The True Story of a Hollywood Predator

I suppose, reading the title you image a sweet young girl in a producer’s officer, being forced to have sex to get that role.

There was a vicious predator in Hollywood, who required sex before taking on the client or sending an actor to a casting.

This was the practice of Henry Willson.  His victims weren’t women.  They were men.   Young men.

Some may have been gay, but some were not.   The bottom line was that if a young man came into contact with Willson and didn’t comply, ‘ he would never work in this town.’

That was the power of Henry Willson.

Henry displayed his orientation very early so his father after trying various methods to ‘straighten’ him gave up.
It wasy agreed that Henry would go away.

Henry decided to go to Hollywood. He went on a cruise ship on which Bing Crosby and his wife Dixie Lee were passengers.  He ingratiated himself into a friendship with Dixie.  She promised to introduce him to the elite and obtained a job for him at Photoplay; which was a major Celebrity publication.

In a short time, Willson was  writing for The Hollywood Reporter and The New Movie Magazine.  He then found his bailiwick when he became a junior agent at the Joyce & Polimer Agency, which dealt with actors.

Willson’s father, happy to be rid of him,  purchased a house in Beverly Hills.

Now, he was set.   With his job, his house, and his contacts, Henry Willson became the scourge of Sunset Strip gay bars.

Although he had a few female clients, he used his position to seduce men.

he first film Willson cast was the World War II drama Since You Went Away with Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, and Shirley Temple.  However, he also cast three of his lovers,  Guy Madison, Craig Stevens, and John Derek  in small supporting roles as ‘payment’.

Many writers have echoed the statement made by Richard Barrios; “Talent agent Henry Willson… had a singular knack for discovering and renaming young actors whose visual appeal transcended any lack of ability. Under his tutelage, Robert Mosely became Guy Madison, Arthur Gelien was changed to Tab Hunter, and Roy Fitzgerald turned into Rock Hudson.”

Rock Hudson was Willson’s main money churner.

Henry Willson exploited young attractive males for nearly thirty years. There was only one way to get into pictures.

His reign ended in the late sixties.   By then, he Willson was a drug addict, an alcoholic.   Destitute he moved into the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital, where he remained until he died of cirrhosis of the liver.

He was interred in an unmarked grave, in Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery, in North Hollywood, California.