Nick explodes when Michael tries to kiss Kate. Kate remembers reading in a magazine article that HIV 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 HIV 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. Afterwards, Michael returns home and discovers Peter came to visit, and the two quickly reconcile. Peter asks Michael to go back home with him, but Michael insists that he cannot. As he continues to struggle coping with his diagnosis, Michael attempts suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning, but is stopped by Nick. The two argue and Nick insists that Michael keep fighting. The film ends with Michael taking a taxi cab back to Chicago, telling his parents he loves them before he goes. Cast Aidan Quinn as Michael Pierson Sylvia Sidney as Beatrice McKenna Ben Gazzara as Nick Pierson Gena Rowlands as Katherine Pierson Sydney Walsh as Susan Maracek Terry O'Quinn as Dr. Redding John Glover as Victor Mitado Bill Paxton as Bob Maracek D. W. Moffett as Peter Hilton Cheryl Anderson as Christine Christopher Bradley as Todd Sue Ann Gilfillan as Nurse Lincoln Don Hood as Dr. Gilbert Barbara Hey as Meredith Scott Jaeck as Phil Development The teleplay for the film by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman spent two years in development and underwent at least thirteen rewrites before the Standards and Practices division at the network accepted it for airing. Reviews, awards, and aftermath Tom Shales of The Washington Post called An Early Frost "the most important TV movie of the year." The film was number one in the Nielsen ratings during the night it aired, garnering a 23.3 share and watched by 34 million people (the film outperformed a San Francisco 49ers-Denver Broncos game broadcast on ABC and a Cagney & Lacey episode on CBS). The film was nominated for 14 Emmy Awards and won three, including Outstanding Writing For a Movie or Miniseries for Cowen and Lipman for their teleplay. Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Aidan Quinn, Sylvia