Ethyl Eichelberger at the Pyramid poster, September 1983. Photo © 1983 The Peter Hujar Archive / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
August 12, 1990: David’s friend Ethyl Eichelberger, actor, performance artist, clown, and playwright dies by suicide at age 45. The Obie award-winning American drag performer had taken the stage everywhere from The Pyramid Club to P.S. 122 (which gives out an annual award in his name). Eichelberger had been HIV positive for two years when he ended his life because of the debilitating effects of the disease and its treatments. Eichelberger was with David in the hospital at the time of Peter Hujar’s death.