Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411140078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Chicago Tribune
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His handsome looks and feisty personality, captured in MTV's unique show tracing the lives of seven twentysomething strangers picked to live in a house where cameras watch them 20 hours a day, made him an instant hero for the gay community and AIDS victims. He is also the first ``Real World'' casualty; the show, now in its third season, earlier followed groups in Los Angeles and New York.
``Everyone at MTV has been deeply touched by the life and death of Pedro Zamora,'' said Doug Herzog, executive vice president of MTV programming and production. ``With incredible courage and honesty, Pedro shared his life with millions. We know through letters and calls that his life story has educated and inspired countless numbers of people. It was MTV's honor to have known and worked with Pedro. We will truly miss him.''
In a fiendish irony, on Thursday, just hours before he died, ``The Real World'' telecast the final episode detailing Zamora and the others' last days together, which actually occurred in July.
During the four months he lived with his roommates in San Francisco, Zamora educated them about AIDS, especially a conservative Republican who admitted in Thursday's final episode that her friendship with Zamora opened her own views on AIDS and homosexuality.
MTV plans to broadcast that episode and all 19 others this weekend in marathon reruns already scheduled. Announcements will be inserted explaining that Zamora has just died.
Zamora's participation and death arguably heighten MTV's freewheeling experiment to landmark status. During the months he lived in the house, Zamora met another HIV-positive gay man and fell in love, and their ``wedding'' ceremony in their MTV house, documented and aired late last month, was something of a television first.
In September, after the filming had been completed, and ``The Real World'' telecasts were in midstream, Zamora was stricken and hospitalized in New York.
by CNB