'McMillan & Wife' TV Stars Susan Saint James and John Schuck Share Happy Memories of Rock Hudson

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[Note: Unless otherwise indicated, the commentary and quotes in this article are from interviews the author conducted with those mentioned.]

Introducing McMillan & Wife

In the 1970s, McMillan & Wife was a dramedy-mystery TV series that alternated with Columbo, McCloud and other popular mysetry shows on the NBC Sunday Night Mystery Movie.

The series featured former big-screen icon Rock Hudson (who died in 1985) as Stewart "Mac" McMillan, a San Francisco police commissioner; Susan Saint James as his wife Sally, and John Schuck as his right hand Sargent Charles Enright, and Nancy Walker (who died in 1992) as the McMillan's wisecracking housekeeper Mildrid.

McMillan & Wife boded well for Hudson's television debut, after years on the big screen with movies like Giant (1956), co-starring Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean (for which he earned his lone Oscar nomination), and Pillow Talk (1959), starring Doris Day — his two personal favorites among his films.

Like Hudson, Day found fame on a hit TV series (The Doris Day Show, CBS, 1968–1974), while their interplay in the movies — which also included Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers — presaged, to some extent, his interactions with Saint James on McMillan & Wife.

Susan's Warm Memories of Rock

Susan Saint James once recalled working with Rock Hudson. "Rock's big strength was romantic comedies," she said. "That's what he did best. All of those movies he did with Doris Day were my favorites growing up, and I just fell into that with him on McMillan & Wife. We both just loved doing romantic comedy. They're fun to do, and I had no trouble looking lovingly at Rock Hudson. I mean, he was a matinee idol!"

Additionally, Saint James credited Hudson's "very light-hearted" manners. "He didn't bring doom or gloom" to any set he worked on or character he portrayed. "He'd let his agent negotiate the details of things like what time he wanted to leave for the day. But if it was a big scene and it was late, he would stay to complete the day's work. We became good friends. He was easy-going and funny. I have outtakes from the show on 16mm film which are hysterical. We all were happy, and we just clicked."

Shuck's Fond Recollections of Hudson

According to once John Schuck once observed, "The Rock [Hudson] that I knew was generous. I distinctly remember him looking at me one day and asking, 'Do you have a musical instrument?' I said, 'Well, growing up I had a piano, and I had always wanted another one.' He said, 'Let's go buy a piano.'"

As Schuck continued to relay, one week later, Hudson took him to lunch and "over to Beverly Boulevard where he helped me pick out a little baby grand, which I had for thirty years. What made him do that? I have no idea. It was out of the blue. That was the kind of person he was."

For Schuck, working with Hudson on McMillan & Wife was a more than poisitive experience. "Rock created a marvelous atmosphere," he said. "We had a very happy set. He treated everybody as peers. There was no star crap going on, or any of that stuff. He set the tone. If there was any single reason why the show succeeded, it was because of the joy and ease he brought to the set. He loved the show. He really did. The strength of our show was the chemistry between the actors...the relationships that we all had together off-screen. There was a genuine affection that just crept through on-screen."