Michael Kearns, the actor, writer, and director who became one of Hollywood’s earliest openly gay performers and later made history by publicly revealing his HIV status, has died at age 76.
According to AOL, Celebration Theatre announced the death of Michael Kearns in an Oct. 6 Facebook post. The actor had been scheduled to appear at the Santa Monica theater on Oct. 11 for a National Coming Out Day event, where he planned to perform selections from Robert Chesley’s groundbreaking play Jerker.
Michael Kearns Made History by Publicly Sharing His HIV Status
According to his friend Roland Palencia, Kearns began feeling unwell on Oct. 4 and asked for help preparing for paramedics to arrive. Palencia wrote that Kearns died the following evening, Oct. 5, and remembered him as someone whose impact on theater, performance, and the people around him was extraordinary.
Kearns had already broken major barriers decades earlier. In 1991, he publicly revealed that he was HIV-positive during an interview with NBC correspondent Faith Daniels and later discussed his diagnosis again on Entertainment Tonight. At the time, openly discussing HIV could carry serious professional consequences for performers, making his decision especially significant.
His Career Stretched From Television to Groundbreaking Theater
Television viewers may remember Michael Kearns from Days of Our Lives, Beverly Hills, 90210, Cheers, Murder, She Wrote, and other shows. Still, some of his most influential work came in theater. As artistic director of Celebration Theatre, he directed the 1986 premiere of Jerker, a play about two gay men during the early AIDS crisis. The production later drew controversy after radio excerpts prompted an FCC complaint, which Kearns said reflected anti-gay bias.
For him, Jerker was ultimately less about statistics or even AIDS itself than about human connection. He believed that emotional core would allow the play to endure long after the specific historical moment surrounding it had passed. That belief also helps explain the legacy Michael Kearns leaves behind. His career combined television, theater, activism, and personal honesty at a time when openly discussing sexuality and HIV could jeopardize an actor’s livelihood. By refusing to stay silent, he helped make space for conversations that Hollywood had often avoided. Kearns is survived by his daughter, Katherine.
