World AIDS Day

Every year since I started this blog, I always make sure to take time out on December 1 and have a post about HIV and AIDS in honor of World AIDS Day. I have shared personal stories, and shared lists of celebrities who have contracted and/or died from HIV/AIDS. It is amazing to me that in such a short time that a positive HIV test has gone from a death sentence to something that seems inconsequential to many. It is not though. According to the United Nations, about 34 million people worldwide are living with HIV, and 2.5 million were infected last year alone. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control says there is an alarming rise in the spread of HIV among teenagers and young adults, with 1,000 new infections each month. Teens with HIV? To me that has to stop. And that is in the US. What is it like in other countries of the world, especially those with less access to medicines to control the virus? If you have never done so, I encourage you to watch the movie And The Band Played On about the very early days of the AIDS crisis. It is a powerful movie and has a great cast and was originally aired on HBO when no other network wanted to touch the movie. I encourage you to share your stories or experiences here.

World AIDS Day

A couple of years ago on World AIDS Day, I had a post which showed the number of celebrities in the world who have tested positive for HIV. I thought it would be interesting to post some names off the list and encourage you to go to Wiki right here and view the entire list. It is amazing how long it is and some of the names you forget about and some of the names you probably didn't know. It is good to remember and to bring attention to a disease that although is now manageable in some parts of the world still ravages other parts of the world.

Acting (film and television)


Amanda Blake - American actress best remembered for her role as Kitty Russell in the television series Gunsmoke. Her death was initially reported as being caused by HIV but her doctor said that was not the reason she died.

Jim J. Bullock - American actor who starred in the sitcom Too Close for Comfort.

Merritt Butrick - American actor best remembered for playing Captain Kirk's son in the films Star Trek II and III.

Ian Charleson - British actor whose best-known role was the part of athlete Eric Liddell in the film Chariots of Fire.

Brad Davis - American actor, played the part of Billy Hayes in the film Midnight Express.

Denholm Elliott - British actor; won three BAFTA awards as best supporting actor for Trading Places, A Private Function and Defence of the Realm, as well as an Academy Award nomination for A Room with a View.

Richard Frank - American television and motion picture actor best known as Father Vogler in the film Amadeus

Leonard Frey - American Broadway and film actor, earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof.

Tom Fuccello - American actor, known for his role as Dave Culver in the television series Dallas.

Kevin Peter Hall - American actor, played in Predator and Harry and the Hendersons.

Christian Haren - American actor and model best known for portraying the Marlboro Man in print advertisements.

Rock Hudson - American actor, first major American celebrity to publicly disclose HIV status.

Tom McBride - American actor and model; best known for his role in Friday the 13th Part 2 and for his modeling stint as the Marlboro Man.

John Megna - American former child actor, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Cookie Mueller - American actor and writer who featured in many of filmmaker John Waters' early films.

Timothy Patrick Murphy - American actor, played the role of Mickey Trotter in the television series Dallas

David Oliver - American actor, played in Another World and A Year in the Life

Anthony Perkins - American actor best known for his role as Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.

Dack Rambo - American actor who played Jack Ewing in the television series Dallas.

Gene Anthony Ray - American actor and dancer; best known for his portrayal of the street smart dancer Leroy in the 1980 motion picture Fame and the television spin-off.

Robert Reed - American actor; played the role of Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch.

Tony Richardson - British film director; received two Academy Awards (Best Director and Best Picture) for Tom Jones

Larry Riley - American actor; played the role of Frank Williams in the soap opera Knots Landing

Howard Rollins - American actor, nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Ragtime

Tommy Sexton - Canadian actor and comedian.

Ray Sharkey - American actor; won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in The Idolmaker.

World AIDS Day

Every year I take this day to remember all the friends I have known who died of AIDS or are HIV+. For those of you who are say, below 30, you know the disease and that it is scary, but the fear and stigma that once was attached to a positive HIV test is not what it once was. Back in the day when you became HIV+, it was just a countdown to death. It was that weekly doctor visit to find out how your T Cell count was and when it was low enough to be called AIDS. It was taking AZT if you could afford it and watching your body break out in hives and rashes. The night sweats. Wasting away to nothing, helpless to do anything. Now, through education and billions of dollars in research and medical breakthroughs, it is not a killer for people in well off countries. For those who get infected in poorer countries, it is still a death sentence. Take today and learn about the disease. Learn about how it spread all over the world. Take 15 minutes and know why so much still needs to be done. Watch a movie. Philadelphia is a great one. And The Band Played On is great to show you the history of the disease and how it spread. Click here for more information on the day and what you can do.

Random Photos Part One - With Reader Photos

Four parts today.

Reader Photo #1
Reader Photo #2
That Quentin Tarantino sure is funny. When I saw this picture I thought to myself that I would like to see a reality show where Quentin went on a bunch of dates with people he met off eHarmony. Who would match him?
Joel McHale, Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner got up really early to announce the Independent Spirit Nominations. As could be expected,
Joel McHale took over.

An interesting look for Star Jones.
The Tori Spelling diet. Look at a menu but don't eat.
She is filming her new ABC talk show. Uggh.
It is already December 1st in Sydney and they are honoring World AIDS Day in a big way.

World AIDS Day

A few years ago I posted a list of actors who publicly announced they are HIV+. Here is an updated list. For more on World AIDS Day, you can click here, and for a list of all celebrities in every field who have announced publicly they are HIV+, click here.

Amanda Blake
(1929–1989)
American actress best remembered for her role as Kitty Russell in the television series Gunsmoke.

Jim J. Bullock
(born 1955)
American actor who starred in the sitcom Too Close for Comfort.

Merritt Butrick
(1959-1989)
American actor best remembered for playing Captain Kirk's son in the films Star Trek II and III.

Ian Charleson
(1949–1990)
British actor whose best-known role was the part of athlete Eric Liddell in the film Chariots of Fire.

Brad Davis
(1949–1991)
American actor, played the part of Billy Hayes in the film Midnight Express.

Robert Drivas
(1938–1986)
American film, television and stage actor.

Denholm Elliott
(1922–1992)
British actor; won three BAFTA awards as best supporting actor for Trading Places, A Private Function and Defence of the Realm, as well as an Academy Award nomination for A Room with a View.

Peter Evans
(1950–1989)
American film, television and stage actor.

Richard Frank
(1953–1995)
American television and motion picture actor best known as Father Vogler in the film Amadeus

Leonard Frey
(1938–1988)

American Broadway and film actor, earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof.

Tom Fuccello
(1936–1993)
American actor, known for his role as Dave Culver in the television series Dallas.

Kevin Peter Hall

(1955–1991)
American actor, played in Predator and Harry and the Hendersons.
<sup>[14]

Christian Haren
(1935-1997)
American actor and model best known for portraying the Marlboro Man in print advertisements.

Rock Hudson
(1925–1985)
American actor, first major American celebrity to publicly disclose HIV status.

Michael Jeter
(1952–2003)
American film and theatre, won a Tony Award in 1990 for the musical Grand Hotel.

Larry Kert
(1930–1991)
American film and theatre actor

Irving Allen Lee
(1948–1992)
American soap opera and musical actor.

Tom McBride

(1952–1995)
American actor and model; best known for his role in Friday the 13th Part 2 and for his modeling stint as the Marlboro Man

John Megna
(1952–1995)

American former child actor, To Kill a Mockingbird.

Cookie Mueller
(1949–1989)
American actor and writer who featured in many of filmmaker John Waters' early films.

Timothy Patrick Murphy
(1959–1988)
American actor, played the role of Mickey Trotter in the television series Dallas

David Oliver
(1962–1991)
American actor, played in Another World and A Year in the Life

Ilka Tanya Payán
(1943–1996)
Dominican born American actress, attorney and activist. She was one of the first Latino celebrities to publicly disclose her status.

Fernando Peña

(1963-2009)
Uruguayan-Argentine television and motion picture actor

Anthony Perkins
(1932–1992)
American actor best known for his role as Norman Bates in the Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho.

Keith Prentice
(1940–1992)
American theatre and soap opera actor.

Kurt Raab
(1941–1988)
German actor known for his work with cult film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Dack Rambo
(1941–1994)
American actor who played Jack Ewing in the television series Dallas.

Gene Anthony Ray

(1962–2003)
American actor and dancer; best known for his portrayal of the street smart dancer Leroy in the 1980 motion picture Fame and the television spin-off.

Robert Reed

(1932–1992)
American actor; played the role of Mike Brady on The Brady Bunch.

Tony Richardson

(1928–1991)
British film director; received two Academy Awards (Best Director and Best Picture) for Tom Jones (1963).

Larry Riley

(1952–1992)
American actor; played the role of Frank Williams in the soap opera Knots Landing

Howard Rollins
(1950–1996)
American actor, nominated for the 1981 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Ragtime

Tommy Sexton
(1955–1993)
Canadian actor and comedian.

Ray Sharkey
(1952–1993)
American actor; won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in The Idolmaker.

Paul Shenar
(1936–1989)
American film and theatre actor; played in the film Scarface.

Stephen Stucker

(1947–1986)
American actor and comedian; best known for the Airplane! films.

Tom Villard
(1953–1994)

American actor.

Guy Willoughby
(1957–2009)
South African actor.</sup>

World AIDS Day

For more information on World AIDS Day and what you can do to help, or to just learn more about what is happening in the fight against AIDS, click here. If you want to see some of the posts from past years, please click on the label beneath this post.

World AIDS Day 2007

My Friend

Here is the post I wrote last year on World AIDS Day.

This year, I thought I would share something that has changed who I am as a person, and why I care just so much about bringing attention to AIDS, and to someday finding a cure.

In 1990 or 1991 I had this wonderful female co-worker who would made each day better than the last. She was gorgeous, loved to smile, and had such an incredible presence that everyone wanted to be close to her. One of her traits that I enjoyed the most was her habit of grabbing someone who was having a bad day, and taking them outside to see a rainbow or sunset, or some other incredible act of nature. Over time I met her husband, and he had that same spirit of life. He was the musical director of a group that criss-crossed the US playing to crowds of 10 or 10,000. They were just happy playing music. You would have loved this couple. Everyone did.

I became close to the couple and would often eat at their home or go to events with them. I honestly don't remember the circumstances when they told me they were HIV+, I just vividly remember a later encounter with the wife who told me how she had received the news she was HIV+. She had gone to get tested, and when she came back to the office to get the results she knew something was up. There were two people waiting for her in a room to deliver the news. She didn't remember anything they said after she heard the word positive. She didn't remember driving back home. She just remembers sitting in her garage, wondering if she should just end it all right then and save herself the shame (yes, there was still a great deal of shame and embarrassment then) and the pain, and just take her life, and get it over with. She sat there for what seemed like hours before some voice told her to get out of the car, and go inside the house. That everything would be all right. She never again thought of taking her own life.

Within about six months of her notification, she met her husband. He was already HIV+. He never told me, and I never asked how he contracted the disease. By the time I met the couple, the husband already had full blown AIDS. At that time AIDS was all about AZT and T-Cell counts. The husband had so many medications that did so many things to his body. His life was controlled by those medications, but you would never know it by being with him. He was so full of life and cheer. Even though he was living with AIDS, he knew there were countless other people who had worse lives, and his goal was to make those people and their lives a little better and a little more hopeful.

From his wife I would hear the stories of the night sweats so severe that sheets would often be changed two or three times a night. Uncontrollable shaking or the cough which would never go away. When the husband lost the sight in one of his eyes from AIDS, he laughed it off and said that was his bad eye anyway, and now he didn't need glasses.

I remember the first time I saw him in the hospital. He had some really bad infection and everyone thought he was going to die. He just said it wasn't his time yet, and spent most of his efforts on cheering the people who came to visit him in the hospital.

It was during this period that I became really ill. I was working 18 hours a day, 7 days a week, and my body finally quit. Who was there to take me to the hospital? Yep, he was. He was also the guy who snuck me in real food to eat, visited me everyday of the week I was in the hospital, and quizzed the doctors about every medication they were giving me and if they were really necessary. With all the medication he took daily, he was an expert.

I think it was about three months after this, that he was forced to quit traveling with the group because it was just becoming too difficult. He tried to make up for it by recording what I think he knew would be his last album. In between more frequent hospital visits he would find whatever time he could to record. He wasn't a singer, just a musician. A great musician who could make you feel every emotion through his work. When you listen to that last album, you can feel every range of emotion a human is capable of feeling. He takes you on that final journey of joy, and pain, and hope right along with him.

Within a week of the completion of the album, my friend passed away. His wife was much more fortunate. She is still alive today. For her, the drug cocktails came along soon enough to save her. After her husband died though, she didn't know there was a breakthrough in AIDS drugs on the horizon. She decided that if she was going to die, she was going to die on her own terms much as her husband had. She quit her job, sold everything she had, and decided to travel the world. She wanted to live life and she has. It has probably been close to five years or so since I have heard from her. I know she is alive though from mutual friends. When she finally realized she was going to be able to live with HIV, she decided that she needed to go back to also living a regular life. So, she lives a regular life, goes to work and to the mall. She goes out with friends, and does anything a normal person would do, with one caveat. The last time I spoke with her, she said that nothing could be truly normal because of that visit to the doctor's office so long ago. That feeling of a guaranteed death sentence never quite leaves you, and can never allow you to be completely normal again.

I have one tattoo on my body, and it is a tribute to this couple, their bravery, and their love for others, despite this guaranteed death sentence. I loved them then, and I love them now.