “It was amazing to see what an advocate for women he was and how interesting those cases were.”
According to the authors, Otash was the son of a Lebanese carpet merchant whose life was filled with tragedy.
Fred Otash was a Los Angeles Police Department officer. (© Otash/Hauck Archive)
He lost his father and only brother during the Great Depression, dropped out of high school at age 16 to join the Civilian Conservation Corps to support his mother and sisters, then enlisted in the Marines and fought in the South Pacific at the start of World War II.
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Josh Young and Manfred Westphal wrote “The Fixer: Moguls, Mobsters, Movie Stars, and Marilyn.” (Grand Central Publishing)
Otash landed in Los Angeles in 1945 and joined the Los Angeles Police Department, where he made a name for himself as a rebellious cop and opened his own detective agency in 1955, which outshone those of his generation thanks to its access to the latest technology. He worked as a freelance writer for the Los Angeles tabloid newspaper Confidential.
Phyllis Gates later said that she truly loved Rock Hudson. (Johnson/Graphic House/Archive Photo/Getty Images)
“There were a lot of tabloid rumors about Rock Hudson at the time,” Young says. “Fred was a fact-checker for Confidential, a bad version of its predecessor, The Enquirer. The magazine didn’t work with Hollywood studios and published whatever news it could get its hands on.”
“Initially there were a lot of articles about Rock Hudson and his relationships, especially homosexual relationships,” Young said. “Many of those articles were replaced by Rock’s managers with other tabloid articles and then removed.”
Rock Hudson was a popular Hollywood actor in the 1950s. (Getty Images)
According to the book, Gates, a “wholesome farm girl and former Sunday school teacher” from Minnesota, was introduced to Hudson by Hollywood agent Henry Willson, who “had already hidden his homosexuality by being engaged to President Harry Truman’s diva daughter,” and the couple was photographed around town.
In 1955, Confidential was poised to attract attention with a detailed account of Hudson’s sexual preferences, based on the experiences of some of Hudson’s former lovers. Fearing that a tell-all book would ruin Hudson’s career, Wilson compromised by sacrificing two of Hudson’s other, less lucrative talents.
Phyllis Gates dances with her husband, Rock Hudson, at the Silos nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California, circa 1956. (Jack Albin/Pictorial Parade/Archive Photos/Getty Images)
Still, magazines were wondering when “Hollywood’s most handsome bachelor” would marry, and Wilson gave Hudson two months to do so.
Hudson asked Gates to move in with her, and he was thrilled to oblige. Two months later, she said yes, and Wilson organized an impromptu “PR stunt wedding” with Hollywood’s “gossip queens” in attendance.
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Rock Hudson, 29, and bride Phyllis Gates, 26, smile with happiness as they prepare to cut their wedding cake at the Biltmore Hotel after eloping. (Getty Images)
As Hudson rose to fame, all seemed well; but mistresses reportedly kept him busy after the cameras stopped rolling. Fed up with “her estranged husband’s neglect of her physical and emotional needs,” Gates hired Hollywood lawyer Jerry Giesler to begin divorce proceedings. According to the book, Gates was later “dismayed” to discover that her marriage “was nothing more than a fantasy farce designed to hide Hudson’s sexual orientation.”
Rock Hudson and Phyllis Gates were less than a month into their marriage when they were photographed at their honeymoon house high up in the hills above Hollywood’s famous Sunset Strip. (Getty Images)
The book claims that Hudson was willing to grant Gates a divorce, but offered “a little money, a car, and no place to live.” Gates fired Giesler and hired a personal lawyer, Arthur Crowley. Crowley contacted Otash to find evidence of Hudson’s homosexuality. Crowley planned to threaten to leak information to the press if Gates did not receive financial assistance.
“She was put in a position where she couldn’t fend for herself,” Young said, “like a lot of women in relationships with powerful people at that time in various situations. That doesn’t happen today, but it did happen in the 1950s.”
Rock Hudson’s secret life was nearly exposed by Confidential magazine. (MoviePix/Getty Images)
According to the book, Otash set up a sting operation, writing a script for Gates, who would use it to confront Hudson, and the book alleges that Otash secretly recorded Hudson performing the role.
During the interview, Gates asked Hudson about the Rorschach test he had taken.
Doris Day and Rock Hudson share a passionate kiss in a scene from the 1959 comedy “Pillow Talk.” (Screen Archives/Getty Images)
“You said you also saw thousands of butterflies and snakes,” Gates said.[A therapist] In my analysis, I was told that the butterfly represents femininity and the snake represents the male penis. I’m not blaming you, but as long as you are aware of your problem, you should want to do something about it.”
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Gates also pointed out, “You’re so fast with me sexually. Are you that fast with boys too?”
Rock Hudson and his wife Phyllis Gates’ separation got off to an ugly start. (Screen Archives/Getty Images)
“We all know that shortly after you got married you were picking up boys on the street and that you continued to do it because you thought being married would give you a cover up,” she further accused Hudson.
“I’ve never picked up a boy on the street,” Hudson shot back. “I’ve never picked up a boy in a bar. I’ve never picked up a boy other than to give him a ride.”
At one point, the book claims, Hudson became enraged at Gates.
“The Fixer” claimed Rock Hudson was furious with his embattled wife, Phyllis Gates. (Screen Archives/Getty Images)
“I never felt like we were in it together for anything,” a tearful Hudson told his estranged wife. “I never felt like you loved me.”
“So you didn’t touch me?” Gates responded. “Rock, when we got back from our honeymoon you didn’t show me any love for a whole month. I was always here, I always wanted you. First I came to bed and you shoved a book in my face… People sense these things… Men need a sexual outlet. You would have picked me up and carried me to bed but you didn’t touch me.”
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Rock Hudson kept his sexual orientation a secret until his death. (Getty Images)
Hudson allegedly told Gates the day after they were married that she had been in a same-sex relationship.
Today it is well known that Rock Hudson was gay. (Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty Images)
“I was just a stepping stone for you,” Gates said. “Someone to hide behind.”
According to the book, Otash and Crowley used the records to pressure Hudson’s team into a settlement: Hudson offered Gates a home in the Hollywood Hills and $250 a week for 10 years ($130,000, or $1.3 million today) if he didn’t remarry, as well as a share of Hudson’s production company.
Neither woman remarried. Hudson died of complications from AIDS in 1985 at age 59.
Rock Hudson was photographed a few months before his death in 1985. (Paul Harris/Getty Images)
“I had the power to destroy the lock, but I didn’t use it,” Gates later wrote. Los Angeles Times“To expose his other life would have been a spiteful and vengeful act. I have had enough trouble rebuilding my life without having to bear that guilt.”
Before his death in 2006, aged 80, Gates told Hudson biographer Sarah Davidson that she “loved” the actor “very much.”
“I thought he would be a great husband,” Gates said. People Magazine“He was attractive, his career was going strong, he was amazing. How many women would say no?”
