American filmmaker Bill Sherwood was BOTD in 1952. Born in Washington D.C., he grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan. A talented violinist, he studied composition at the Juilliard School, before relocating to Hunter College to study filmmaking. He is best known for writing and directing the 1985 film Parting Glances, a bittersweet gay romance set over 24 hours in New York City. Made on a shoestring budget, the film was praised for authentically portraying gay life in the midst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and was an early career boost for actor Steve Buscemi, who played a character living with AIDS. Sherwood made a number of short films and worked on several screenplays, none of which were produced. He died in 1990 of AIDS-related complications, aged 37. In 2007, Outfest and the UCLA Film and Television Archive released a restored print of Parting Glances, acknowledging its importance in LGBTQ cinema history.