THE PAIRS THAT NEVER WERE: Rock Hudson and Jeffrey Hunter

In our second installment of THE PAIRS THAT NEVER WERE, we are taking you through two of the 1950s’ finest. Two people who, by all accounts, mine mostly as that is the point of this series, would have been perfect together in a movie. It’s kind of unbelievable that that never happened. They are…

Rock Hudson and Jeffrey Hunter.

Illinois-born Rock Hudson was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the 1950s. With a string of box office hits such as Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955), Written on the Wind (1956) and Giant (1956), for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, he was bankable, hot and exciting. His quiet demeanour, charming personality and likeable characters won audiences over and his success carried over into the 60s and even 70s.

Hailing from New Orleans, Jeffrey Hunter began his career in the theatre and radio, before signing with 20th Century Fox. He made his movie debut in Fourteen Hours (1951). Through modest successes such as Lure of the Wilderness (1952) and Three Young Texans (1954), he became a star, and Westerns were his game. The Searchers (1956) is his biggest ever film and the one most people still associate with him. He held his own alongisde John Wayne and I’ve personally always loved his performance.

Hudson and Hunter were actually quite similar in many ways, as far as their Hollywood stories go. They were roughly the same age, with Hudson being a year older, they both had to change their names (Roy Sherer and Henry McKinnies don’t have quite the same ring to them, do they?), and they both died young and tragically – Rock Hudson died at 59 in 1985 from AIDS and Jeffrey Hunter died at 42 in 1969 from a hemorrhage. By all accounts, they were friends during their Hollywood days so it makes you wonder what kind of project they’d have been on board with, if such an opportunity were to arise.

A Western/family drama hybrid of sorts, in my opinion, is what Rock Hudson and Jeffrey Hunter should have done together. I would imagine some sort of sibling rivalry going on, or perhaps two best friends who grew apart over the years before something brought them together again. Hudson’s warmth versus Hunter’s intensity would have made a perfect combination. They would have been great.