Actor and activist Michael Kearns dies at 76

Actor and activist Michael Kearns, a prominent openly gay performer who publicly disclosed that he was HIV-positive, died at 76 on October 5, according to friends. The cause of death has not been reported. Filmmaker and professor Roland Palencia said Kearns died Monday evening after feeling unwell and calling paramedics the previous day. Palencia also said Kearns had visited emergency rooms more than five times in recent months. Those details were shared by Palencia in a social-media post. Kearns came out as gay in the mid-1970s and built a career in theatre, film and television. Among his screen credits were Body Double and Beverly Hills, 90210. He also appeared in the television drama Life Goes On, playing a character with HIV in 1992, a year after publicly disclosing his own diagnosis. At the time of his disclosure, Kearns said he wanted to speak for people with HIV and that the condition was nothing to be ashamed of. His decision to speak publicly came when HIV and AIDS were heavily stigmatized, and he later incorporated the epidemic and its losses into solo theatre work, including Intimacies and More Intimacies.