At seven, George, a small boy, stood beside the piano, clenching his fists. “I hate it!” he shouted defiantly through gritted teeth.

“You must practice,” Mrs. Alice Nader told her son firmly. “To learn, you must practice.” One hour of daily practice was the rule. For a good musical foundation, this was not excessive. But to George, it was time that could be better spent swimming, reading, or just looking at trees and dogs.

The Nader home—Spanish-style with a red tile roof—was located right in the heart of Los Angeles, but George had no interest in such things. School occupied his time. That is, school and music lessons and Christmas and vacations and going to the beach. His happiest memories are of the family beach home at Playa Del Rey, which is on the ocean just south of Santa Monica.

Venice, a nearby town modeled after the Italian city, was once a maze of man-made canals filled with various marine craft. George fondly remembers the water locks: “I used to hang around there for hours.” The librarian at the Venice Public Library knew him well.

George, an only child, never felt lonely. “My mother was one of seven, so I had plenty of cousins to play with. We often gathered at my grandparents' big old house on Menlo Street. Christmas was magical. We all went to Grandfather Scott’s, head of the Cudahy Packing Company. The table was laden with beef, ham, and turkey. Grandma spent days baking pastries, pies, cookies, and fruitcakes, refusing any help. We kids ate until we ached.”

After he graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Theatre Arts he felt that he was ready for Hollywood. But Hollywood did not seem to be ready for George.

Miller had intended to go to New York to study opera but abandoned his plans in order to stay in California and help Nader launch his career. Miller took various jobs, including working as a carhop and a shoe salesman, in order to provide income while Nader established himself as an actor.

But finally, a break came. Mrs. Loretta Crain—actress Jeanne Crain’s mother—had seen him acting at the Pasadena Playhouse in Williams’ The Glass Menagerie. Convinced that he had potential, she got Jeanne interested as well. Together, they arranged a screen-test for The Glass Menagerie (20th Century Fox, 1950) with Colleen Townsend. He felt he had done a good job but wasn't signed. His spirit was not broken.

In January of 1951, Hudson was introduced to actor George Nader and his partner, Mark Miller. For the next thirty-four years, the three would be virtually inseparable. A seemingly endless parade of lovers, short-term boyfriends, and one-nighters would pass through Rock’s life, but Nader and Miller managed to provide him with something more enduring—a sense of continuity and a kind of surrogate family.

When they offered him a small part in Take Care of My Little Girl (20th Century Fox, Jul 6. 1951), he accepted it. He worked exactly two days at a minimum salary of $125 a day. After a few more minor parts, he met a TV casting director named Ralph Acton, and his career really began to take off.

By 1952 Nader was successful enough that Miller began working as his business manager. Nader played bit roles in Hollywood films, played in a TV show pilot opposite Celeste Holm  in 1950, his first film was Rustlers on Horseback (Republic, Oct 23. 1950) and his first major film, Monsoon (United Artist, Nov 1952).

This led to several unbilled roles in a handful of movies that attracted the attention of director Phil Tucker who signed Nader for the lead in the infamous 3D thriller Robot Monster (aka Monsters from the Moon and Monster From Mars) (Astor Pictures, Jun 10. 1953). Shot in only four days for a mere sixteen thousand dollars, it took in over a million dollars in its first run but also earned the dubious distinction of being named one of the fifty worst movies in history. It has become a cult classic.

When Nader starred with Loretta Young on her TV show Letter to Loretta  (NBC, Sep 20. 1953 - Feb 26. 1961, min. 8), he was showered with fan mail, and Loretta signed him up for several more shows, - a record on her program.

Nader and Miller would provide important support to Hudson, particularly in his final battle against AIDS, from which he died in 1985. Miller said they were called 'The Trio' but they never had sex and it was pure friendship, fueled by stories about each other's conquests. Hudson left most of his estate to Nader and Miller.

Only in 1986 after the dead of Rock Hudson, Nader and Miller outed themselves. Miller said being outed wasn't the trio's greatest worry. When Rock died, with all the publicity, George and Miller said, "Well, they've outed us as gay, but not as Republicans." They believed that could hurt their career worse than being gay in Hollywood.

Nader and Miller recently completed a book called The Perils of Paul, about the gay community in Hollywood, which he did not want to be published until after his death.

Mark and George returned to Palm Springs before making a move to the Hawaiian Islands until, as he put it, "the beauty and majesty" of the Coachella Valley called them back to make it their permanent home. They appeared to lead relatively quiet lives in the home they had built together. 

Right: In April 2000 Nader was honored with a Jerry Cotton film retrospective in Titisee-Neustadt, Germany.

Nader's last public appearance was at the 1st Annual Palm Springs Film Noir Festival in May 2001 where he received a standing ovation following the screening of the British film Nowhere to Go, co-starring Maggie Smith.