October 2nd marked the death of Hollywood legend, Rock Hudson. I am lucky enough to know Rocks’ very close friend and assistant, Marty Flaherty. He was kind enough to give us some great insight, images, and background into how Rock Hudson stayed active. While Rock’s methods of fitness are not the conventional ways of today, they still were able to keep him trim and built.
Written By Marty Flaherty
“As far as I know, it was cigs and Cutty!”
This was my initial reply when I was asked about Rock Hudson’s exercise routine. Tareyton cigarettes and Cutty Sark scotch whiskey, that is. But thinking on it further, there was firstly his love of swimming—he went out for his high school swim team when he was 16, churning through the water winning medal after medal. That is, New Trier High School, in Winnetka, Illinois, an affluent suburb north of Chicago….. Rock enjoyed playing tennis on his off time, and skiing—both water(Lake Arrowhead) and snow(Mt. Hood ). He even owned property in Durango, Colorado, for awhile. And then there was, of course the boxing(three months of prize-fight training with U.I. trainer Frankie Van for 1951’s “Ironman”), fencing, horseback riding, dancing, etc., etc.— lessons he learned over the course of his years in the studio training with Universal Studios. In the old days, the studio trained their stable of stars.
And he did enjoy gardening…in the old days, before and when he was living with his wife, Phyllis Gates up in a little canyon above Sunset Strip. It was a barn-red Pennsylvania Dutch house surrounded by native live oaks, pine trees and Scotch broom and the busy Rock liked to go up the hillsides and clear out the undergrowth as a way of relaxation. This was right around the most exciting time of his career, before filming George Steven’s “Giant”.
Rock Hudson loved to do his own gardening even as he became more successful—the cutting, that is, but not the picking up! And he was a bit of a “firebug”, loved to build roaring fires in his outdoor fireplaces with that debris, once his gardener(or I) would haul them over there! He also loved to fell trees that needed be cut down. Rock even helped me fell a tree on one of my father’s properties, using a saw…yes…manually!
I remember him saying he hated all forms of exercise, that he just happened to be blessed with good genes. With that physique, I’d say they were damn good genes! Still, I have to kind of wonder if he maybe did a little weight training in the early days, judging by the looks of his biceps and triceps! He was proud of his health and his stamina. Rock (according to his biographer, Sara Davidson) often said, “I’m gonna live to be a hundred and the rest of you will be dead.” Production got shut down on Rock’s new series,”The Devlin Connection” in 1981. Rock needed a quadruple bypass, and although he did not go for cadiac rehab exercises, Rock started walking. He’d maybe walk with his co-star, Jack Scalia, around the Hollywood reservoir. I know he did like to walk, but being somewhat of a sociable person, Rock found the exercise a bit too lonely if no one was around to go with him.
Here is one well-known quote by Rock himself, taken from the pages of his authorized biography, “Rock Hudson-His Story”, at told to its author, Sara Davidson : “I love to smoke. I keep hoping someone will discover it’s a healthy habit because the smoke kills all the germs in your system. I love to drink, and I hate exercise. I don’t mind going out on the side of a hill and chopping down a tree, but I hate organized exercise. I built a gym in my house but I never use it. I don’t even like to walk through it.”
And finally, here’s a couple of small excerpts regarding Rock Hudson and exercise, from my newest book, “At Home” With Rock Hudson “The Stories” ~ A Comprehensive Text Edition
“When Rock Hudson first got sick and before his life-changing diagnosis, he was losing lots of weight. So he was put on a weight-gaining diet and a workout man was hired. This was after Rock’s quintuple bypass surgery in November, 1981, and Rock was very out of shape. After the open-heart surgery, his doctors ordered him to quit smoking… They also recommended he try some sort of exercise regime. Rock tried walking, and enjoyed it, but, being a “people person” and unmotivated in the area of fitness, found it sort of boring.
So one day Rock stopped by a health club he often passed while driving down Santa Monica, called “The Sports Connection”. While he was looking around, he struck up a conversation with one of the trainers. Rock told the trainer he was interested in getting into shape, but he was intimidated—coming to work out in a place where there were a lot of people, people in good shape, no less.
The trainer suggested Rock consider hiring a “personal trainer”, someone who could come up to the house to work with him, a fitness coach. Good idea, because even as they were having this conversation, people at the gym were staring at Rock.
Rock told the man at “The Sports Connection” he liked that idea…could the man “recommend someone?” The man informed Rock that he was a personal trainer, and also gave him a couple of other names. Rock set up a meeting with one of the other personal trainers and the two seemed to strike up an instant camaraderie. Soon after their first week of meetings, Rock asked this personal trainer whether he’d be interested in the job permanently, and that trainer was hired on.”
” … He started coming up to the Castle five days a week. He would take Rock into the theatre or the backstage /sauna room and work him out and stretch him. Again, this was after Rock’s quadruple bypass surgery, and Rock was only allowed to do the stretching, calisthenics, aerobics and especially, he was instructed to enjoy his sauna. No isometric exercises, or he could “pop a tube” from resistance.
This personal trainer worked Rock out each day from 10:30-11:30 am, a very slow workout, as Rock was very out of shape. What with the bypass and forty or more years of smoking behind him, he would huff and he would puff as the two became friends. They had fun together, and it really did seem Rock had a little bit of that sparkle back.
By the second month, they were working out two hours, every morning, from 10 a.m. until noon. Morning workouts soon were lengthened to lunch at the Castle. “You’re here, anyway”, Rock would say to the trainer, “and you have to eat, so…why not lunch? “ It would save him some money, Rock argued, and James always made extra. The trainer stayed.”
While Rocks time has passed, his movies, his images and memories live on. Marty has also written several books honoring rock and his memory. Within these books are never before seen photos, and insight into the real like of Rock Hudson. It’s clear by how that books are written that, these stories are told by a true friend of Hudson and one that’s dearly miss. May his legend live on, not for how he died but how he made the world live.
Here are some of the link associated with the books of Rock Hudson and also a link to the estate of Rock Hudson.
Rock Hudson Estate Collection
“At Home” With Rock Hudson-Book # 2: More On The Inside, Stories From The Legend, Very Few Have Heard
“At Home” With Rock Hudson: Behind The Walls Of His Life
Adria
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