An Early Frost
Encyclopedia
An Early Frost was a 1985 TV movie, and the first major film
to deal with the topic of HIV
/AIDS
. It was first broadcast on the NBC television network on November 11, 1985. It was directed by John Erman
, screenplay by Ron Cowen
and Daniel Lipman
, story by Sherman Yellen
and starred Aidan Quinn
as Michael Pierson, a Chicago
attorney
who goes home to break the news that he is homosexual and has AIDS to his parents, played by Ben Gazzara
and Gena Rowlands
.
of the Washington Post called An Early Frost "the most important TV movie of the year," although he had misgivings about the character played by Quinn, writing that "the central character has been made so far removed from the stereotypical homosexual that it could be argued he is stereotypically unstereotypical."
The film was number one in the Nielsen ratings
during the night it aired, garnering a 23.3 share (the film outperformed a San Francisco 49ers
-Denver Broncos
game broadcast on ABC
and a Cagney & Lacey
episode dealing with abortion
on CBS
). The film won Sylvia Sidney
the Golden Globe Award
for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or a TV Movie. It also won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award
for Outstanding Writing For a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Quinn was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, though he lost to Dustin Hoffman
). However, the network lost $500,000 in revenue because advertisers were leery about sponsoring the film. The show conveyed the prejudices surrounding HIV/AIDS at the time and the then common limited understanding by the general public of the methods of transmission and likelihood of infection. The three main networks shied away from airing programming with similar themes until 1988, although in the weeks following the broadcast of An Early Frost, episodes of St. Elsewhere
, Mr. Belvedere
, and Hotel
dealt with AIDS issues, and in July 1986
, Showtime broadcast the AIDS film As Is
. The movie paved the way for later TV and general release films dealing with the topic of AIDS, including Go Toward The Light
(1988), The Littlest Victims, The Ryan White
Story ( both 1989
), Longtime Companion
(1990
), and Philadelphia (1993
), which won Tom Hanks
, whose Andrew Beckett was similar in many ways to Michael Pierson, an Academy Award for Best Actor
.
. Michael, in a rage, throws Peter out of the house. He then travels to his parents' home to inform them that he is gay and has AIDS.
Michael's father, Nick (Gazzara), is a lumber company owner, and his wife, Kate (Rowlands), is a former concert pianist, housewife, and grandmother. The couple's daughter, Susan (Sydney Walsh) is married and has a child. Nick reacts angrily to the news, while Kate attempts to adapt to the situation. Nick initially refuses to speak to Michael for a day before breaking silence by saying, "I never thought the day would come when you'd be in front of me and I wouldn't know who you are." Susan, who is pregnant, refuses to see Michael, saying that she "can't take that chance," and Nick explodes when Michael tries to kiss Kate. Kate remembers reading in a magazine article that AIDS is not transmitted through casual contact and tries to get the rest of the family to accept Michael (Gena Rowlands also taped a public service announcement about AIDS transmission). Michael eventually winds up in the hospital (after paramedics who are called to his parents' house refuse to transport him to the hospital) and meets a fellow patient named Victor (John Glover
), a flamboyant homosexual with AIDS. The film depicts Victor's death and shows a nurse throwing Victor's few possessions into a garbage bag because she fears that the items could be contaminated.
The script for the film was written by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, based on a story by Sherman Yellen, and directed by John Erman. It spent two years in development and underwent at least thirteen rewrites before the standards division at the network accepted it for airing.
The film was broadcast a month after Rock Hudson
died of the disease.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
to deal with the topic of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
/AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. It was first broadcast on the NBC television network on November 11, 1985. It was directed by John Erman
John Erman
John Erman is an American television and film director, actor and producer.Born in Chicago, Illinois, Erman spent the early years of his career, after a few small roles in films such as The Cosmic Man , directing episodes of such primetime series as Peyton Place, The Fugitive, The Outer Limits,...
, screenplay by Ron Cowen
Ron Cowen
Ron Cowen is a writer and producer.-As a writer:* Queer as Folk TV Series * Sisters TV Series* The Love She Sought * An Early Frost * Paul's Case...
and Daniel Lipman
Daniel Lipman
Daniel Lipman is a writer and producer from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. His best known work to date is writing for and producing the hit American television shows Queer as Folk and Sisters.-Writer:* Leap Years...
, story by Sherman Yellen
Sherman Yellen
Sherman Yellen is a playwright and screenwriter.- Biography :Sherman Yellen was born in 1932 to Nathan and Lillian Yellen. He attended the High School of Music & Art in Harlem and graduated from Bard College on the Hudson in 1953 where he met his future wife, Joan Fuhr...
and starred Aidan Quinn
Aidan Quinn
-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...
as Michael Pierson, a Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
attorney
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
who goes home to break the news that he is homosexual and has AIDS to his parents, played by Ben Gazzara
Ben Gazzara
-Early life:Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina and Antonio Gazzara, who was a laborer and carpenter. Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He actually lived on E. 29th Street and participated in the drama program at...
and Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands
Gena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
.
Reviews, awards, and aftermath
Tom ShalesTom Shales
Thomas William "Tom" Shales is an American critic of television programming and operations. He is best known as TV critic for The Washington Post; in 1988, Shales received the Pulitzer Prize...
of the Washington Post called An Early Frost "the most important TV movie of the year," although he had misgivings about the character played by Quinn, writing that "the central character has been made so far removed from the stereotypical homosexual that it could be argued he is stereotypically unstereotypical."
The film was number one in the Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
during the night it aired, garnering a 23.3 share (the film outperformed a San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
-Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver, Colorado. They are currently members of the West Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
game broadcast on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and a Cagney & Lacey
Cagney & Lacey
Cagney & Lacey is an American television series that originally aired on the CBS television network for seven seasons from October 8, 1981 to May 16, 1988...
episode dealing with abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
on CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
). The film won Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney
Sylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
the Golden Globe Award
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Award is an accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign...
for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or a TV Movie. It also won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Writing For a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Quinn was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, though he lost to Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
). However, the network lost $500,000 in revenue because advertisers were leery about sponsoring the film. The show conveyed the prejudices surrounding HIV/AIDS at the time and the then common limited understanding by the general public of the methods of transmission and likelihood of infection. The three main networks shied away from airing programming with similar themes until 1988, although in the weeks following the broadcast of An Early Frost, episodes of St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982 to May 25, 1988. The series is set at fictional St. Eligius, a decaying urban teaching hospital in Boston's South End neighborhood...
, Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere
Mr. Belvedere is an American sitcom that originally aired on ABC from March 15, 1985, until July 8, 1990. The series was based on the Lynn Aloysius Belvedere character created by Gwen Davenport for her 1947 novel Belvedere, which was later adapted into the 1948 film Sitting Pretty...
, and Hotel
Hotel (TV series)
Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
dealt with AIDS issues, and in July 1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
, Showtime broadcast the AIDS film As Is
As Is (film)
As Is is a 1986 film adapted by William M. Hoffman from his play of the same title, that set its focus on the effect AIDS, then a fairly new epidemic, has on a group of friends living in New York City. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, the film stars Jonathan Hadary, Robert Carradine, and Colleen...
. The movie paved the way for later TV and general release films dealing with the topic of AIDS, including Go Toward The Light
Go Toward The Light
Go Toward the Light is a 1988 television film starring Linda Hamilton, Joshua Harris and Richard Thomas. The film first aired on CBS on November 11, 1988- Plot :A young couple face the realities of life with their child who is diagnosed with AIDS...
(1988), The Littlest Victims, The Ryan White
Ryan White
Ryan Wayne White was an American teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who became a national poster child for HIV/AIDS in the United States, after being expelled from middle school because of his infection. A hemophiliac, he became infected with HIV from a contaminated blood treatment and, when diagnosed...
Story ( both 1989
1989 in film
-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
), Longtime Companion
Longtime Companion
Longtime Companion is a 1989 film with Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, and Mary-Louise Parker. The first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of AIDS, the film takes its title from the words The New York Times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of...
(1990
1990 in film
The year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
), and Philadelphia (1993
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
), which won Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...
, whose Andrew Beckett was similar in many ways to Michael Pierson, an Academy Award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
.
Storyline
Michael Pierson, a successful lawyer, suffers a bad coughing jag at work and is rushed to the hospital. There he learns from a doctor that he has been exposed to the AIDS virus. At home, he receives another piece of disturbing news: his lover Peter, played by D. W. Moffett, confesses that he had sex outside the relationship because Michael is a workaholic and is living in the closetThe Closet
The Closet may refer to:* The Closet , Chinese film* The Closet , French film* The closet, referring to undisclosed homosexuality- See also :* Closet* Closet * In the closet...
. Michael, in a rage, throws Peter out of the house. He then travels to his parents' home to inform them that he is gay and has AIDS.
Michael's father, Nick (Gazzara), is a lumber company owner, and his wife, Kate (Rowlands), is a former concert pianist, housewife, and grandmother. The couple's daughter, Susan (Sydney Walsh) is married and has a child. Nick reacts angrily to the news, while Kate attempts to adapt to the situation. Nick initially refuses to speak to Michael for a day before breaking silence by saying, "I never thought the day would come when you'd be in front of me and I wouldn't know who you are." Susan, who is pregnant, refuses to see Michael, saying that she "can't take that chance," and Nick explodes when Michael tries to kiss Kate. Kate remembers reading in a magazine article that AIDS is not transmitted through casual contact and tries to get the rest of the family to accept Michael (Gena Rowlands also taped a public service announcement about AIDS transmission). Michael eventually winds up in the hospital (after paramedics who are called to his parents' house refuse to transport him to the hospital) and meets a fellow patient named Victor (John Glover
John Glover (actor)
John Soursby Glover Jr. is an American actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.-Personal life:...
), a flamboyant homosexual with AIDS. The film depicts Victor's death and shows a nurse throwing Victor's few possessions into a garbage bag because she fears that the items could be contaminated.
The script for the film was written by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, based on a story by Sherman Yellen, and directed by John Erman. It spent two years in development and underwent at least thirteen rewrites before the standards division at the network accepted it for airing.
The film was broadcast a month after Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson
Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
died of the disease.
Cast
- Aidan QuinnAidan Quinn-Early life:Quinn was born in Chicago, Illinois to Irish parents. He was brought up as a Roman Catholic and raised in Chicago and Rockford, Illinois, as well as in Dublin and Birr, County Offaly in Ireland. His mother, Teresa, was a homemaker, and his father, Michael Quinn, was a professor of...
as Michael Pierson - Sylvia SidneySylvia SidneySylvia Sidney was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s appearing in numerous crime dramas.-Early life:...
as Beatrice McKenna - Ben GazzaraBen Gazzara-Early life:Gazzara was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara in New York City, the son of Italian immigrants Angelina and Antonio Gazzara, who was a laborer and carpenter. Gazzara grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. He actually lived on E. 29th Street and participated in the drama program at...
as Nick Pierson - Gena RowlandsGena RowlandsGena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
as Katherine Pierson - Terry O'QuinnTerry O'QuinnTerry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
as Dr. Redding - John GloverJohn Glover (actor)John Soursby Glover Jr. is an American actor, perhaps best known for a range of villainous roles in films and television, including Lionel Luthor on the Superman-inspired television series Smallville.-Personal life:...
as Victor Mitado - Bill PaxtonBill PaxtonWilliam "Bill" Paxton is an American actor and film director. He gained popularity after starring roles in the films Apollo 13, Twister, Aliens, True Lies, and Titanic...
as Bob Maracek - D. W. Moffett as Peter Hilton