Henry Willson, Agent.” And he could help, too, in more ways than one.
His business card literally read: “If you’re interested in getting into the movies, I can help you.
Selznick’s newly formed Vanguard Pictures. You see, Henry Willson also just so happened to be the head of talent at David O. Henry Leroy Willson (1911 ~1978) – and yes, that’s “Willson” spelled with two l’s plus, appropriately enough, a “son” added on at the end – was an older gay man, what today we would call a notorious “chicken hawk” of an old queen, frequenting gentlemen’s night clubs along the Sunset Strip bar scene where he wooed younger men for both personal as well as professional reasons. So I decided old Henry deserved a blog spot all his own today. Still I had no idea what a powerhouse this man was as the cornerstone for the male actor “dreamboat” and “beefcake” manufacturing industry that Hollywood evolved into during the 1940s and 50s. Sure, I’d heard the agent’s name before, primarily in connection with his most famous client, Rock Hudson – that Henry Willson’s secretary was the bride chosen for Hudson during his brief marriage to counter the rampant gay rumors that were swirling about him in Hollywood as he grew into a star in the early 50s. While researching yesterday’s blog entry about Guy Madison, I found that there was as much or more to write about the fascinating real-life caricature who was Guy’s agent, Henry Willson.
