According to IN TOUCH Magazine #125 [April 1987, pp.97-98]:

We are sorry to report that J.W. King, on the most popular and best-liked stars of gay male films, died of AIDS complications in Hollywood on December 5, 1986.

J.W., whose real name was James Waldrop, was born in Texas and moved to Los Angeles in 1979.

To quote from the obituary in UPDATE magazine, "He retired from the screen over a year ago and , with his lover (John Murphy, who also died of AIDS in November, 1986), lived in the Hollywood Hills. He had been employed as a waiter at the Sheraton-Premiere Hotel in Universal City for the last 30 months."

[This is an abridged version of the article.]