ROCK HUDSON'S TRUE LOVE

During the height of his Hollywood stardom, Rock Hudson's biggest feat of acting was hiding the love of his life from his adoring public.

The late actor, who died of AIDS-related complications in Oct. 1985, even hid the depths of his feelings from then-secret-paramour Lee Garlington, the now 77-year-old retired stockbroker revealed to People Magazine in the new issue.

The pair of star-crossed lovers met when Hudson was one of the most popular movie stars in the business — and Garlington was a lowly extra.

"He was the biggest movie star in the world, and the rumors were that he was gay," Garlington told the gossip glossy. "So I thought, 'Let me get an eye on him.' I stood outside his cottage on the Universal lot, pretending to read Variety, which was probably upside down at the time. He walked out and down the street. He looked back once. That was it."

Garlington and a host of Hudson's contemporaries — including "Pillow Talk" costar Doris Day and manager Wallace Sheft — delivered tributes to People in honor of the actor who died nearly 30 years ago.

A year after their first encounter, Hudson and Garlington got together — and they continued their relationship in secret to avoid a potential scandal. The '60s, after all, were a time in which American movie audiences weren't ready for the idea of a gay leading man.

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Hudson, pictured on his 1955 wedding day to Phyllis Gates, was forced to hide his sexuality at a time when being gay could ruin a Hollywood career.

"I'd sneak out at 6 a.m. in my Chevy Nova and coast down the street without turning on the engine so the neighbors wouldn't hear," says Garlington. "We thought we were being so clever."

But the relationship dissolved after three years and Garlington never found out the depths of Hudson's feelings for him until the publication of the star's posthumously published autobiography hit stores.

Hudson called his former boyfriend, "my true love."

"I broke down and cried," Garlington recounted to People. "I just lost it. He said his mother and I were the only people he ever loved. I had no idea I meant that much to him."