Marc Huestis
Encyclopedia
Marc Huestis is an award winning filmmaker, camp impresario and social activist. He is best known for his motion picture Sex Is... and his in-person tributes/benefit events feting celebrities from Hollywood's Golden Age and cult personas at San Francisco's Castro Theatre
.
.
He studied theater at the State University of New York at Binghamton from 1972 to 1974. Afterwards, Huestis took the famed Green Tortoise to San Francisco & there hooked up with the colorful theatre group the Angels of Light.
His interest soon veered to film, taking classes at City College of San Francisco. While getting his super 8 films developed at Harvey Milk
's Castro Camera store, he met a group of fellow fledgeling filmmakers. Together with Daniel Nicoletta
, Ric Mears and others, Huestis founded the San Francisco Gay Film Festival, now the oldest and largest of its ilk. In 2001, in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Festival, Huestis and the founding members were given the Frameline Film Festival
Award.
; Another Goddamn Benefit (1997), documenting 20 years of grassroots theatrical response to issues important to the gay/lesbian and HIV communities; 25 - A Brief History Of The Festival (2001), celebrating 25 years of the Frameline Film Festival; Way Cool (2004), focusing on the protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention; and Lulu Gets A Facelift http://www.lulugetsafacelift.com/(2007), a feature documentary following performer Lulu, a "mid-life crisis in action" who decides to get a facelift. He also served as Executive Producer for the feature film The Toilers And The Wayfarers (1996.)
San Francisco's majestic Castro Theatre
. The first, The Poseidon Event-ure featuring star Carol Lynley
, was a success, selling out the 1400 seat venue. Soon these events drew national attention, where in an article entitled "Celebration of Camp", Variety reporter Dennis Harvey commented " it took local entrepreneur Marc Huestis to perfect a meld of screen and live ultrakitsch."
In the past 15 years, Huestis has produced over 25 staged extravaganzas/tributes. Significant funds from these benefit events have been raised for needy AIDS/socially conscious organizations. Celebrities that have participated in Huestis' galas (both at the Castro & elsewhere) have included Ann-Margret
, Ann Blyth
, Ann Miller
, Armistead Maupin
, Barbara Parkins
, Bruce Vilanch
, Carol Lynley
, Christina Crawford
, Connie Champagne
, Debbie Reynolds
, Edie Adams
, Erik Lee Preminger
, Hector Elizondo
, Jack Lemmon
, Jackie Beat
, Jan Wahl, Jane Russell
, Janeane Garofalo
, Jeffrey Sebelia
, Joan Baez
, JoBeth Williams
, John Cameron Mitchell
, John Schlesinger
, John Waters
, Justin Bond
, Karen Black
, Lady Bunny
, Linda Blair
, Lypsinka, Margaret O'Brien
, Mary Badham
, Michael Musto
, Michelle Shocked
, Mike Farrell
, Mitzi Gaynor
, Olivia Hussey
, Patty Duke
, Patty McCormack
, Piper Laurie
, Reno, Rex Reed
, Sandra Dee
, Santino Rice
, Sissy Spacek
, Stella Stevens
, Sylvia Miles
, Thelma Houston
, Tony Curtis
, Troy Donahue
, and Varla Jean Merman
.
In a feature piece in the San Francisco Chronicle written by David Wiegand, tributee Carol Lynley compared the showman favorably to such impresarios as Otto Preminger
, Irwin Allen
and Mike Todd
, and summed up her feelings about Huestis - " He's larger than life; he's larger than imagination."
In 2008, Huestis was honored by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for his life achievement and work in benefiting many San Francisco non-profits.
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...
.
Early life
Huestis was born in Long Island, New York. His mother was a stripper and his father was a video editor at NBC, where he cut the hit TV show HullabalooHullabaloo
Hullabaloo may refer to:*Hullabaloo, Caneck! Caneck!, the beginning phrase of the Aggie War Hymn*Hullabaloo , a 1940 film*Hullabaloo , a 1960s NBC musical variety series...
.
He studied theater at the State University of New York at Binghamton from 1972 to 1974. Afterwards, Huestis took the famed Green Tortoise to San Francisco & there hooked up with the colorful theatre group the Angels of Light.
His interest soon veered to film, taking classes at City College of San Francisco. While getting his super 8 films developed at Harvey Milk
Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
's Castro Camera store, he met a group of fellow fledgeling filmmakers. Together with Daniel Nicoletta
Daniel Nicoletta
Daniel Nicoletta is an American photographer, photo journalist and gay rights activist.-Biography:Born in New York City, Daniel Nicoletta was raised in Utica, NY. In his late teens he left New York to attend San Francisco State University, later graduating from the Bachelor of Arts program...
, Ric Mears and others, Huestis founded the San Francisco Gay Film Festival, now the oldest and largest of its ilk. In 2001, in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the Festival, Huestis and the founding members were given the Frameline Film Festival
Frameline Film Festival
Frameline is a nonprofit media arts organization that produces the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival, the oldest film festival devoted to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender programming currently in existence...
Award.
The Films
Mr. Huestis' history as a filmmaker parallels that of the San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. From the early days of gay film in the 1970s when his grainy super-8 films were projected on stained sheets, to the advent of new technologies, Huestis has been dedicated to being a unique voice in the filmmaking community. He has directed the following titles: Unity (1977), an elegiac memory piece dealing with the persecution of gays in Nazi Germany; Whatever Happened To Susan Jane (1982), a wild and wacky spoof of underground San Francisco, circa 1980; with Wendy Dallas - the award-winning documentary Chuck Solomon: Coming Of Age (1986) a loving profile of a San Francisco theatre director, and his strength to deal with AIDS; with Lawrence Helman -Sex Is... (1993), the highly popular video/ film exploring the meaning of sex and sexuality within the lives of gay men. It premiered at the 1993 Berlin Film Festival, where it won a Teddy AwardTeddy Award
The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...
; Another Goddamn Benefit (1997), documenting 20 years of grassroots theatrical response to issues important to the gay/lesbian and HIV communities; 25 - A Brief History Of The Festival (2001), celebrating 25 years of the Frameline Film Festival; Way Cool (2004), focusing on the protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention; and Lulu Gets A Facelift http://www.lulugetsafacelift.com/(2007), a feature documentary following performer Lulu, a "mid-life crisis in action" who decides to get a facelift. He also served as Executive Producer for the feature film The Toilers And The Wayfarers (1996.)
The Castro Theatre Extravaganzas
In 1994, along with producer Lawrence Helman, Huestis began to present celebrity tributes atSan Francisco's majestic Castro Theatre
Castro Theatre
The Castro Theatre is a popular San Francisco movie palace which became San Francisco Historic Landmark #100 in September 1976. Located at 429 Castro Street, in the Castro district, it was built in 1922 with a Spanish Colonial Baroque façade that pays homage—in its great arched central window...
. The first, The Poseidon Event-ure featuring star Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley is an American actress and former child model.-Life and career:Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in New York City, the daughter of Frances , a waitress, and Cyril Jones. Her father was Irish and her mother, a native of New England, was of English, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Native...
, was a success, selling out the 1400 seat venue. Soon these events drew national attention, where in an article entitled "Celebration of Camp", Variety reporter Dennis Harvey commented " it took local entrepreneur Marc Huestis to perfect a meld of screen and live ultrakitsch."
In the past 15 years, Huestis has produced over 25 staged extravaganzas/tributes. Significant funds from these benefit events have been raised for needy AIDS/socially conscious organizations. Celebrities that have participated in Huestis' galas (both at the Castro & elsewhere) have included Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
, Ann Blyth
Ann Blyth
Ann Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles. Her performance as Veda Pierce in the 1945 film Mildred Pierce was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.-Life and career:Blyth was born in Mount Kisco,...
, Ann Miller
Ann Miller
Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.-Early life:...
, Armistead Maupin
Armistead Maupin
Armistead Jones Maupin, Jr. is an American writer, best known for his Tales of the City series of novels, based in San Francisco.-Early life:...
, Barbara Parkins
Barbara Parkins
Barbara Parkins is a Canadian television and film actress.-Early life and rise to stardom:Parkins was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the age of sixteen, she and her mother moved to Los Angeles, where she enrolled at Hollywood High School and began to study acting, tap, ballet, and...
, Bruce Vilanch
Bruce Vilanch
Bruce Vilanch is an American comedy writer, songwriter and actor. He is a six-time Emmy Award-winner Vilanch is best known to the public for his four-year stint on Hollywood Squares, as a celebrity participant; in the entertainment industry he is best known as head writer for the show...
, Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley
Carol Lynley is an American actress and former child model.-Life and career:Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in New York City, the daughter of Frances , a waitress, and Cyril Jones. Her father was Irish and her mother, a native of New England, was of English, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Native...
, Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford
Christina Crawford is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.-Early life and education:...
, Connie Champagne
Connie Champagne
Connie Champagne is an American singer, song-writer and actor. She won the SF Weekly Wammie Award for Outstanding Cabaret/Lounge Performer. She is known for performing Judy Garland impersonations including Christmas With the Crawfords in 2001 and Imagine Judy Garland: An Evening With Connie...
, Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds
Debbie Reynolds is an American actress, singer, and dancer.She was initially signed at age 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave her a small, but significant part in the film Three Little Words , then signed her to...
, Edie Adams
Edie Adams
Edie Adams was an American singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne. Adams, a Tony Award winner, "both embodied and winked at the stereotypes of fetching chanteuse and sexpot blonde." She was well-known for her impersonations of female stars on stage and television, most...
, Erik Lee Preminger
Erik Lee Preminger
Erik Lee Preminger is an American writer and actor. He has also been known as Erik Kirkland, Erik de Diego, Erik Lee, and Eric Preminger....
, Hector Elizondo
Hector Elizondo
Héctor Elizondo is an American actor. Elizondo's first major role was that of "God" in the play Steambath, for which he won an Obie Award...
, Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
, Jackie Beat
Jackie Beat
Jackie Beat is the drag persona of actor, singer, songwriter and screenwriter Kent Fuher. Beat has appeared in a number of independent feature films both in and out of drag, including Wigstock: The Movie, Flawless and Adam & Steve...
, Jan Wahl, Jane Russell
Jane Russell
Jane Russell was an American film actress and was one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s....
, Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo
Janeane Garofalo is an American stand-up comedian, actress, political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to circulate regularly within New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.-Early...
, Jeffrey Sebelia
Jeffrey Sebelia
Jeffrey Sebelia is an American fashion designer and founder of the clothing label Cosa Nostra, which he headed from a loft on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles...
, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, JoBeth Williams
JoBeth Williams
JoBeth Williams is an American film and television actress and director, and current President of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation.-Early life:...
, John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell
John Cameron Mitchell is an American writer, actor, and director. He is best known for his motion pictures Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus and Rabbit Hole.- Early life:...
, John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger
John Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
, John Waters
John Waters (filmmaker)
John Samuel Waters, Jr. is an American filmmaker, actor, stand-up comedian, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films...
, Justin Bond
Justin Bond
Justin Vivian Bond , formerly simply Justin Bond, is an American singer-songwriter, performance artist, occasional actor and Radical Faerie. Described as a "fixture of the New York avant-garde", Bond arose to notability playing the role of Kiki DuRayne in the drag cabaret act Kiki and Herb from the...
, Karen Black
Karen Black
Karen Black is an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She is noted for appearing in such films as Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Great Gatsby, Rhinoceros, The Day of the Locust, Nashville, Airport 1975, and Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot...
, Lady Bunny
Lady Bunny
The Lady Bunny is an American drag queen originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, who has lived in New York since the 1980s. She is the founder of the annual Wigstock event and is well-known as a nightclub DJ, promoter and celebrity...
, Linda Blair
Linda Blair
Linda Denise Blair is an American actress. Blair is best known for her role as the possessed child, Regan, in the 1973 film The Exorcist, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning one. She reprised her role in 1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic.-Biography:Blair...
, Lypsinka, Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien
Margaret O'Brien is an American film and stage actress. Although her film career as a leading character was brief, she was one of the most popular child actors in cinema history...
, Mary Badham
Mary Badham
Mary Badham is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. At the time, Badham was the youngest actress ever nominated in this category...
, Michael Musto
Michael Musto
Michael Musto is an American columnist for the The Village Voice, where he writes La Dolce Musto. Musto was born in Brooklyn to an Italian American family. He attended Columbia University graduating in 1976. During his studies, he was a theater critic for the Columbia Spectator...
, Michelle Shocked
Michelle Shocked
Michelle Shocked is the stage name of Michelle Karen Johnston, an American singer-songwriter.-History:Shocked received her first international exposure in Europe, particularly Britain, with her debut album The Texas Campfire Tapes .Her first U.S...
, Mike Farrell
Mike Farrell
Michael Joseph "Mike" Farrell is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series M*A*S*H . He is an activist for politically liberal causes....
, Mitzi Gaynor
Mitzi Gaynor
-Life and career:Gaynor was born as Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber in Chicago, Illinois to Pauline Fisher, a dancer, and Henry von Gerber, a violinist, cellist, and music director. The family first moved to Detroit and when she was eleven to Hollywood, California.She trained as a ballerina...
, Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey
Olivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...
, Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
, Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack
Patty McCormack is an American actress with a career in theater, films and television.She achieved success as a child actress, and received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The Bad Seed...
, Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie
Piper Laurie is an American actress of stage and screen known for her roles in the television series Twin Peaks and the films The Hustler, Carrie, and Children of a Lesser God, all of which brought her Academy Award nominations...
, Reno, Rex Reed
Rex Reed
Rex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
, Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee
Sandra Dee was an American actress. Dee began her career as a model and progressed to film. Best known for her portrayal of ingenues, Dee won a Golden Globe Award in 1959 as one of the year's most promising newcomers, and over several years her films were popular...
, Santino Rice
Santino Rice
Santino Quinto Rice is an American fashion designer and television personality. He is best known for his appearances on the reality television programs Project Runway, RuPaul's Drag Race, and On the Road with Austin and Santino.-Early life:Rice was born and raised in St. Charles, Missouri...
, Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
, Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens
Stella Stevens Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born October 1, 1938 is an American film, television and stage actress, who began her acting career in 1959 and starred in such popular films as The Nutty Professor, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, The Silencers, The Ballad of Cable Hogue and The...
, Sylvia Miles
Sylvia Miles
-Early life and career:Miles was born Sylvia Reuben Lee in New York City, the daughter of Belle and Reuben Lee, a furniture maker....
, Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston
Thelma Houston is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1976 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.-Early life & career:Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother...
, Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis
Tony Curtis was an American film actor whose career spanned six decades, but had his greatest popularity during the 1950s and early 1960s. He acted in over 100 films in roles covering a wide range of genres, from light comedy to serious drama...
, Troy Donahue
Troy Donahue
Troy Donahue was an American actor, who was active between the late 1950s and late 1990s.-Life and career:...
, and Varla Jean Merman
Varla Jean Merman
Varla Jean Merman is a character originated and portrayed by Jeffery Roberson, an American actor, singer and drag performer. Varla's fictitious pedigree boasts that Ernest Borgnine is her father and Ethel Merman is her mother....
.
In a feature piece in the San Francisco Chronicle written by David Wiegand, tributee Carol Lynley compared the showman favorably to such impresarios as Otto Preminger
Otto Preminger
Otto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
, Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen
Irwin Allen was a television and film director and producer nicknamed "The Master of Disaster" for his work in the disaster film genre. He was also notable for creating a number of television series.- Biography :...
and Mike Todd
Mike Todd
Michael Todd was an American theatre and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in Eighty Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture...
, and summed up her feelings about Huestis - " He's larger than life; he's larger than imagination."
In 2008, Huestis was honored by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for his life achievement and work in benefiting many San Francisco non-profits.