An unapologetic “force of nature,” a “reflection of a disco ball in the sunlight,” a man who lit up any room he walked into: Randy Dudley lived
multitudes. He helped direct television shows and created iconic fashion statements; he worked in radio and bars and in the theater; he taught, he learned, he advocated.
Randy Leo Dudley was born on May 11, 1989, and had a turbulent childhood and home life that often kept him apart from his four younger siblings, according to his sister. He was forced to move frequently, primarily living in Los Angeles and Orange counties. After graduating in 2011, he moved to New York City and took an internship at MTV before moving back to California in 2013. In Hollywood, he joined the Directors Guild of America as a trainee, working on several television shows including
“He always stayed on the move, he always had a smile, he was always doing a dance,” said Clark, who met Dudley when they were both working at the same restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen, trying to make it in the city. “He was always manifesting and proving that he is moving forward and he’s not dwelling on anything that he can’t control.”
During a trip to Miami, Rosher remembered the pair walking two blocks every night from their hostel to the same nightclub. Every night, Dudley would don an extravagant self-designed outfit just for the brief walk. In 2022, Dudley moved to Colombia to backpack and teach English. Along the way, he kept in touch with his people; even Clark’s mother received postcards and kept them on her mantel. Among Dudley’s things after his death, Rosher said he found an entire bag full of unsent postcards.
“He was my little brother that I’d never gotten,” said Aguilar, 61. “Even after my divorce, he was there cheering me on, ‘Over the years, Aguilar would keep Dudley abreast of goings-on in San Francisco and at Marty’s Place. And, since moving back to San Francisco, Aguilar said Dudley was immersing himself in the city’s political landscape — studying budgets and attending organizing events, and fitting right in as always, even winning over the “old crotchety” clients of Marty’s Place.
And lastly, I give you the sum of community and camaraderie built by generations of queers that gather around disco balls and city halls from Ellis Island to Fire Island. The legacy of queer New Yorkers, everyday people with both talent and vice alike. Let these legends inspire you to grow beyond your roots, to stretch taller than the trees, soar beyond the buildings to the sky, because the storm has passed, and the rainbow that connects us is glistening like the stars we all are.
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