Casey Donovan (actor)
Casey Donovan | |
---|---|
Born | John Calvin Culver November 2, 1943 |
Died | August 10, 1987 Inverness, Florida, U.S. | (aged 43)
Other names |
|
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
John Calvin Culver (November 2, 1943
Early life
Culver was born in East Bloomfield, New York, growing up there with his parents and older brother Duane.[3]
Culver attended the
Following his dismissal, Culver drifted into
Modeling career
Through one of his escorting clients, Culver landed a spot with the Wilhelmina Models modeling agency, commanding an hourly rate of US$60 (equivalent to $400 in 2020).[9]
He continued to pursue stage work, landing an understudy job in 1969 in the Off-Broadway gay-themed play And Puppy Dog Tails, making his Broadway debut in 1970 in the Native American-themed production Brave and a co-starring role in the off-Broadway play Circle in the Water (also in 1970).[10]
Adult film career
In 1971, Culver played a supporting role in a low-budget sexploitation thriller film called Ginger. While the film was a commercial and critical failure,
Culver was first credited under the "Casey Donovan" name in
Shortly before his death he starred, appearing heavily intoxicated, in the fisting movie Fucked Up, for Christopher Rage. He also appeared in a number of heterosexual porn films, most notably The Opening of Misty Beethoven where he had a scene with Constance Money, in which he plays a gay male art dealer who is seduced by a woman.[21]
Mainstream acting career
Outside his adult film career, Donovan continued to pursue stage work. In 1972, he was cast in a short-lived Broadway revival of Captain Brassbound's Conversion.[22] Star Ingrid Bergman described him as "having the same kind and as much charisma as Robert Redford."[23] He then landed a small role in the 1973 Lincoln Center production of The Merchant of Venice,[24] which was praised as having "vivid appeal."[25] In 1974, Donovan starred as Brian, a gay bathhouse attendant, in the play Tubstrip, written and directed by Jerry Douglas, which had successful runs in Los Angeles and San Francisco before moving to Broadway.[26][27] While the play was critically deemed entertaining enough to its target gay audience[28] (having earned, in the words of one critic, a "nationwide gay housekeeping seal of approval")[29] Donovan himself was judged as simply "no better nor worse [an] actor than most of the others [in the cast]."[30] In 1983, he turned his hand to producing, with an unsuccessful Broadway revival of Terrence McNally's play The Ritz[31] in which he also appeared.[32]
Donovan's iconic status allowed him to build a lucrative career as a high-priced prostitute,[33] though it would cost him his legitimate modeling career as more and more clients made the connection between model Culver and porn star Donovan.[34] He wrote an advice column, "Ask Casey," for the gay-oriented Stallion magazine beginning in 1982.[35]
Personal life
In 1973, Donovan met actor-turned-writer Tom Tryon, and the two entered into a long-term relationship the following year.[36] Tryon was deeply closeted and grew increasingly disturbed by Donovan's notoriety. Their relationship ended in 1977.[37]
In 1978, Donovan purchased a house in
Later years and death
By 1985, Donovan's health had begun to deteriorate after he contracted HIV. Although he had counseled his fans through his "Ask Casey" column as early as 1982 to take steps to avoid contracting HIV by reducing their number of sexual partners[40] and urging his fans to be tested for HIV once the test was developed, Donovan did not heed his own advice. He made little or no effort to change his own behavior despite knowing that contracting HIV was then considered terminal, with virtually no treatment options.[41]
On August 10, 1987, Donovan died of an HIV/AIDS-related pulmonary infection in Inverness, Florida, aged 43.[42]
See also
- LGBT culture in New York City
- List of LGBT people from New York City
- List of male performers in gay porn films
- List of pornographic movie studios
Notes
- ^ Grief, p. 188
- ^ Rutledge (1992), p. 281
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 7
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 28
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 34
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 36
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 37
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 39
- ^ a b Edmonson 1998, p. 51
- ^ Edmonson 1998, pp. 50–2
- ^ "Casey". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 59
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 121
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 122
- ^ "Score". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "The Back Row". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "L.A. Tool & Die". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "The Other Side of Aspen". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "Boys in the Sand II". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "Inevitable Love". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "The Opening of Misty Beethoven". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ "Captain Brassbound's Conversion". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ O'Brian, Jack (November 15, 1972). "New York's Voice of Broadway". The Pocono Record.
- ^ "The Merchant of Venice". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ Glover, William (March 6, 1973). "The critic's view". Associated Press.
- ^ Schildcrout, Jordan (Fall 2017). "Legitimate: Jerry Douglas's Tubstrip and the Erotic Theatre of Gay Liberation". Journal of American Drama and Theatre. 30 (1).
- ^ "Tubstrip". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ Sarmento, William E. (November 13, 1974). ""Tubstrip" hits the gay white way". Lowell Sun.
- ^ Glover, William (November 2, 1974). "Gays like what "Tubstrip" offers". Oakland Tribune.
- ^ Taylor, Robert (August 29, 1974). "Tub be or not tub be". Oakland Tribune.
- ^ Rutledge, (1989), p. 229
- ^ "The Ritz". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 171
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 124
- ^ Rutledge (1992), p. 189
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 142
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 154
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 184
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 198
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 196
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 216
- ^ Edmonson 1998, p. 227
References
- Edmonson, Roger (1998), Boy in the sand : Casey Donovan, all-American sex star, Alyson Books, OCLC 39147834
- Bret, David (2017). "Casey Donovan: Blond Bombshell: Gay Porn's Pioneering Megastar". London, DbBooks. ISBN 978-1546388180
- Grief, Martin (1982). The Gay Book of Days. New York, Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8184-0384-5.
- Rutledge, Leigh (1992). The Gay Decades. New York, Penguin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-452-26810-9.
- Rutledge, Leigh (1989). The Gay Fireside Companion. New York, Alyson Publications. ISBN 1-55583-164-8.