Raised in Missouri, Patton, a self-described “pretty boy,” was bullied and picked on throughout high school. Knowing he was gay and that he couldn’t be himself in his hometown, Patton saved his money and left Missouri to pursue his passions - acting and theater - in New York City. There, he lived openly and freely while slowly getting parts. He soon landed a role opposite Cher and Kathy Bates in the Broadway play Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean. When it was decided that the play would be adapted into a feature film in Los Angeles, Patton moved to the West Coast and began to see the dark side of the profession he loved so.
“When I started working in New York, I didn’t have the common sense to keep my sexuality a secret,” Patton says. “I wasn’t famous. I was just a kid going to auditions for commercials and stuff. In New York I would go out to gay bars and it was no big deal, but in Los Angeles, I was told I wasn’t allowed to step foot in West Hollywood because agents would post people in the L.A. gay bars so they could sabotage the career of any actor who competed with one of their clients. It was very cutthroat.”
Patton was also told by his reps that he should avoid doing interviews with gay publications, including The Advocate. Grudgingly, Patton went along with the real-life charade he was forced to play in his new Hollywood life. Then, in 1985, he landed his now-iconic role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2. But while he was playing out a nightmare on film, he was living his own nightmare behind the scenes.
“By that point, AIDS was all around me. Everyone I knew was getting sick,” Patton says. To make matters worse, the gay subtext of the Elm Street sequel, which was purposefully woven into the script by screenwriter David Chaskin, began to be noticed by fans and critics shortly after the film’s release. But rather than admit what he’d had done, Chaskin blamed Patton for making the film—which included a scene where Patton’s character runs into his gym coach at a gay leather bar and lines like ‘“He's inside, and he wants to take me again!’”—too gay.
“David would just blame me any time it came up alluding to something along the lines of, ‘Well, he’s a big old fag and he chose to play the part in a big old fag way.’”
Patton soon became disillusioned with Hollywood’s games. Before long, he left the biz and re-branded himself as a successful interior decorator. But just as he’d risen from the self-inflicted death of his movie career, he was about to endure another trial. After battling what he thought was a severe case of bronchitis, Patton underwent a battery of tests and discovered he was not only HIV positive, but was also battling a slew of other infections as well, including pneumonia, thrush, and tuberculosis. “I found out on my 40th birthday and three days later I was in the hospital,” Patton says. “But because of the infections I had, they made me take tuberculosis medicine and that didn’t mix with those older HIV meds. There were so many side effects. It was like I was poisoned. ” After a long pause he continues. “I almost died there, but thankfully my friends took me to an AIDS health clinic, which saved my life.”
Patton is now gearing up for the emotional journey that will inevitably follow as he shares the truth about his most personal battles and his HIV status. “The only thing we’re waiting for is me,” he says. “It’s not that I’m embarrassed in any way, but I’m a private person, and I have a different life now. These are parts of my story that have never been published before, and I’ve had to think about whether or not I was prepared to have those conversations over and over again. But I’ve decided to share them with you today because I think I’m ready to tell the next part of the story.” He straightens up in his chair and smiles again before adding, “It’s my obligation to tell it the way it happened, and it’s a story that needs to be told. I’ve looked at my mortality, and I lived through it.”
