RIP David Hurles: September 12, 1944-April 12, 2023

Famous gay pornographer David Hurles passed at the age of 78 on April 12, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA due to complications from a stroke he experienced in 2008. 

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 12, 1944, Hurles began to show an interest in photography during his teen years. He worked as a photography assistant and eventually as a full-time photographer when he began producing his own pornography later in life after spending time in the military and at University. He expressed that as he grew older he recalled how his interest in boys began at a young age as he was always interested and fond of his older sister’s troublemaking boyfriends. 

He is known as the founder of Old Reliable Studios and for the way he picked up his models on the streets of San Francisco in the 1970s. Many of them were ex-convicts or drug addicts however he also worked with some more well-known gay pornographic stars less publicly such as Scott O’Hara.

Hurles produced erotic audio cassettes as he had sex with his models, who were typically straight “rough” men as he preferred to use straight models over bisexual ones. He enjoyed the dynamic between himself and his models and his friend and estate manager Dian Hanson even quoted that “The power emanating from his photos reflects the power his subjects held over him.” 

He produced sexually explicit audio cassettes as he had sex with his models and verbally described how they would assault gay men.  His work and perspective of male imagery were ahead of their time and iconic during the 1970s and 1980s. American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist John Waters stated that “David likes psychos,” many of his models were people you should typically be wary of however, Hurles was always drawn to them instead. 

Arrested numerous times on minor drug charges and indecencies, Hurles joked about how even though he was serving time he had the opportunity to meet new models and friends. Due to the risky nature of his scouting ways, Hurles was robbed and assaulted by multiple models, and an unintentional kick to the head during a shoot by one of his models in 1990 caused him to have blurry vision in his left eye. 

The founder, president, and CEO of the Mizer Foundation who provided Hurles’s obituary states, “David’s work for Old Reliable exposed gay audiences to a subculture in which we found excitement and thrills, an encounter with the type of man we have always been told to avoid. His pioneering work in the field has revolutionized the art of desire.”

Old Reliable studio closed down in 2008 following Hurles’s accident; however, he will always be remembered for his memorable influence on the “Gay Gaze.”