Rites to Be Held at Hudson Home

A private memorial service for Rock Hudson will be held Oct. 19 at the actor’s Beverly Hills home, it was announced Wednesday.

Chen Sam, spokeswoman for actress Elizabeth Taylor, who chairs the foundation set up to combat AIDS the week before Hudson died of the disease, said the service will “celebrate and share memories of Rock Hudson.”

The service will be attended by 150 people by invitation only, Sam said. The guest list was not disclosed.

Since Hudson’s death Oct. 2, controversy has arisen over whether the actor was aware not only that his disease had become public knowledge but also of how involved he was, given the advanced state of his illness, in AIDS fund-raising activities announced in his name.

Most of the controversy stemmed from statements attributed to Ross Hunter, a friend of Hudson’s and the producer of several of his movies, in an article by syndicated columnist Marilyn Beck after the actor died.

Beck quoted Hunter, who had visited Hudson during his final weeks, as saying of Hudson: “Ninety-five percent of the time he wasn’t lucid.” He was also quoted as saying Hudson “knew nothing” about the statements attributed to him.

In an interview this week, however, Hunter said he meant only to refer to Hudson’s behavior with him personally, not with others.

“See, I wasn’t there most of the time,” he said. “How would I know?”