Making It Big: '80s Porn Actor Ken Colbert's Survivor's Tale
The adult performer talked to me about his work in some classics, battling HIV 40 years ago and his life today
May 26, 2025
At 6’5” and with all the right stuff, Ken Colbert arrived on the gay-porn scene in the ‘80s with a splash. But in spite of starring in back-to-back hits Pipeline and Ivy League — now marketed as “pre-condom classics” — and working with some of the adult world’s biggest big names, he vanished.
Most fans presumed he probably, like so many others, had died of AIDS before the decade ended — after all, how many pre-‘90s gay-porn superstars are still with us? The truth is more interesting and uplifting, the story of a young showman who made his mark, battled his way back from the brink of death and found happiness in anonymity.
But he’d like you to know he’s still around, and that he’s proud of what he accomplished.
After finding a mega-list of porn actors I compiled at BoyCulture.com, Ken — his real first name — reached out to me to share what ever became of him, and to relive an era from not so long ago that feels far, far away.
I published our interview in DNA two years ago, and I offer it to you now as part of my ongoing efforts to archive that era.
What was your life like before porn?
I’m originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, out in the middle of nowhere. I left home when I was 15 and moved to Virginia Beach, and that’s where I discovered gay life. When I first moved down there, I went with a friend that was in the Navy and I lived with bikers. Bikers were the first ones that actually took me out to a gay bar. I was overwhelmed — to see a bar filled with gay people dancing and having a good time … I always thought I was the only one.
Were you a fan of porn before you made porn?
The only exposure I’d ever had with any type of gay porn — it was an hour and 45-minute drive to the nearest bookstore. I would sneak out of the house and be able to get a ride and I’d drop the quarters on the 8MM loops. The first movie I saw was Style with Todd Baron and I was just head-over-heels in lust. I knew then: “I’m a ‘mo’!”
How did you begin performing?
When I first went out to the gay bars, there was this female impersonator named Diana Ross who took me under her wing. That’s how I used to get into the gay bars is I used to carry her drag bags. I was terribly underage. I did that for years.
I got a job at the Cue Club in Norfolk doing coat check, then moved on to bartender. But being involved with Diana Ross, there were times where she was doing a show and she would need someone to do the male part of a song. So that was my introduction to being onstage.
Then came stripping?
One of the first places my friends took me to was a place called the Show Palace in NYC. It was advertised outside, “Live Sex Onstage, Every Hour on the Hour.” In-between it was all strippers. My friends took me and I was really naïve. All of a sudden, the lights went dim and this couple came out and they were carrying an ottoman and the next thing you know, they’re kissing and … live sex onstage, as advertised! [Laughs] I was blown away.
What were those days like in the strip clubs?
I describe it as the end-of-days for male burlesque, as far as the stripping. It’s just not the same anymore. The reason that I stood out from the other dancers is I wasn’t into making money on the side with the johns — I enjoyed the dancing.
