Ryan White, With Charlie Sheen, in 1988

By Carl Swanson and Walter Armstrong

If there is one thing that reminds us of the difference between Charlie Sheen’s announcement this week of his HIV status and that of Ryan White, the teenager from Kokomo, Indiana, who in 1984 became infected from a contaminated blood treatment and was given six months to live, it ought to be this photo.

Sheen, with proper treatment, will live for a long time, serving as, among other things, a reminder that people are still being infected. But White’s legacy is more important: After he was kicked out of school out of fear of his infecting other students, he sued his local school district; in the process, he became a symbol for both AIDS research and public education and helped move the conversation about what was seen by some at first as a disease — possibly a punishment! — just affecting urban gay men. On July 8, 1988, two years before his death, he was honored at the For Love of Children AIDS benefit gala at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California. Ron Galella took this photo of him with Sheen.

The event was raising money for the LA-based Ryan White National Fund, which had been founded in September 1987 to provide financial support for youths with AIDS and do anti-stigma campaigns, informing Americans that it was, say, safe to hug an HIV positive child.

The father of AIDS activism, Larry Kramer, said: “I think little Ryan White probably did more to change the face of this illness and to move people than anyone.” Once Sheen gets his act together, he may pick up the torch.

IMAGE: Marlee Matlin, Ryan White and Charlie Sheen. Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd./WireImage

For more on this story go to: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2015/11/ryan-white-with-charlie-sheen-in-1988.html?om_rid=AACMTw&om_mid=_BWTN10B9H6sEPi

Kitchener native Jeremy Ratchford laments cancellation of Cold Case

From Waterloo Region Record *JAN 22 20111

It’s been *eight months* since word came down that Cold Case — the CBS crime drama that ranked in the Neilson Top 20 for most of its seven-year run — was cancelled.

But for Kitchener actor Jeremy Ratchford, the wound still feels fresh

“A lot of the new shows out this year get one-third the audience our repeats got,’’ laments the man who played crusty detective Nick Vera with grizzled authenticity.

“You stand around going, ‘What more do you need?’ ”

It came down to two things, he notes from his Los Angeles home, where he’s tending to the youngest of his three sons, Revel, and, ahem, looking for work.

1. Money: “The network said we were too expensive and pulled the plug.”

2. Charlie Sheen, described by Ratch, with raspy outrage, as “a failure as a man, husband and father.”

“I guess they needed to cancel something to afford his over-$2-million-a-week legal tab,’’ he grouses of the dissipated, scandal-plagued star of Cold Case’s CBS sister show, Two and a Half Men.

Later, he follows with an even blunter email: “It was a hard pill to swallow. I guess they needed to trim the budget somewhere to keep the (censored), (censored), (censored) … happy!’’

Gee whiz, Ratch. Take a deep breath.

“We never really got a chance to toast our fellow brothers and sisters from the cast and crew,’’ he continues, unfazed.

“The end of Lost was advertised for 39 episodes. We weren’t told until the 11th hour!

“We always felt like the illegitimate stepchild. We were getting the numbers, but when it came down to a pat on the back, there wasn’t much.”

Heavy sigh. “You’re powerless in these situations to do anything!”

The 45-year-old Kitchener-Waterloo Collegiate grad is nothing if not passionate about the show that turned him from up-and-coming nobody to “a bankable person” who — despite the fact he’s seldom recognized in the street — is a known quantity in Hollywood casting circles.

“It’s not that they’re throwing stuff at me,’’ he confides openly. “But it’s nice to know when you get in the room, they know your body of work.’’

Not that he won’t still have to hustle, but shortly after our interview concludes, he emails to say he’s been signed for a shot-in-Toronto TV pilot, co-starring Eric McCormack, that casts him as — big surprise — “a rough round the edges cop,’’ and a guest-starring role on the William Macy drama Shameless as, you guessed it, “a burly Chicago cop.’’

It is, after all, his stock and trade, the taciturn lawman whose gruff demeanour belies a heart of gold — couched in a sardonic sneer — as he relentlessly pursues bad guys and, this is key, provides a reassuring backdrop for more photogenic co-stars.

“I’ve done I don’t know how many interrogations,’’ he muses, noting with humour that his infant son has appropriated his trademark “cop face”: a squint and scowl.

“Blue Murder, Cold Case — and I’m always the Captain Inappropriate.”

But there are, he admits, other priorities. And while he’s regretful about Cold Case’s unexpected demise, there are elements of his high-profile TV gig he won’t miss.

“Like the number of dentist appointments I had to cancel,” he cracks, noting his unpredictable, 24/7 shooting schedule.

“A week before the appointment, I’d get my shooting schedule and be busy all three days they had open, and I’d say, ‘Do you have anything around that?’ and they’d say, ‘We’ll pencil you in for June!’ ”

June? The heck with that. Nor will he miss the well-meaning intrusions of fans who recognize him on the street, shout “Hey, Cold Case!” and demand to know what’s up with Mel Gibson.

“I don’t know,’’ responds Ratch, mimicking the conversation from both ends … “No, what’s he doing?” … “I don’t know — he’s not on my speed dial!”

Others feel an intense ownership of detective Vera and ply Ratch with well-meaning, if unhelpful advice on how to “improve” his character.

“You know what you should do?’’ he mimics, summarizing one of many such encounters. “You should snap and throw some guy through the mirror in the interrogation room.”

“You know what you should do? You should go undercover in a bike gang.”

“You know what would be funny? If you had to investigate a transgender massage parlour.”

He sighs. “People get real passionate about what they think you should do.”

There are worse fates, he cheerfully admits — like, for example, unemployment.

“There’s a certain point when you realize you’re not going to be Indiana Jones,’’ insists Ratch, who often likens himself to “the drummer from Aerosmith”: famous but unrecognizable.

“You go, ‘I just want to work!’ ”

Oh, come on, Ratch. Surely you’re a millionaire by now.

“I just got a cheque for $280 for a full season,’’ he notes wryly, pointing out how little his residual cheques amount to. “They sold us to an airplane!’’

For more on this story go to: http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/2571348-kitchener-native-jeremy-ratchford-laments-cancellation-of-cold-case/

EDITOR: Jeremy Ratchford was seen on this week’s episode of NCSI playing ——  a DETECTIVE!!

IMAGE: Jeremy Ratchford www.imdb.com