Reagan Phones Hudson; Actor’s Health a Mystery

Rock Hudson got a phone call at the American Hospital in Paris on Wednesday from an old Hollywood friend--President Reagan--amid conflicting signals from here and abroad regarding Hudson’s medical condition.

Reagan telephoned the 59-year-old actor on Wednesday afternoon and “Rock Hudson told the President he feels good,” Assistant White House Press Secretary Mark Weinberg said. They had a “brief conversation.”

Weinberg’s account seemed to call into question a report from Hudson’s Los Angeles publicist Tuesday that the 59-year-old actor is “in and out of a coma.”

Reagan, recovering from an operation for colon cancer July 13, called Hudson “to wish him well,” Weinberg added, and told Hudson that “he and Mrs. Reagan were thinking of him.”

In Paris, it was reported that Hudson’s only visitor Wednesday was his secretary, Mark Miller, who told waiting reporters that “he looks wonderful” and is “much better.” In Los Angeles, Hudson’s publicist Dale Olson said the actor “even managed a joke or two” with Miller.

However, Olson appeared to be sticking to his disclosure Tuesday that Hudson was suffering from inoperable liver cancer. “I am convinced that that is true,” Olson told The Times on Wednesday morning. Later he revealed that he got his information on the actor’s condition Tuesday morning from Miller and that it was “confirmed” by Wally Sheft, Hudson’s business manager in New York. Neither Miller nor Sheft could be reached for comment.

Olson’s response came after Bruce Redor, an American Hospital spokesman, said Hudson does not have liver cancer. “As far as we know that report (of liver cancer) is false,” Redor said on the “CBS Morning News” on Wednesday, “and it certainly wasn’t given by the doctors at the American Hospital in Paris.”

Later, Redor’s assistant told the Associated Press that Hudson was hospitalized for fatigue and general malaise.

Redor told United Press International that it would “take some time” before statements on Hudson’s condition could be made. “It’s not a French tradition to spill the beans. We are not going to have five doctors on a podium to announce it like Reagan’s did. . . .”

Meanwhile, a team of medical specialists was examining data from a battery of medical tests. There were also reports that he was seen by a neurologist. Hudson was rushed to the hospital after collapsing at a Paris hotel Sunday night.

The actor, who has made 62 movies over four decades and became one of Hollywood’s top box-office leading men, last made a public appearance July 15 in Carmel to promote a cable TV show for Doris Day. The 6-foot-4 actor appeared to have lost a lot of weight, which dramatically altered his appearance.

His Second Trip

Hudson’s current trip to Paris was apparently his second there for medical reasons. Three Beverly Hills doctors, including Hudson’s personal physician, Rexford Kennamer, said Wednesday, “Doctors have no statement to make regarding Mr. Hudson’s condition other than to confirm that he went to Paris as a follow-up to a previous visit at the Pasteur Institute.”

A secretary at the doctor’s office declined to say when the first visit occurred--or why. Pasteur is considered a leading international facility in research on acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The disease destroys the body’s immune system, leaving victims vulnerable to other diseases.

In Paris, an unnamed spokesman for American Hospital was quoted as saying, “We are conducting tests for AIDS, but if any American patient who came here was found to have AIDS he would be sent back to the United States.”

The AP reported that on Wednesday morning hospital official Joyce Gray said tests at American Hospital had failed to reveal the cause of Hudson’s illness; in the evening Gray said she was not at liberty to say anything further.

In Los Angeles, Olson set up--and minutes later canceled--a Thursday-morning press conference billed to clear up the conflicting reports on Hudson’s condition. Late Wednesday, Olson’s office said there would be a statement today.