Phyllis Gates

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Phyllis Lucille Gates (December 7, 1925 - January 4, 2006) was an American secretary and interior decorator.

She was born in Dawson, Minnesota and was working as a secretary to the Hollywood talent agent Henry Willson, when she met the actor Rock Hudson in October 1954. They started dating several days later and were married in Santa Barbara on November 9, 1955, shortly after he finished filming Giant (1956). It is generally accepted that the marriage was arranged by Hudson's agent in an attempt to prevent press revelations that Hudson was gay. Gates later stated that she was not complicit in the deception and did not know Hudson was gay when they married. ^[1] However, after her death, press articles appeared saying she was a lesbian who was complicit in the deception. ^[2]

Following a brief honeymoon, the marriage began to disintegrate. They separated following rumours of his infidelity, while on location in Italy for the film A Farewell to Arms in 1957. These were confirmed by a close friend of hers, who also revealed to her that the individual Hudson had the affair with was a man, and the couple were divorced in 1958.

She later became a successful interior decorator. In 1987, two years after Hudson's death, she published a book, My Husband Rock Hudson, which recounted the story of her brief marriage. She died from lung cancer at her home in Marina del Rey, Los Angeles aged 80.