Henry Leroy Willson was an American Hollywood talent agent who played a large role in developing the beefcake craze of the 1950s.
11 Facts About Henry Willson
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Henry Willson was known for his stable of young, attractive clients, including Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Chad Everett, Robert Wagner, Nick Adams, Guy Madison, Kerwin Mathews, Troy Donahue, Mike Connors, Rory Calhoun, John Saxon, Yale Summers, Clint Walker, Doug McClure, Dack Rambo, Ty Hardin, and John Derek.
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Henry Willson noticed Rhonda Fleming as she was walking to Beverly Hills High School, brought her to the attention of David O Selznick, and helped groom her for stardom.
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Henry Willson came in close contact with many Broadway theatre, opera, and vaudeville performers.
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Henry Willson later attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, spending weekends in Manhattan, where he wrote weekly gossip columns for Variety.
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In 1933, Henry Willson traveled to Hollywood by steamship via the Panama Canal.
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Henry Willson was introduced to Julia Turner, a Hollywood High School student, in 1937, whom he renamed "Lana Turner" and got cast in small roles, finally introducing her to Mervyn LeRoy at Warner Bros.
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Henry Willson placed Guy Madison, Craig Stevens, and John Derek in small supporting roles.
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Henry Willson's most prominent client was Rock Hudson, whom he transformed from a clumsy, naive, Chicago-born truck driver named Roy Scherer into one of Hollywood's most popular leading men.
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In 1955, Confidential magazine threatened to publish an expose about Hudson's secret gay life, and Henry Willson disclosed information about Rory Calhoun's years in prison and Tab Hunter's arrest at a gay party in 1950 in exchange for the tabloid not printing the Hudson story.
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Henry Willson is portrayed by Jim Parsons in the 2020 Netflix miniseries Hollywood, a counterfactual re-imagining of post World War II Hollywood.