Rock Hudson Refused to Open-Mouth Kiss ‘Dynasty’ Co-Star Linda Evans After AIDS Diagnosis: “He Was Protecting Me”

As Pride Month comes to a close, HBO is offering viewers a lesson in queer history, with Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed. The new documentary, which will premiere on HBO and Max tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT, offers an intimate portrait of one of Hollywood’s most famous closeted stars: Rock Hudson, who died of AIDS in 1985, when he was just 59 years old.

In his last few working years, Hudson knew about his diagnosis but initially kept his disease, and his sexuality, a secret. When Hudson did disclose his diagnosis in July 1985—just months before his death—he faced criticism for sharing an on-screen kiss with his co-star Linda Evans on their television drama Dynasty, earlier that year. (We now know that it is impossible to transmit HIV or AIDS via saliva, but, at the time, shared saliva was a real concerned warned against by the CDC.)

In the new HBO documentary, it’s revealed that Hudson agonized over his kiss with Evans. In fact, he was so diligent in refusing to open his mouth when kissing her, that both Evans and the director of the episode were left frustrated and confused.

“I mean, I knew he could deliver that kiss, but it’s not up to me to say anything,” Evans, now 80, says in audio of an archived interview featured in the documentary. “I let the director handle it. We did it over, and we did it over. He did it consistently.”

Then, through sobs, Evans says, “It makes me cry because I know he was protecting me. I didn’t know that at the time—I was confused at the time. But in thinking back, part of the reason I get so upset is because he was doing everything he could do to make it alright for me, in case. Because nobody knew in those days, about that. It hurts my heart, even now, when I think about it.”

The documentary also provides perspective on Hudson’s mindset on the day the kiss was filmed, thanks to Hudson’s close friend and former secretary, George Nader, who kept a diligent diary. On the day the episode aired, in February 1985, Nader wrote in his journal, “We get to watch Rock give Linda Evans a dose of some virus in a kissing scene.” Nader, who was also a closeted gay man, added, “Morally, how guilty are we for not having said something to someone?”

In the same diary entry, Nader recalls Hudson returning home after filming the scene, in total agony. He wrote, “Rock returned from work the day they shot the kissing scene, and said to Mark, ‘This has been the worst day of my life. I used every type of mouthwash known to man. An awful day.’ He also said, ‘I kept my mouth closed, and so did she.'”

Hudson died a few months later, in October 1985.

Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed will air on HBO and Max tonight, June 28, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.