Lost Boys: Vintage Images of Chris Burns

Lost Boys: 

Vintage Images of Chris Burns

This is the last of my classic blondes. I know there are most likely some I missed, but how appropriate that we end with Chris Burns. 

As per usual, I found scant info about him. 

But what I do have? It's quite good. 

In fact, for the first time, we gain an industry insiders' look at what a gay porn career looks like once it's reached it's end stage. 

Chris Burns is notable because he was an unapologetic kink pig/slut - at a time when such attributes were not considered admirable. His reputation as a power bottom was only equaled by his film output. He took great pride in pushing the envelope, something else that was not always well-received. 

Later in life? He developed a self-destructive streak and became a known as a notorious partier. 

Such behavior in the age of AIDS? Not a good mix. 

However, he truly loved the world of gay porn and would do anything to be a part of it. Yes, Burns was a lifer, for sure - unfortunately, that commitment did not translate into true longevity.

Chris Burns

AKA: Danny Joe Burns
Birthdate: September 17, 1958, 

Birthplace: Vallejo, CA
Death: February 26, 1995, San Diego, CA

Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 9"
Endowment: 8" Cut

Years Active: 1977-1994

Films: 47

Compilations: 35 

Studios: Adonis, Laguna Pacific, HIS, Cosco, Bijou, LeSalon, Catalina, Vivid Man etc.

Born in Vallejo, California, on September 17, 1958, Danny Joe Burns grew up to be a typical California stud. Blonde haired and blue eyed, he possessed a toned body maintained by frequent visits to the gym, His physique was of such importance to him that he liked to claim he went  through a sort of withdrawal whenever he couldn't work out. And  he was so disciplined about his workouts it was rare that he'd spend time cruising or hooking up with someone at the gym.  

In his pursuit of physical perfection, Burns also became knowledgeable in martial arts. This proved handy when he appeared in the film, Below the Belt, helping to make for a more authentic-looking film. Burns even went so far as to make a film about self defense called Take Back the Night, which he sold via mail order.

Beginning in 1977, Burns appeared in a few short loops for David Hurles' Old Reliable Studio and the Adonis organization. However, at that time, he wasn't quite ready to make gay porn his life calling. That changed in 1981, when he returned to the industry to appear in three films. From that point on? He made the industry his home. He enjoyed being part of it so much, he was was known to tell guys interested in porn only for the money to stay away - because that motivation took all the fun out of it and simply ruined it for everyone else involved.

Off-screen, Burns supplemented his income by working as an emergency medical technician and paramedic.

Thanks to his connections in the industry he met and fell in love with fellow gay porn actor, director and magazine editor JimEd Thompson. Born on September 18, 1946 (12 years Burns' senior), Thompson was the runner-up at the 1986 International Mr. Leather contest. He would go on to create and edit numerous magazines, eventually serving as an associate editor for Jack Fritscher's famed Drummer Magazine.

They both loved the industry. In fact, together, the pair toyed with the idea of unionizing porn performers, but it never came to fruition.

Known to hang out in the leather bars in San Francisco during the 80's and 90's, Burns strutted around with his chest puffed out, showing off his body, much to JimEd's amusement. They were also spotted frequently at Land's End, the gay nude beach, where Burns, wearing only a cock ring and a hard-on would remain on his feet all day just to be sure everyone got a look at him.

On-screen, Burns preferred performing as a bottom, but considered himself fully versatile. Always eager to please directors, he would top whenever asked. Director Steve Scott is said to have once told him he had "the most beautiful cock in porn."

Among the highlights during his fifteen years in the industry: Kingsize and On Top, both with Rick Donovan, an appearance in John Holmes' only gay-oriented film, the infamous sling scene in Spring Break, and his scene with Paul Baressi in Men Of The Midway. Burns worked with a number of renowned directors, including: Bill Clayton, Christopher Ford, Fred Halsted, Joe Rock, and Steve Scott.

Despite his numerous films, Burns did not enjoy the life of a cover boy. In fact, in such magazines, he rarely appeared solo.

Eventually, Burns discovered that he enjoyed pain during sex, which led to his on-screen infatuation with rough BDSM scenes, hardcore fisting scenes and the use of giant dildos. In fact, Chris became known as quite the boundary pusher, introducing various aspects of kink whenever a director would allow it. For instance, he appeared with a Prince Albert in the film, Master Hyde. Director Jeff Lawrence once described him as the consummate bottom who tended to freak out certain distributors due to how far the daring actor would push things. 

This fascination with kink often found him performing solo scenes, often using toys. Burns claimed to enjoy watching himself on video and felt that sex was something that should never be limited in any way. And while he didn't like eating his own cum, he did enjoy that of others. However, once he came? The show was over, folks.

1977
Professionals
Adonis Cockplay 26
Adonis Cockplay 42

1981 

Hot Trash
Tony Prince's Rawhide
Wrestling Meat 1

1982 

Nighthawk In Leather
Skin Deep (II)
These Bases Are Loaded

1983 

Alley Cats
Bad Habits
Dangerous

Men of the Midway
Pleasure Beach
Private Pleasures of John C. Holmes
Tony's Initiation
Wrestling Meat 2

1984 

King Size
Midnight Special 6: Boys of the Hollywood Spa

1985 

Below The Belt
Black on Red

Getting It
Joys of Self Abuse
Room for Rent
Stiff Sentence
Toilets
Windows

1986 

Bait
Dynastud
My Masters
Nightcrawler: A Leather Sex Fantasy
Social Studies

1987 

Big Time
Master Hyde
Fist Fuck

1988 

Larger Than Life
Spring Break

1989 

On Top

1990 

Lewd Conduct
Queer: The Movie
Shacking Up
She-Male Tales

1991 

Bizarre
Screwed
Tongue Work

1993 

Big and Hard

1994 

Buns for Lunch

And then, one day, the show truly was over. 

First came the death of his lover, JimEd Thomspon, on June 21, 1988. As his boss Jack Fritscher liked to say, Thompson "died in the saddle while he was the associate editor of Drummer." 

As a famous leather man in a famous leather couple, Thompson along with Burns would appear on the cover of Drummer 120 (August 1988). It was the same issue that would feature Thompson’s obituary; dead of AIDS, he was 41 years old.

Burns carried on. 

But his professional demeanor became increasingly erratic. In the wake of Thompson's death, he was partying way too hard.

The end? Well, as documented by Fritscher - the founding San Francisco editor-in-chief of Drummer magazine and one-time boyfriend of Robert Mapplethorpe? 

It was not pretty.

As Fritscher recalls in Chapter 16 of his book, Gay Pioneers: How Drummer Magazine Shaped Gay Popular Culture 1965-1999:

 

"In the zero degrees of very cool Drummer contributors who did not outlive Drummer, I had met and played with JimEd Thompson in LA in 1971 when he began publishing his bondage magazine, Action Male. His later lover, Chris Burns, who was one of my Palm Drive models, was a sweet and athletic madman hustler. In fact, the short blond Scottish-American porn star, Burns, was often confused with another player in the salon around Drummer, the short blond Irish-American porn star, Scott O’Hara (1961-1998)...

With the blond porn stars Burns and O’Hara, a certain twinkie freak show circled Drummer which preferred hard leather boys to creamy twinks. Chris Burns had a voracious butthole famous for hoovering up what wasn’t nailed down. Scott O’Hara was a one-trick pony famous for sucking himself off. 

In 1987, David Hurles, reconnecting to the Drummer mystique - where I had launched his career as Old Reliable Studio in Drummer 21 (March 1978) - hired Chris Burns for a shoot. 

From my archives, I noted that on November 2, 1987, David Hurles wrote about Burns in his unpublished and confidential journal of Old Reliable Hustler Videos which he typed on blue paper and bound with a red plastic comb: 

"Burn is the correct word. I don’t know why I ever wanted him, with the baggage he had to carry; enveloper of fire-hydrants and small vehicles, lover dead of you know what! But I not only paid him about $250 plus air fare, but he partied the night before, gave me the bum’s rush to get done, was hung-over, did not follow directions, had no personality, did not get a good erection...and no one bought his pix. Older than God."

A month later on December 5, 1987, I wanted to see if I could fire up in the black-belt karate instructor, Burns, the burn that had eluded Hurles. I shot him on location in his San Francisco karate studio at 317 10th Street, next door to Stompers Boots, for the Palm Drive video, Karate Kock Warrior. Looking through my viewfinder, I saw what Erich von Stroheim saw in Norma Desmond descending the staircase in Sunset Boulevard: the protoplasm of a living ghost. He was a sweet man, but his sex appeal had died. His videos for both Old Reliable and Palm Drive sold, literally, zero copies. He had starred in over a hundred videos, and his career was dead of overexposure.

 In 1994, the power bottom Chris Burns, made mystical as a martyr by illness and drugs, begged me in a recorded conversation to videotape the elaborate S&M suicide he fantasized for himself as his Götterdämmerung way to seize control of his death. I declined."

Chris stopped performing in 1994. after celebrating over 15 years in the industry. 

He died on February 26, 1995 in San Diego of AIDS at the age of 36.  

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I must say, I find Fritscher's book more than a tad bitter and angry. That doesn't mean his recollections aren't accurate, but I think there might be a kinder, more humane way of dealing with someone's downfall. Fritscher's attitude toward the twinks of the time was not uncommon at all; they were often dismissed as nothing more than whore holes and looked down upon as less of a man. 

I do remember Chris Burns. In fact I have five of his 80's films on VHS. He had an odd little body and the face of a funny doll. He was never my thing and really, other than what I've noted, failed to make much of impression - other than giving his all on film. 

When they said action? The man worked his stuff.

He was obviously very proud of all he'd accomplished. It was a shame that he sort of spun out of control after Thomspson's death... yet understandable. 

I think their romance rather sweet and genuine. And that is my take away from this profile... not how the man ended his life, but how he lived and loved. 

That's all for now. 

Thanks for reading. 

Remember Me - Diana Ross

If You Remember Me - 

Chris Thompson and Night