Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson on Rock Hudson: “I find his life heartbreaking”

There’s a pretty nice profile on Cheyenne Jackson in today’s Los Angeles Times which suggests that the tall, dark and handsome out Broadway star would be an ideal choice to play the late closeted movie star Rock Hudson.

“I’d love to play Rock Hudson,” Jackson says in the article. “I find fascinating this idea of having to create a totally different persona than who you are. He obviously made the best choices he could at the time but I find his life heartbreaking.”

Hudson was one of Hollywood’s biggest matinee idols and also 0ne of its most famous closet cases. He starred in such films as Giant, Pillow Talk and Magnificent Obsession before segueing into television with the long-running hit McMillan and Wife.

Jackson’s film career has been fairly modest with a role in United 93 but he has soared on Broadway where he is currently starring in the musical Finian’s Rainbow. He also has a new CD out with Michael Feinstein called The Power of Two and has landed a recurring role on NBC’s 30 Rock.

I just love this quote Jackson gives about being an open book about his sexuality: “I know people like mystery and I try, I really do. At the start of rehearsals, I’ll look at someone sitting in the corner, dark, brooding and mysterious. And I’ll say to myself, ‘This time out, I’m going to be like him.’ But by lunchtime, I’m ‘La, la, la, la, la!’ ” and along with those falsetto notes, Jackson does a high kick that would do a Rockette proud.