It all started with a joke invitation to an annual gay party in huntington beach.
Rock hudson and gomer pyle.
Dying jim nabors shocking confession.
While jim nabors was playing lovable dimwit gomer pyle on two hit shows he was hiding a shocking secret that he feared would destroy his career he was gay today actors have few qualms about.
A prominent heartthrob of the golden age of hollywood he achieved stardom with his role in magnificent obsession 1954 followed by all that heaven allows 1955 and giant 1956 for which he.
If rock hudson married gomer pyle he would be known as rock pyle that was the gag behind the party invitations that went out.
The queens printed invitations to witness the marriage of rock hudson and jim nabors with the punch line being that hudson would be taking on the last name of jim nabor s famous character gomer pyle thus becoming rock pyle.
November 17 1925 october 2 1985 was an american actor one of the most popular movie stars of his time hudson s screen career spanned four decades.
As rock hudson reported about the tale s origins.
Gomer pyle married rock hudson.
Unfortunately plenty of people took the joke too seriously and as a result hudson and nabors never spoke again.
It s not true that jim nabors married rock hudson back in the 1960s fans probably wouldn t have been accepting that the bumbling gas station attendant of gomer pyle was played by a homosexual actor.
On gomer pyle both gomer and sergeant carter change because when it starts out gomer is pretty raw.
Globe december 25 2017.
Rock hudson born roy harold scherer jr.
Jim nabors was also covering up his secret life as a gay man before being dragged out of the closet because of a gay prank with rock hudson.
It wasn t something jim nabors actively hid it just wasn t something that was openly acknowledged at the time.
In a shattering deathbed confession tv legend jim nabors admitted what he d been denying for decades he had a steamy affair with secretly gay screen hunk rock hudson that ended in a hush hush hawaiian commitment ceremony.
His chief claim to fame was as gomer pyle a role originated on the andy griffith show and spun off to its own series.
The rumors spread and because of this the two made sure they were never seen in public together.
The group apparently invited its members to the marriage of rock hudson and jim nabors as a running gag for hudson taking nabors character gomer pyle s last name to become rock pyle.