Linda Evans Kisses and Tells

Former Dynasty star Linda Evans says she learned a lot from the passionate on-screen kiss she shared with Rock Hudson shortly before his AIDS-related death in 1985.

"I found it to be a very good time in my life because I got to see who people were," Evans recalls on her upcoming Lifetime Intimate Portrait (June 26, 7 pm/ET). "People started staying away from me. People wouldn't hug me anymore."

Although the late Hudson managed to hide his illness from his Dynasty co-workers prior to the infamous kissing scene, Evans recalls that there was something unusual about the way the secretive actor carried out the smooch. "When we did the scene he was very timid with me," she says. "As a result of it, they reshot it because they said it wasn't passionate enough. And later, when I found out that he had AIDS, I understood how much he tried to protect me."

Dynasty costume designer Nolan Miller recalls that everyone on the set was frightened for Evans after it was revealed that Hudson had AIDS, but the actress herself remained calm. "I never thought I could catch it," Evans says. "In my mind, I felt fine. But there were enough people saying to me 'You have to take a test' that, of course, I had to take a test."

Looking back, Dynasty executive producer Aaron Spelling says he never would have allowed the kissing scene if he had known about Hudson's condition. "There was never any suspicion," he says.