Life and Death on the A-List

Directed by Jay Corcoran


This striking documentary by New York actor and playwright Jay Corcoran, details the life and death of Tom McBride, a New York actor and model dying of Progressive Multi-focal Leucoencephalopathy (PML), an AIDS-related brain disease.

McBride's "All-American" good looks made him a familiar face in television commercials, print ads and films through the '70s and '80s. He even became that most emblematic of masculine images: the Winston man. For many gay men, McBride became an icon exemplifying life on the "A-List" -- the whirl of sex, drugs, theme parties, and summers on Fire Island that made New York's gay scene famous. But McBride's glamorous life was stalked by his sexual obsession and compulsive drive.

Corcoran's film takes an unsparing look at one man's relationship to his beautiful body and how he copes with its disintegration. More profoundly, LIFE AND DEATH ON THE A-LIST is about us: our bodies, our fantasies, our dreams of sexual fulfillment. Tom McBride is a fallible, tragic hero pointing the way to a more humane vision of how we all -- gay and straight -- might view our lives, bodies, and the endless possibilities of life.

Purchase Information: To purchase a dvd of Life and Death on the A-List, please send a check for $33.90 ($29.95 + 3.95 for shipping and handling) made payable to Wringing Hands Productions.

Address: Jay Corcoran, Wringinghands Productions, 250 Mercer St., #C212, New York, NY 10012

"Wrenching, ...wryly humorous and unflinching". Kevin Thomas , Los Angeles Times , Critics Choice "Absolutely enthralling.., leaves you breathless at the range and depth with which it tackles the power of the libido, issues of gay self-hatred, and the use of sex to conquer, degrade and compensate for rejection in other areas of life". Ernest Hardy ,LA Weekly , Critics Choice "Painfully honest... riveting". Matthew Gilbert , Boston Globe , Critics Choice [more reviews...]