He continued to pursue stage work, landing an understudy job in 1969 in the Off-Broadway gay-themed play And Puppy Dog Tails, making his Broadway debut in 1970 in the Native American-themed production Brave and a co-starring role in the off-Broadway play Circle in the Water (also in 1970). In 1971, Culver played a supporting role in a low-budget sexploitation thriller film called Ginger.
While the film was a commercial and critical failure, Variety noted his performance positively, saying 'Only Calvin Culver. Shows any indication of better things to come.' This in turn led to an offer to appear in Casey, a gay pornographic film in which Culver played the title role, a gay man who is visited by his fairy godmother Wanda (Culver playing a dual role in drag), and is granted a series of wishes which make him sexually irresistible to other men.
