What Happened To The Real Benny & Kathy After The Bikeriders

The partially fictionalized drama The Bikeriders is based on a photography book that chronicles the origins of one of the Midwest’s earliest motorcycle clubs, and its two primary characters, Benny and Kathy, were based on real people. Played by Austin Butler in the movie, the real Benny was a somewhat mysterious member of the Outlaws Motorcycle Club, while Jodie Comer’s Kathy was the young woman he married. Just as depicted in the movie, it was Kathy who provided most of the verbal background to Danny Lyon’s celebrated photography book.

The main dramatic crux of the movie is Kathy’s struggle to pull Benny away from the club, and therefore the life he loves. While the other motorcycle club members may aspire to the image of a true outlaw, they are all, in a sense, putting on a front. Benny, on the other hand, is the real-world incarnation of that persona. The ending of The Bikeriders proves that Kathy ultimately prevails in getting Benny away from that life, but their story doesn’t end there.

Kathy Died Sometime Before The Bikeriders’ Release

Benny And Kathy’s Son Kirk Is Also Alive Though There Is Limited Information Available About Her Later Life

It’s difficult to track down much relevant information about Kathy Bauer, the real inspiration for Jodie Comer’s on-screen Kathy. The real audio recordings of her interviews with Danny Lyon are available to listen to and prove just how effectively Comer was able to portray the real Kathy, while a photo of the real Kathy can be seen as The Bikeriders‘ credits roll. She and Benny did in fact settle down after he left the club, eventually winding up in Florida as is shown in the movie.

The Bikeriders
originally debuted at the Telluride Film Festival over Labor Day Weekend 2023, but the movie’s theatrical release was delayed significantly by the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Per the Telegraph, the real Danny Lyon (portrayed by Mike Faist in the movie) tried multiple times over the years to contact the real Benny and Kathy to no avail. However, upon the initial release of The Bikeriders, Kathy and Benny’s son Kirk reached out to Lyon. Lyon revealed that Kathy had passed away at some point before the movie was released, although he did not specify exactly when.

Benny Is Still Alive & Living In Florida

Benny And Kathy’s Son Kirk Is Also Alive

While it was Kathy and Benny’s son, Kirk, who reached out to Lyon initially, Lyon learned that the real Benny was still alive and still living in Florida. The two were able to connect, so many years after Lyon was first embedded with the real Outlaws. Lyon relayed one funny bit of the conversation with The Telegraph:

So I call Benny up. We have a great talk. He’s totally upbeat. And then he says, ‘Hey, you know the picture of me at the pool hall?’ I said, yeah. He says, ‘It’s not me.’ What? ‘Check out the tattoos. It’s not me.’

However, like Kathy, there is not much more information available about the real Benny. There is no real epilogue to The Bikeriders, at least not one that extends past Danny and Kathy’s final interview in their Florida home. In that scene, it’s revealed that Benny went to work with his cousin as a mechanic, who had been mentioned earlier in the movie. Ironically, despite Benny’s live-fast, die-young attitude that Austin Butler perfectly portrays in the movie, he is still alive and in his 80s.

What Happened To The Other Characters?

The Movie Touched On Some Of The Real-Life Fates Of These Characters

The Bikeriders ends with a prologue in which Danny Lyon is asking Kathy what happened to the other members of the gang. While some of these characters are composites or not entirely accurate to the real story, the information that she shares is accurate in some cases. Funny Sonny (Norman Reedus) really did get hired to pose with his bike outside of movie theaters that were screening Easy Rider as a way of enticing people to see the movie.

The Cast Of The Bikeriders:

The character of Cal (Boyd Holbrook) is actually Arthur Dillon in real life, and his onscreen death refects actual events. After leaving the gang, he was working as a house painter and was killed when he fell off a ladder while on the job. But the character with the most information known about him is the man whose work inspired the movie in the first place — photojournalist Danny Lyon.

Danny Lyon’s life after the events of The Bikeriders showcased that the influential photography book was just the beginning of his long career. He would go on to publish more than a dozen photography books, taking a look at subjects like the construction of New York City and the Civil Rights movement. His latest book, This is My Life I’m Talking About, was released in 2024. In 2022, Danny Lyon was inducted into the International Photography Hall of Fame.

Source: Bleak Beauty, The Telegraph