Unknown to the public, Hudson was diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984, just three years after the existence of HIV and AIDS had been discovered by scientists.

Over the next several months, Hudson kept his illness a secret traveling to France and other countries seeking a cure.

Hudson flew back to Los Angeles on July 30 and returned to his home, ‘The Castle’, in Beverly Hills for private hospice care.

At around 9:00 am on the morning of October 2, 1985, Hudson died in his sleep from AIDS-related complications at his home

As wealthy Texas rancher Jordan ‘Bick’ Benedict Jr. in the movie Giant, he traveled to Maryland to buy a horse, meets and marries Leslie after a whirlwind romance.

They return to Texas to start their life together on the family ranch, Reata, where Bick’s older sister Luz runs the household. Leslie meets Jett Rink, a local handyman, and he becomes infatuated with her.

Jett receives a small piece of land on the Benedict ranch. Bick, who despises Jett, tries to buy back the land, but Jett refuses to sell. Jett makes the land his home and names it Little Reata.

After discovering oil within a footprint left by Leslie, Jett begins digging and strikes oil on his land.

Then drives to the Benedict house, covered in crude, to proclaim to the Benedicts that he will be richer than them.

Jett makes a pass at Leslie, and this leads to a brief fistfight with Bick before he drives off.

The Benedicts stop at a diner. The racist owner, Sarge, insults Juana and her and Jordy’s son Jordan IV.

When the owner goes on to eject a Mexican family from the diner, Bick tells Sarge to leave them alone.

Bick fights Sarge, who beats him up, but then takes down the sign and tosses it on top of Bick.

Leslie replies that, after the fight in the diner, he was her hero for the first time, and that she considers their own family legacy a success.