Phyllis Lucille Gates (December 7, 1925 – January 4, 2006) was an American secretary and interior decorator, known for her three-year marriage to the actor

Rock Hudson Rock Hudson (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob in the Golde ...

. The story of their marriage was depicted in the TV film ''

'' (1990), starring

Daphne Ashbrook Daphne Lee Ashbrook (born January 30, 1963) is an American actress best known for playing Grace Holloway in '' Doctor Who: The Movie'', Melora Pazlar in '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', Jackie Kowalski in '' Hollywood Heights'', and Dawn Atw ...

as Gates and

Thomas Ian Griffith Thomas Ian Griffith (born March 18, 1962) is an American actor and martial artist. He is best known for portraying Terry Silver in the 1989 film ''The Karate Kid Part III'', a role he reprised in the fourth and fifth seasons of the television ...

as Hudson.

Early life

Gates was born in

Dawson, Minnesota Dawson is a city in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,466 at the 2020 census. History Dawson was platted in 1884. The city was named for William Dawson, a former mayor of St. Paul, and one of three partners ...

to Leo Gates (1896–1970) and Mabel (née Johnson) Gates (1900–1999), and raised on a farm. She graduated from Clarkfield High School in June 1943. Early in her life, she worked as a sales clerk in a department store, airline stewardess, and secretary for a New York City talent agent, before moving to Hollywood to work for Hollywood talent agent

Henry Willson Henry Leroy Willson (July 31, 1911 – November 2, 1978) was an American Hollywood talent agent who played a large role in developing the beefcake craze of the 1950s. He was known for his stable of young, attractive clients, including Rock ...

, who represented actors Rock Hudson,

Tab Hunter Tab Hunter (born Arthur Andrew Kelm; July 11, 1931 – July 8, 2018) was an American actor, singer, film producer, and author. Known for his blond, clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. He was a Hollywood heartthrob of t ...

and

Rory Calhoun Rory Calhoun (born Francis Timothy McCown, August 8, 1922April 28, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He starred in numerous Westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, and appeared in supporting roles in films such as ''How to Marry a Millio ...

Marriage to Rock Hudson

Gates met Rock Hudson in October 1954. They started dating some time later and were married in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coas ...

, on November 9, 1955, shortly after he finished filming ''

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: '' gigas'', cognate giga-) are beings of human-like appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''giant'' is first attested in 1297 fr ...

''. Following a brief honeymoon in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

, their marriage began to disintegrate. They separated in 1957, following rumors that Hudson had committed adultery while on location in Italy for the film '' A Farewell to Arms''. The rumors were later confirmed by a close friend of Gates's, who also revealed to her that the individual Hudson had the affair with was a man. The divorce was eventually finalized in 1958.

Later life

Gates later became a successful interior decorator. She died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

at her home in

Marina del Rey, California Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...

, aged 80. She was survived by her sister Marvis Ketelsen and brother Russell Gates. In her autobiography, published in 1987 after Hudson's 1985 death from

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, Gates wrote that she was in love with Hudson and that she did not know Hudson was gay when they married, and was not complicit in his

deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...

. However, the author and journalist Robert Hofler wrote in the biography ''The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson'': "Those who knew her (Gates) say she was a lesbian who tried to blackmail her movie star husband (Hudson)" or "She then became addicted to being the wife of a star, and didn't want the divorce (...) Phyllis could play around with women, but Rock had to remain faithful to her. In a way, she was just being pragmatic: she feared that Rock's exposure would ruin his fame, which was in turn her gravy train." This was disputed by Gates in an interview with

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...

in which she also said that she had been the one to initiate the divorce based on her husband's behavior. Gates said she did not get much in the divorce because she did not want to take advantage of him. She also said that she had never stopped loving him, and that he was the 'love of her life'.

Published works

* Gates, Phyllis (1987) and Sara Davidson, ''My Husband, Rock Hudson'', Doubleday, 232 pages.

References

External links