I Can't Deal With Aids Right Now, I'm Late For the Benefit

Rock Hudson's death in 1985 gave AIDS a public face, and Elizabeth Taylor's unflagging work on behalf of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) has given AIDS fund-raising a social cachet. But within the entertainment industry itself, many of those directly affected by the disease have found little support or comfort. When Brad Davis became ill, for example, he was forced to turn to a friend in New York, Rodger McFarlane, executive director of Broadway Cares, a support organization for people with AIDS in the theater community. McFarlane helped the actor find confidential medical treatment in Los Angeles.

''There are people more famous than Brad who are in the situation he was in,'' says McFarlane, and out of ''sheer fear'' of exposure they pursue treatment in secrecy. ''I even go to pay phones to call these people. They don't want it on their phone bill or mine.''

Although no documented cases of AIDS discrimination have been reported to the Screen Actors Guild or the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, the fear of such bias is still a palpable reality. Cases haven't been reported, insist AIDS activists, because most of those who are HIV-positive either have kept their status private or have been unable to prove suspected incidents of discrimination.

Actors must answer questions about their general health to be insured for a TV or film role, but they are not routinely required to reveal their HIV status. ''There is no problem with someone testing positive, as long as he or she can perform the role,'' insists Lee Proimos, senior vice president of the Fireman's Fund, a major insurer of films and TV shows. ''If someone who is HIV- positive isn't sick, they're not going to increase the price of the premium. There is no increased risk.'' Yet such assurances have not filtered down to the rank and file. Claims one producer, ''I can tell you that people are reluctant to hire people who are perceived to be ill. It's not so much a question of AIDS as it's a question of illness in general. If anybody gets sick on the job, it can cost you $200,000 a day for every day you fall behind. Compassionately, you want to fight for them, but it also comes down to a question of economics.''

Making the situation even more difficult to assess is the absence of reliable statistics on the extent of HIV infection within the entertainment industry. By some estimates, the percentage of those infected in the industry could be as much as three times higher than that in other industries. But even if there are no solid numbers, there are hints: Between 1986 and 1990, entertainment-union health plans paid about $22 million to treat people with AIDS, a figure that is expected to escalate steeply in the coming years. Each week, Variety's obit columns report more deaths attributed to the disease, an ongoing drumbeat that is both tragic and numbing. While the deaths of actors like Hudson and Davis make headlines, the industry has already lost a whole roster of talented, lesser-known people, such as director Colin Higgins (9 to 5), lyricist Howard Ashman (The Little Mermaid), and casting director Stephen Kolzak (Cheers).

Will the new get-tougher attitude allow people with AIDS to live and work in decency? Although the specifics have yet to be announced, Stephen Bennett, chief executive officer of AIDS Project Los Angeles, thinks the Hollywood Supports platform will work. ''I think the leadership of the entertainment industry is more sensitive and more tuned in than people have given them credit for,'' he says. ''A group of industry leaders is going to put their names behind a set of principles regarding discrimination, AIDS education, and the role of the industry. It's a real opportunity.''

Others are more wary. ''A much-awaited change has occurred,'' says Richard Rouilard, editor in chief of The Advocate, a gay and lesbian newsmagazine. ''But it's incumbent on the gay and lesbian community to continue to watchdog this change so that it just doesn't become the trend du jour. At best this is a damn fine beginning, but there's still a lot of people who have to be moved.''