Since I started my new hobby, Ultimate Movie Rankings, my mother has been requesting a Rock Hudson page. So since she is my mother, and since she is such a good mother, what can a son do other than produce a Rock Hudson page.

Hudson was born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr in 1925. After serving as a mechanic in World War II, Hudson moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. He appeared in his first film in 1948’s Fighter Squadron.  His first big success was 1954’s Magnificent Obsession (one of my mom’s favorites) with Jane Wyman.In 1956 he appeared in Giant which co-starred James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor. It was his biggest hit of his career and earned over $454 million in adjusted for inflation dollars at the box office and Hudson received his only Oscar® nomination for his role as Bick Benedict.

The peak of his career was the time frame of 1957-1964, he appeared on Quigley Publishing’s Top Ten Stars every year, including the top spot in 1957 and 1959. During this time span he made three very popular romantic comedies with Doris Day. The best of those three movies is the classic 1959 film Pillow Talk (my mom’s second favorite Hudson movie).  After 1964’s Send Me No Flowers, his movie grosses started to decline. By 1970 his movies were no longer popular at the theaters. He then turned towards television, most notably a show called McMillan and Wife which ran from 1971 to 1977. In 1985 he passed away from an AIDS related illness.

Rock Hudson Movies Can Be Ranked 6 Ways In This Table

 Stats and Possibly Interesting Things From The Above Rock Hudson Table

1. Thirteen Rock Hudson movies crossed the magical $100 million domestic gross mark.  That is a percentage of 25.49% of his movies listed. Giant (1956) is his biggest box office ht when looking at adjusted domestic box office gross.
2. An average Rock Hudson movie grosses $91.90 million in adjusted box office gross.
3. Using RottenTomatoes.com’s 60% fresh meter.  31 of Rock Hudson’s movies are rated as good movies…or 60.78% of his movies. Winchester ’73 (1950) is his highest rated movie while Embryo (1976) was his lowest rated movie.
4. Twelve Rock Hudson movies received at least one Oscar® nomination in any category…..or 23.52% of his movies.
5. Three Rock Hudson movies won at least one Oscar® in any category…..or 5.88% of his movies.
6. A “good movie” Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) Score is 60.00.  24 Rock Hudson movies scored higher than that average….or 47.05% of his movies.  Giant (1956) got the the highest UMR Score while Embryo (1976) got the lowest UMR Score.

Check out Rock Hudson’s career compared to current and classic actors.  Most 100 Million Dollar Movies of All-Time.

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Steve’s Updated Rock Hudson You Tube Video

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