Washington Blade - July 28, 2006
Michael A Knipp

In the mid-1980s, the groundbreaking made-for-TV movie confronted the crisis in a landmark event. The first major film to deal with the topic, "An Early Frost" stars Aidan Quinn as Michael Pierson, a successful young lawyer who's both in the closet and suffering from AIDS. Veteran actors Gena Rowlands, Bill Paxton, Terry O'Quinn (ABC's "Lost"), John Glover and Ben Gazzara also star.

Leading a double life, Pierson keeps his boyfriend a secret from both family and co-workers. But everything changes when he falls ill with pneumonia and is diagnosed with AIDS, forcing him to be open about the disease and his homosexuality for the first time. Back home with his parents (Rowlands and Gazzara), they learn to adjust to the son they never knew, and realize that they love him just the same.

The movie debuted on NBC on Nov. 11, 1985, as the top-rated program of the evening, beating out ratings juggernaut, "Monday Night Football." Earning widespread acclaim, "An Early Frost" landed on several top-10 lists that year and went on to win four of the 14 Emmy Awards for which it was nominated.

DANIEL LIPMAN, WHO wrote the script with longtime partner Ron Cowen (the pair would later go on to make the American version of "Queer as Folk"), remembers the arduous process of getting a green light for the then-controversial project.

"The script went through 15 drafts," he recalls. "That being said, the script basically did not change at all. Our producer, Peter Lafferty, was an NBC executive who stepped down from his position to produce this film. Because the subject matter was so touchy, he felt the best approach was to get everyone on board at the network - one person at a time."

But before NBC could air the movie, it needed to secure sponsors, and with the controversy surrounding the disease, advertisers were hard to find.

"The network wound up supplying its own promos instead of commercials," says Lipman. "Although, there was one commercial - for the Kings James Bible. Swear to God!"

The new DVD edition, from Wolfe Video, features commentary on the movie from Lipman, Cowan and star Aidan Quinn, as well as a behind the scenes documentary.

GAY ACTOR JOHN Glover, who currently plays Lionel Luthor on the television series "Smallville," was cast as Victor DiMato, an AIDS patient who befriends Pierson during a hospital visit due to complications from the virus. Despite the prejudices surrounding AIDS at the time, and the adverse impact playing this type of character might have had on his career, he was drawn to the project.

"I knew I wanted to be in it," Glover explains. "I asked [director] John Erman, and he said there were two roles left, Aidan Quinn's boyfriend and Victor. He said I had next to nothing of a chance to be the boyfriend, but I had a good chance to be Victor. So I said, 'I'll take Victor.' I wanted to be an honest portrayal of a rather flamboyant gay man. It didn't matter what they thought about me as long as the story got told."

Lipman says the responses to that story were remarkable.

"[We heard from a] son whose mother hadn't spoken to him in three years," he says. "At 11:05 p.m., right after the film ended, the phone rang. It was his mother calling, asking him to come to dinner the following evening and work things out."

The movie provided a tangible, much-needed example of something that was lost in the chaos of the killer virus: family and the unconditional love that can conquer all.

"'An Early Frost' is a family story above all else," says Lipman. "The core of the film is a father and son story. Family dynamics remain a constant. Those emotions are timeless."

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