Susan Saint James confides that kissing Rock Hudson on the set of the hit TV series McMillan & Wife never felt like a hardship. “We were kissing all the time, and it was fun,” she tells Closer, calling her late co-star “engaging, wonderful, friendly and sexy.”
During his decades in Hollywood, Rock made many friends, but Susan, who played his wife, Sally, for five seasons on the police procedural, enjoyed a special relationship with the Hollywood icon. “We had so much fun,” she says. “From the day I met him, I can’t remember a time when he was ever unpleasant.”
Rock’s long movie career included westerns, war pictures and dramas, but he always excelled at romantic comedies. McMillan & Wife, which joined the rotating NBC Mystery Movie series in 1971, played to the matinee idol’s best strengths by combining a whodunit crime with comedy and romance. Rock and Susan played witty, bantering couple Mac and Sally McMillan, who solved cases between fashionable parties and gala benefits. “It was glamorous and sort of rom- commy,” says Susan, 77.
The actress won the role of Sally after a lunch meeting with Rock, reportedly beating out other future stars, including Diane Keaton and Jill Clayburgh, for the part. “Years later, I asked Rock why he picked me,” Susan recalls. “He said, ‘I was getting so fat from having lunch with actresses that I just decided to go with you!’” Of course, Rock was joking.
LAUGHTER ON THE SET
This story is from the April 15, 2024 edition of Closer US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 15, 2024 edition of Closer US.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MY LIFE IN 10 Pictures
GROWING UP in Delmar, New York, Eva Marie Saint didn’t dream of becoming an actress.
A Hollywood TRAILBLAZER
THE SILVER SCREEN'S FIRST CHINESE-AMERICAN STAR REFUSED TO PLAY SECOND-CLASS ROLES
I'm Filled WITH JOY
THE NEWLYWED ACTRESS AND BROADWAY STAR IS GRATEFUL FOR THE LOVE AND SERENITY SHE’S FOUND IN HER LIFE
I'm Having A PARTY!
The Wilson Phillips singer shares life lessons and details about her new cooking show
From Rags to RICHES
THIS NORTH CAROLINA FARM GIRL NEVER DREAMED SHE’D BECOME AN ICON
5 TIPS FOR A BETTER NIGHT'S SLEEP
GETTING GOOD REST IS CRUCIAL FOR A HEALTHY BODY AND MIND, SO DON’T SKIMP ON SHUT-EYE
Man of Many Parts
It's more than just a guy thing. Loosely based on a true story, director Richard Linklater's latest pic, Hit Man, follows the antics of Gary Johnson, an adjunct professor who inconceivably finds himself going undercover for the police as a fake assassin - donning disguise after disguise to entrap a string of would-be clients.
SUMMER at Kate's
THE YOUNG FAMILY HOPES TO CREATE LIFELONG MEMORIES THIS SEASON
Memories of our LEGENDARY DADS
THE CHILDREN OF THESE FAMOUS FATHERS SHARE SWEET STORIES WITH CLOSER
NEIL PATRICK HARRIS MY LIFE IN 10 Pictures
GROWING UP in Ruidoso, New Mexico, Neil Patrick Harris \"always loved entertaining and entertainment.\" But, in his hometown, he quips, \"there were not a lot of artistic outlets aside from howlingcoyote paintings and making bolo ties.\"