James "Gypsy" Haake

James Haake was born on 14 February 1932 and raised in Denville, New Jersey. Because Denville lacked its own high school, his mother arranged for him to attend Alfred Vail School and then Morristown High School, drawn by its chorus director. He sang at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Morristown and appeared in school musicals, graduating in 1950. Early professional steps included summer stock and work at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, where he earned his Actors' Equity card.

Haake launched a professional career in 1951 as a Broadway chorus dancer. In theatre slang those dancers were called gypsies, and Chita Rivera helped cement the nickname that became his stage identity. He toured nationally and worked the mid-century musical-theatre circuit before stepping back from full-time dancing in his thirties.

In 1968 Haake opened Gypsy's, a New York cabaret named for himself. The room offered a tuxedo-and-heels master of ceremonies and a stage for rising singers and established acts polishing material. Disco's rise later undercut traditional cabarets; Gypsy's closed and Haake relocated to Los Angeles with enough money to retire, at least for a while.

Haake returned to the stage in 1981 as master of ceremonies at La Cage Aux Folles in Beverly Hills after Vivian Blaine helped place him with producer Lou Paciocco's show. He shopped for gowns, including pieces associated with high fashion houses, and built a comic emcee persona without wigs or padding. From 1981 to 1993 he hosted the original Beverly Hills production before the franchise expanded. Audiences mixed tourists, local LGBTQ patrons and visiting celebrities, while the opening also drew pickets amid the early AIDS crisis.

Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft saw him at La Cage and cast him in To Be or Not to Be (1983). Subsequent credits included The Morning After with Jane Fonda and Jeff Bridges, Troop Beverly Hills, Clifford, and television appearances on Dynasty, Max Headroom, The Fall Guy and Married... with Children. The screen work sat alongside, rather than replacing, his identity as a live MC and revue performer.

Manager and producer Dan Gore brought Haake back for Carnival Cabaret in the 2000s, first in Lake Tahoe and later as a dinner show at Oscar's Cafe and Bar in downtown Palm Springs. In his eighties Haake billed himself as mastress of ceremonies, introducing celebrity female impersonators he framed as theatrical costuming rather than bar drag. He continued performing into his late eighties and beyond, joking that his makeup was by Forest Lawn for as long as the cemetery did not call.

In August 2015 Haake received a star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars, with family including niece Paula Woodley among those speaking. In 2017 he reached a global pop audience through Miley Cyrus's Younger Now video and related appearances. The 2022 book Legends of Drag and the 2023 documentary Studio One Forever placed him in wider queer entertainment history. In 2023 he served as a Palm Springs Pride Grand Marshal.

Offstage Haake described himself as a regular guy in sweats who liked reading, shopping for clothes and eating whatever family cooked. He lived for years in Cathedral City and listed Palm Springs as a primary home on social media while keeping strong Los Angeles ties. He rejected the label drag queen for his own work, preferring master of ceremonies and female impersonator or celebrity impersonator within a scripted revue. He was writing memoirs in the 2010s and spoke of returning to Morris County for book events.

Haake died on 13 September 2026 at his Los Angeles home at the age of 94, surrounded by loving family and friends, according to a post on his Facebook page. The announcement circulated the same day and was reported widely on 14 September by KESQ, NBC Palm Springs, Daily Express US and entertainment outlets. Queens of the Stage called him a legendary entertainer, actor, female impersonator and master of ceremonies whose career spanned more than seven decades. No cause of death was made public. A celebration of his life was expected to be announced later.

Haake's career traced a long arc of American queer and theatrical nightlife: Broadway chorus lines, New York cabaret, West Hollywood revue, Hollywood bit parts and Palm Springs dinner theatre for mixed audiences. He helped keep celebrity female-impersonation shows framed as popular entertainment through decades when drag moved from club margins toward mainstream television. Younger viewers who met him beside Miley Cyrus encountered an elder who had already been working for more than sixty years. Colleagues remembered both the snarky onstage Gypsy and the generous offstage friend who could hold a room with stories.

Haake's look relied on dramatic eye makeup, beaded headpieces and custom gowns rather than wigs or prosthetic shaping. He argued the La Cage and Carnival Cabaret casts were actors impersonating famous women, not men living in femme presentation offstage. Photographers and producers described a magnetic comic timing that crossed gay and straight audiences. He collected gowns over decades, including couture-associated pieces, and treated the emcee role as a mini master class in diva history from Judy Garland to Madonna.

• KESQ: James Gypsy Haake, legendary drag entertainer and performer, dead at 94 (14 September 2026)
• NBC Palm Springs: Palm Springs Icon James Gypsy Haake Dies at 94 (14 September 2026)
• Daily Express US: Dynasty actor and drag legend James Gypsy Haake dies at 94 (14 September 2026)
• Desert Sun: Female impersonator, James Haake, continues journey (14 June 2014)
• Daily Record: Former Morris Gypsy a legend in heels (5 July 2014)
• Palm Springs Life: Life Is a Cabaret (30 March 2018)
• David Perry and Associates: James Gypsy Haake, A Lifetime in Drag, A Legacy in Motion (14 February 2026)
• IMDb: James Haake