I will never forget how Nancy Reagan ignored his cries for help. The Paris hospital forced him out. The airline refused to carry him back to LA. His publicist had to charter a 747 costing $250,000 of his own money to fly back home to die. So much shame to go around for how the infected were treated.

An interesting insight into the life of a Hollywood icon of his time. Rock Hudson was a very talented, warm-hearted, and, of course, incredibly handsome man of that bygone era. It's unfortunate that he had to live in that time, where he had to hide what ultimately defined him.

Rock Hudson. Growing up as a gay kid in the 80s/beginning of the AIDS crisis, Hudson will always be the first person I heard of who had AIDS and was gay (I mean, I was 6 when he died so) and for a while he was the only one. As I got into loving film, he became this indelible intersection between old Hollywood and this horrible thing that was unknown and scary. But I never really knew anything about who he was. This film is fascinating, moving and beautiful as it traces Rock’s life from childhood to superstardom to tragic death all the while never shying away from this apparently open secret that everyone in Hollywood knew but no one ever spoke of it. Interspersed with Hudson’s film clips that seemed like they were hiding even less. Hudson never wanted to be the galvanizing force behind the AIDS epidemic finally being taken seriously, it meant revealing publicly that he was gay which his friends/ex-boyfriends in the doc make clear was not something he wanted, but that ended up being one of his many legacies and the disease never would have been as studied and treated as it is today without him. This film is essential viewing for anyone who both loves and loathes the classic Hollywood and all of it’s secrets, scandals and shocks.

A beautiful documentary with many footage of Rock Hudson throughout his career. Many of the elements felt very familiar, like I have read the book this doco was based on.