Charles Busch

Charles Louis Busch (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and drag queen, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978, generally in drag roles, and also acted in the works of other playwrights. He also wrote for television and began to act in films and on television in the late 1990s. His best known play is The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which was a success on Broadway.

Biography Early life Busch was born in 1954 and grew up in Hartsdale, New York. He is the Jewish son of Gertrude (née Young) and Benjamin Busch. His father, who wanted to be an opera singer, owned a record store. His mother died when Busch was seven. He has two older sisters: Meg Busch, who used to be a producer of promotional spots for Showtime, and Betsy Busch, a textile designer. Busch was intensely interested in films as a young child, especially those with female leads from the 1930s and 1940s.

Busch and his collaborators soon created a series of shows, mostly at the Limbo Lounge, such as Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium (1984) and Times Square Angel (1985, Provincetown Playhouse). Psycho Beach Party, which ran from July 1987 to May 1988; The Lady in Question, which ran from July to December 1989 at the Orpheum Theatre; and Red Scare on Sunset, which ran from June to September 1991 at the Lortel Theatre.

Busch rewrote the book for the musical Ankles Aweigh for a 1988 production staged by the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut.

His Charles Busch Revue was produced at the Ballroom Theatre in May 1993 in New York. Also in 1993, he performed in a revival of Jean Genet's The Maids at the Off-Broadway Classic Stage Company in the role of Solange.

In 1993, he wrote a novel, Whores of Lost Atlantis, a fictionalized re-telling of the creation of Vampire Lesbians of Sodom. The Green Heart was adapted by Busch from a short story by Jack Ritchie into a musical which was produced by the Manhattan Theater Club at the Variety Arts Theatre in New York City, opening in April 1997.

He took the male lead in his comedy, You Should Be So Lucky which opened at Primary Stages Company, New York City, in November 1994.

Other works of the 1990s include Swingtime Canteen, produced at the Blue Angel, New York City, in August 1995. His one-man show, Flipping My Wig ran at the WPA Theater, New York City, starting in December 1996.

He wrote Queen Amarantha, which played at the WPA Theatre, starting in October 1997. His play Die, Mommie, Die! was first performed in Los Angeles, opening in July 1999 at the Coast Playhouse.

Film and television Busch's early film appearances include Ms. Ellen, a fortune teller in drag in Trouble on the Corner (1997). Busch has twice appeared in film versions of his own plays: Die, Mommie, Die! (1999) and the comedy horror Psycho Beach Party (2000). He co-wrote, starred in and directed the film A Very Serious Person (2006), which starred Polly Bergen and received an honorable mention at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2020, Busch co-wrote, co-directed, and starred in the film, The Sixth Reel (2021).

Busch had a recurring role in the HBO series Oz from 1999 to 2000 (the third and fourth seasons) as Nat Ginzburg, an "effeminate but makeup-free inmate on death row, certainly a departure from his usual glamour girl roles." He wrote television sitcom pilots and movie treatments as a source of extra income while he was a cult performer. He sold three pilots to CBS that were not produced.

Stage work, 2000–present Busch's work debuted on Broadway in October 2000, when The Tale of the Allergist's Wife opened, following an Off-Broadway run in February through April 2000. The play, his first in which he did not star, and the first created for a mainstream audience, was written for actress Linda Lavin, who played opposite Michele Lee and Tony Roberts. Allergist's Wife received a 2001 nomination for Tony Award for Best Play and ran for 777 performances. His other Broadway work was rewriting the book for Boy George's short-lived autobiographical musical Taboo. Since 2000, Busch has performed an annual one-night staged reading of his 1984 Christmas play Times Square Angel. In January 2003, he headlined a revival of his 1999 play Shanghai Moon, costarring BD Wong, at the Drama Dept, Greenwich House Theatre, New York City.

He has taken the eponymous lead in three productions of Auntie Mame: a staged reading in 1998; a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS in 2003; and a small-scale summer touring production in 2004.

Our Leading Lady, Busch's play about Laura Keene, was produced by the Manhattan Theater Club at the City Center Stage II Theatre, in 2007, and starred Kate Mulgrew. His play, The Third Story, premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse in September 2008 with Mary Beth Peil as Peg, and was then produced in New York by MCC Theater at the Lucille Lortel Theatre, starring Busch and Kathleen Turner (Peg), opening in February 2009. Busch wrote and starred in a play, The Divine Sister, a satirical take on Hollywood films about religion, including Doubt and the Sound of Music. It ran at the SoHo Playhouse in New York City, opening in September 2010. In 2013, Busch wrote and starred as Jimmy in the Primary Stages production of The Tribute Artist. In 2017, Busch and his former Auntie Mame co-star Penny Fuller both appeared in voiceover roles in the world premiere production of DIVA: Live From Hell. In March 2019, Busch starred as Lucille Ball in I Loved Lucy by playwright Lee Tannen at the Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, New York.

In 2020, Primary Stages mounted another Busch play, The Confession of Lily Dare, which opened at Cherry Lane Theatre. For this production, Busch received Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play and an Off Broadway Alliance Award nomination for Best Play. Primary Stages later selected Busch and his frequent collaborator Carl Andress to be the honorees at their annual gala and the joint recipients of the 2022 Einhorn Mentorship Award. In 2024, Busch's play Ibsen's Ghost was co-produced by Primary Stages and the George Street Playhouse.

Performance style and influences Busch's style is based on movie star acting rather than naturalistic femininity.

Busch said, "I've always played a duality. I guess I've always felt a duality in myself: elegance and vulgarity. There's humor in that. I've always found that fun on stage, as well. It's not enough for me to be the whore. I have to be the whore with pretensions or the great lady with a vulgar streak. It's the duality that I find interesting." Busch has said that he was also inspired by seeing Joan Sutherland Busch recalled: "When I was about 13 years old, around 1968 or '69, I went to see Zoe Caldwell in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I was so dazzled that I don't think I've ever recovered."

Memoir Busch released his memoir, Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy, in September 2023. In March 2024 it was shortlisted for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir or Biography.

Work Theater

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1987 Gandahar Gemnen Voice; English-version 1992 Addams Family Values Countess Cousin Aphasia du Berry 1994 It Could Happen to You Timothy 1997 Trouble on the Corner Ms. Ellen 1999–2000 Oz Nat Ginzburg 8 episodes 2000 Psycho Beach Party Captain Monica Stark Screenplay credit 2001 One Life to Live Peg Barlow Guest role 2002 Frasier Mark (voice) Episode: "Enemy at the Gate" 2003Die, Mommie, Die! Angela Arden / Barbara Arden Screenplay credit 2006 A Very Serious Person Jan Screenplay and director credit 2008 Lipstick Jungle Ricardo Bragini Episode: "Dressed to Kill" 2017 Say What!: A Geriatric Proposal Hayes / Cynthia / Mrs. Weinstein Short2021 The Sixth Reel Jimmy Screenplay and director credit The House Arrest Rooneys Margaret Rooney Episode: "Proof of Concept Pilot" 2025 Adam and Steve Escape from Maga Self

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Work Result2000 Drama Desk Award Outstanding New PlayThe Tale of the Allergist's Wife Outer Critics Circle Award John Gassner Award 2001 Tony Award Best Play 2003 Drama Desk AwardCareer Achievement Award Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Lead Actor Shanghai Moon 2008 Drama League Award Distinguished Performance Die, Mommie, Die! 2011 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a Play The Divine Sister Drama League Award Distinguished Performance 2020 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Actor in a PlayThe Confession of Lily Dare Lucille Lortel Award Outstanding Lead Actor in a Play 2024 Lambda Literary Award Gay Memoir or Biography Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy 2025 Obie AwardLifetime Achievement Award

Busch received the Charlie Local and National Comedy Award from the Association of Comedy Artists in 1985 for "special contributions to the art of comedy."

In 2003, he won the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival for his performance in the film Die Mommie Die!

He has been honored with a star on the Playwright's Walk of Fame outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City and the Legend Award by the Off-Broadway League of Theatres. He was awarded the Gingold Theatrical Group Golden Shamrock award in 2014.

Busch is included in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre (2022), with a chapter written by theatre scholar Sean F. Edgecomb. Busch was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame in 2024.