The life of the Hollywood matinée idol Rock Hudson is an eventful and often tragic one. The icon of Golden Age Tinseltown is getting a new dramatic treatment in the glamorous Netflix mini-series Hollywood, but what happened in his real-life?
Born as Leroy 'Roy' Harold Scherer on November 17, 1925 in Winnetka, Illinois, he was the son of a mechanic and telephone operator.
During the Great Depression, Roy's father lost his job and abandoned the family, divorcing his mother when Roy was four. Roy's mother remarried to Wallace Fitzgerald in 1932 to a former Marine Corps officer who adopted Roy and who Roy despised due to abusive and alcoholic behaviour.