The death on May 16 of Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, touched off a flurry of unfounded rumors that he had AIDS. Despite the release of a medical examiner's report stating Mr. Henson's fatal illness was a bacterial pneumonia unrelated to the AIDS virus, an associate said that his family and friends were driven to distraction by reporters who were trying to make that connection. The question of AIDS has hovered over the illnesses or unexpected deaths of many male celebrities ever since the AIDS-related death of Rock Hudson in 1985.

''The hounding was really horrendous, to the point of being disgusting and salacious,'' said Susan Berry, Mr. Henson's public-relations aide who fielded many of the questions. ''It's a combination of show business, sex and sudden death that can start all these AIDS rumors. You hear about people going to these lengths, but you can't believe it until it happens.''

Leo Braudy, the author of ''The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History'' (Oxford University Press, 1986), said, ''Revenge is the dark side of adulation.''

Allegations about celebrities, whether true or false, are easier to publish after their deaths, when the threat of a libel or defamation suit no long exists. According to American common law, a dead person cannot be defamed or libeled. ''The dead have no rights and can suffer no wrongs'' in the words of a century-old English court ruling echoed in American courts.

Legislators in several states, including New York, have sought to provide some legal recourse to family members or other associates of the deceased who contend they were defamed by the material made public, but opponents argue that if such legal actions were available, they would impose a crushing load on already crowded court dockets.

When Greta Garbo died in April, Simon & Schuster dusted off an unpublished biography of the screen star that it had owned for more than a decade and rushed it into the stores. The book delves into accounts of the actress's sex life, among other revelations.

Long before her death, Miss Garbo issued an affadavit denying that she had authorized the book or collaborated with its author, Antoni Gronowicz. Mr. Gronowicz, who died in 1985, had earlier encountered notoriety when a previous book of his, ostensibly based on extensive conversations with Pope John Paul II, was repudiated as fraudulent by his own publisher soon after its release.