LGBTIQ+
by Dipesh Katuwal Last Updated:
Howard Rollins was one of the rising actors whose career was shortened due to his drug addiction and AIDS-related lymphoma diagnosis. On December 8, 1998, he passed away. During his final days, the actor dressed up as a sassy woman. Due to that, people began to claim that he was a gay personality.
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American stage, television, and film actor Howard Ellsworth Rollins Jr., also known as Howard Rollins, was best known for the American television miniseries Roots: The Next Generation (George Haley),American television miniseries King (Andrew Young), American drama film Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker Jr.), American mystery drama movieA Soldier's Story (Captain Davenport), and most prominently for American procedural police drama series In The Heat Of The Night ( black detective Virgil Tibbs), loosely adapted from the self-titled movie and novel.
The year 1996 became the last year of life and acting. He was diagnosed with AIDS. Six weeks later, hesuffered an untimely death on December8, 1996.
The Baltimore native also led a secretive double life. While Rollins lived a man's life in front of the audience, he also dressed up as a sassy woman whenever possible. The revelation of his transformation into a woman only surfaced after he wore a spangled dress and a wig at the time of his death.
More so, his friends and neighbors went on to give explicit information on his transformation, revealing that he could have been a closeted gay all along.
When was Howard Rollins Jr. born?
Rollins was born on 8 December 1966 in Baltimore Maryland, U.S., to domestic worker mother Ruth Rollins and steelworker Howard Ellsworth Rollins Sr. as the youngest of four children. Howard's father died in 1980.
Death Cause: How did Howard Rollins die?
Rollins was only 46 when he died on 8 December 1996 at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City. As he was battling incurableHIV/AIDS, he suffered from lymphoma-related complications that ensued from a bacterial infection which led to his untimely demise. His grave lies in Woodlawn Cemetry, Lochearn, Maryland.
In his life, he had also battled crack cocaine and alcohol addiction and was even arrested for cocaine possession and driving under influence.
Was Howard Rollins ever married?
Rolling never married in his lifetime and had no children.
American actress Anne-Marie Johnson, who portrayedRollins’s wife in the detective seriesIn The Heat Of The Night, described Howard to People magazineas a "sensitive artist" and tortured soul" after retrospecting a scene in the series which involved him revealing to the mother that he took the life of her son.
"In the Heat of the Night" starring Carroll O'Connor & Howard Rollins debuted on tv this date in 1988. The series ran for 8 seasons and 142 episodes plus four tv movies. #80s #80stv pic.twitter.com/8ME4qFNTnp— LandOfThe80s (@landofthe80s) March 6, 2023
“Something in the scene really touched Howard. He just broke down,” she remembered.
Dressing Up As a Woman Gave Howard Rollins "Relief"
Howard Rollins was a secret keeper —he mainly kept his personal life and sexual orientation close to his heart. But, after Rollins passed away, the secrets were unveiled through his best friends' and neighbors' revelation in an interview with the GLOBE on December24, 1996.
One of the late actor's pals confessedthat dressing up as a woman provided relief to Rollins. So, he used to wear sparkling gowns, costly wigs, high heels, and murmur, "I'm a lady. I'm a lady.” Also, he dressed in drag, put his hands on his hip, and identified as a woman named Tooraloora Goldfarb. Ifpeoplecalled him Howard while he was in that get-up, he wouldreply, "Excuuuse me! I'm Tooraloora Goldfarb."
Howard Rollins in the movie 'In the Heat of the Night.'(Source: IMDb)
Rollins’ other pal, who was also his neighbor for 18 years, named Brighttold GLOBE that the actor's favorite thing was to show off his new feminine-like outfits to his friends. He also revealed that Rollins would dress up in woman’s gear and go straight toward transvestite clubs to look for male lovers.
His favorite thing in the whole world was showing off a new outfit to a friend -- especially winter ensembles like a ladies coat over skirt and stockings. When he was feeling well, he loved to dress in a spectacular woman's outfit and go to transvestite clubs looking for male lovers.
Moreover, the stage actor's friends stated that the late actor would stand in front of his mirror in his gowns, fixing his fake bosoms and arranging his seams. His friend Franco even remarked that he had a collection of six wigs—four blondes, a brunette, and a redhead.
Was Howard Rollins Gay?
Though a secret to the public, Rollins wasn't keeping his choice of dressing as a woman away from the people he knew. He had let hisneighbornamed Marcie Hirschwitnesshim in a feminine outfit while dropping his groceries. He was eating Haagen-Daz and watching his show's reruns while wearing a dress and a blonde wig at the time.
Also, the Ragtime star had asked his best friends to bury his body as a female. He precisely requested to be buried in a black and gold-beaded co*cktail dress, with makeup and fake eyelashes.A mere co-incidence but, after some weeks of such demands, Rollins died. He was foundunconscious in his apartment with a spangled dress and wig.
Though theparamedics took him to theSt. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center and tried their best to save him, he succumbed to AIDS-related lymphoma complications.His body was latersent to his hometown, Baltimore, and handed over to his family. They cremated him.
All in all, Rollins'actions of transforming into a woman, his friends' statements,and the fact he died in feminine clothingsignifythat he could have been a gay or an LGBTIQ+ person.
