Life and Death on the A List documentary about actor Tom McBride

No but I want to.

A-List is stretching it. Never heard of him.

Saw it when it first came out on the gay film festival circuit. I have a copy of it ...........on VHS. Oy.

R2 ---'A List' as in "within a gay community" .......... everyone wanted him or wanted to be him.

not that A-list r2. The downtown NYC hook up culture of the 80s A-list.

Everyone? I'nm old enough to know who this guy is and have been a major film buff since I was a kid, but I have never heard of him.

checked canistreamit.com and it doesn't appear to be available to watch online.

Amazon only shows it available on VHS.

R6 he wasn't famous for acting, he was famous among the NYC social circuit of the time. He was famous to the people in it or who aspired to be.

Tom played Mark in Friday the 13th Part 2, the camp counselor who got walked with a machete while in a wheelchair by Jason

I believe he also dated the late Paul Keenan who was Todd Chandler on Days of Our Lives back then

He also died of AIDS.

I meant to post he was KILLED by Jason

Here's a link to the trailer. It also has an option to rent or buy a download of the full doc. Some of the other guys In it come off as very shallow and vapid. Some things never change though.

I remembered him as the guy in the wheelchair from Friday the 13th part II. He didn't work much as an actor, but did get a gig as the Marlboro Man for a while and several commercials (one with Dana Delany).

R11 a few years back there was a video on YouTube of Deidre Hall, Marlena form Days of our Lives, speaking about the tragedy of AIDS in an early 90s interview.

She mentioned Paul Keenan and his death and also said that she's still great friends with his former lover Tom McBride and checks on him and cooks for him

It seems to have been taken down.

Thanks r11. I don't think I could sit through the whole thing.

That looks horrible. Who made it?

He replaced Jeff Daniels on Broadway as the hunky lover in Fifth of July.

The trailer is supposed to hook you and make you wanna watch something, but those "admirers" of Tom's are really off putting.

R14 A guy called Jay Corcoran. He's done other gay themed docs. Here's a link to his IMDb page.

It was on YouTube at least a month ago. I have it saved on my computer though, so I'll try to upload it to Vimeo if you guys wanna see it. Fascinating stuff. Also, they show his cock and bush from when he was at his most attractive. (That's why I saved it.)

So he knew he wasn't going to live much longer so they filmed his last few months?

Who?

What a gorgeous man. Truly stunning. This one really made me sad. I have it on VHS.

The trailer is on Youtube as well. One commenter says that he used to go to the same gym and he was horrible.

NSFW pictures of him in it at this link

he was hot but seems like a self-centered asshole

R21 .... no doubt he was an asshole because he was 'everyone's' ideal ..........and usually the 'A-List' doesn't grade on a curve and if you're not on the list with them, you're shit on their shoe.

Jay Corcoran also appeared in a movie ('All The Rage') and he had a great body/hairy chest (although he was balding and not traditionally handsome.

Corcoran is to the far right of the picture at link.

A-List? Hardly.

His face is familiar, I must have noted his handsomeness in those old commercials.

Movie looks sad.

I have the VHS. It's not all that great of a film. Not worth spending $20 on.

Some people don't understand A-List GAY vs. A List Celebrity.

I agree there is too large a group for there really to be an 'A-List', but there are people who believe in it (and they're probably mostly the ones who believe they are on it).

Besides, with all the subsets of gays, one man's A-List is another man's F-list.

Good to know gay men were just as shallow and pathetic back then as they are now. The guys interviewed in that trailer were just sad.

Yeah, R27. It's usually gay guys who are obsessed with the cliques of high school and teenage girl bitchiness. There were a group of above average looking gay guys at this bar I used to go to who legitimately believed they were the "A-list". Everyone kind of snickered at them behind their backs. They rarely ever left with anyone or met any guys because they were pretty self-adoring and unapproachable. Occasionally one would hook up with an unattractive guy who was drunk/brazen enough to talk to them, and they did so mostly because they were self-loathing and needed that validation.

The comments at r22's link seem to belie the idea that he was an asshole -- two people describe him as kind and warm-hearted.

Anyway, another commenter mentions Paul Kenan as well as Timothy Patrick Murphy (Mickey Trotter in the '82-'83 season of Dallas). All three were victims of the plague.

Can you imagine the B list if this forgettable piece of paste was A??

He seems to have been considered A-list only because he was good looking and had a hot body and because he could pass for straight. Pretty much the same as today, really. He did have terrible teeth in that Greyhound commercial, though.

It was an interesting subject for a documentary. The complete physical deterioration of someone who's entire lifestyle was centered around the fact that he was so physically attractive. It's a shame they didn't really go into the psychological impact of such a life-altering affliction in addition to the fact that his days were numbered. One of the cons of such a short running time (only 45 minutes, IIRC). One of the pros was just how quickly you saw him go from a strong, hot, witty presence to an almost mute, withered, immobile, and emaciated body.

We wouldn't have infected him!

I tried to watch it when it was on youtube, but the overwhelming narcissism from various parties made me stop. The film is an elusive legend, and should be more wildly available to people who want to see it. Interesting that McBride, Keenan, and Murphy all had a similar kind of look, hairy-chested boyishness. And wasn't David Oliver part of their scene as well? Birds of a Feather, maybe even moreso back then...

I watched the film. It wasn't really what I thought it would be. I was more interested in the era of his life pre-AIDs. I was curious how he lived in the free years before the plague and then the onslaught of it. The film just showed him deteriorating. I wish it went back further.

Life and Death on the AIDS List?

I must not have the DL hate gene. I saw this or read it recently and thought it was pretty good, and he seemed like a nice enough guy to me.

I uploaded it to Vimeo for you guys. I don't know why they took it off YouTube. It doesn't look like it's been released on any form of media since VHS.

Thanks for that, R39. What a depressing experience it was, though. If I had advanced AIDS and knew I was going to die, the last thing I'd waste my time on would be trolling the gym for tricks and worrying about losing muscle mass. What an empty, wasted life.

R39 - The guy who made it put it on Vimeo for a 2.99 streaming rental. He probably had it removed from YouTube and it doesn't look like your upload is working now.

It appears to be working on my computer, R41.

It works R41.

I googled Tom McBride and look at what I bumped into. When Robert Urich pulled on those pants that day did he have any idea how far reaching his bulge would be?

Thank you 39.

I just watched the whole thing. He didn't come off well at all, very shallow and narcissistic. At the end of the documentary, he seemed more concerned about guys he hadn't fucked than anything. It's not really surprising that this doc hasn't been widely seen. It had a subject that could've drawn in a large audience, a handsome actor/model dies a premature death of AIDS, but it was very hard to sympathize with him other than he was dying a horrific death no one deserves.

He seems like a sexual compulsive.

A list?

Snort.

A very sad and empty life.

No one deserves to die such a terrible, premature death like that. But this guy was beyond shallow. For all his talk of "career", his acting career was 5-10 years behind him already.

I remember Chelsea in the 90s when I was still a student, wondering, don't any of these dudes have jobs? They just seem to hang out on Eighth Avenue all day.

I guess he was one of those dudes.

Dana Delaney and Tom had a lot of sexual chemistry in that laundry/elevator commercial considering he was gay and she is a well, you know.

He was handsome but .....

Such a lovely holiday tradition at DL, cunting about a guy who died of AIDS in the 1990s. You embarrass me.

Here's an interview with the director, who not surprisingly also slept with Tom ("Everyone had sex with Tom" according to him).

I forgot to mention that it was interesting about him getting a small part on the Soap Opera "Loving". I bet Lauren Marie Taylor, his Friday the 13 part 2 co-star helped him get the part so he could be continue being covered by SAG medical insurance. She mentioned in an interview she remained friends with him and that they also did a commercial together. She played "Stacey" for the entire run save for the last few months of the show, so I'm sure she had a little bit of pull to help out her friend.

[quote]I bet Lauren Marie Taylor, his Friday the 13 part 2 co-star helped him get the part so he could be continue being covered by SAG medical insurance.

Would one guest appearance get him medical coverage? BTW Soaps were under AFTRA back then.

R55 maybe Deidre Hall or Paul Keenan helped him get Loving too?

WEHT Lauren Marie Taylor? Is she still in the business?

Brad Gooch says he got "nailed" by him in his new book.

I think it depends on how many hours or money was earned, whatever the requirement was back then.

LMT is retired from acting but still does horror conventions occasionally. She has aged well.

I wonder what he is auditioning for in that scene where he gets naked. Porn?

It's not really surprising that an actor would be self-involved and looks/body conscious. I guess the director started filming him after he was diagnosed (expecting some spiritual shift in Tom) but it's too bad we didn't get more of his "before" story.

It might have been interesting and fleshed him out a bit.

He seemed nice enough but there didn't appear to be much spiritual depth considering what he was going through and facing.

Is this who Brian Kineny was based on?

His "friend" who made fun of him for landing the Marlboro gig needed to be slapped. What a vicious queeny thing to do.

I think it is interesting what the attorney/admirer says. He is so surprised and says how much it meant to him that a guy like that could be gay.

I think things are different nowadays with higher visibility and more people (not just people in the public eye) being out. Being from a later generation I almost find his comment surprising. Why would he think a guy like that couldn't be gay? You see them all the time now online and off.

This movie answers my question about Lips Together Teeth Apart. When I saw that last year I thought Really? People in 1992 were still afraid of getting AIDS from pools. I guess they were. (look at his mother's behavior)

He was hot, for sure. Great body, handsome face, sweet ass (did you see him in those tight jeans?). Alas, tiny cock. I have NEVER heard of a tiny-cocked top being an A-List gay. We sure he wasn't really a bottom? That would make so much more sense.

[quote]Alas, tiny cock. I have NEVER heard of a tiny-cocked top being an A-List gay.

They grow dumbass R68.

Every word Brad Gooch writes is a lie, including and and the.

He lost that luster he had in those early 80s commercials real quick. By the time he got that Winston ad it was already downhill. Used up and discarded. But he seemed to enjoy it. So....

I agree R65 he needed new friends. He ended up in the wrong crowd. Poor guy. Lord only knows what nonsense and crap they filled his head with. How did he make money?

Tom McBride was the definition of a himbo. He had tweety birds flying round his head. I just watched this yesterday and the man had absolutely nothing to say about anything. His death of aids was pretty sanitized. Big nothingburger.

I wonder if he hooked up with the other muscled counselor in Friday the 13th Part 2.

We've embarrassed R53 in front of a reporter.....a REPORTER!

I'm very sorry he died, and I have no malice for him. I hope he is at peace.

But forgive me for not finding "oooh, so and so was hot and fuckable" to be a compelling reason for beatification.

[quote]We've embarrassed [R53] in front of a reporter.....a REPORTER!

Yes. Five years ago.....FIVE YEARS AGO!

Tom said in the doc that he had PML. He was lucky he had his mother and family to hold his hand before he died. I'm sure many who died had no one. Now that was the true tragedy.

Did he and fellow gay Russell Todd hook up on the set of Friday the 13th Part 2? That'd be a hot coupling.

R78 Truth! They'd have the hottest butt babies. I mean circa 1980. Not later than that.

As a precocious teen, I grew up in the gay bars of 90’s Boston with a bunch of vacuous “A List” guys just like this. My friend and “gay mother” John was just as broke as I was, but absolutely obsessed with them, putting on airs and pretending to be fabulous as them, wealthy realtors, lawyers and business people. He showed me all the ins and outs of gay life, and even took me to one of the last Saint parties in NYC. I remember how incestuous the A listers were, and they’d throw fabulous after hours parties but you had to know someone to get in. John got into all of them.

Then they were all swept away by the plague, including John.

I was plain until I turned 25, and remember suddenly hitting my stride- and one of them came over in a club and actually complimented me. It had a lot to do with John teaching me. I think if those guys had lived they’d be pretty miserable with aging...

I miss you John.

Aging sucks. I saw an asian man, maybe Chinese, on Grindr yesterday who was 72 and looked 40! Had all of his hair. Only some grays. No wrinkles. No obvious bone loss or facial wasting from age. I asked him if he was taking adrenochrome and he just laughed.

Yes, I saw it back when it was released and yes, I'm a FRIDAY THE 13TH fan.

But the documentary painted Tom in a rather unflattering life — stuck-up, shallow and vain.

Death by AIDS must have been a horrifying karma to him.

Oh please. It had nothing to do with karma. No one deserves to get aids. He and his friends were just a bunch of carefree hedonists who fucked hundreds or thousands of men bareback. If they had not used drugs, had multiple infections that required multiple antibiotics, and if they had used condoms every time, none of them would have died from aids. Doesn't mean any of them deserved it.

Wifebeater, cut-off jeans shorts, combat boots, leather strappy bracelets...

Never again! Dear God, never again!

It is extremely amateurish, r14.

I wonder if a lot of the footage of Tom was just home video never intended for a professional documentary, because it's a lot of grainy, underexposed, home VHS shit.

r74, I wonder if he hooked up with his FRIDAY THE !3TH PART 2 co-star Russell Todd, who is now openly gay!

Russell Todd is a super hot daddy. Perfect teeth. Still gorgeous. He aged way better than Tom McBride. :-)

He's no Jeffrey Rogers.

[quote] everyone wanted him or wanted to be him.

Wow, not me on either count.

Why do his friends keep saying this about him when clearly not everyone felt this way?