I'd never even heard of Clive Barker

Why do you proclaim your ignorance so proudly, OP?

Clive is very talented, but he's a very strange man. He has always been very much into dark things and S&M, and when he became HIV-infected in the 80s, like many gay men he responded by working out and becoming a muscleman to stay as healthy as possible. He survived, which is amazing, but his years of infection (and using experimental treatments for it) before the AIDS cocktail was invented did a real number on his health.

He was good looking in 1987.

For some weird reason, I've always loved Barker's accent.

I never said I was proud not to know who he is.

I'm very sorry to hear he had AIDS. Nothing on WIKI about it.

You never saw or heard of Hellraiser (1987), OP?

OMG- What happened to him. He was SO good looking in 1987.

R6, he was run over by the dumptruck of old age.

R7- Old Age or old AIDS?

His accent is interesting. He was born and raised in Liverpool, and so he had a classic accent from that city, but when he moved to the US he picked up some of the American accent, and now his accent is between the two.

He had a horrific medical event ten years ago when he had toxic shock syndrome from dental work, and it left him in a wheelchair. the before and after photos here are very sad. At least he had the money to pay for care.

Old age, R8. He has thus far survived HIV. But he is nearly 70.

How timely this thread is! I actually had the great opportunity to see Clive Barker on Sunday afternoon as part of Outfest here in LA. Clive Barker was presented with the first Outfest Maverick Award and made an extremely rare public appearance.

I suspect he’s something of a recluse these days due to illness. For those of you speculating, he apparently suffered from toxic shock syndrome after a botched dental procedure and almost died. He was super frail.

But it’s clear he was so excited to be out and about with us and instead of sticking to the tried and true ”answer the moderators questions” model, he instead hijacked the moment to engage in dialogue with the audience. Speaking on his childhood in Liverpool to his thoughts on current events, he displayed a genuine desire to CONNECT. He asked about social media (he doesn’t do the internet at all), and about our favorite books. He seems to be a man of deep empathy and boundless curiosity. The moderator tried to rein in the proceedings and get us on to the screening of his film Nightbreed, but all of us (including Clive) would have been more than happy to spend another hour or so in each other’s presence.

The moderator’s final question was “Is the future of horror queer?” To which he replied: “The future of EVERYTHING is queer!”

It was amazing.

Nice story, r11!

[quote]During his early years as a writer, Barker occasionally worked as a prostitute when his writing did not provide sufficient income.

OMG!

I tried reading a couple of his books in the ‘80’s because I was an avid reader of Stephen King’s books, but I never warmed to Barker’s work like I did King’s.

R14-I've warmed most to Andrew Holleran's work.

OMG by 2002 he sounds like one of the cast members of The Godfather.

UNO reverse card because he hasn’t heard of you either.

^ stupid pointless post

He was still cute in 1990

R18-I don't care for his spikey- ish hair by 1990. His 1987 style looked more becoming.

Extremely young, or living under a rock, or incredibly foreign?

I believe he was friends with Kenneth Nelson, the original Michael from "The Boys In The Band." Nelson had a small role in a Barker movie adaptation.