<![CDATA[Larry Kramer, AIDS activist and ‘Normal Heart’ playwright, dies at 84]]> https://usagag.com/2020/05/27/larry-kramer-aids-activist-and-normal-heart-playwright-dies-at-84/ Wed, 27 May 2020 16:32:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com Larry Kramer, AIDS activist and ‘Normal Heart’ playwright, dies at 84 Larry Kramer, the pioneering New York AIDS activist who used pamphlets, novels, Broadway plays and ire to spread his lifesaving message, has died. He was 84.

His husband, David Webster, told the New York Times that Kramer, who was HIV positive, had been suffering from pneumonia.

Kramer, who lived in Manhattan, co-founded the Gay Men’s Health Crisis in 1981 to address what was then being called a “gay cancer.” He butted heads with his members, who didn’t always react well to his well-known brashness, and left the group in 1983.

Always a writer, his activism began to take new forms.

In 1985, Kramer wrote the play “The Normal Heart,” a fictionalized retelling of his time spent in that group, which premiered at the Public Theater. It has since become a classic, and won the Tony Award for best revival of a play in 2011. His follow-up 1992 play “The Destiny of Me” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Author/gay activist Larry Kramer, founder of ACT UP, with Vito Russo.

The LIFE Images Collection via G

Barbra Streisand and Larry Kramer in an undated photo.

The LIFE Picture Collection via

Larry Kramer at Village Voice AIDS conference on June 6, 1987 in NYC.

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Julia Roberts, producer/director Ryan Murphy, writer Larry Kramer, actor Mark Ruffalo and actor Alfred Molina pose in the press room during the 66th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Aug. 25, 2014 in Los Angeles, Calif.

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Actor Sir Ian McKellen, left, blows cigarette smoke next to American playwright and gay rights activist Larry Kramer at a party at Tavern on the Green to celebrate opening night of the Broadway play “Indiscretions” in May 1995 in NYC.

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Meryl Streep and Larry Kramer during amfAR’s Fifth Annual Honoring with Pride Awards Dinner at Gotham Hall in NYC.

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President of The Elton John AIDS Foundation David Furnish and Kramer pose backstage at “The Normal Heart” on Broadway at The Golden Theater on April 19, 2011 in NYC.

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Kramer poses for a portrait at the open door of his apartment in April 1993 in NYC.

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