Remembering Michael Kearns (1950-2026)

Michael Kearns had nine lives. The actor, activist, author, and teacher was born January 8, 1950, in St. Louis, Missouri and passed away on October 5, 2026 at 76 years old. Among the many notices in the gay press, the Boyculture site posted an exhaustive tribute, while political reporter Karen Ocamb shared personal stories about their unlikely friendship.

Here are some photos and interviews in the gay press from the 1970’s – 1980’s to illustrate the importance of his voice in the gay community at the time. He was an unapologetic trailblazer who sometimes made mistakes but wasn’t afraid to talk about them.

*197*2 promotional photo for The Dirtiest Show In Town (Photo: Kenn Duncan)

Although he had been acting since childhood, Kearns’ breakthrough role was in the L.A. production of the infamous Tom Eyen / Jeff Barry musical revue The Dirtiest Show In Town. Kearns later said, “Suddenly I found myself on stage with my clothes off, playing gay and straight characters in sort of sketch material. Then I sort of got this reaction in the gay press and also about that time I became, simultaneously, a party boy.”

Fast-forward a couple of years: Kearns’ “roommate” is erotic fiction author Thom Recina. He writes a book to cash in on the success of Xaviera Hollander’s The Happy Hooker. Kearns is paid $250 to pose as fictional author Grant Tracy Saxon for the cover photos of The Happy Hustler. The publisher decides to take it a step further and have Kearns portray this person for interviews, talk shows and in live appearances.

The feature below in the June, 1975 issue of In Touch magazine is an interesting read, with elements of Kearns life interwoven with the fictional Saxon. While he may not have actually been the hustler that he was pretending to be, he would move further in that direction as the 1970’s wore on.

“The first time I saw Betty White… she was just walking around behind the theatre and she had the remains of a hot dog, and she was feeding all the birds. Then, we would sort of share in that exercise of feeding the birds. And she became very motherly… and I was always sort of looking for that motherly affection, and she was very maternal and very sweet.”

“Everyone wants to assume that there were problems between Calvin (Culver, aka Casey Donovan) and me. There were never problems… We got along really fabulously, in spite of what anyone might say.”

*Kearns with Jack Wrangler in* Mandate magazine (June, 1976)

In his memoir The Truth Is Bad Enough, Kearns did not mince words in his recollections of working onstage with Jack Wrangler, describing him as ” a monster of duplicitous self-creation.”

A fan letter and a Kenn Duncan photo shoot (After Dark, 1976)

In Touch Magazine #35 (May/June 1978):

In 1979, Kearns made a memorable appearance in the gay adult film classic L.A. Tool and Die. “I was sort of this outlaw and this gay liberationist without knowing I was. Because I can look back at L.A. Tool and Die, and what I can say for fact is that I was loaded and there were many negatives about the film, but the positive was that I once and for all said to the world, ‘I’m a faggot. There’s no turning back now, no matter what.'”

In the 1980’s he became one of the first actors to publicly acknowledge he was HIV positive while still garnering work in film and television.

Interview in the October, 1988 issue of Mandate:

*Publicity still for the play* Dream Man (1988)

“I’m happy I made the movie, not that I would go back, and that people know me from that and the book, but there’s so much more to me, and I’m disappointed when I meet someone who wants to keep the communication on that level.”

Kearns overall commitment to the gay community is to help people understand that you can be what you want to be on your own terms, and survive and be gay, even if you have to create your own career and reinvent yourself. “I’ve really done it by never compromising.”