Casey Donovan

Calvin Culver, better known by his adult film name Casey Donovan, was born November 2, 1943 in East Bloomfield, New York. He graduated from teachers' college in 1965 and worked as a teacher in Peekskill and New York City. When he was fired from his teaching job after an altercation with a student, he began working as an escort and tried to establish an acting career. Through one of his clients Culver began a modeling career and appeared in off-Broadway and Broadway productions. He began his adult film career in 1971 in the film Ginger. He next appeared in Casey, playing the title role. From that film and the singer Donovan Culver created his screen name. Also in 1971 Culver appeared in the film that would make him famous, Boys in the Sand (1971). The first adult film to achieve mainstream crossover success, Boys led to talk of Culver's moving into "legitimate" film work. It also allowed Culver to build a lucrative career as a high-priced escort, although his growing fame in the adult film world cost him his modeling career as more and more potential employers connected him to "Casey Donovan". Culver appeared in the Broadway revival of Captain Brassbound's Conversion with Ingrid Bergman in 1972 and the 1973 Lincoln Center production of The Merchant of Venice. He toured nationally in the play Tubstrip and in 1984 produced and appeared in an unsuccessful revival of the play The Ritz. In 1973 Culver began a relationship with the actor Tom Tryon. They were together until 1977. In 1978 Culver bought a guest house in Florida but the business failed. In 1982 he began writing an advice column, "Ask Casey", for "Stallion," a gay male magazine featuring nude pictorials. Culver's health began to deteriorate in 1985, and he died of an AIDS-related illness on August 10, 1987 in Inverness, Florida.