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 film stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades, and was a prominent figure in the G ...

. 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) nterview necessarily conducted prior to March 1993 publication date/ref> is an American actor, screenwriter, producer, musician, and martial artist. His best-known roles include Terry Silver in John ...

as Hudson.

Early life

Gates was born in

Dawson, Minnesota Dawson is a city in Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,466 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History The land Dawson sits on was originally home to the Wahpekute, ...

, 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, flight attendant, and secretary for a New York City talent agent, before moving to Hollywood to work for 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. His clients included Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Chad Everett, Robert Wagner ...

, 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 hair and clean-cut good looks, Hunter starred in more than forty films. During the 1950s and 1960s ...

, 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 (, meaning ) 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 Coast of the United States excepting A ...

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

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

''. Following a brief honeymoon in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, 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 ''A Farewell to Arms'' is a novel by American writer Ernest Hemingway, set during the Italian campaign of World War I. First published in 1929, it is a first-person account of an American, Frederic Henry, serving as a lieutenant () in the a ...

''. 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 finalized in 1958.

Later life

Gates later became a successful interior decorator. She died from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

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, United States. The eponymous harbor is a major boating and water recreation destination of the Greater Los Angeles ar ...

, 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 The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

, 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 is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

. 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 TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

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