‘All That Heaven Allowed’ Trailer: Rock Hudson’s Legacy Captured in HBO Documentary

Rock Hudson’s life as a hidden Hollywood icon is now captured in the documentary ‘Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed’.

Directed by Stephen Kijak (“We Are X,” “Shoplifters of the World”), the HBO film traces the career of the “Giant” heartthrob as a studio system actor to his final role in “Dynasty” before his died in 1985 from AIDS.

Among Hollywood’s most iconic men of the 1950s and ’60s, Rock Hudson epitomized masculinity and outspokenness until his 1985 diagnosis and death from AIDS shattered those notions in the public eye. “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” tells the story of Hudson as a man who lived a double life; while his public persona was meticulously groomed by his handlers, controlled by the studio system, and falsely anchored in a lavender marriage, Hudson had to keep his homosexuality behind closed doors because of the anti-gay sentiments of the time, and because the revelation of that would shatter his career.

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The documentary features interviews with Hudson’s former partners, colleagues, and close friends. Personal photographs and home videos are also included. “All That Heaven Allowed” takes its name from Hudson’s lead role in Douglas Sirk’s “All That Heaven Allowed,” opposite Jane Wyman.

As tabloid rumors about his sexuality began to circulate, his marriage to his manager’s secretary Phyllis Gates briefly put to rest any speculation about his lifestyle. And he was still able to find success in romantic lead roles, including opposite Doris Day in the comedies ‘Pillow Talk’ and ‘Lover Come Back’ before moving into television in the 1970s with a successful run in ‘ McMillan and Wife”.

Hudson was one of the most famous actors in the world when he was diagnosed with AIDS; his death changed the course of history around public perception of the disease and led Elizabeth Taylor to found amFAR.

The documentary is produced by George Chignell, Will Clarke, Carolyne Jurriaans, Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter.

“Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” premieres on HBO and Max on June 28. Watch the trailer below.