Frank Mullaney

(August 21, 1957 - February 23, 2026)

Frank Mullaney, age 68, died February 23, 2026 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. The cause of death was cardiopulmonary arrest as a result of pneumonitis brought on, in part, by a targeted chemotherapy treatment for metastatic lung cancer. Frank’s cancer was originally diagnosed in July, 2025.

He was born August 21, 1957 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a son of the late Frank (Sr.) and Doris Mullaney. Frank was the second of four children in the family. He is predeceased by his older sister, Carol Barker, and his younger brother, Paul Mullaney. He is survived by his youngest brother, Brian Mullaney, as well as his nephews and nieces Kelly Barker, Stephen Barker, Mallorie Mullaney and Justin Mullaney.

Frank was raised in Cambridge and neighboring Arlington. At an early age he developed dual passions for theater and photography. As a teen he performed regularly with Boston Children’s Theater, as well as on local television and PBS. He once appeared on an episode of Zoom as a scene partner to none other than James Earl Jones.

Frank moved to New York City in August of 1977, the same week that Elvis Presley died and the Son of Sam was apprehended (as Frank later liked to recall). He continued performing as an actor, including with Medicine Show Theater Ensemble; on the early public-access cable television Alak Cable Comedy Show, of which he was a co-creator; and in his solo act, The Biff and Corky Martinez Revue, playing both parts (live and in drag as Corky, as Biff via pre-recorded video). He was a young newlywed lead in the otherwise forgettable (Frank’s assessment) independent film, Just Married, and can be spotted in Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat as Christopher Walken’s cameraperson. In an appearance as a waiter on the network soap opera As The World Turns he had to accidentally smash a cream pie into Farley Granger’s face. After a hiatus, Frank appeared again as an actor in several episodes of John Jesurun’s serial play, Chang in a Void Moon.

In the early 2000s Frank took up photography again, this time with digital cameras, and soon shifted the bulk of his creative energies toward his work as a photographer. He studied photography at The International Center for Photography with, among others, Amy Arbus, Liam (Billy) Cunningham and Bruce Katz, and developed interests in both commercial and art photography. The commercial side of his work included interiors, portraits, editorial, and performance photography, especially of dance. His art photography was exhibited at galleries in NYC, Los Angeles, the Catskills, Provincetown, and Mexico City. He remains best known for his Wallpaper Saints series, portraits of individuals from the gay, lesbian and transgender community, which he said was inspired by the religious holy cards of his Catholic youth.

Frank’s day-job for many years was as a floral designer (he avoided the “ist” word). He operated a successful small business, Frank Mullaney Custom Floral Design, out of a studio in the flower district on 28th Street. He did flowers for restaurants, stores, building lobbies, private residences and special events (assiduously avoiding weddings, however), and designed and maintained plantings for gardens and terraces.

Frank was a longtime survivor of HIV. He was diagnosed as HIV+ sometime in the late 1980s after having some early “pre-AIDS” health conditions (as they were known at the time). Among his close friends who died from AIDS was Louis Homyak, like Frank an aspiring actor, as well as a floral designer who gave Frank a start in that business.

Frank is survived by his husband, Neil Greenberg. They fell in in love in 1997 and were lawfully married in 2012, the year after same-sex marriage was legalized in New York State. They divided their time between Manhattan and Livingston Manor, NY.

Frank is also survived by his chosen family of close friends and colleagues.

A “Frank Mullaney Remembrance” will be held Sunday, June 7, 2026 at 3pm at the LGBTQ Community Center (208 West 13th Street, NY NY 10011). The following weekend the Catskill Art Space (48 Main Street, Livingston Manor NY 12758) will hold an exhibition of Frank’s “Wallpaper Saints” photographic series, Friday, June 12th to Sunday, June 14th. There will be a closing reception for friends and family on Sunday, June 14th at 3pm.

In his last days Frank told Neil, “I don’t want to be forgotten,” and later “I’ve had a good life.” He also said “You never could remember my carpool days.”

Websites:

frankmullaneyphotography.com

frankmullaneycommercialphotography.com

Frank Mullaney Remembrance

Sunday, June 7th, 2026

3:00 pm - 5:00 pm

The LGBTQ Community Center

208 West 13th Street

New York, NY 10011

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Exhibition

Wallpaper Saints - Photographs by Frank Mullaney

Friday, June 12th - Sunday, June 14th

Closing Reception Sunday, June 14th, 3pm

Catskill Art Space

48 Main Street

Livingston Manor, NY 12758