Ellen DeGeneres outed herself in public, making it very difficult to ignore for people who care about such things. It is not enough that everybody knows, as in your example of Rock Hudson---it not only has to stare everybody in the face, but everybody must realize that it is staring everybody else in the face as well. What has the gossip about Tom Cruise done to his "acting" career? Sadly, absolutely nothing.

It now occurs to me, however, that in the case of David Peel a statement of his was cited earlier in this thread that does come close to his openly revealing his preferences himself. I nevertheless still have a problem believing that fear of public outrage on the part of Hammer was a significant factor in the way his career turned out.