Rock Hudson at Home: 10 Photos of Hollywood’s Quintessential Leading Man in His LA Sanctuaries
Though he is without a doubt one of the most famous faces of Tinseltown’s Golden Age, Rock Hudson came from humble beginnings. Born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. on November 17, 1925, the future movie star and his parents spent part of his childhood living with his maternal grandparents in suburban Chicago. A one-bedroom bungalow on 719 Center Street—with a single bathroom shared by six adults and five children, per Sara Davidson’s Rock Hudson: His Story—was home.
Hudson’s Hollywood career took off with hit films like Giant, Pillow Talk, Lover Come Back, and All That Heaven Allows. As his public profile rose, he began to see his various mansions as his refuges. “My house is the only place I really have any privacy,” he said in Rock Hudson: His Story. “Outside the house, everything I do is watched and talked about, but once I come in those gates, I can relax and let go. I love to work on my house; to tear down walls and lay bricks.”
We’ve rounded up 10 photos of the film legend in his personal sanctuaries through the decades—including the sprawling estate he called home until his death in 1985.
Cohabitation
In this 1952 photo, Hudson is pictured with actor Bob Preble outside of their shared home in Los Angeles. Per Rock Hudson: His Story, the pair lived together for three years in four different homes. Their last, on Avenida del Sol, was designed to look ahead for its time, with futuristic glass fixtures. The dwelling boasted scenic views of the valley and picturesque surrounding mountains. Preble moved out when he married actor Yvonne Rivero.
Rumors circulated that Hudson, a closeted gay man, was in a relationship with Preble. Preble seemed to confirm the speculation in Rock Hudson: His Story. He shared that he and Hudson did “a little experimenting…but nothing you would call a definite relation.” He added, “I guess he hoped the barriers would come down. The situation did come close to spilling over to something that would have been foreign to my whole being, my whole behavior. But before that happened, I left and married Yvonne.”
9151 Warbler Place
Estudio EA