Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Today's Blind Items - He Almost Died
None of you would probably be able to get this actor's name, but you would all know the character he played on television as a teenager. This was back in the day. The show did not run for all that long but had at least one huge name who was on it and several others who keep working today. Our actor was popular during the run of the show and had three separate entertainment projects going on at once. A few years after the show ended, our actor, who is closeted, met another man and contracted HIV which developed into full blown AIDS. Everyone thought he was going to die. Everyone kept expecting the call but it never came. He fought it off long enough for the drug cocktail to appear and continues to live today although he continues to be in ill health most of the time. He has his bills paid for him by that huge name who starred with him on the show.
someone from Welcome Back Carter? John Travolta as the big name paying the bills
ReplyDeleteDanny Pintaura, who's the boss?
ReplyDelete*kotter
ReplyDeleteIf this is Horshack from WBK, then it is not a blind, he passed away from AIDS several years ago.
ReplyDeletezero clue
ReplyDeleteI don't think he is not in the closet, because he is/was married to his long time boyfriend Will. Also, as far I remember "Who is the boss" was long running.
ReplyDeleteEnty's "back in the day" always stumps me. I'm thinking Dennis the Menace, The Munsters....but I'm wrong. That's too early. It has to be 70s/80s.
ReplyDeleteBTW, HIV/AIDS is no longer considered a death sentence. People live a very long time now. It seems that the subject of this blind has had AIDS for a while, though.
Oh, man....I misread that a hundred times. The huge name who is paying the bills is NOT the person who infected this guy.
ReplyDeleteBad brain day - sorry I crapped all over the page.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking the benefactor is Brad Pitt who did a lot of tv but I can't get the other guy.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking Depp, 21 Jump Street.
ReplyDeleteShow with a short run, an actor who would become a future a-list star and teenagers on the cast.
ReplyDeleteWho are the "huge names" who have a background in television? Travolta, Depp, DiCaprio, Clooney . . . anyone else?
I swear he is suppose to be the answer---but he died 2 years ago
ReplyDeletebut the tv show and several projects at once and A list break through star fit 100%
You're not necessarily off. Someone who was a teen in the 1950s could have contracted HIV in the 1980s and still be alive today. These are the shows that popped into my mind:
ReplyDeleteLeave it to Beaver (However, no major star other than the Beeve)
Father Knows Best (Robert Young & Jane Wyatt)
My Three Sons (Fred McMurray)
That's where I'm having trouble - a relatively short-lived series with a teen actor whose *character* we'd remember (Squiggy? Eddie Munster? Potsie? Beaver is memorable) and the show featured a current HUGE NAME. I've been through virtually every series I could find on any list, clicking through IMDB cast ->Wikipedia to subtract birth years from show years, comparing ages with HUGE NAMES...I have a headache, frankly. But this is bugging me.
ReplyDeleteHow about Jonathan Taylor Thomas from Home Improvement? Also voiced young Simba for the movie "The Lion King" and also did commercials and movies. Long standing rumors that he is gay and he has not been around show business much since Home Improvement ended. Possible big name that paid his bills could be Tim Allen
ReplyDeleteJimmy Baio from Soap
ReplyDeletewas on Love Boat, Bad News Bears and Soap all at once between 1977-1981.
Soap lasted less than 4 years
his characters name was Billy Tate (I wasn't born yet so not sure if he was popular)
Actor helping him with money---co-star Billy Crystal
The drug cocktail wasn't introduced until 1996. I thought initially this could be John Francis Daley from Freaks and Geeks, but that show ended in 2000...although he was also on Boston Public and The Geena Davis Show pretty much at the same time, however, the time line doesn't work. He has worked sporadically and his name on the show, Sam, isn't memorable. The person who would have footed his bills would be James Franco.
ReplyDeletem/b Boom-Boom Washington From "Welcome Back Kotter" played by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs
ReplyDeletepaid by Vinnie Barberino
maybe....though he seems to work a lot for someone that is described as sickly
ReplyDeleteWhat abt Richard Grieco from 21 Jump Street?
ReplyDeleteHome Improvement was on from 1991-1999...not very short lived imo
ReplyDeleteI was thinking Freaks and Geeks too, James Franco is the big name, and others on it who still work are Busy Phillips, Jason Segel, Seth Rogan
ReplyDeleteJohn Francis Daly was Dr. Sweets on Bones for seven years. With his writing partner, he wrote Horrible Boses 1
ReplyDelete-The Blind says he'sa character we'd all know but not necessarily his real name on a show that only ran for a short time.Like Joanie loves Chachi but show Happy days was on too long.
ReplyDelete-I like Richard Grieco but he wasn't a teen on the show, he was an undercover cop who looked young,(right)& don't think his name is that popular ,but show was short & Johnny Depp would DEF.help him..
-I read it as he was doing 3 other things at the same time as he was filming his show is this right ??
JFD only just left Bones to do more writing and directing. He's got plenty of dough.
ReplyDeleteScott Baio as Chachi when he was on Joanie Loves Chachi (Ron Howard Guest Starred) Spin-Off from Happy Days.Only lasted One Year.At the same time he:
ReplyDelete1)Recorded an Album for RCA;
2)Starred In A Special HBO Presentation Of "Happy Birthday Gemini"(based on Broadway play);
3)Co-Starred in Film"Zapped"
***Ron Howard Pays The Bills***
It's not Scott Baio. He just finished up a three year run on a Nickelodeon show and is in excellent health, he looks fantastic for his age.
ReplyDeleteAlf?
ReplyDeleteyeah...i know.. i knew it was wrong...hahaha
ReplyDeleteBUT,Richard Grieco has a 10 year absence between about 1996-2006...hmmm..
I'm liking TheCousinEddy's guess
ReplyDeleteI'm leaning towards the Richard gringo guess, yet I'm also thinking about that Sarah Jessica Parker show Square Pegs and the show, My So Called Life that had Claire Danes and Jared Leto.
ReplyDeleteWe at least need a decade to narrow things down. lol
ReplyDeleteMichael from Good Times?
ReplyDeleteWho's the Boss
ReplyDeleteDanny Pintauro
And Judith Light as the one who keeps paying the bills?
Oh my gosh, we have an honest to goodness blind here. Who'd of thought.
ReplyDeleteJoey Lawrence? Blossom
ReplyDeleteRalph carter from Good times. He was on broadway and had a lot goin on in the seventies. The big name is Janet Jackson and if she is helping him that is wonderful. Recent photos of him indicate that he is ill and I remember the Enquirer saying he was +.. Juan Epstein died two years ago not arnold. He is out also. I doubt travolta would pay since he is soooo closeted.
ReplyDeletealso saw Lawrence Hilton Jacobs at comic con and he looked great. He's straight.
ReplyDeleteNailed it. Big name could also be John Amos or the dynomite guy.
ReplyDeleteWe are looking for an actor who is IN the closet and contracted the disease with the little name, right? He contracted it AFTER the show ended and BEFORE they invented the cocktail. Thanks to this medication he lived longer.
ReplyDelete....when was ALF last seen in public? You may have something there.
ReplyDeleteThere have been many different drug cocktails used for HIV/AIDS since the late 80s, early 90s.
ReplyDeleteI think we'll find out on the reveal that some of the clues don't line up.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I read it. And the character he played as a teenager would be immediately recognizable.
ReplyDeleteSounds as though the character transcends the actor, since "none of you would probably be able to get this actor’s name." I don't have a guess, but I imagine it would be someone with a role like Ferguson on Clarissa Explains It All, or the red Power Ranger.
ReplyDeleteRalph Carter, who played Michael on Good Times? He's been rumored to have AIDS for years and he's looked bad at least as far back as Esther Rolle's funeral back in the late 1990s. As for his costars, Janet Jackson (Penny) became a superstar, Jimmie Walker (JJ) was the big breakout star during the run of the show, and Ja'net Dubois (Willona), John Amos (James), and Johnny Brown (Bookman) are either still working or worked until recently.
ReplyDeleteOnly thing is that Good Times ran for 6 seasons.
Had to make an id to make a guess on this one - the guy who played Skippy on Family Ties. The series only ran 6 or 7 years, and I could totally see Michael J. Fox paying all the bills.
ReplyDelete