Semi-famous actors who died of AIDS

Stephen W. Burns made a potentially promising film debut in the last (and worst) of the initial Herbie films, “Herbie Goes Bananas” (1980), replaced Mark Harmon in the last 3 episodes of the LA paramedics TV series “240 Robert” (1981) and, in the role that probably brought him his biggest exposure, played Jack Cleary, one of Meggie’s brothers, in the classic miniseries “The Thorn Birds” (1983). He died at age 35 in 1992.

Timothy Patrick Murphy is best known of his portrayal of the doomed Mickey Trotter – Ray’s nephew and a love interest for Lucy before he’s paralyzed in a car accident with Sue Ellen – in the ’82-83 season of “Dallas”; in 1984, he played the title role in “Sam’s Son,” Michael Landon’s semi-autobiographical TV movie about his youth and his struggles with his family. A starring role in the short-lived prime-time soap “Glitter” (1984-85) followed, as did guest spots on “The Love Boat” and “Hotel.” He died of AIDS at age 29 in 1989; he claimed to have had an affair with actor Brad Davis, who himself contracted AIDS and committed suicide in 1991. (Tragically for the Murphy family, his younger brother Patrick Sean Murphy died in the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.)

Tom McBride is probably best-remembered as one of the more famous unfortunate victims of Jason Voorhees: in “Friday the 13th Part II” (1981), he played Mark, the wheelchair-bound camp counselor who gets a machete in the face. He also did commercials and displayed his fine body in some arty photogs. He documented his slow death from AIDS in the documentary “Life and Death on the A List” (1996); he died the same year.

Lenny Baker, star of Next Stop, Greenwich Village, died of cancer which was caused by AIDS in 1982. He was only 37 years old.

Pic of Lenny Baker:

Dack Rambo. I loved Paper Dolls as a kid.

Handsome Paul Keenan best known from his work on "Days of Our Lives" and "Dynasty" is notable in that he was one of the first actors to admit he was suffering from AIDS and was gay, rather than trying to cover it up.

Died in December 11, 1986 the day after his 31st birthday.

Nellie's Husband on Little House on the Prairie.

I had such a crush on both of them, R6.

Leonard Frey was a gifted comic actor who could do drama as well. He had wonderful timing which I remember best in a Mary Tyler Moore Show episode in which he played the only student who shows up for Ted Baxter's Famous School of Broadcasting.

He also did a lot of Broadway, with a featured role in the original Fiddler on the Roof and later in the movie.

He died in 1988 at age 49 of complications from AIDS.

Here's a clip from the MTM episode. He begins at 3:50.

Gorgeous German hunk Amadeus August - died in 1992 at age 50.

Ian Charleson from Chariots of Fire.

Denholm Elliott wouldn't be famous to most Americans, right? Ian Charleson. Kenny Everett.

And then there's that other role we remember Leonard Frey for, R10:

People in the US know Denholm Elliott from Indiana Jones and "A Room with a View."

[quote] Amadeus August

This is quite possibly the gayest name ever.

Leonard Frey was so much more attractive than I thought he'd be out of his "Boys in the Band" makeup.

r10--how can you POSSIBLY have left out mention of Frey as Harold in "The Boys in the Band"?

Merritt Buttrick, Kirk's son David in Star Trek II/II, died at age 30 in 1989.

*Peter Evans, 38, May 20, 1989, Versatile actor praised for his lead role in "Children of a Lesser God"

*Ian Charleson, 40, January 6, 1990, The Scottish actor who costarred in the 1981 "Chariots of Fire"

*Leonard Fray, 49, August 24, 1988, Motel the tailor in the stage and film versions of "Fiddler on the Roof"

*Larry Kert, 60, June 5, 1991, The singer and actor who played Tony in Broadway's "West Side Story"

Charles Ludlam, 44, May 28, 1987, Actor-playwright-director in his post-absurdist theater of the Ridiculous

Cookie Mueller, 40, November 10, 1989, Actress in John Waters's "Pink Flamingoes"; Details magazine art critic

Larry Riley, 59, June 6, 1992, The actor who played Frank Williams on CBS's "Knots Landing"

Craig Russell, 42, October 30, 1990, Flamboyant entertainer and impersonator of Mae West, Judy Garland

Jack Smith, 57, September 18, 1989, Performance artist and maker of the 1963 film "Flaming Creatures"

Barry Robins, 41, April 1, 1986, Lead in “Bless the Beasts and the Children”

Rémi Laurent, 32, 14 November 1989, the son in 1978 film La Cage aux Folles

R1. Damn he was purty.

Look here

Wow OP. Amazing!

I just saw IF.... again for the first time in years and thought the same thing: Richard Warwick was so handsome. And I was thinking exactly what you were thinking. I had to go to IMDB to find out what happened to him.

When I saw that movie for the first time--I was about 14 or so--I remember having crush on him, and then when he has that scene where he's in bed with the cute blonde Bobby Phillips, my heart nearly exploded.

Broadway power tenor David Carroll, OBC star of Chess and Grand Hotel

And then there's Brad Davis, though he's probably more than just semi-famous

Tom Villard--You may remember him from 2 GG episodes (one where they are on vacation) or the movies One Crazy Summer and My Girl.

November 14, 1994, Los Angeles, CA

"V" as in "Vampire" Villard, R25.

They say Brad Davis got Aids from a needle transfusion ?

Shame about drag queen Craig "Outrageous" Russell

Larry Kert, with Liza in "New York New York"

English actor Ian Charleson was getting well-known and had just played Hamlet before he died. He was very blonde (I saw him on stage a few times).

I actually knew Richard Warwick - slightly, he used to frequent a gay bar (The Colherne - now gone) my gang used to drink in at Earls Court, back in the early 80s, so we got chatting a few times, and almost picked each other up once, but something came up and it didnt happen. He always had his bicycle with him. He was in lots of films around then, and is naked in "The Breaking of Bumbo" with the lovely fragrant Joanna Lumley in 1970.

Robert Drivas - interesting young American actor, also naked in "The Illustrated Man" with Rod Steiger, and in "Where Its At" with David Janssson and DL fave Brenda Vacarro, he also had a small part in "Cool Hand Luke".

Tony Perkins too.

Paul Shenar

Prolific character actor: portrayed Orson Welles in The Night That Panicked America, as well as drug lord Alejandro Sosa in Scarface. Was also on a ton of TV shows like The Bionic Woman (the haunted house episode where Kristy McNichol is his daughter).

Died in 1989.

Howard Rollins he played Virgil Tibbs in "In The Heat Of The Night" tv series. He died in 1996 from AIDS related Lymphoma.

Shenar had a great speaking voice. He was rumored to have had a relationship with Frank Langella.

The handsome Tom Fuccello, who played Sen. Dave Culver on "Dallas." August 16, 1993.

[quote]Merritt Buttrick, Kirk's son David in Star Trek II/II, died at age 30 in 1989.

Let's not forget he was also Johnny Slash on "Square Pegs," with a very young SJP.

It's traumatic for me to read these. For the most part I remember reading each of these in the newspaper at the time. I moved to NYC as an 18 year-old in 1981, coinciding with the official beginning of the AIDS epidemic. I'm shocked to be alive, but I feel I must never forget the fucking tragic shit show it was, nor the beautiful lives cut so short. Never.

Sexy as fuck Terry Lester, the original (and only as far as I'm concerned) Jack in Y&R.

David Oliver, appeared on "Another World" from 1983 to 1985, then landed a role in the acclaimed mini-series "A Year in the Life" (1986), playing Sarah Jessica Harper's husband, a role he reprised when it was turned into a series for the 1987-88 season. Died in 1992 at the age of 30.

David Oliver from Another World and A Year IN the Life died at 30 in 1992. Handsome, sensitive young actor. His obit at the time mentioned his companion.

Christopher Bernau: won huge acclaim (as in, some said even better than Frank Langella in Bway version) for "Dracula" in an Off-Bway "Dracula" in - late 70's (I think; NYC gays, pls correct if am wrong with dates). He also starred as rich, evil Alan Spaulding in "GL" in the late 70's and 80's. Died at 49 in 1989 - GREAT actor, so sad to lose him (used to see him around the UWS when I lived in NYC in the 80's.)

Miss Amanda Blake, tho she was a bit of a household name.

Irving Allen Lee, Joel Crothers, and Dennis Parker; all of The Edge of Night.

Thank you, R35 and R36. I still get chills. As in, right now, my shoulders. If the world were fair, he and Jamie would have been husbands.

Chris Bernau, GL's Alan Spaulding.

This is for another thread but I've wondered if part of the reason Edge of Night got cancelled is that they knew half of the male cast was about to drop dead.

Sarah Jessica Parker 'dated' Timothy Murphy, played David Oliver's wife and co-starred with Merrit Butrick. Didn't she also date Robert Downey Jr. at one time?

Just sayin

...and here they are paid tribute, r39

Bill Beyers, famous for 1980s daytime drama "Capitol", died at only 37 of AIDS in 1992.

[quote]Crothers' longtime EDGE OF NIGHT co-star, Dennis Parker (who also went by the name Wade Nichols in some porn flicks), died eight months earlier.

Interesting, never knew there were porn stars who crossed over to soaps - or vice-versa.

If there were more than a few, then I suppose it's a subject for another thread.

Thanks for that link, r44. I loved EON, and adored all three actors.

What an evil, evil tragedy AIDS wrought on our artistic community.

Stephen Stucker. Played "Johnny" in the Airplane movies. Died in 198g.

Sorry, that was to say "Died in 1986."

Ron Vawter - Supporting actor in films and member of the Wooster group. Died in 1994 at age 45

Peter Coffield — who was in a ton of TV series and TV movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s, as well as commercials. Was he the Bufferin or Anacin guy? Can't remember.

He sort of resembled Tom Irwin.

[quote]It's traumatic for me to read these.

Mary!

"They say Brad Davis got Aids from a needle transfusion ?"

He didn't get AIDS from a blood transfusion. He was a heavy drug user definitely, but he was also a sex addict. He fucked guys as well as women, so he could have easily gotten it through sexual contact. But his wife tells herself that he got it from drug use. She noticed that he spent a lot of time with gay male "friends" but just chalked it up to his being very "gay friendly." He sure was!

Another handsome British stage and tv actor Americans might not know was Geoffrey Burridge.

Swen Swenson, who introduced this number in the original Broadway production of LITTLE ME.

I always thought his fabulously sassy, florid vocal should be performed by Lypsinka.

This thread breaks my heart.

Very good thread...but r2's link was bad!

Did anyone mention Ray Sharkey?

r57, here's another pic of Timothy Patrick Murphy:

I had to look up his name admittedly, but Tom Villard - he guested on The Golden Girls last season (he was Dorothy's former student who gave her that high paying job that she quit) and he was also on Pyramid often. I remember he was on E.T. right before he died, talking about how he had to hide the fact he had AIDS and no one would hire him, etc.

is smoking a pipe bad for you

Timothy Scott, 'Mistoffelees' in the original Broadway production of "Cats", February 24, 1988.

Steven Gelfer, 'Carbucketty' in the original Broadway production of "Cats", December 26, 1988.

Reed Jones, 'Skimbleshanks, in the original Broadway production of "Cats", June 19, 1989.

Tim Scott was the "longtime companion" (that's what we called them in those days) of Norman Buckley, brother of Betty.

Daniel McDonald star of the musical Steel Pier. So handsome.

Ray Sharkey was so hot. He was a drug user and a pussyhound to the infinite power, so it's not clear how he got AIDS (though he claimed it was from sharing needles). I would not put it past him to have also got it from a guy--he was one of those guys who would fuck anything that moved.

R63 Daniel McDonald was married, had 2 kids and reportedly died of brain cancer.

Do you know something the rest of us don't?

There is nothing like a good thread like this to cheer me up.

Gene Anthony Ray

Antony Hamilton, the hottie who replaced Jon Erik Hexum on "Cover Up"

Thanks, r59.

Most depressing thread ever. But thank you for posting...

R10 and R14, Leonard Frey was not the only Boys in the Band cast member who died of AIDS. With the exception of Cliff Gorman, who died of cancer, and Laurence Luckinbill, Peter White, and Reuben Greene, who are all still living, all the BITB actors (Frey, Kenneth Nelson, Frederick Combs, Keith Prentice, and Robert LaTourneaux) were killed by AIDS.

R55, thank you for mentioning Swen Swenson; I'm old; I had the great pleasure of seeing him, 3 times, in the first touring company of "Annie" in 1977 (in San Francisco.) He played "Rooster" - GREAT dancer; great showman.

Oh, has anyone mentioned Larry Kert - though is perhaps famous, rather than semi-...

Thank you, R71.

Even more depressing: the thought of the hundreds of actors, writers, comedians, etc. who should have been famous if they hadn't been taken from the world prematurely. There's no way to measure what we lost because of their absence.

Several of A Chorus Line original cast members, too

Dry your tears! We'll always have Janet Jackson. I'll make sure of that.

Raul Julia.

Maybe.

That first guy was smoking hot.....to bad he got a dirty load. Here's another shot.

That DALLAS actor was so young and beautiful.

Thanks for that observation, r71. Your post made me look them all up, sort them out, and pay my own private homage to those acting pioneers who - perhaps with the excepton of Luckinbill - got the raw end of the deal by playing gay in a gay play/film long before it was fashionable or award-worthy.

It wasn't until Tom Hanks and Philadelphia that actors (and producers) clamored "I want an Oscar, get me a gay role!"

Broadway was more tolerant but not all that much earlier (A Chorus Line - and only nominations for the gay roles)

r74 that's pecisely what makes this thread so sad - the unfinished stories, the what ifs...

A tribute to Rock Hudson or Liberace isnt half as sad because those stars hit a home run and ten some. But most of the people mentioned here made the team, but barely got up to bat a few times.

A lot of casting directors, too.

Dexter Stuffins from Silver Spoons ( Franklyn Seals) died from AIDS. He was Alfonso Ribeiro's dad on the show.

Micheal Jeter From Evening Shade died of Aids.

Dance -- A Generation Lost

I really, truly believe that's why we have such a shitty generation of music that is so repetitive, of pop culture that keeps feeding on itself, why we have a lack of new ideas....because our beautiful artists and creators all died in the AIDS holocaust, while Reagan (and others) sat by and watched.

This guy -

R87 - Already mentioned at R48.

The 52 year old who died of AIDS in 1997. How long might he have been living with it?

The guy who played Al in the Chorus Line movie.

Peter Tramm the substitute dancer for Kevin Bacon in Footloose.

I remember as a kid getting Premiere Magazine and every year they'd have a list. It was heartbreaking and terrifying to read.

[quote]Micheal Jeter From Evening Shade died of Aids.

Emmy and Tony Winner Jeter was more than semi-famous.

[quote]A Chorus Line - and only nominations for the gay roles)

I have to correct myself here; looked it up and Sammy Williams did indeed win a Tony for playing Paul in ACL

Is this why we're such bitter old things?

Yes, I agree, Michael Jeter was more than semi-famous. But any excuse to watch this...

What a sad thread. So many folks lost and these are just the semi-famous folks. I truly hope they find a cure for this (and other) dreadful diseases. I grew up in the midst of this and was scared beyond scared to think it was something I could contract. The shame and embarrassment that was such a force for people then.

Rest in Peace.

Not an actor, but I want to add Ricky Wilson of The B-52's

Daniel McDonald had a brain tumor. No AIDS, and not gay, although he was very gay friendly. An incredibly nice man.

R78, you're a real poet. Shithead.

R90, the guy who played Al was also a longtime Solid Gold dancer who got this young gay hot week after week. He was also prominent in the Beat It video. His name was Tony Fields. Bless him.

Watched R94's video.

Sobbing at its beauty. Sobbing.

Its okay,R100,Im crying too.

Whenever I watch the movie version of "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" , I.wonder how many of those beautiful talented dancers in the football team locker room number are still with us.

Truly the loss of all of the talent and beauty from the early years of the epidemic are devastating ..... And so many in so many other important professions.

For the non-Broadway DLers, David Carroll, mentioned in R24, died in the bathroom of the BMG/RCA recording studio while attempting to record the cast album for "Grand Hotel." Worsening health forced him to drop out of the production of "Grand Hotel" six months into the show's run. He was replaced by Brent Barrett, the handsome gentleman in the video linked at R94, but managed to nab a Tony nomination for his performance. Such a huge loss of talent all around.

TOMMY: I have this tradition.

It's something I do now when a friend dies.

I save his Rolodex card.

What am I supposed to do?

Throw it away in the trash can?

I won't do that.

No, I won't.

That's too final.

Last year I had five cards.

Now I have 50.

A collection of cardboard tombstones, bound together with a rubber band.

I hate these fuckin' funerals.

I really do.

And you know what else I hate?

I hate the memorials.

That's our social life now.

Going to these things.

Nick was a choreographer.

I don't know if any of you knew that.

He was just starting out.

He didn't tell a lot of people.

He was waiting to invite you to his big debut at Carnegie Hall or some shit so we could all be proud of him.

But he was so good.

He had such promise.

We're losing an entire generation.

Young men at the beginning.

Just gone.

Choreographers, playwrights, dancers, actors.

All those plays that won't get written now.

All those dances never to be danced.

In closing, I'm just gonna say I'm mad.

I'm fuckin' mad.

I keep screaming inside,

"Why are they letting us die?"

"Why is no one helping us?"

And here's the truth.

Here's the answer.

They just don't like us.

Dennis Stewart 1994- Craterface in Grease

Yeah, that video of Michael Jeter is pure joy. If you only know him from Evening Shade, or you don't know him, the Grand Hotel clip is him at his (or anyone's) best.

R104-thank you. You made me lose it.

Both Larry Kert's and Timothy Scott's memorial services were held at the Winter Garden Theatre, theaters where they had their biggest successes.

Ron Richardson, of "Big River", as well as Howard Rollins. Jr.

R104, you should cite what you're quoting, for the baby-gays...

r75, there is a way to measure the loss of the artists who were and stars never achieved. Rap, that horrid musical wannabe skyrocketed in the 80s as a direct loss of this pool of talent. Is like when you kill the flowers and the weeds take over the garden. Such Darwinism.

What a peculiar and erroneous notion, r111. The rise of rap had nothing to do with AIDS, not to mention that rap had its AIDS deaths as well.

How unpleasant that your racism has to taint this thread.

It's not racist to hate rap.

Love R&B, love gospel, love many other areas where Blacks have made a great contribution to music.

Hate rap.

I think Terrance Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce are living with aids, which is a much better outcome.

I loved Michael Jeter in Green Mile and The Gift.

Was Ray Sharkey gay?

Ray Sharkey was so gorgeous. Not a good guy but hot.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

r114, what makes you think those three actors are living with AIDS?

I remember Dack Rambo discussing his diagnosis on some talk show when I got home from school. He said he had had sex with beautiful men and women, and had no regrets. He was really good looking.

This is heresy but "We'll Take a Glass Together" has always annoyed me. I find it too cutesy for words.

Musical theatre for anyone with a brain died with AIDS. Now it's all amusement park Disney crap with unimaginative staging.

Dennis Parker aka soap star, disco singer, and porn actor.

British actors:

Dursley McLinden

Dallas Adams

[quote]Stephen W. Burns made a potentially promising film debut in the last (and worst) of the initial Herbie films, “Herbie Goes Bananas” (1980),

Mine was worse.

r123, he made hot porn. He and his kind are the reason I have not got rid of the mountain of antique porn on VHS.

They don't make it like they used to.

R111-

That eulogy is not in the play of "THe Normal Heart". So babygays heard it at the same time you did.

Went out with him once, R126. It was awful. You think the fantasy will equal the reality. It never does.

r128, you violated rule 87 in the 1970s Gay Handbook:

87: Never date an actor. Unless you are rich enough to keep him as a sugar daddy, you will always be third or lower on their priority list.

Jeffrey Mylett, of the original cast/film version of "Godspell", died in 1986 at age 36. Merrell Jackson, who also starred in the movie version (sang a beautiful rendition of "All Good Gifts") died at 38 in 1991; cause of death was never disclosed.

Jeffrey's big number, "We Beseech Thee", which was cut from the movie version

Merrell Jackson singing "All Good Gifts"

Anton Diffring (German actor who played Nazis in many post-World War II films)

Bill Beyer, who played Wally on the soap "Capitol"

I thought I saw something about Leslie's Graves, Peter's daughter, who played Brenda on the same show, also dying of AIDS as well .... But it may have been suicide. She had been very upset by Carolyn Jones' death. But I swear I saw it once in a soap mag ...but never again.

To R119, aids face.

R133 they mention it in her IMDB bio

Seems there are some internet references to Leslie Graves cause of death. Apparently wasa heroin user.

Father was not Peter Graves though

John Hargreaves, Australian actor who was in Don's Party died of AIDS. He was gay.

R132 Anton Diffring was gay? He must have been a pushy bottom then.He was kind of an outcast in Germany as he was half Jewish. So he made his mark playing Nazis in the UK.

Ronald Reagan.

According to a 2002 interview, German actor Arthur Brauss suggested that Diffring died of AIDS.

(There is some disagreement over this, since other bios say he died of cancer from smoking.)

[quote]I don't know very much about Diffring's private life beyond the fact that he was gay . . .

[quote]The audio commentary for the Doctor Who series Silver Nemesis mentions he left Germany in 1936, as he was not enamored of fascism and further that he was a homosexual.

Of course, Brad Davis was more than semi-famous. But he obviously had a voracious appetite for sex.

Rue McClanahan wrote that Brad mowed her lawn and plowed her pussy.

Rue was an even bigger slut than Blanche.

Brad Davis was molested by his mother so his "plowing" of Rue was really just a "repetition compulsion" regarding his childhood trauma.

Gore Vidal plowed Brad Davis as well.

Gary Bond, aged 55, who died in 1995. Rather a Peter O'Toole lookalike, the good-looking actor was in lots of British movies and TV including 'Zulu', and the newly re-released 'Wake In Fright' (originally titled 'Outback') made in Australia in 1971, he was also Anne Boleyn's lover in 'Anne Of The Thousand Days'. He was linked to actor Jeremy Brett, they may have been a couple. Brett was gay after his marriage to Anna Massey.

I'm really happy that someone started this thread.

The many people lost to AIDS should never be forgotten.

Someone please help me with this one -- I'm pretty sure he died of AIDS but I'm not positive. Light-skinned black actor -- I think his first name may have been Ray? Did TV and movies-- probably '70s and '80s.

I didn't realize that BOB from "twin Peaks". (Frank Silva) died from AIDS

R148: Could you be thinking of Gene Anthony Ray?

I don't think anyone's mentioned Kevin Peter Hall:

[quote]Kevin Peter Hall was an actor famous for his roles as Dr. Elvin Lincoln in Misfits of Science (1985), the 'monsters' in Prophecy (1979), Harry and the Hendersons (1987), Predator (1987), and Predator 2 (1990). He also had guest spots on shows like Night Court and Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was frequently cast in monster roles due to his extremely tall stature—he stood 7' 2½" (2.20 m). His mother stood a top height of 6'2" and his father stood 6'6." He married 227 actress Alaina Reed in 1989 after appearing on the program. In the fall of 1990, Hall was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles and required a blood transfusion, which was later discovered to be contaminated with HIV. He contracted AIDS and died from complications related to the disease shortly afterwards. He and his wife had two children.

R150 No-- I just did a little research and found him, but it turns out he was killed by a cop. Ray Vitte was his name.

Totally agree, R122 .

Was recently in Manhattan staying with an old college friend in a hotel in Times Square; I grew up in NYC during the seventies until the mid-eighties. Saw many great musicals as a kid.

I met good people from all over while in the elevators (new technology, no buttons inside the elevator. You hit an exterior keypad with your destination floor and it routes you to one of the 14 elevators;no more sardine-cans).

Anyway, most of these people (Southerns, Mid-Westerns) just COULDN'T" WAIT to see Disney's musical, "Alladin".

I wanted to puke.

For Christ sake, I'm sure Rue was no older then Brad...you big dummy.

Whoops, sorry for the misspelling.

Sad to see that Baltimora "Tarzan Boy" and comedian Frank Maya both died of AIDS

[quote]For Christ sake, I'm sure Rue was no older then Brad...you big dummy.

Gee r154 if there was only someway to check.

She was 16 years older.

I had no idea Howard E. Rollins died of AIDS. I remember how powerful he was in "Ragtime", and he got an Oscar nomination for that, and I thought he'd have an amazing career thereafter.

Drugs got him and messed him up.

[quote]Brett was gay after his marriage to Anna Massey.

Was he gay before it?

[quote]Musical theatre for anyone with a brain died with AIDS. Now it's all amusement park Disney crap with unimaginative staging.

At least they didn't turn the New Amsterdam into a megachurch.

[quote]I had no idea Howard E. Rollins died of AIDS. I remember how powerful he was in "Ragtime", and he got an Oscar nomination for that, and I thought he'd have an amazing career thereafter.

It was sad. I remember Carrol O'Connor tried to save his job for him but he was on another planet. He started going out on location wearing a wig and women's clothes.

In contrast to his buttoned-down image on CBS' In the Heat of the Night, Rollins sometimes wore a long, startling wig of dreadlocks when he cruised the North Georgia roads last year in his maroon 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII.

[quote]Rollins was arrested three times in eight months for DUI, reckless driving and speeding, leading to jail time and intensive treatment for substance abuse. If he returns to Covington, 30 miles east of Atlanta where filming started April 28 for the seventh season of Heat of the Night, he will be arrested and almost certainly jailed.

[quote'It's a terrible curse,' Heat star Carroll O'Connor has said of what he calls his friend and co-star's substance-abuse problems. He's one of the sweetest, gentlest men I know, and one of the most gifted actors,' O'Connor told a small group of TV writers in Los Angeles earlier this year. 'I want to preserve him.'

[quote]I had no idea Howard E. Rollins died of AIDS. I remember how powerful he was in "Ragtime", and he got an Oscar nomination for that, and I thought he'd have an amazing career thereafter.

In one of entertainment's most bizarre career moves, he went straight from the Oscar nom to a role on the soap Another World.

Some might say r160 that marriage to Anna Massey would turn anyone gay - but she was a revered actress who played lots of old boots and evil spinsters.

R148, I was a friend of Gary Bond's. He was a lovely, talented man and had a wonderful partner in EJ Alexander. I remember the last time I saw him before he died I brought tapes from the US which contained episodes of Frasier. One of them was the brilliant one about a gay guy who was under the mistaken impression that Frasier was, too. EJ told me that Gary watched that episode over and over and loved it.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

Wow, thank you, r166. Had never seen that before.

[quote]Tom Villard--You may remember him from 2 GG episodes (one where they are on vacation) or the movies One Crazy Summer and My Girl.

Hasn't this thread been done?

Yes, R168.

Oh, hey there R169. I remember your story!

Does she still smoke, R166?

Hi, R170. Not for nothing, I assumed you were R25.

Not me, R172. Tom obviously touched a lot of people with his talent and honesty.

R173 He was such a neat freak. He wanted me to clean the toilet every time I used it.

Did you know his friend John from NY (also an old roommate)?

OK, that's bizarre and kind of maybe explains why when he came to pick me up for that last/aborted date he took a bath at my place. I've never had that happen before, you know, where your date shows up and asks to take a bath.

He had issues, R175. I had to move out and move on.

[quote]In one of entertainment's most bizarre career moves, he went straight from the Oscar nom to a role on the soap Another World.

Either you’re too young or your memory is failing you, but clearly you forget what it was (and in some instances, still is) like to be an actor of color in 1981. Not too many opportunities available, even with character/supporting/secondary roles.

Did Jonathon Scott Taylor die of aids. He was a serious actor but suddenly disappeared in 1988. He played Damien.

I ask at IMDb but apparently it's some big mystery.

Stephen W. Burns was gorgeous.

R168 - I guess I didn't read carefully enough because I thought I waste first to mention him, at rwhatever I was. He was also on some (I think syndicated) sitcom called We Got It Maid.

Speaking of GG, I think the black actor who served the Girls at the Diner on Xmas eve (in season 2) also died of AIDS, though I would have to look it up.

Dan Hartman, singer/musician. He had a couple of big solo hits: Instant Replay in the late 70s and I Can Dream About You in 1984. A lot of people who are familiar with his solo career don't realize that he was also part of the Edgar Winter Group in the early 70s & sang lead on their huge hit, Free Ride (which he also wrote). He died in 1994.

R181 - I had no idea about the Dan Hartman history. In fact, I didn't know that he'd died. Thanks for the info.

R39 - Joel Crothers will always be Joe Haskell from Dark Shadows in my heart. He was a fucking knockout, for me, perfectly emblematic of what was "young and handsome" in the sixties.

I'm reading this thread alongside the "People Who Lived Through the AIDS Onset" and it's been an education, tragic and moving.

Howard Rollins from In the Heat of the Night

Whoops I'm late. I didn't see how many pages it was, already mentioned obviously

I meant to post this as evidence of Joel Crothers' beauty. The other clip shows him in a bizarre scene seemingly about to shove his dick into Barnabas's mouth. I have to wonder if that was some sort of inside joke. If so, it worked on me.

Billy Preston, of Beatles fame and later a solo artist, died of AIDS. They claimed it was "kidney failure." Same thing for Ronnie Dyson, of Hair fame and later a solo artist as well, died from AIDS. They claimed it was from heart failure. During those times they just used other illnesses to cloak the real reasons but these were sexually active gay men who died young.

I loved Dan Hartman's Instant Replay and remember Billy Preston well from The Beatles era - didnt realise they had died of Aids.

What about Jim Henson? I've always wondered.

IMDb has a sortable database entitled "Most Popular Males Who Died Of "aids." The initial sort is by something called "STARmeter" with Rock Hudson heading the list. Sadly almost six hundred entries including directors, choreographers, and even porn stars.

Didn't Billy Preston die in the last decade? He wasn't young.

[quote] Dan Hartman, singer/musician. He had a couple of big solo hits: Instant Replay in the late 70s and I Can Dream About You in 1984. A lot of people who are familiar with his solo career don't realize that he was also part of the Edgar Winter Group in the early 70s & sang lead on their huge hit, Free Ride (which he also wrote). He died in 1994.

How can someone mention Dan Hartman and not "Relight My Fire"?!

[quote]What about Jim Henson? I've always wondered.

No, poor Jim just wouldn't go to the doctor until it was too late.

One of his puppeteers died of AIDS around the same time, though.

R182 Wow! I have only ever seen Joel from the 70s and later, with the moustache. Handsome yes, but I didn't realize he was downright HOT on Dark Shadows!

Kenny Sacha- He played the Rose drag queen in The Rose among other things.

I saw Howard Rollins in a London production of I'm Not Rappaport co-starring the incredible Paul Scofield. Rollins was wonderful.

Lynda Day George's hubby.

r195, do you mean Playgirl's own Chris George?

him?

He's not an actor, but Max Robinson the ABC newscaster from the late 80's&early 90's who reportrd the news from Chicago, I know he died from AIDS. I don't remember when it happened.

Yes, 196. Couldn't remmber his name. Am I remembering correctly that he was on Bracken's World?

I had such a mad crush on David Oliver. He had a sexy high voice. And he took off his shirt a lot on AYITL.

R199, Christopher George was not on "Bracken's World," he was on "Rat Patrol." His official cause of death was sudden heart failure. There's no mention of AIDS-related death.

Bracken's World:

The series centers on a powerful head of Century Studios and a group of up-and-coming starlets. During the first season, Eleanor Parker received top billing as Sylvia Caldwell, executive secretary to John Bracken, who was sometimes heard but never seen, but Parker left the series after the first 16 episodes, citing the limited nature of her role. Warren Stevens provided the voice of the unseen Bracken. When the second season began, Leslie Nielsen joined the cast to portray Bracken.

Other cast members included Elizabeth Allen, Dennis Cole, Jeanne Cooper, Peter Haskell, Linda Harrison, Karen Jensen, Madlyn Rhue, and Laraine Stephens. Many film stars made cameo appearances

So, essentially, this is a list of closeted b list bottoms.

Strange that they didn't just make Bracken a woman and have Eleanor Parker play that. Though perhaps a female studio head was considered unbelievable at the time.

r4 Lenny Baker was str8 and died of throat cancer. Apologies if this correction has been posted before.

r62 a 4th member of the original cast died of AIDS -- Rene Clemente, who played Coricopat. (I had a crush on him and nearly satisfied it many moons ago.) I believe Tim Scott had been involved with Ian Charleson when the former was in CHORUS LINE in London.

r77 This is the first I've heard of it. Your post irresponsible and offensive.

Ian Charleson was in ACL?

as who?

Timothy Scott was the boyfriend of Norman Buckley, Betty Lynn's brother.

Betty was not to nice to Tim supposedly.

Stories?

@205, Not according to IMDB. IMDB has AIDS listed as his cause of death and Wikipedia has cancer caused by AIDS.

Christopher Chadman, dancer and choreographer, who played Lewis in the video version of the stage show Pippin with William Katt and Chita Rivera, died of AIDS in 1995. Charles Lee Ward, the tall blond dancer in the same production, also died far too young, and I am sure other men in that company did as well.

About a dozen men from the original Broadway production of Evita. George Pesatura who replaced Sammy Williams in ACL. Rick Meadows- gorgeous man from revival of On Your Toes. Lee Mathis-hot man. So many talented chorus men from the 80's. I have always thought that some are immune to the virus. The late 70's early 80's were the height of whoredome with the bath houses filled to capacity.

R207 Why is the post about Raul Julia offensive? Irresponsible, maybe. But I also remember there was quite a bit of speculation about he died.

I saw Carol Channing in one of her revivals of Hello Dolly in the early 80s. I was awed by the number of handsome and talented young men playing the dancing waiters. Their athletic dancing went on for 20 minutes, and they were all magnificent.

About 15 years later, I heard Channing say in an interview that all the chorus boys in that show were dead of AIDS.

R213 There was alot of speculation about Raul Julia. Even before he died, when it was obvious he was ill, he never said anything about his illness. He told people he was on a microbiotic diet and that his weight loss was was the result of hard work. After his death, all these years later, his family have never commented on Julia's cause of death.

By the way, Raul Julia was a major star not "semi-famous."

R205- Lenny Baker had to withdraw from the pre-Broadway tryout of McNally's "It's Only A Play" before it played Philadelphia, where it closed. The critics HATED it.

The "official" story back then was cancer of the throat caused by his inexperience as a singer in "A Love My Wife", which is the lousiest cover story I'd ever heard. Those who knew Lenny knew it was AIDS, and he lost many of those people from his life because it was early in the plague years. He was treated like a leper until his death.

How about John Matuszak? I sure would have liked to have a piece of that!

Speaking of Chores boys, I would say Michael C. Hall is HIV.

I loved Raul Julia.

This is a tasteless thread. Please stop.

OK.

[quote]Lenny Baker had to withdraw from the pre-Broadway tryout of McNally's "It's Only A Play"

which role r217?

[quote]Strange that they didn't just make Bracken a woman and have Eleanor Parker play that. Though perhaps a female studio head was considered unbelievable at the time.

When was M made a woman in Bond?

Our town was rocked when one of the leading businessmen went into rehab, and this was back when rehab was a big deal. Everyone said, "I never knew Harry had a drinking problem. I never saw him drink more than 2 or 3 drinks."

Well that was true. Harry was very careful to never have more than those 2 or 3 drinks. The trouble was that he would leave the office about 4 and have a couple at the VFW, a couple at the Legion, a couple at the country club and so on, so that by the time he rolled home about 7:30 he was flying high.

r225 wandered in from Pleasantville I think

@R178

Jonathon Scott Taylor apparently retired from acting took a law degree and is living somewhere in England. He has a wife and two children whom by now must be teens or young adults.

Do not believe JST is his birth name but in any event if you can find out that bit of information it is easy to run to ground listings of solicitors/barristers in the UK.

Just checked the Wikipedia page for Brad Davis and it contradicts the commonly held belief he died of AIDS. Official cause of death was an intentional overdose of narcotics (assisted suicide).

Brad Davis' wife wrote a book, based on the fact that he died of aids. I have the book right here in my bookcase. You think she was lying?

Davis was dying of AIDS and then the wife helped him commit suicide before the the end came naturally.

Sounds like the wiki in r228 is revising history.

With Brad's death, it was always about AIDS.

Ray Sharkey deserves his own thread. Kind of a psychopath.

Court Miller, one of the actors in Torch Song Trilogy, and Kim Milford, who was on Broadway in Hair and Rocky Horror...

Larry Kert, the original Tony in West Side Story, replaced Dean Jones in Company, died of AIDS.

[You do realize that this is a troll, right? It just craves attention. You might want to stop talking to it.]

Casey Stevens, who played Jamie Lee Curtis' boyfriend, Nick, in Prom Night. I just learned of his death when I was listening to the audio commentary.

You know, it's true this is a sad thread and, yes, there are some ignorant comments here.

But it's important to remind all of us, and to tell the younger ones who were not there, what was lost.

I'm 65 and sometimes I forget it ever happened.

R232 is that Idolmaker remake ever happening? Ryan Gosling was attached to it some time ago.

I think it's the perfect kind of "interesting failure" type of film that is ripe for a remake. Hope it gets off the ground this century.

Today is the Anniversary of Wayland Flowers death in 1988.

[You do realize that this is a troll, right? It just craves attention. You might want to stop talking to it.]

During the original Public Theatre run of THE NORMAL HEART, Brad was getting fuked by every hot boy who came his way. Sadly, while playing Larry Kramer in a play about the impact of AIDS, he was a major whore. The wife was in complete denial.

Dennis C. Stewart, the guy who played crater face in Grease.

R240 What kind of idiot puts dust in a "dessert"? Maybe for mud-pie?

[quote] What kind of idiot puts dust in a "dessert"

Gwyneth Paltrow('s ghost writer)?

I always suspected that Gregory Hines did not die of liver cancer, as was reported.

Was Anthony Perkins truly gay or just confused. IIRC his first female *relations* came via Victoria Principal well into his adult years and the subsequently married a woman. However his list of gay conquests is rather substantial:

Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue, Rudolf Nureyev, Paul Newman, Leonard Bernstein, James Dean, and Stephen Sondheim.

[quote] Was Anthony Perkins truly gay or just confused. IIRC his first female *relations* came via Victoria Principal well into his adult years and the subsequently married a woman. However his list of gay conquests is rather substantial

May be was a b...bb...bbbb..bbbbii...sekshool.

R237, it just occurred to me today that the onset of AIDS and it's mysterious and sudden tragic effects are just as fresh/old in our minds as the devastation of the WWII holocaust was in the minds of Jews back in 1975 (as Bette Midler would let us know in her stage act, when talking about visiting Germany, right around then).

Though I don't mean to compare two very different world disasters, I figured if the memory of the World Wars was kept alive for so long, even after certain nations had become our allies, something similar can be done with the AIDS crisis years.

Terry Lester died from heart disease. not the AIDS.

Anne Haychus father died of the AIDS.

Although he didn't die of AIDs, he contracted the disease and then shot himself at age 55: handsome actor Todd Armstrong, the lead in Jason and the Argonauts (1963).

For years, I thought that Keene Curtis died of AIDS. I just checked his bio, and it says he died of Alzheimers. I knew him in the 70s and early 80s. He was a very sexy man.

Armstrong was dubbed. Was it because of subpar acting or clutch-voice?

Uh Terry Lester died of AIDS complications, he wasted away and a heart attack did him in.

The kid from OLIVER!? Say it ain't so.

[There is nothing more tedious than a race baiting troll. Except the people that talk to it.]

Not an actor, but director Colin Higgins, who directed 9 to 5 (which I'm watching right now) and Foul Play. He has that very distinct late 70s/early 80s style of comedy that I grew up with and love. Needless to say, I wasn't surprised to find out that a gay man directed those movies.

This thread makes me so sad. So many beautiful young men snatched away before their time. Really appreciate this effort to remember these fellas.

Colin Higgins also wrote the screenplay for Harold and Maude.

[quote]The worst offender, may he rest in peace...herb ritts. they still claim he only died of pneumonia and the dust from shooting out in the dessert, total croak of crap.

I googled this and his publicist did say this to gay press soon after Ritts' death: "Herb was HIV-positive, but this particular pneumonia was not PCP (pneumocystis pneumonia), a common opportunistic infection of AIDS. But at the end of the day, his immune system was compromised."

I doubt his HIV-status when he died is secret to anyone. I remember telling my photography teacher soon after Ritts' death that it was because of AIDS so I had read about it pretty soon after. I'm not denying the publicist downplayed the cause of death, though. I haven't read about the dust thing. It's sad if someone is doing that but I doubt it's his Foundation or his publicist?

R45

The actress who played Billy Beyer's sister on Capitol also died from complications of AIDS.

Her name escapes me.

Anthony Perkins admitted he had AIDS In his last couple of months.

Leslie Graves.

When I watch musicals of the 60's and 70's, or old television variety shows with bunches of male dancers - I'm always sad that probably most of them died of AIDS in the first wave.

R263 my mind always goes there, too. I mean you know that must be true.

R258 I didn't know that. More talented then I gave him credit for, then. Sad. Although I wonder, had he lived, how well he would have been able to transition - because even between the early 80s and late 80s/early 90s the style of comedy in movies changed SO much.

Did any non-gay actors ever die of the AIDS?

Most of the cast from "The Boys In the Band" (1970).

I've asked about Bert Convy here before. Anybody got any info on him?

Besides, singing on Broadway, Kim Milford also toured as a vocalist with British rock/jazz guitarist Jeff Beck's band in the 1970s.

Milford was way too theatrical for a raunchy blues based rock band, he was good looking, but not at all suited for Beck's band.

btw, did Kim Milford really die of AIDS? According to Wiki, he died from complications from open heart surgery.

Did so many actors, and other people in show business, who died of AIDS have their families, and managers etc, go to such extremes to cover up the real cause of their deaths?

For the person upthread who asked about Terry Lester, you were confusing him with the child star of the film "Oliver!", that was MARK Lester.

A bit OT, Mark Lester might actually be the biological father of one, or two, of Michael Jackson's three children. Mark Lester is very much alive.

Paul Stevens, who played Brian Bancroft on Another World, died of AIDS. So did Curt Dawson, who did several soaps, including Another World.

Peter Burnell, who played Mike Powers on The Doctors, committed suicide after being diagnosed.

This thread always bums me out when it resurfaces. Such dark, shitty days.

The very talented actor Franklyn Seales, co-star of The Onion Field (1979) and star of many stage productions, died of AIDS at age 37. He also appeared in a number of TV productions, including Silver Spoons and Hill Street Blues.

Rene Enriquez who was a part of the ensemble cast of HILL STREET BLUES

R267 I don't think so. Some people do get brain tumors in their 50s - and its a pretty swift decline. It does happen.

Funny but when I first read the press release on Dr. Brandt, his publicist said an "illness " and didn't specify, and the first thing I thought was geez in this day and age people are still trying to cover up AIDS?

Speaking of, how is Hal Rubenstein still alive? I thought he had been living with AIDS for 20 years, but it's 30, which is a huge difference. How did he survive from 85 to 90 alone? And he still looks healthy.

Bert Convy died from a brain tumour.

-- Theodore "Teddy" Wilson (appeared on tons of sitcoms and TV shows in the 70s and 80s, esp. What’s Happening and Sanford and Son)

-- Larry Riley was in “A Soldier’s Story” and was fired from Knots Landing for having aids

-- Michael Westphal, ATP tennis player (ranked in the top 50)

-- Joel Crothers (“Somerset”, “Edge of Night”) went to his grave denying he was gay and denying he had aids. To this day, his IMDB bio still insists he was engaged to soap actress Veleka Grey at the time of his death and the cause was “cancer”

-- Brad O’Hare (“Guiding Light”, “Longtime Companion”)

-- James Raitt (brother of Bonnie), Broadway musical director

-- Denholm Elliott (“A Room With A View”)

-- Ilka Tanya Payan (Telenovelas + “Scarface”, “Hill Street Blues”)

-- Joe Megna (Dill in “To Kill A Mockingbird”)

-- Leonard Frey (“Fiddler On The Roof”)

-- Merritt Butrick (Captain Kirk’s son on “Star Trek”)

BTW, I lived through this in the 1980s. Almost nobody actually died from AIDS. However, lots and lots of men in their 30s and 40s died unusually young from cancer or pneumonia :P A high school friend, a talent musician, died of aids. I was an active member of our alumni association and he passed shortly before a reunion. We decided we’d start a scholarship fund in his honor. When I called his family to let them know we were going to have a tribute, I was referred to his brother. I did not mention that I knew the cause of death, but as were reminiscing I said something like, “its so hard to see so many people dying so young” and his response was, “we’re still in shock. You know he died of LEG CANCER which is so unusual”. Either the family was in full denial or they were trying to cover it up. Either way, I thought it was tragic.

I also appeared in a successful Off Broadway production in the ‘80s. It had a cast of 10 men and 2 women. Of the men, I’m one of only 3 cast-members who was still alive in the 1990s.

I don't think this has been mentioned yet but Julie Hagerty had a brother who was an acting teacher. Died of AIDS - early 90s, I think.

Denholm Elliot was actually well known to American viewers through his role of Marcus in the Indiana Jones movies. Strange that his memory was treated so shabbily in the Crystal Skull fiasco...

His name was Michael, r278. My ex was best friends with Julie in the 80s/90s and she was absolutely devastated after he died. In fact, she went into a funk that some say she never came out of and may account partially for why she divested from her acting career.

Stephen Schwartz was a good friend of Billy Byers. He wrote a song about his death called "Life Goes On."

I was just watching "The Doctors" - the soap on RetroTV - and saw a very handsome actor, Peter Burnell.

He appears to have died of AIDS in the mid1980s, and his partner, Gerald Mast, a film historian, died a few years later.

...and I just saw R271's post. Oh, that's so sad.

Ray Sharkey, of "The Idolmaker" & "Wiseguy".

Remi Laurent -- he played the son in the original film of La Cage aux Folles (1978) and died in 1989

Not actors, but the founders of the fun, doomed FILMEX in LA, Gary and Gary.

Here is Gary Abrahams obit:

Here is Gary Essert's obit

Someone here claimed the guy who played Daddy Warbucks' gardener in 1982's [italic]Annie[/italic] died of AIDS, but since he is neither credited in the film or listed on IMDb, I cannot recall his name.

What is sad about Gary and Gary is that the pair are not buried together -- Gary A is in Eden Memorial Park, and Gary E is in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

I loved "One Crazy Summer".

James K. Lyons

[quote]Whenever I watch the movie version of "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" , I.wonder how many of those beautiful talented dancers in the football team locker room number are still with us.

Mark Fotopolos, one of the most handsome guys in that chorus and a Broadway musical actor (as well as Thommie Walsh's one-time bf) died of AIDS in 1991, after living for quite a few years with HIV, and devoting himself to ACT-UP. He was a smart and lovely guy.

During those hell years I cut out every obit concerning an aids related death. I can't remember where i posted them. Somewhere in my kitchen. A good conversation starter

[quote]This is heresy but "We'll Take a Glass Together" has always annoyed me. I find it too cutesy for words.

Agreed! I thought the whole show godawful at the time. I went with this very smart theater friend of mine who leaned over and whispered after the big opening number where you meet all the characters, "The whole house will come down when the little dying Jewish man does his big "To Life!" number then drops dead, somewhere in act 2". And boy, did they! It's just a dopey show, in my opinion.

[quote]Speaking of, how is Hal Rubenstein still alive?

Oy vey, THAT ONE!

Hal Rubenstein won't die, because he IS THE UNDEAD! One of the very WORST people I have EVER had the displeasure to meet, and see in action. The gayest HORROR ever!

Bump

I remember seeing Leonard Frey on the First Ave bus years ago, when my neighborhood was scuzzy. He got off at 88 St and I wondered, "WTF is he doing in this neighborhood at night? It's dangerous." Later, I turned on tv and it was Oscar night. Then it hit me - he was going to the Oscar party at Elaine's, the only non-dangerous place in the neighborhood back in the glory days of homelessness and crack.

Ray Sharkey continued to have sex with and infect women with HIV after he was diagnosed. He infected comedian Corbett Monica's daughter (Corbett Monica used to tour with Rat Packers as an opening act) and she sued his estate. He had no money at his death, so she didn't get anything.

Sharkey's daughter was just arrested for beating her boyfriend's mother to death with a baseball bat.

Nice family.

[quote] Was Anthony Perkins truly gay or just confused. I

He was gay and eccentric. He wanted children, so he convinced himself he was bisexual and married Berry Berenson, whose proper name later became Berry Berenson, Wdow of Anthony Perkins, Who Died on American Airlines Flight 11 in the World Trade Center Attack.

I'm sure they liked each other a lot. They seemed to get along famously. People have all kinds of different personal relationships. Look at the Clintons. Who knows what's up with that marriage, but they support each other and that's that.

Paul Jabara-he wrote and won an Oscar for Last Dance sun by Donna Summer.

typo-I meant sung by Donna Summer

R302 .......... oy, what did they all die of ? Scurvey ?

Did it hurt when you pulled that out of your ass, r302?

Cookie Mueller. I loved her. Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. So wonderful...

R302 needs to F&Fed when it's restored.

Holy shit, Michael Jeter's performance in "Take the Glass" from Grand Hotel, linked at R94, is freaking amazing!

How the hell could he throw himself around like a rag doll that way? Was he on a wire with a harness under his tux?

I'm shocked that no one's mentioned Legit Actor/Porn Actor/Singer, Dennis Parker aka Wade Nichols yet. He didn't technically die of HIV/AIDS, but it's believed that he committed suicide because of complications with the disease.

He was mainly known for his disco hit 'Like An Eagle'. A truly beautiful man! I've always found it fascinating how he was able to effortlessly transition from Gay & Straight Adult Films to a mainstream network soap opera (Edge Of Night).

R306, there *is* an F&F button. If you can't see it, or the W&W and Ignore Poster buttons, you probably have NoScript or AdBlock enabled on your browser.

I just found this post online regarding Dennis Parker (Wade Nichols):

[quote] Dennis and I were friends from the early 80s until his death. We met when he did some fundraising via Edge of Night for the nonprofit animal welfare organization I worked for. We became good friends and spent a lot of time together, He and his partner and my husband and I socialized frequently.....he even helped my husband build bookshelves and a window seat in our apartment. Dennis was one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever Known. He definitely did NOT commit suicide, but died of AIDS, which was still very much a stigma in 1985. I went through his illness with him and was with him the day before he passed away. He was a dear friend, and I miss him to this day. - Susan Brooks

This is quite a revelation because that suicide rumor has been floating around the internet for as long as I can remember. It's even been posted as FACT on some legitimate sites I've seen.

[quote] Cookie Mueller. I loved her. Pink Flamingos and Female Trouble. So wonderful...

She also wrote an advice column for the Village Voice. There's a compilation of her articles in print, and one of them she talks about a man with AIDS who stayed alive by drinking his own pee. I don't know if she tried it herself, but it obviously didn't save her life.

this thread is so sad

I came of age in the early 80s and hung onto the closet door with both hands super tight

I thought you didn't even have to have sex to get AIDS; you'd just develop it, triggered by the gay gene already in your body

I'm lucky to be alive; timing is everything, if I'd been born 5 years earlier...who knows?

I'm lucky to have had any intimacy in life.

Jeremy Brett and Gary Bond

And who could ever forget Michael Jeter as Ethel Merman in "The Fisher King" ?

Robert Drivas.

Best known for numerous 60s tv roles and for the movie "The Illustrated Man" where he has a very lovely nude scene.

Robert Drivas' wonderful ass in "The Illustrated Man".

Makes me sad even to mention it but Lance Baker was a cute actor kid from New Zealand we managed who died really young. I remember Beth Broderick from that Sabrina show was the main speaker at his memorial service. I can not find a photo of him anywhere online, which saddens me even more.

imdb page, at least

I wonder if the TV artist Bob Ross died of AIDS. His obit says it was lymphoma which can be AIDS related. He always pinged to me even though he was married and had a son. He spent 20 years in the Air Force which has many gays but when Bob was in that was not allowed. He died in 1995 and was 52.

r319 There have always been many gays and bis in the military, independent of not allowed.

308, he is already mentioned repeatedly up thread...

[quote] During those hell years I cut out every obit concerning an aids related death

MARY!

OP -- I had such a crush on Richard Warwick and, like another poster, that scene in IF when he's in bed with beautiful blond Bobby Phillips was the first time I had seen two men in bed together. I must have seen IF a dozen times just for RW. He was so good looking.

Interestingly, Richard Lester had cast a different boy as Bobby, but several people (probably RW included) told him that the kid wasn't pretty enough, so Lester fired the poor guy and found someone better looking.

R295 Is Miss Hal a bottom? He is the biggest queen I've ever seen. He tries to restrain his gayness but it makes him seem even faggier.

[quote]During those hell years I cut out every obit concerning an aids related death. I can't remember where i posted them. Somewhere in my kitchen. A good conversation starter

I used to stick their portraits on the cocktail olive toothpicks. It always went down a treat!

The most beautiful man in the world in the seventies, Hiram Keller (Undercoffler) died of "liver cancer" at home with his family in 1997. He was on Broadway in the cast of "Hair" and starred in Fellini's "Satyricon" and a dozen other European B movies. He was a model for Yves St. Laurent and others. It's been well documented that he was one of Rudolph Nureyev's lovers and slept with directors and producers of both sexes to further his career. It appears his mother and ex-wife kept AIDS out of his obituary to protect his young daughter's memory of him.

JM J Bullock

r55 Lypsinka performed "I've Got Your Number" from "Little Me" in a tribute to fashion designer Pauline Trigere in 1992. I wonder if Lypsinka did this as a tribute to Swen Swenson, although she's lip syncing to a female singer who I cannot identify.

r327 Bullock is still alive.

R329

It's his career that is dead.

R31, Tom got AIDS from his partner, who didn't reveal his HIV when they met. Anyone remember partner's name? He wasn't mentioned in obits.

r331, in another thread, somebody claimed that it was Timothy Patrick Murphy, mentioned at r2, who unknowingly infected Fuccello. They apparently fell in love on the set of Dallas. I had never heard this before, so I can't confirm the veracity of the claim.

bump

Where's the troll who always insists Jill Clayburgh died of AIDS?

I can;t stand Swen Swenson's voice singing "I've Got Your Number." That's horrible.

Stephen Schwartz wrote a song about Bill Beyers' death, called "Life Goes On." They were friends and occasional fuck buddies.

[quote]For years, I thought that Keene Curtis died of AIDS. I just checked his bio, and it says he died of Alzheimers. I knew him in the 70s and early 80s. He was a very sexy man.

Ooh, you should see what Robby Benson has to say about Queen Curtis in his autobiography. They were in "The Rothschilds" together when Robby was 13-14. Apparently Keene was always bugging him for sex, promising to give him a blowjob if Robby would suck his dick too. Robby has nothing good to say about him and clearly regarded him as a child molester (Robby never took him up on the offer). He doesn't mention him by name, but calls him a much older, Tony-winning actor in the show. Later on he speaks of what a good man Hal Linden was and how much he admires hm, so it's clearly not Linden. That leaves Curtis, who won the Tony for "The Rothschilds"

Maybe it's you, r334.

bump

[quote]R18 [R10]--how can you POSSIBLY have left out mention of Frey as Harold in "The Boys in the Band"?

Because no one watches that bitchy antique anymore...

Dennis Parker.

R308 The blog, "The Rialto Report," recently did a detailed story about Wade Nichols/Dennis Parker, in which they interview his brother and former friends/colleagues. The story that Wade committed suicide is false. Wade's brother says he died in the hospital due to AIDS complications.

The guy from We Got it Made.

The "we can make a brooch, we can make a pteradactyl" queen from the movie AIRPLANE.

Re: r341

[quote]It's tempting to turn this man's incredible story into a camp snapshot, a tawdry tale of the externalities of showbiz. The reality is probably much more complex. Born Dennis Posa in Long Island, our struggling auteur co-opted the name Wade Nichols in the mid-70's when he started doing skinflicks, initially gay and then seguing exclusively into straight porn. In 1978, Parker was introduced to Jacques Morali, the producer and impresario responsible for the Village People, the Ritchie Family, Eartha Kitt during her disco kick (did you know Bruce Vilanch was a co-writer of 'Where Is My Man'??) and various studio groups of the time. Morali and Parker allegedly became lovers and teamed up for Parker's one and only LP, 'Like an Eagle', released in 1979 on Casablanca Records, the infamous Los Angeles label run by cocaine-crazed Neil Bogart. (For more on Casablanca check out Larry Harris' book 'And Party Every Day' for the inside story of this wildly dysfunctional but highly productive label). In 1979, Parker/Nichols became a regular cast member on 'The Edge of Night', appearing for five years as Police Chief, Derek Mallory. Remarkably, ABC never found out about Parker's double life, (of if they did, excused it as an excess of the times) despite the fact that his XXX films continued to be released as late as 1983. It seems unlikely that he continued shooting them after the Edge contract began but was probably ending up on VHS formats of 16mm reels he had shot earlier. In 1984, Parker died, whether from a self-inflicted gunshot wound (a rumor) or complications from AIDS.

[quote]Parker styled himself as the quintessential clone of the period; a mustachioed, uber-male strapped into tight, silver spandex jumpsuits and was obviously at ease sexually with both genders. Perhaps someone will write a more elaborated biography about this strange character, who appeared on the Merv Griffin Show during the late '70s, and slept with many of the hottest men of the era (you can find some of their comments on YouTube and DiscoMusic.com). Notably, Parker must have had an influence on the quality of the tunes as both singles are co-written by him and stand out in Morali's pantheon for being slower and more thoughtful than the majority of his releases of the period. His work for the Ritchie Family was all over the map with LP's like 'African Queens' rating quite high and ones like 'American Generation' quite low.

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There's an excellent article about Wade Nichols (Dennis Parker) on The Rialto Report, that includes interviews with his family and friends and some great pictures from his pre-fame days. What a tragic story:

John Megna, who played nerdy little Dilli in To Kill a Mockingbird.

[quote]The most beautiful man in the world in the seventies, Hiram Keller

That's a matter of opinion, R326.

Richard Warwick portrayed Uncas in the 1971 tv series The Last of the Mohicans. John Abineri portrayed Chingachgook (say that three times fast).

Miss Kitty from "Gunsmoke".

Vanessa Redgrave's first husband, Tony Richardson (though better known as a director).

Richard Warwick was beautiful in one of the best UK movies of the 60s -- Lindsay Anderson's If....

Doin' the bump!

Richard Warwick lip synched "What is a Youth" in Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet. He was bellissimo. I loved this song. How sad.

[Quote] Dursley McLinden

McLinden was part inspiration for the lead character in "It's a Sin," from the pen of Russell T. Davies.

In a remembrance of McLinden, Ian Temple paints a vivid picture of youthful energy, sex, love and loss in the 1980s through to the 1990s.

West End actor Martin Smith is also mentioned in the piece above. Smith died at 37 in 1994. Here he is singing Cole Porter's "Love for Sale."

Paul Reeves, of the West End "Starlight Express."