[Deathwatch] Lance Loud, journalist, 50

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Thursday December 27 11:25 PM ET 

Lance Loud - ``first person to come out on TV'' - dies

By Robert Hofler

NEW YORK (Variety) - Lance Loud, a journalist who found fame in the
early 1970s when his family was profiled on the PBS documentary series
``An American Family,'' died in Los Angeles on Dec. 21 from
complications of AIDS (news - web sites) and hepatitis C. He was 50.

``An American Family,'' which aired in the first quarter of 1973,
presaged the current vogue for reality TV. The multipart series drew
record audiences for public television, as well as much criticism. A
national phenomenon, the Loud family landed on the cover of Newsweek
that winter.

The documentary had been filmed in 1971 by producer Craig Gilbert,
whose team spent seven months with Pat and Bill Loud and their five
children in their Santa Barbara home. Craig, along with cameraman Alan
Raymond and sound technician Sally Raymond, recorded more than 300
hours of film, which was edited into 12 one-hour episodes.

The eighth and ninth episodes detailed the breakup of the Louds'
marriage. Even more controversial was the second episode, in which Pat
visited her openly gay son, Lance, in his Chelsea Hotel apartment in
New York City.

In Lynne Yamaguchi Fletcher's book ``The First Gay Pope and Other
Records,'' Lance Loud is listed as ``the first person to come out on
television.''

``His homosexuality was completely accepted by the family, which was
another first for TV,'' said David Ehrenstein, author of ``Open
Secret,'' a study of gays in the media. ``When the parents split up,
there was an undertone of criticism from the media that what was wrong
with the marriage was that they had a gay son. On the contrary, Lance
held the family together.''

Loud wrote entertainment-related articles for Details, Interview, Buzz
Weekly and the Advocate, where he was a columnist for several years.
His final byline appears in the current issue, in which he wrote about
his battle with hepatitis C and AIDS, with which he was diagnosed in
October 1987.

Loud often wrote with self-deprecating wit. His last offering in the
Advocate (``A Death in 'An American Family''') was no exception: ``In a
sea of 'Advocate' winners, some loser's musings on his own mortality
might just provide a fitting reflective glory to further flatter our
issue's winners. I don't mind that; I am glad to help out.''

At Loud's request, Alan and Sally Raymond recently filmed his
day-to-day life at the Carl Bean House, the L.A. hospice where the
writer died.

Loud is survived by his parents, and two brothers and two sisters. A
memorial service is planned for late January in Los Angeles.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS