Rock Hudson was secretly ‘hitting on’ James Dean on ‘Giant’ set

nypost.com:

HBO documentary, “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed,” and has alleged that Hudson made sexual passes at costar James Dean.Hudson — who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1985 — kept his homosexuality a secret among the social circles of Tinseltown.Griffin claimed in the special that Hudson was “privately hitting on Dean” during shooting the 1956 drama.“According to some accounts, James Dean was rather disdainful of Hudson,” he went on.“Dean considered it hypocritical that Rock was maintaining this hetero facade in public,” Griffin explained. “Some might consider that a case of the pot calling the kettle black.”“Giant” also starred Hudson’s friend Elizabeth Taylor, and was Dean’s last movie he shot before his 1955 death in a car crash.The “East of Eden” alum portrayed a ranch hand, who enters into a bitter feud with a wealthy Texas rancher (played by Hudson) for over a period of several years.Griffin also alleged in the documentary that Dean was involved with a gay media executive who was pals with Hudson’s agent, Henry Willson.“If you’re talking about shrouded sexuality, they weren’t all that different,” he noted.In an archived interview featuring Hudson from 1983, he stated that he despised his younger castmate.The “Dynasty” actor said that the only reason that “Giant” director George Stevens had cast Dean, was because he was “new and hot.”“As I said, I didn’t like the fella too much.

I don’t know if I should say anymore. Jimmy was dead before the picture was over,” Hudson said at the time.”I don’t like to talk against anybody, and I don’t like to talk against the dead, so I think I should shut up.”The doc also explored Hudson’s marriage to Willson’s secretary Phyllis Gates.Gates and the Illinois native were.