11. Studio moguls arranged marriages to keep the sexual preference of their stars hidden from their fans
Jean Acker was a Hollywood star from the onset of the silent era until the 1950s. A former vaudeville star, Acker moved to Hollywood in 1919, and although she had several roles in silent films her performances and her fan base did not seem to justify her then princely salary of $200 per week. Her relationship with Alla Nazimova, another silent film actress of considerable influence, was the source of her contracts, and the studio took steps to prevent wagging tongues from revealing the lesbian relationship between the two. In order to do so, Acker was married in accordance with studio fiat, to a struggling but promising young male star by the name of Rudolf Valentino. Reportedly, Acker fled her new husband on their wedding night, seeking solace with Alla, and the marriage with Valentino was never consummated.
The practice of ensuring movie stars appeared to be involved in heterosexual relationships became critical after the imposition of the Hays Code, and continued until well into the 1960s. Some believe it continues to this day. Actor Rock Hudson married Phyllis Gates in 1955, reportedly urged to do so by studio moguls to protect his career, and then engaged on a career of infidelities and same-sex relationships which the studios struggled to keep quiet. They were divorced in 1958 and Hudson never remarried, for years being the subject of speculation in the growing tabloid markets. Hudson relied on the public’s distrust of the salacious speculation among the grocery store papers for years before his true sexual orientation was revealed after his death from AIDS in 1985.