After playwright and influential AIDS activist Larry Kramer died on Wednesday, celebrities including Julia Roberts and Lin-Manuel Miranda took to social media to pay tribute.
Kramer, who died at age 84 of pneumonia, is best remembered for his Tony-winning play “The Normal Heart” and as one of the founders of organizations Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP, which advocate for AIDS research and gay rights.
Roberts, who starred alongside Mark Ruffalo in the movie adaptation of “The Normal Heart,” exclusively told Variety, “He was ferocious and tireless in his beliefs. A true hero that so many people owe their lives to today. I was honored to spend time in his orbit.”
Ruffalo took to social media to offer condolences, writing “Rest in Power, King!”
Miranda shared a photo of Kramer, adding, “Don’t know a soul who saw or read The Normal Heart and came away unmoved, unchanged. What an extraordinary writer, what a life. Thank you, Larry Kramer.”
Actor Rob Reiner reminisced about performing in the play “8” with Kramer. “He was a fierce advocate for gay rights,” he wrote. “He and his passionate voice will be missed.”
Fellow LGBTQ advocate and author Dan Savage echoed Roberts’ sentiments, calling Kramer a hero who “valued every gay life at a time when so many gay men had been rendered incapable of valuing our own lives. He ordered us to love ourselves and each other and to fight for our lives.”
Chelsea Clinton also paid tribute to Kramer, remembering the time she met him: “Reading The Normal Heart as a kid changed my life and I was completely overwhelmed when I first met its author during its 2011 Broadway run.”
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