....18 years ago Rock Hudson passed away..........A great actor, a part of the Hollywood Machine and the first public victum of AIDS!

How eerie..I just saw this post, went to leave a note on Rock Hudson's listing on www.FindAGrave.com ..and I've been watching E! during this whole time. Suddenly, when it comes back from commercial and I go back to the Forum, E!'s next most shocking moment in entertainment was about Rock Hudson's death. I had absolutely no idea that his death would be next on the countdown.

18 years later - we, of course, are still missing you, and fighting to find a cure.

[Newsdawg2002]

When I read PONY's post, I did a double-take. 18 years? Where has the time gone? It also brought to the forefront of my mind how AIDS has affected most--if not all--of us, because like many others. I know what it's like to lose a friend to AIDS.

Yes--he was homosexual. I'm hetero. He was a friend, a coworker--but most importantly, a friend. I didn't judge him, he didn't judge me--except when it came to the way I dressed. I'm Oscar Madison, he was a "butch" Felix Unger, if there is such a thing. He was tremendously talented---one hell of a writer, improv comic, and knew how to fill the dreaded "dead air" on the radio--and entertaining as hell in the process.

What pisses me off is he led a lifestyle which contributed to his demise. HE KNEW BETTER and he paid the price for it. I miss him to this day because the world never got to know what his talent could have become or where it could have taken him.

R-I-P, S.H.