Editing Liberace (section)

==Illness and death==
Liberace was secretly diagnosed [[HIV positive]] in August 1985 by his private physician in Las Vegas. Aside from his long-term manager [[Seymour Heller]] and a few family members and associates, Liberace kept his terminal illness a secret until the day he died and did not seek medical treatment. Scott Thorson remarked that he was not aware that Liberace had any health issues and up until one year before his death that "he was in overall excellent shape for his age; barrel-chested and powerfully built."<ref name="transcripts.cnn.com"/>

In August 1986, during one of his last interviews, with the TV news program ''[[Good Morning America]]'', Liberace hinted of his failing health when he said "How can you enjoy life if you don't have your health?" He was hospitalized for pneumonia from January 23 to 27, 1987, at the Palm Springs county hospital.

Liberace died in the late morning of February 4, 1987, at [[The Cloisters, Palm Springs|The Cloisters]], his home in Palm Springs, California at age 67.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-02-10-me-2349-story.html| title=Liberace Died Of Pneumonia Caused by AIDS| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| access-date=February 6, 2012| first=Harry| last=Nelson| date=February 10, 1987| archive-date=September 2, 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902140628/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-02-10-me-2349-story.html| url-status=live}}</ref> He had a Catholic priest administer the [[last rites]] to him the day before his death.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/860930261/ 'Mr Showman' Liberace Dies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119043638/https://www.newspapers.com/image/860930261/ |date=January 19, 2023 }}". ''Herald Express''. February 5, 1987. p. 1.</ref>

At the time of Liberace's death, his press agent said he had died from a combination of pernicious anemia, emphysema and heart disease.<ref>Mattern, Hal (February 5, 1987). "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/120922121/ Final curtain for Phoenix favorite] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902140626/https://www.newspapers.com/image/120922121/ |date=September 2, 2024 }}". ''The Arizona Republic''. p. ''ESPN F1'', F2.</ref><ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/804923945/ Liberace dies, 67] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119043637/https://www.newspapers.com/image/804923945/ |date=January 19, 2023 }}". ''Burton Mail''. February 5, 1987. p. 2.</ref> Liberace's physician, Ronald Daniels, said he had died of heart failure caused by subacute encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease.<ref name=nelson>Nelson, Harry (February 10, 1987). "[https://www.newspapers.com/image/403150767/ Liberace Died of Pneumonia Caused by AIDS, Coroner in Riverside Says] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119043637/https://www.newspapers.com/image/403150767/ |date=January 19, 2023 }}". ''Los Angeles Times''. P. II/1.</ref><ref name="Liberace AIDS confirmed">"[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mfgjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L2MEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7016,5894101&dq=liberace+denied+homosexual&hl=en Liberace AIDS confirmed]". ''The Pittsburgh Press''. February 10, 1987.</ref> The Riverside County coroner performed an autopsy and determined that Liberace's cause of death was cytomegalovirus pneumonia, a frequent cause of death in people with AIDS.<ref name="Liberace AIDS confirmed"/><ref name="nytimes.com">[https://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/10/us/coroner-cites-aids-in-liberace-death.html Coroner Cites AIDS in Liberace Death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161026235051/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/02/10/us/coroner-cites-aids-in-liberace-death.html |date=October 26, 2016 }}. ''The New York Times'', February 10, 1987</ref> The coroner also determined that, at the time of his death, Liberace was HIV-positive, had pulmonary heart disease, and calcification of a heart valve.<ref name=nelson/> The coroner said that Liberace's doctor had deliberately claimed a false cause of death because heart failure is never caused by encephalopathy.<ref>"[https://www.newspapers.com/image/112443661/ AIDS ruled cause of Liberace's death] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902140653/https://www.newspapers.com/image/112443661/ |date=September 2, 2024 }}". Associated Press. The Tennessean. p. 6.</ref> Author Darden Asbury Pyron wrote that Liberace had been HIV-positive and symptomatic from 1985 until his death.<ref name=Pyron369>Pyron, 2000, p. 369. "Although he was both HIV positive and symptomatic when he signed the publishing contract with Harper and Row in 1985..."</ref>

Cary James Wyman, his personal assistant and alleged lover, had HIV and later died in May 1995 at age 34.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Liberace's body is entombed along with his mother and brother at [[Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book |last=Petrucelli |first=Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7csXXH7S9UC&q=lee+liberace+forest+lawn+memorial+park&pg=PT153 |title=Morbid Curiosity: The Disturbing Demises of the Famous and Infamous |publisher=Penguin |access-date=April 9, 2013 |isbn=978-1101140499 |date=September 29, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Never |first=Johns |url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/11311958@N06/3644747781/ |title=Forest Lawn Cemetery – Liberace Tomb 01 |publisher=flickr.com |date=June 20, 2009 |access-date=April 9, 2013 |archive-date=September 2, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240902140629/https://www.flickr.com/photos/11311958@N06/3644747781/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1994, the [[Palm Springs Walk of Stars]] dedicated a Golden Palm Star to him.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf |title=Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated |access-date=April 16, 2013 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121013165655/http://www.palmspringswalkofstars.com/web-storage/Stars/Stars%20dedicated%20by%20date.pdf |archive-date=October 13, 2012 }}</ref>