Palencia didn\u2019t specify more about his friend\u2019s health problems. He added that Michael Kearns was \u201ca friend, mentor, neighbor, and my movie buddy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A cause of death has not yet been announced. However, what we do know is that Michael Kearns shared he was HIV-positive and revealed his diagnosis on television in 1991.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The actor was a pioneer who helped change Hollywood, fighting for people living with HIV and AIDS at a time when the stigma surrounding the disease was massive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1950, Kearns discovered his love of acting as a child. He later studied drama in Chicago before beginning his professional career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kearns made his first television appearance in The Waltons<\/em> in 1974 and went on to appear in several popular shows, including Cheers<\/em>, Knots Landing<\/em>, Murder, She Wrote<\/em>, and Beverly Hills, 90210<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also appeared in the 1984 film Body Double<\/em> and HBO\u2019s drama And the Band Played On<\/em>, which told the story of the early AIDS crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kearns was among the early openly gay actors in Hollywood, at a time when many performers feared that being open about their sexuality could damage their careers. In 1991, he publicly revealed that he was HIV-positive, wanting to challenge the shame and discrimination surrounding the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also played HIV-positive characters on television, helping bring the experiences of people living with the virus to a wider audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Away from the screen, Kearns worked as a director and activist. He co-founded Artists Confronting AIDS<\/em>, an organization that used art and personal stories to raise awareness of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a personal level, Michael. Kearns also went through a lot. He married Philip Juwig in 1992, but his husband died that same year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1995, Kearns adopted a daughter, Katherine, and became a single adoptive father. At the time, it was even far less common than being openly gay, living with HIV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kearns had been scheduled to take part in a special event celebrating LGBTQ+ theater history at Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles just days after his death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rest in peace, Michael Kearns. Please share this article to honor him and his fight to make the world a better place.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Palencia didn\u2019t specify more about his friend\u2019s health problems. He added that Michael Kearns was \u201ca friend, mentor, neighbor, and my movie buddy.\u201d A cause of death has not yet been announced. However, what we do know is that Michael Kearns shared he was HIV-positive and revealed his diagnosis on television in 1991. The actor …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22898,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22896\/revisions\/22898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Michael Kearns, pioneering gay \u2018Cheers\u2019 and \u2018Bevery Hills 90210\u2019 actor, dies at 76<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Broke stigma surrounding HIV<\/h2>\n\n\n\n