In 1968, a year before Stonewall, 18-year old Joseph Cali was playing chess and cruising in Washington Square Park in Manhattan when he was approached by George Haimsohn, author of Stories of the Homosexual Life, The Gay Psychedelic Sex Book, The Gay Coloring Book, A Summer on Fire Island, and the book and libretto for the musical Dames at Sea, which was currently playing off-Broadway.
Haimsohn was also a photographer, working under the name Plato, and invited Joe to model.
His first full frontal photo appears in a 1968 issue of Go Guys. The text says that Joe is a "fast shooting star on the physique horizon....well equipped to handle himself in any tight spot." Tell me more, tell me more, did he get very far?
The photo set and magazine work paid for Joe's tuition at Siena College, where he led anti-war protests, starred in the play Drunkard, and worked as a stage manager for The Gingham Dog.
He moved to Los Angeles in 1973, and continued to pose for the Model of the Month Club and Photozique, while making the rounds of auditions.
Joe's big break came in 1977, when he was cast as Joey, best buddy of John Travolta's Tony in the disco drama Saturday Night Fever
More Brooklyn-disco roles followed, including Flatbush, a tv series about a gang called the Fungos. Joe starred as Presto opposite Adrian Zmed as Socks. It only lasted for six episodes.
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He got 19 episodes of Today's FBI in 1981-82 as Nick, the "Ethnic" member of the team according to Wikipedia. I'm not sure what his ethnicity was.
More Joseph Cali after the break.
Joe supplemented his acting income with more nude modeling, for Adonis Male and Vulcan Studios.
His only on-screen nude scene came in The Lonely Lady, 1983, a Harold Robbins potboiler about an aspiring screenwriter who is abused by men. He plays a club owne who abuses the lonely lady.
A lot of guest shots followed: Too Close for Comfort, Blackie's Magic, Ohara, Something is Out There, Sonnie Spoon, Alien Nation...
I've never heard of most of them, either, but the point is, he was working constantly.
Jake and the Fatman, Murder She Wrote, The Commish, Charlie Grace, Silk Stalkings, Melrose Place....
16 episodes of the soap Santa Barbara. 15 episodes of Port Charles
Around 2000, Joe retired from acting and started Cello Music and Film Systems, which sells home theater systems averaging $42,000 each to celebrity customers such as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Joe was married to Patricia Anne Sobel from 1987 to 1997, and had four daughters. He also married songwriter Lori Lieberman, but the marriage was annulled.
Maybe they were Hollywood "get married so no one knows you're gay" marriages, or maybe he's bisexual. Or even straight. I guess it doesn't matter.
What matters is that he welcomed the gay male gaze throughout his career.
The nude photos are on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends
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