| An Early Frost | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by | Ron Cowen Daniel Lipman |
| Story by | Sherman Yellen |
| Directed by | John Erman |
| Starring | Aidan Quinn Gena Rowlands Ben Gazzara Sylvia Sidney D. W. Moffett John Glover |
| Music by | John Kander |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producers | Perry Lafferty Art Seidel |
| Cinematography | Woody Omens |
| Editor | Jerrold L. Ludwig |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Production company | NBC Productions |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | November 11, 1985 |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
An Early Frost is a 1985 American made-for-television drama film. It was the first major film with major motion picture stars, Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, and Sylvia Sidney, broadcast on a major television network, NBC, to deal with the topic of AIDS. It was viewed by 34 million households in its initial airing, the highest rated show of the night, even beating Monday Night Football. It received 14 Emmy nominations, winning 3 including Best Original Teleplay, a Peabody Award, as well as multiple Golden Globe nominations, including one for Sylvia Sidney who won for Best Supporting Actress. It was a major breakthrough into mass culture, as it was the first time an American audience of that size saw a film about a gay man who had AIDS, which up until then was considered a gay disease.
It was first broadcast on the NBC television network on November 11, 1985. It was directed by John Erman, from the Emmy Award-winning teleplay written by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman (story by Sherman Yellen). Aidan Quinn stars as Michael Pierson, a Chicago attorney who goes home to break the news that he is gay and has AIDS to his parents, played by Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands.