About this item
Henry Willson started off as a talent scout under powerhouse mogul David O. Selznick, for whom Willson procured women. The starmaker-to-be was therefore on the lookout for promising newcomers - as actors, lovers and sometimes both - when he received an unsolicited photograph from a movie star hopeful named Roy Scherer. Unbeknownst to Willson, the photograph of the handsome young man with bad teeth would have not only a career-defining impact for himself but, more importantly, redefine Hollywood's concept of the male heartthrob. Roy Scherer became Rock Hudson and for the next twenty-five years Henry Wilson became the man behind movie "beefcake."The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson delves into Willson's life in explicit, unsparing detail. Variety reporter Robert Hofler deftly chronicles Willson's maneuvers to sidestep the FBI's investigation into Hudson's sex life; the starmaker's use of off-duty L.
About the Author
I'm the theater critic for The Wrap, and now live in New York City. I've previously worked as an editor at Life, Us, Variety and other publications. My latest book is "Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos" (It Books/HarperCollins) . My previously published books include the Allan Carr biography "Party Animals" and the Henry Willson biography "The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson."
