Charles Busch was born on this day in 1954, he’s made his mark as an actor, playwright and performer, often appearing in drag.
While studying drama at college he struggled to be cast in plays, so he began writing his own, and he often appeared in drag as the leading lady. He drew inspiration from old movies and stars of the silver screen.
In the mid-1980s he began created a series of plays that were performed in Manhattan’s East Village. They included Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, Theodora – She-Bitch of Byzantium, Times Square Angel, Pardon my Inquisition, and Kiss the Blood of My Castanets.
His work attracted a strong following in the LGBTIQA+ communities, and soon he was putting on work at larger theaters and for longer runs. His success continued with Psycho Beach Party, The Lady in Question and Red Scare on Sunset.
Into the 90’s Busch continued to write new plays and also branched out as an author writing a novel and short stories. He also began to appear in film and several of his plays were adapted for the screen including Did, Mommie Die! in 1999 and Psycho Beach Party in 2000.
Busch had a recurring role in the prison drama Oz where he played Nat Ginzburg, an effeminate man on death row, and in 2001 he guest starred on the soap operas One Life to Live where he played a female character.
In 2000 he wrote the play The Tale of Allergist’s Wife which was the first work he did not perform in. After a successful run off Broadway it transferred to the Great White Way. It starred actor Linda Lavin and ran for 777 performances, scoring a Tony nomination Best Play in 2001.
When Rosie O’Donnell brough Boy George’s musical Taboo from the West End to Broadway Busch was hired to do rewrites of the show before its US opening. The production got scathing reviews, closed after 100 performances and O’Donnell reportedly lost US$10million.
Busch has continued to have success in the theatre, his 2007 play Our Leading Lady focused on Laura Keene, a British actress who was performing on stage in 1885 at Ford’s Theatre when US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. The production starred Star Trek and Orange is the New Black actor Kate Mulgrew.
The following year he created The Third Story which starred Mary Beth Peil, who is best known for playing interfering mother Jackie Florrick on The Good Wife, and Grams Ryan on Dawson’s Creek. In a later production Kathleen Turner took over the lead role.
Alongside writing plays Busch continued to perform on stage as well, in 2019 he played Lucille Ball in a play by Lee Tannen. In 2024 his memoir Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy was shortlisted for the prestigious Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir or Biography.
