Liberace's physician, Ronald Daniels, said he had died of heart failure caused by subacute encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease. 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.

In 1988 he portrayed Liberace in a television biopic. Robinson had described it as one of his favorite roles and that "The most fun was wearing his furs and jewelry and singing 'I'll be Seeing You.

If you missed this routine, which ran for years at the Vegas Hilton, you can catch a re-enactment in an upcoming HBO movie, “Behind the Candelabra,” which is based on Mr. Thorson's autobiography of the same name and stars Matt Damon as Mr. Thorson and Michael Douglas as Liberace.

Michael Douglas' head was digitally composited onto the body of Philip Fortenberry for the piano playing performances. Fortenberry, who had entertained audiences at the Liberace Museum, stated the rings needed to be glued to his fingers: "These rings kept flopping around and clicking on the keys."