Hudson wasn't cast into school plays early on, because he had trouble memorizing his lines. Instead he sang in the glee club, delivered newspapers, and worked many temporary jobs to get by. He attended the same school that Charlton Heston and Ann-Margret. After his days at New Trier High School, Hudson worked for the postal service then served in World War II as a Navy airplane mechanic. In 1946 Hudson moved to Los Angeles but was rejected from the University of Southern California's theatre department because of bad grades, so he worked as a truck driver for a few years before he met Henry Willson and started his career in film.

For his performance in Giant, based the novel by Edna Ferber, co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, at the Oscars along with Dean, Hudson was nominated for Best Actor. Hudson also played in A Farewell To Arms, based on Ernest Hemingway's novel. He starred in many bedroom comedies with Doris day, and in 1971 acted in his own television series McMillan and Wife, then in 1981 appeared many times in "Dynasty." Sadly, by that time he had been infected with the AIDS virus. Hudson kept his homosexuality covert throughout most of his career, but went out of his way with his partner Marc Christian in downtown Los Angeles so they could meet Michael Jackson during his filming of Thriller in 1983. Hudson ashes were buried at sea after he was cremated. He died on October 2, 1985, but is still remembered as the great romantic leading man of the 1950s and 1960s, and is one of the first major Hollywood celebrities to die of AIDS.