Today's Blind Items - They Died Loving Each Other
I don't know if you would refer to this as an Old Hollywood Blind Item or not. It was in the past, but is not that old school. It all happened on a hit network television show. A huge network hit. It involved two actors who were probably B-/C+ list at the time. They met and fell in love on the show. They also died because of that love. One was a younger actor who saw something in the older actor that he could not resist. At first, neither knew the other was gay because at that time, everything was a secret and almost everyone was still in the closet. The two ran into each other at a watering hole though and the next thing you knew, the two were together almost everyday. The younger actor was already infected with HIV, but didn't know it at the time. The two started having a love affair and it was after they had started that the the younger actor learned he had HIV. Shortly after, the older actor learned he too had contracted the HIV virus. At one point in their relationship, the younger actor became very sick and kept getting sick and the two had to split because it was still important to their careers that they remain silent about their sexuality. There was a lot of heartbreak, but they felt it was for the best to split. The younger actor died first, followed later by the older actor.
49 comments:
how sad
Very sad. Robert Reed for the older? Maybe a guest star on BB?
What about the dad from the Brady bunch.
Mr. Brady and Sam the Butcher?
Michael Landon, Kevin Hagen, little house in the prairie
Robert Reed and Dack Rambo were on Hotel together and both died of HIV related illness, could it be them?
Disregard my guess, the BI says the younger one died first and DR died after RR.
I'm
researching network hits of the 80's..... I know someone will beat me to it though.. very sad..
Timothy Patrick Murphy for the younger actor and Tom Fuccello both from Dallas tv show??
Dack Rambo and Timothy Patrick Murphy - Dallas
just came back to say Dack Rambo from Dallas too. 3 from that show died of AIDs according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_HIV-positive_people
Robert Reed and Dack Rambo is an excellent guess.
Robert Reed and Burt Convy. Both on the love boat, died one year apart. Convy officially died of a brain tumor, which is quite common in HIV/AIDS patients.
Why is this a blind item?
This is heartbreaking. If this is a still a blind, it is probably about 2 people who never "officially" died of AIDS, so who knows. But I'll go with Dack Rambo and someone from Dallas, though I was kinda thinking Rock Hudson and one of the shows he was on - MacMillan or Dynasty.
Wow! Did not know Timothy Patrick Murphy was gay and I didn't know he was dead. I worked on that TV movie Sam's Son (as an extra, yes- lame) and I wondered why I never saw him on anything else.
What about Rock Hudson? He had a stint on Dynasty, The Devlin Connection, and McMillan and Wife.
Kitten Caboodle, I think you've got it! Timothy Patrick Murphy in 1988 at age 29. Dack Rambo died of AIDS in 1994 at age 53. Both were on Dallas.
Dack was out of the closet, if he was ever really in it, by the early 80's. So I'm not so sure this is him.
Robert Reed and Burt Convy (sp)--I've heard they had a thing. But are they too close in age?
I think the Dallas answer sounds good. Those guys (DR/TPM) would be B-C list at the time.
My guess is Tom Fuccello for the older actor from Dallas and Timothy Patrick Murphy for the younger based on who passed away first and both actors worked together on Dallas at the same time. Dack Rambo and Timothy Patrick Murphy never worked on Dallas at the same time according to IMDB.
Slightly OT but Timothy Patrick Murphy's younger brother died in the World Trade Center on September 11th.
So sad-their poor parents!
Michael Jeter and Sean Blue
It doesn't fit, but I was thought of maybe Dick Sargeant and Paul Lynde.
I dont know but thats kinda tragic
I kinda thought Rock Hudson for the older actor but the rating doesn't really fit.
Im assuming these two guys never came out. Robert reed did, dack admitted to being bi.
Im pretty sure rock Hudson was bigger than B-.
I'm going with the little house on the paire (sp?) but HIV is an autoimmune disorder therefore any cancer can be linked to it doesnt mean that that person actually had HIV /AIDS nor does it mean they were gay.
For the pll asking why this a blind i thought yall love gay blinds.
Sad and stinks. Hope both together in hereafter.
i'm pretty sure Rock Hudson knew he was HIV when he appeared on Dynasty.
Thanks for the downer, Enty.
I don't think the actors in this scenario necessarily never came out. The younger one could have been functionally "outed" by AIDS; after all, when he was getting super-sick so they split, it probably wasn't his career they were protecting (since he was likely close to death given the progression/meds in the mid-late 80s). Similarly, an actor like RR, who came out years down the line... nothing in this item suggests that couldn't have happened, just that his "straightness" was important to his career at the time.
In any case, I read the young actor as having died very young, so I'd guess someone & TPM (probably someone he was never publicly linked to). Also, we know TPM went for older guys (or at least did once), since he confessed to an affair with Brad Davis in the mid-80s (suggesting that's where he got the virus, which -- if true -- means that he died within a few years of exposure).
RR and Bert Convy had a thing?! I never read anything that even suggested that Bert was even bi. I know that married men can certainly be gay, but read this:
"Bert and [first wife] Anne had separated in 1987, but were going through a long, difficult divorce. In the meantime, Bert, who was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, had met another woman named Catherine Hills, who was 25 years old. After suffering a series of severe strokes in 1990, Bert reportedly asked his first wife to give him a divorce so he could die married to Catherine. Anne agreed to it. Bert and Catherine were married in February of 1991 and Bert died several months later."
@AKM...they're both male actors.
..and Rock Hudson did know he was HIV on Dynasty. It created a huge drama, because Linda Evans kissed him and he never said anything.
I'm going with Mike Brady (Robert Reed). He was on quite a few episodes of the Love Boat. It was probably an actor he met on the set there.
This never states that the actors died from HIV..just that they had it.
Jonathan Brandis maybe?
Jonathan Brandis + Roy Scheider.
Usually these blinds are about AIDS
Dack Ramdo (Jack Ewing) and Timothy Patrick Murphy from Dallas. Murphy was almost 20 years younger than Rambo and died of AIDS six years before Rambo.
I remember Bert and wife Anne on the game show Tattle Tales...I feel old now
What part did Timothy play on Dallas?
Robert Reed and Brad Davis - show is Roots. Davis died 1991 of Aids, Reed died 1992 of Aids.
I was also thinking Tom Fuccello and Timothy Patrick Murphy from Dallas.
@califblondy, he playes Mickey Trotter.
When was Dack Rambo in the closet? When he was a teen? I knew he was gay when he was Erica Kane's love interest on All My Children and I was 12 at the most, so if I knew, I don't know how some guy who had the hots for him didn't.
+1
I'm going to go with Tom Fuccello (died 1993) and Timothy Patrick Murphy (diet 1988) as the younger one. Both were on Dallas, but Murphy left before Dack Rambo was on.
My first thought was Merritt Butrick, but the only tv show he had a major role on was Square Pegs, and I don't think that was a huge network hit.
Heart breaking. I think this one might be from 'In the Heat of the Night'.
HIV is an acquired (not auto) immune disorder. Rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are examples of autoimmune disorders.
Me too.
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