Famous men in the 80s whose deaths from AIDS-related complications were covered up

Neil Bogart head of Casablanca records

Luther Vandross

Prince

Roy Cohn

Jim Henson

Wasn’t Anthony Perkins another one?

Raul Julia

George Michael

I remember Anthony Perkins talking publicly about his conflicts about being gay and his HIV diagnosis.

R1 Luther Vandross died in 2005 due to complications from a stroke and other health issues, including diabetes and high blood pressure. Madonna had mistakenly included him in an AIDS tribute during her "Celebration" tour which is why some people mistakenly believed he died of it. By 2005, people that could afford medical care were living with AIDS rather than dying of it.

Gregg Burge?

Isaac Asimov

R8 - yes I was about to post that. Apparently a blood transfusion like Arthur Ashe.

Not sure if I believe either story. It's possible - but it's also possible they were closeted.

Burt

R9 It did happen to some people that way. The mother of an older friend of mine died of complications of HIV in the early 1990s at the age of 85. She wasn't promiscuous or an IV drug abuser.

NIH: In the early 1980s, blood became a vector for HIV infection and transmitted a fatal illness to approximately half of the 16,000 hemophiliacs in the United States and to over 12,000 blood transfusion recipients.

R11, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason’s mother mother got it from a blood transfusion.

But I know, she’s not a man.

Many people (including his late widow Marge) think Broadway director Gower Champion was one of the earliest AIDS victims (August of 1980). It was written off at the time as a rare blood cancer, but he was notoriously bisexual.

R11 - that you know of - you never know what people get up to behind closed doors.

I'm joking of course. But there's also something about protecting a person's 'legacy' with Arthur Ashe and Asimov.

We just don't know for sure.

Lenny Baker?

I'm glad Roy Cohn is dead, and I hope his death was a long, slow, excruciatingly painful one.

Lenny Baker's health issues started around 1978 while he was starring in I Love My Wife. He had to leave the show and I don't think he ever returned. I remember seeing him in an episode of Taxi and his voice sounded off so I assumed he might have had throat cancer. I don't think it was AIDS related but it was very sad because he was a very talented, unique guy.

[quote]Lenny Baker?

According to Wikipedia:

Decades after Baker's death, commentator (DL favorite) David Ehrenstein incorrectly speculated in LA Weekly that Baker had suffered from AIDS, then known as "gay-related immune deficiency" (GRID), for approximately two years before his death. Ehrenstein's 2003 LA Weekly essay includes a quote from actor Anthony Holland that indicates that Baker lived in Los Angeles in 1980.

...poor Lenny Baker. Nobody sees him anymore. He’s up there [in his apartment] alone now. He’s dying of cancer, and the doctors can’t seem to figure out why.

— Anthony Holland, Actor, 1980

Countless soap actors.

Jim Henson

Brad Davis.

Exactly, R11.

Case in point: hardcore Colombo Family hitman Greg Scarpa, whose racism killed him.

For decades Scarpa gobbled aspirin by the handful, and it eventually destroyed his stomach. He had to have surgery to address severe bleeding ulcers; because he feared having to have blood transfusions that *could* contain Black blood, instead he had his capos donate blood for him. Well, one of those donors was also a bodybuilder who'd unknowingly contracted HIV from a dirty steroid needle.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Fucker weighed 56 lbs when he died.

Jim Henson’s been mentioned here twice. Is there any proof besides speculation?

R23 no proof... but lots of speculation that it was covered up

Liberace and Rock Hudson come to mind...

Chris Bernau - Guiding Light

Fine-ass Irving Allen Lee and Dennis Parker, Joel Crothers' fellow Edge of Night castmates.

My sister-in-law‘s dad died of AIDS. It’s very awkward because we all sort of pretend it was from a blood transfusion, but my husband tells me that he was very flamboyant and obviously closeted (he died two years before I met my husband). It was very common to cover up these deaths, even in the civilian world.

R1 Prince died thirty years after the eighties.

I'm reading a book that claims Richard Simmons was positive. He was taking the "cocktail" of drugs and was one of the few it worked on until the mid 2000s drugs came along. Person claims he heard it from the pharmacist who filled Richards meds. Also claims RS was into dancers/hustlers.

R30 Are you new to DL? Tell us something we haven't heard. haha

Yeah R29. Prince died in 2016. I'm not saying it's impossible, but wealthy people that could afford excellent heathcare were not commonly dying of AIDS related complications by that point in time. It's very unlikely.

At one time there was talk of Lyle Alzado who died of cancer in the early 1990s. He blamed it on longeterm steroid use but there was a lot of eye-rolling. I havo no opinion one way or another.

Then there are others whose cause of death was publicly disclosed but blamed on IV drug use. Again there was some eye-rolling as with Asimov and Ashe.

[quote] Are you new to DL? Tell us something we haven't heard. haha

[bold]Well excuse me for contributing. I WAS going to name the book where I got the info (and more dirt) but you can promptly run this whole fucking thread by yourself. FYI the book also mentions one of the clubs Richard Simmons met guys (Numbers)---and one of the guys stage names. [/bold]. If you know so much why doesn't this thread have 300 posts? Take your "haha" and swallow THAT.

My apologies R34. Didn't mean to offend. It's just what we do here. If you are new, Welcome !!

R1 R32... Prince died of a Fentanyl overdose using off-brand opiates that were laced. He may have been + but that's not why he died. It could have contributed to his overall health decline but I thought the rx drug abuse was due to a chronic pain/hip problem?

R36 - correct - and the chronic pain/hip problems is because of him jumping around the stage in stillettos and walking around in high heels all the time.

Feels fun and great then - but you pay for it - all dancers do - in your later years.

I think Madonna fucked up her joints with all of her dancing too - and that's why she's strung out on pain pills too and acting all weird.