Lost Boys: Vintage Images of Brian Hawks

Lost Boys: Vintage 

Images of Brian Hawks

Brian Hawks is proof you don't need to be prolific or spend a lifetime doing something in order to leave a huge impact on an industry. He only appeared in a dozen films, yet... Google vintage porn? And his image is guaranteed to pop up. 

Plus, there's a film by Matt Sterling, Bigger the Better, which contains a scene, in a public mens room, that is considered so classic by so many, that it's still talked about today.

There are certain images of his which remain iconic. And he, like Kip Noll, was able to create an actual brand based on his name - one put to good use by the industry via film and print media.

Today, as part of our continuing focus on vintage gay porn blondes, we'll take a look at Hawk's relatively brief time in the limelight and try to discover what made the man so memorable.

Brian Hawks
AKA: Angel Damien, Brian Hawkes, Charles Michael Jourdan, David Anders, Shaun McIvan, Shawn McIvan

Birthdate: November 27, 1959 
Birthplace: San Gabriel, Los Angeles County, CA

Height: 5'7"

Tattoos: Playboy Bunny and a Heart in pubic area

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Years Active: 1982-1984
12 Films
3 Compilations
Studios: Nova, LeSalon, Falcon, TMX, Laguna Pacific, His, Huge

Born on November 27, 1959 and raised in San Gabriel, CA, Brian Hawks spent a sheltered childhood attending a Catholic military school. Post high school, he began a relationship with a man involved in the gay porn industry. Initially, Hawks decided to dip his toe into the world of gay porn as a means of building his self-confidence. Adopting the alias, 'Angel Damien', it all began with a black and white photo layout for Bob Mizer's AMG (Athletic Model Guild). All his life, Hawks wanted to be known and noticed. His greatest desire was to be in movies and draw attention to himself. 

He made his film debut in 1982's California Boys, billed as 'David Anders' alongside J.W. King and Ed Wiley. Hawks recalls that he didn't have to audition - he simply dropped his drawers and the filmmakers said, "Wonderful."  That same year he would work with famed gay porn director William Higgins in Printer's Devil a film that starred Jon King, Michael Christopher and Derrick Stanton. Hawk was billed as 'Charles Michael Jourdan'.

It was the next film, Nova's first full-sound sync'd feature: Lockerroom Fever that began the creation of Brian Hawkes as a brand. Spliced together using three of the studio's film shorts, the movie actually became something of a sensation in a different media form: as a magazine. 

A collection of stills from the short Jocking Around starring Billy Joel Evans (David Ashfield), Steve Decker and Hawks, combined with photos from others, turned out to be as popular and inescapable as Kip Noll's first print pictorial. The magazine helped make Tige McMasters, Brian Hawkes and Billy Joe Evans (David Ashfield) gay household names. 

Lockerroom Fever proved so popular, that Nova went all in the following year and created Brian's Boys, centered on the brand Hawks had inadvertently generated the previous year. The film was also hugely successful - in the theatres, yes, but even more so in the printed form. This wealth of attention generated a slew of film offers and 1984 would prove to be Hawks most prolific year. 

Surprisingly... it would also prove to be his last.

1982 

California Boys
Printer's Devil

Lockerroom Fever

1983 

Brian's Boys

1984 

Arousers

Big and Thick
Bigger the Better
Fantasize
Hard Money
Like A Horse
One Size Fits All
Ramcharger

By the end of 1984, Hawks had grown disillusioned with the world of gay porn. In an April 1985 interview with Stallion magazine, conducted while Hawks was performing at the famed Follies Theater in New York City, he expressed his frustration with the porn industry at length. "Most of the people in the business, the people who pay the boys, are fuck-overs. They take as much as they can while giving as little as possible. This whole business is a big bunch of lies!" 

He also complained about the trend toward plotless, all-action films. "I'd like to see more loving, hugging, and cuddling. There should be plenty of sex, of course, but I don't like my movies too blatant. I like plots and romance and happy endings - or, at least, endings that make sense. Nobody's going to keep paying... to see the same old stuff over and over - the producers better start giving us a little fun and romance."

At the same time, he said he did enjoy being someone that people admired. It turned him on that guys were jerking off while watching him and that, at heart, he was a people pleaser. He claimed that part of his appeal, in addition to his physical attributes, was that he played to the camera well and strived "to be better than everybody else. I want to be the best!"

It was also his desire to pursue a "legitimate acting career."

In the interview, Hawks mentioned that he had an opportunity to act on stage, in a production Torch Song Trilogy. However, the man he was seeing at the time was very controlling and didn't want him to do it, forcing him to choose which was more important - their relationship or the role? 

Hawks chose the relationship.

Around this time, Hawks began dating fellow porn star Lance. Reportedly, the two enjoyed spending their free time going to the beach and having fun. Hawks was quite the daredevil, stating, "I'm very obstinate! I'm stubborn, and I want to do what I want to do. No one - no one - is going to tell me how to live my life! I want to get it all in. You only life once... Sky diving, water skiing, travel - all. I want it all!"

This daring attitude was also visited upon his body. Hawks got tattooed; a heart that was symbolic of his "being kind" and "having a lot of feeling towards people" and a Playboy bunny. Both, located near his pubic region, he liked "... to joke that I'm a playboy with a heart-on." 

But the question remains... what became of Brian Hawks? 

Unsubstantiated rumors abound, the most popular being that he died in a car accident during the mid-80's. However, given his propensity for wanting to please those with whom he was in a relationship, I have a feeling that the truth is more akin to something I stumbled upon on an LSGP forum. A post (represented here, in an edited form), dated November 10, 2006, by FuzzyKen - someone who apparently befriended and knew a number of gay porn stars from this era, including Ed Wiley and Al Parker), stated:

"Brian Hawkes... was the neighbor kid of a good friend of mine (who) grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California. (C)ontrary to many rumors, (Brian) is not really deceased. He found true love and tried to retire from a business that wanted him to remain... very badly. I will not reveal his real name for this reason.

The 'little blonde twinky boy' (he portrayed) was a porn studio creation (which) he grew to despise. He absolutely grew to hate the business and the (risks) he was being asked to take. (Brian) simply got out. He finally had telephone calls forwarded to his mother who informed people that he had died of complications of HIV. These days he looks nothing like the actor of so many years ago."

So, it is most likely that Hawks simply wanted to put distance between himself and an industry with which he fell out of love. 

And, it would also appear, that true love, once again, won out. 

--- ---

I believe the first spank mag I ever purchased was Lockerroom Fever. I was enthralled, to say the least. Yes, Brian was part of that, but it was David Ashfield (Billy Joe Evans and Tige McMasters that really 'did' it for me. Still, the sight of Hawks with that towel wrapped around his waist and his massive dick rising up... that takes me right back there, man. 

Brian's Boys would be purchased on the next trip... and, other than the set-up: a circle jerk in a garage, for me, it really didn't have the same impact as Lockerroom Fever. 

There is something about Nova films; they certainly captured an era. 

I did take time to actually watch the much-ballyhooed mens room scene from Matt Sterling's Bigger the Better. It is a lot of fun and worth a watch. You can view it for free (xhamster, I believe), just Google it. 

From the snippets I have read about Brian? He sounds like a bit of a whiner and not much of a team player. So, perhaps it's a good thing he got out of the business early. 

I have a feeling those 'risks' he was upset about had to do with one of two things: poor (scary) working conditions (which we will explore next week when I profile Nova's Tige McMaster for this series), or being pressured to have unprotected sex with men who were known to be positive. 

The industry, at that time, was notorious for both. 

Of course, I have to wonder... 

...if he was dating Lance - who was a known, active IV drug user and HIV positive at that time? Lance did have a tendency to live loose and fast. 

And it sounds like that was right up Hawks well-plumbed alley. So, I dunno. 

I mean, that could figure into it, too.

I do hope it's true and Brian is somewhere, living a lovely life with the love of his life. 

That's all for this week. 

Until next time...

Thanks for reading!

Uprising - Muse

Rebel, Rebel - David Bowie