‘Pillow Talk’ Secrets From the Set: Why Rock Hudson Wasn’t ‘Sure About Doing a Comedy’ and More

One of Pillow Talk’s most memorable scenes uses a split screen to show Doris Day and Rock Hudson having a flirty conversation on the phone while in the bath. Both characters are in their own apartments, but the visual trick makes it appear as if they are speaking to each other from opposite ends of the same tub.

While tame by today’s standards, Universal Pictures deemed the scene too sexually suggestive and nearly cut it from the film. And that wasn’t the only problem Pillow Talk had getting to the silver screen — even the title was thought to be too suggestive! At one point, the fifth-highest-grossing film of 1959 that brought Doris her only Oscar nomination, was going to be renamed Any Way the Wind Blows.

In the film, career girl Jan Morrow and womanizer Brad Allen share a party line and take an instant dislike to each other when Jan repeatedly overhears Brad using the same tired act to seduce different women. After spying beautiful Jan dancing at a nightclub, Brad decides he’d like to make her his next conquest and pretends to be a gentleman from Texas to win her over — which leads to consequences neither of them could anticipate.

Rock’s career was at a crossroads after the commercial disappointment of 1957’s A Farewell to Arms, but he turned down the Pillow Talk script three times. “We almost didn’t do it because it was too dirty,” he confessed. Doris, whose husband Marty Melcher was one of the film’s producers, talked Rock into the role over lunch at their Beverly Hills home. “He wasn’t sure about doing a comedy, because he’d never done one before,” Pierre Patrick, a friend of the late actress, tells Closer. Doris always felt Pillow Talk’s witty dialogue and sophisticated comedy would find an audience. “I was crazy about that script,” she said. “And I loved the clothes, and I loved working with Rock for the first time.”

Rock Hudson and Doris Day Became Fast Friends

The film’s stars became fast friends almost immediately. Rock nicknamed Doris “Eunice Blotter,” and “Maude.” She started calling him “Ernie” or “Harold” — which was Rock’s real middle name. “It was magic between the two of them,” says Patrick. “They laughed together all the time and that translated on screen.”

Tony Randall, who played the man in the middle of Jan and Brad, rounded out the cast. He helped Rock become more comfortable doing comedy by encouraging him to watch his own dailies. “He discovered, with delight, that he had a real flair for comedy,” remembered Tony. “He came alive in it. He couldn’t contain his smile. He was bubbling. He began to have fun and the results are magical.”

Released in October 1959, Pillow Talk became a huge hit. It revived the romantic comedy, which had been overshadowed by historical epics, war films and westerns, and began a new chapter in both stars’ careers. Rock received some of the best reviews of his life with frequent comparisons to Clark Gable and Cary Grant. The film also helped Doris finally leave behind her virginal girl-next-door persona. “Being nominated for an Oscar for my role in Pillow Talk was a very pleasant surprise,” said Doris. “Most importantly, Rock and I became dear friends and that is something I will always cherish.”