Rock Hudson was an American actor and Hollywood Golden Age heartthrob. He is most famously known for his roles in such films as Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Giant (1956) and Pillow Talk (1959). Although he played the leading man on screen, he was also known by many to be gay. He completed nearly 70 films and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned over four decades. He was famously friends with first lady Nancy Reagan while Ronald Reagan was in office. Rock Hudson became the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness when he passed in 1985.
Hudson reached out about a transfer to a French military hospital to undergo an experimental treatment for the disease. The Reagan White House declined.
