Dead Pornstars

Joey Stefano

2010-12-31T01:36:00.000-08:00

Joey Stefano, the stage name of Nicholas Anthony Iacona, Jr. (January 1, 1968 - November 26, 1994) was an American pornographic actor who appeared in gay adult films.

Joey Stefano grew up in the Philadelphia area (Chester, Pennsylvania). His father died when he was 15. After several years of prostitution and hard-core drug use in New York City, Stefano moved to Los Angeles and quickly became a star in gay pornography. In addition to his good looks, his persona as a "hungry bottom" (sexually submissive but verbally demanding) contributed to his popularity.

His image and success caught the attention of Madonna, who used him as a model in her 1992 book Sex.

During his lifetime, he was the subject of rumors (some of them spread by himself)[citation needed] regarding his relationships with prominent entertainment industry figures who were known to be gay. At a May 1990 dinner and interview with Jess Cagle (Entertainment Weekly) and Rick X (Manhattan Cable TV's The Closet Case Show), Stefano discussed an alleged series of "dates" with David Geffen, who at one point implored Stefano to quit using drugs. After the videotaped interview appeared on Rick X's show, OutWeek Magazine "outed" Geffen, who went on to announce his homosexuality at an AIDS fundraiser.

He was HIV positive. According to a subsequent biography Stefano died of an overdose of cocaine, morphine, heroin, and ketamine at age 26 in the shower of a motel on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. His body was taken back to Pennsylvania where he was buried next to his father.

Stefano's life is chronicled in the book, "Wonder Bread and Ecstacy: The Life and Death of Joey Stefano" by Charles Isherwood, Alyson Publications, 1996. His life is also the subject of a one-man-play, "Homme Fatale: The Fast Life and Slow Death of Joey Stefano", by Australian playwright Barry Lowe.

Al Parker

2010-12-30T01:30:00.000-08:00

Al Parker (born Andrew "Drew" Okun 25 June 1952, Natick, Massachusetts - died 17 August 1992, San Francisco, California) was a gay American pornographic actor (porn star), producer, and director. He died from complications of AIDS at the age of 40.

After arriving in California, Parker was employed by Hugh Hefner at the Playboy Mansion West as a butler. Parker's career in gay film started when he was "discovered" by Rip Colt, founder of Colt Studios. It was Colt who gave him the name "Al Parker"

Parker began his film making career when he was signed by Brentwood Studios. He made 12-15 minute loop films shot on 8 mm film reels. He has the distinction of appearing as one of the crowd on the original Woodstock movie poster.

Parker was a producer, director and actor. Surge Studios started making larger budget "theme" features and not just the "film loops." Many of the films were shot out of Parker's home in Hermosa Beach, California. Surge Studios was one of the first studios to mandate safe sex practices when AIDS appeared.

Parker is the subject of Roger Edmonson's biography Clone: The Life and Legacy of Al Parker Gay Superstar. Parker's remains were cremated and a memorial service was held at his private residence.

Wade Nichols

2010-12-29T01:12:00.000-08:00

Wade Nichols (aka Dennis Parker), October 28, 1946 – January 28, 1985) was an American actor and singer who started his acting career in pornographic movies.

His first feature film role was probably in the 1975 gay adult film Boynapped! He appeared mostly in straight porn films shot in New York such as Barbara Broadcast, Jail Bait, Summer of Laura, Punk Rock, Marishino Cherries, and Teenage Pajama Party.

In 1979, using the name Dennis Parker, he recorded a disco album on Casablanca Records titled Like an Eagle. The album was produced by Village People creator / producer Jacques Morali. The title track was released as a single, and appears on the 1994 box set The Casablanca Records Story.

Also under the name Dennis Parker, he was known for playing Police Chief Derek Mallory on the soap opera The Edge of Night.

Lisa De Leeuw

2010-12-28T01:07:00.000-08:00

Lisa De Leeuw was an American pornographic actress, and allegedly one of the few to have died of AIDS.

She appeared in almost 200 films and was inducted into both the X-Rated Critics' Organization Hall of Fame and the AVN Hall of Fame. Her large natural bust, freckles, red mane and pubic hair made her a star during the Golden Age of Porn. She made the transition to videos by becoming one of the first "Vivid Girls."

Headpress 25 (2003) noted that DeLeeuw died of complications from AIDS on November 11, 1993. But in the book Skinflicks: The Inside Story of the X-Rated Video Industry (2000), writer and porn producer David Jennings, describing the stigma and rumors surrounding AIDS in the porn community in the late 1980s and early 1990s, wrote, "Reputed to be dead of AIDS, Lisa DeLeeuw and Brandy Alexandre, now out of the industry, proclaimed themselves alive and healthy."

John Holmes

2010-12-27T00:58:00.000-08:00

John Curtis Holmes (August 8, 1944 – March 13, 1988) better known as John Holmes or Johnny Wadd (after the lead character in a series of related films), was one of the most prolific male porn stars of all time, appearing in about 2,500 adult loops, stag films, and pornographic feature movies in the 1970s and 1980s. He was best known for his exceptionally large penis, which was heavily promoted as being the longest and thickest in the porn industry, although no definitive measurement of Holmes' actual penis length exists. Near the end of his life, Holmes attracted notoriety for his involvement in the Wonderland murders in 1981, and eventually for his death from complications caused by AIDS.

Holmes was the subject of several books, a lengthy essay in Rolling Stone magazine, two feature length documentaries, and was the inspiration for two Hollywood movies, Boogie Nights and Wonderland.

Holmes was born as John Curtis Estes in Ashville, Ohio, the youngest of four children to Carl Estes and Mary Barton. He knew very little of his father, an alcoholic railroad worker who abandoned his family when John was an infant. John's mother was a devout Southern Baptist, who regularly attended the Milport Chapel Church along with her children.

In 1946, John's mother married Harold Edward Holmes, and changed her children's surname to Holmes. His stepfather was an alcoholic, who would come home inebriated, stumble about the house, and even vomit on the children. Mary Holmes divorced her husband two years later, and moved with her children to Columbus, Ohio, where they lived on welfare for several years. When John was eight, his mother married Harold Bowman. Shortly after, John and his family moved from Columbus and settled in the small town of Pataskala, Ohio. Holmes recalled that Bowman was a good father until his younger half-brother, David, was born, at which point Bowman lost interest in his non-biological children and began neglecting them.

By the time John reached adolescence Bowman began beating him, but the teenaged Holmes, who was very large and strong for his age, fought back and knocked Bowman down a flight of stairs. John ran away from home at age 16, and after several days of living on the streets, returned home and informed his mother that if he moved back in he would kill Bowman. With his mother's written permission, Holmes dropped out of his junior year of high school and enlisted in the Army. After advanced training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, he spent three years in West Germany in the Signal Corps. Upon his honorable discharge, Holmes moved to Los Angeles, where he worked in a variety of jobs, including selling goods door-to-door and tending the vats at a Coffee-Nips factory. It was during his stint as an ambulance driver that he met a nurse named Sharon Gebenini in December 1964. They married in April 1965.

For the next two years, Holmes and Sharon lived uneventful lives. Holmes found work as a forklift driver at a meat packing warehouse in Cudahy, California. However, repeated exposures to inhaling the sub-freezing air in the large walk-in freezer after being outside inhaling the desert-hot air caused severe health problems, leading to a pneumothorax (lung collapse) of his right lung on three separate occasions between seven to nine months during the two years he worked there.

While recovering from his illness, Holmes attended a men's card-playing club in Gardena, California, where one evening a still photographer, standing next to him at a urinal, noticed his extraordinary penis size and encouraged him to do pornography. During the late 1960s, Holmes initially did magazine work and an occasional 8 mm loop, keeping his work in porn a secret from his wife.

Determining the number of films he made during the early part of his career is difficult because the ad copy rarely named him. Those that did usually used entirely inconsistent names. For example, one early "Swedish Erotica" brochure from 1973 has five loops featuring Holmes, each with a different name. In the early years of his porn career, Holmes was nicknamed "The Sultan of Smut", a pun on Babe Ruth's nickname, The Sultan of Swat.

With the success of Deep Throat (1972), Behind the Green Door (1972), and The Devil in Miss Jones (1973), porn became chic, although its legality was still hotly contested. Holmes was arrested during this time for pimping and pandering, but he avoided prison time by becoming an informant for the LAPD. Using his status as an informer, Holmes systematically had his competition in the porn industry arrested, leaving him as one of the few free porn stars in Los Angeles.

In 1971, Holmes' career began to take off with a porn series built around a private investigator named Johnny Wadd most of which were written and directed by Bob Chinn. By 1978, Holmes was reputed to be earning as much as $3,000 a day as a porn actor. He starred at a time when personality could compensate for a lack of other aesthetic characteristics, and a certain amount of acting ability was still demanded of porn stars.

While his voice was somewhat higher in pitch than one would expect for a "hard-boiled private dick", most film critics and fans agreed that Holmes did demonstrate enough acting ability to keep the character of "Johnny Wadd" from being merely a banal, one-dimensional parody of Raymond Chandler's creation, the tough and uncompromising private detective Philip Marlowe.

By the late 1970s, his use of cocaine was becoming a serious problem. Professionally, it affected his ability to maintain an erection, as is apparent from his performance in the 1980 film Insatiable. To support himself and his drug habit Holmes ventured into crime, selling drugs for gangs, prostituting himself to both men and women, and committing credit card fraud and petty theft. In 1976, he met a 16-year-old girl, named Dawn Schiller, who became his girlfriend. After Holmes fell on hard times, he prostituted both her and himself, as well as beating her in public.

In 1981, he began to claim that he had sex with 14,000 women. The number had in fact been invented by Holmes to help salvage his waning image. To substantiate this number, and assuming Holmes' first experience with a woman occurred at 16 as he claimed, then he would have had to have sex with 666 different women a year—1.8 women a day—for the next 21 years. Pornography historian Luke Ford calculated the number of Holmes' sexual partners over the course of his lifetime to be roughly 3,000.

His performances included at least one gay feature film, The Private Pleasures of John Holmes, and a handful of gay loops.

Holmes developed a close friendship with drug dealer and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. At the same time, Holmes was closely associated with the Wonderland Gang, a group of heroin-addicted cocaine dealers, so called for the location of their hideout: a rowhouse located on Wonderland Avenue in the wooded Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles. Holmes worked for the gang, frequently selling drugs for them. After stealing money during a couple of drug runs, Holmes found himself in trouble with the gang. In June 1981, allegedly in exchange for his life, he told gang leaders about a very large stash of drugs, money and jewelry Nash had in his house. Holmes helped to set up a robbery that was committed on the morning of June 29, 1981.

Although Holmes did not participate in the robbery, Nash apparently suspected that Holmes had a part in it. After getting Holmes to confess to his participation, Nash exacted revenge against the Wonderland Gang. In the early hours of July 1, 1981, four of the gang's members were found murdered in their hideout. Holmes was allegedly present during the murders, but it is unclear if he participated in the killings.

Holmes was incarcerated in connection with the murders, but released due to lack of evidence. After spending six months on the run with Dawn Schiller, he was arrested in Florida and returned to Los Angeles. Holmes refused to co-operate with the investigation. He was eventually charged with committing all four murders, but was acquitted of all charges except contempt of court.

When Holmes resumed work in porn in November 1982, the industry had already begun the transition from film to videotape. Work was still plentiful but less lucrative, and Holmes was no longer the premier male star. His drug use continued, as did the inconsistent performances on set. His inability to maintain an erection was a serious issue, and employers began opting for younger and more attractive talent.

In 1983, he met his future girlfriend and wife, Laurie Rose, a.k.a. Misty Dawn, on the set of the film Marathon. She had a reputation as the "queen" of anal intercourse scenes, and was fascinated by the concept of anal sex with Holmes. The two had sex off-set and became a couple.

In February 1986, Holmes was diagnosed as HIV positive. According to Laurie Rose, Holmes claimed that he never used needles and was deeply afraid of them. Both his first wife, Sharon, as well as Bill Amerson, separately confirmed later that Holmes could not have contracted HIV from intravenous drug use because Holmes never used needles.

During the summer of 1986, unable to find work in America, Holmes traveled to Italy where he filmed his last porno movies, including The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, which co-starred the later Italian Parliament member Ilona 'Cicciolina' Staller. His final film was The Devil In Mr. Holmes. He continued to make public appearances at autograph signings, as well as hosting video clips during 1986 and 1987, during which time the gaunt physical appearance resulting from his health problems became increasingly evident.

Not wanting to reveal the true nature of his failing health, Holmes claimed to the press that he was suffering from colon cancer. Holmes married Laurie Rose on January 23, 1987 in Las Vegas, confiding to her that he had AIDS.

During the last four months of his life, he was essentially bed-ridden, constantly going to hospitals for treatment. John Holmes died from AIDS-related complications (according to his death certificate, cardiorespiratory arrest and encephalitis due to AIDS, associated with lymphadenopathy and esophageal candidiasis) on March 13, 1988 at the age of 43. His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea off the coast of Oxnard, California.

Holmes' legacy is infamous. A documentary of his life, Wadd: The Life & Times of John C. Holmes, has achieved cult status among some independent film houses in college towns. Some elements of the film Boogie Nights were based on Holmes' life, and the Wonderland murders were the basis of the 2003 movie Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer as Holmes. Los Angeles Times investigative reporter Marika Tur wrote extensively on the Wonderland murder case and believed that Holmes led several 'hit men' to the two story residence where they murdered four people for the armed robbery of reputed drug dealer, Eddie Nash. The only survivor to the killings was Susan Launius, who sustained critical head injuries.

After his death, Holmes was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Adult film industry. It was accepted posthumously by his godson Sean Amerson, the son of Holmes' career-long manager Bill Amerson, who also delivered the eulogy at Holmes' memorial services.

Of the 2,500 porn film appearances John Holmes made in his lifetime, at least 60 to 70 percent of them are one-reel 8 mm loops or stag films. Since the majority of Holmes' loops and stag films have gone into public domain following the collapse of Caballero Control Corporation in 1990, there are efforts underway to locate all surviving 8 mm loops starring Holmes that he made during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s and convert them to DVD for posterity. However, since the life expectancy of most 8 mm films is very brief (due to the nature of the film stock used at that time), it is believed that the majority of Holmes' loops are forever lost.

Holmes was close to perhaps four or five women in his private life. With one obvious exception, he was meticulous in keeping his professional and private lives separate.

* In August 1965, he married a young nurse named Sharon Gebenini. He remained married to her until their divorce was finalized on January 17, 1983.
* In 1975, he met Julia Saint Vincent on the set of his film, Liquid Lips, which was being produced by her uncle, Armand Atamian. Holmes and Saint Vincent stayed close until 1981 and the Wonderland affair. Saint Vincent produced the ersatz biographical film of Holmes' life, Exhausted.
* In 1976, he met a 15-year-old girl named Dawn Schiller, who was his girlfriend from 1976 through the Wonderland incident in 1981. She left Holmes in December 1981, when she turned him in to the police in Florida.
* In 1985, Holmes met his second wife, Laurie Rose. They married in January 1987.

The true number of women (and men) with whom Holmes had sex during his career will never be completely known; his wife Sharon came across a foot locker that was plated in 24k gold leaf, which contained photographic references of his "private work." She burned all of it.

Holmes' main asset in the porn business was his exceptionally large penis. No definitive measurement or documentation verifying this exists, leaving its exact size unknown. Holmes was also one of the first uncircumcised actors who became popular in American porn.

Veteran porn actress Dorothea "Seka" Patton has stated that Holmes' penis was the biggest in the industry. Holmes' first wife recalled him claiming to be 10 inches (25.4 cm) when he first measured himself. Holmes himself once claimed his penis to be fifteen inches (38.1 cm) long. Holmes' longtime manager, Bill Amerson, said that "I saw John measure himself several times, it was 13 and a half inches" (34.3 cm). A review of Holmes' films over the course of his career shows that most of his early co-stars tended to be short and slender, whereas women with whom he engaged in onscreen sex later in his career were much taller and had proportionately larger bodies; as a result, the size of Holmes' penis appears to fluctuate in his films, relative to the height and mass of his co-stars

Another longstanding controversy regards whether Holmes ever achieved a full erection. A popular joke in the 1970s porn industry held that Holmes was incapable of achieving a full erection because the blood flow from his head into his penis would cause him to pass out. Holmes' co-stars have stated that his penis was never particularly hard during intercourse, likening it to "doing it with a big, soft kind of loofah."

So celebrated was Holmes' penis size it was used as a marketing tool for films in which he did not appear. Anybody but My Husband had the promotional tag line "Brian Grimes has a dick so big that he gives even John Holmes a run for his money." After his death, the length of Holmes' penis continued to be used to market Holmes-related material. At the premier of the film Wonderland, patrons were given thirteen-and-a-half inch rulers as gag gifts.

In 1979, Holmes with his younger half-brother, David Bowman, opened up a locksmith and used furniture store called The Just Looking Emporium in Los Angeles which both managed. But because of Holmes' escalating drug addiction and of the lack of money to operate the store since Holmes was squandering all of his and other people's money to buy cocaine and heroin for himself, the business failed by the end of that very year.

Later, after his 1982 murder trial and acquittal, Holmes began a business partnership with his manager Bill Amerson, as they founded and operated a production company titled Penguin Productions, where Holmes could be a triple-threat: writing, directing, and performing.

Despite the notoriety and infamy associated with Holmes, he also devoted much time to charities involving the environment. He was known to campaign and collect door-to-door for charities such as Save The Whales.

Holmes' career was promoted with a series of outrageous claims that he made over the years (many made up on the spur of the moment by Holmes himself). The most dubious ones include:

* Holmes' penis was so big that he had to stop wearing underwear because "I was getting erections and snapping the elastic waist band 4 or 5 times a month."
* Holmes had degrees in physical therapy, medicine, and political science from UCLA. Holmes was in fact a high-school dropout who never returned to school; according to Bill Amerson, "the closest John ever got to UCLA was breaking into cars in the school's parking lot."
* A teenage Holmes played the role of Eddie Haskell in the TV series Leave it to Beaver. (The character was portrayed by actor Ken Osmond, who bore a resemblance to Holmes.)

Karen Dior

2010-12-26T00:54:00.000-08:00

Karen Dior (February 14, 1967 – August 25, 2004) was an American transgender adult film performer, director, singer. She was best known as a pioneer in popularizing adult films involving transsexual people.

Born Geoffrey Gann in Missouri, Dior moved to Los Angeles at the age of 21 and began working in a beauty salon and performing in drag shows in West Hollywood bars. In 1989, she began appearing in bisexual and transsexual adult films. She performed in approximately 120 adult films, most of them under the Dior name. She also performed under the names Geoff Dior, Rick Van, Geoffrey Karen Dior, Geoffrey Gann, and Geoff Gann.

In the 1990s, Dior transitioned into mainstream film and television roles. Her first mainstream role was as Loni Anderson's stalker in the 1992 TV movie The Price She Paid. Other mainstream work included guest appearances in on the television series Xena: Warrior Princess, Head Over Heels, and Veronica's Closet.

Dior contracted HIV in 1995 and later worked as an AIDS activist. After leaving the adult film industry, Dior worked as writer and released her autobiography, Sleeping Under the Stars, in 2001. That same year, she released an album (under the name Geoffrey Karen Dior) S E X, and was a member of two bands, the Johnny Depp Clones and Goddess. She also earned a Ph.D. in philosophy in religion and became an ordained minister.

On August 25, 2004, Dior died of hepatitis.

Johnny Rahm

2010-12-25T01:33:00.000-08:00

Johnny Rahm (June 11, 1965 - November 7, 2004) was the stage name of Barry "J.T." Rogers, an American film actor who appeared in gay pornographic movies and magazines.

Barry Thomas Rogers, who was known to friends as "J.T.," was born in Milledgeville, Georgia, the son of J.T. and Connie Rogers, and raised in a conservative Baptist home. He attended Gilead Christian Academy, a Christian high school in Macon, Georgia and the fundamentalist Bob Jones University (BJU) in Greenville, South Carolina. Rogers was expelled from the university midway through his senior year when he chose to come out. He had a Celtic cross tattooed above his right biceps, clearly visible in all his pornographic films.

Rogers had minor roles in films outside of the gay porn industry. He was an extra in the made-for-tv movie Unconquered, was twice a contestant on The Dating Game (winning once), and appeared on the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon as a Jerry Lewis impersonator.

In the 1988, Rogers moved to California and worked for more than a decade in the gay pornography industry, often making films for Chi Chi LaRue. He won two Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards: "Best Supporting Actor" in 1993 for the film Body Search (directed by Chi Chi Larue) and in 1995 for All about Steve he also won the AVN Award for "Best Supporting Actor" for the latter film. He also was employed at Drakes Melrose, Pier One Imports, and worked as a barback for the Atlanta club, "The Metro".

He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1999 and tried stand-up comedy, but he struggled financially. After being diagnosed as HIV-positive, he continued to make pornographic films, working with Atlanta-based producer Dick Wadd to make hardcore and bareback sex films.

After April 2004 Rogers shared a house with his friend Adam Kahn in midtown Atlanta and sought financial assistance to find a home of his own. Rogers suffered from chronic depression, and lived with both HIV and hepatitis. He committed suicide on 7 November 2004 by hanging himself with wire on the fence of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. A suicide note complained of his frustration at not being able to receive assistance from Social Security.

After his death, his cousin Jamey Rousey, who worked with the Atlanta AIDS Partnership Fund, called Rogers "a kind and gentle soul, and as tragic as his death was, I hope he’s found the peace he couldn’t find in life."

Scott O’Hara

2010-12-25T01:19:00.000-08:00

Scott O’Hara (October 16, 1961 - February 18, 1998) was an American pornographic performer, poet, editor/publisher, and author.

Born in Grants Pass, Oregon, O'Hara's given name was John R. Scott, O'Hara always used his professional name throughout his adult life. He was known as "Scott O'Hara" or "Spunk". In an essay titled "A Dick by Any Other Name," O'Hara wrote: "I knew from an early age that I was a changeling. I spent the next eighteen years looking for my real name, and since I found it I have not pretended to be anyone else." (O'Hara 1999)

O'Hara had the notoriety of receiving the title "The Biggest Dick in San Francisco" in a contest in the early 1980s. That title became his trademark for the rest of his porn and professional career. Published measurement of his penis varies from 9.5 to 11 inches. From 1983 to 1988, he appeared in over twenty gay and bisexual-themed films and videos, several of which demonstrate his rare ability of auto-fellatio.

After leaving the porn industry behind, O'Hara tried his hand at publishing and editing a journal (Steam) and a magazine (Wilde). He also wrote numerous poems, plays, and three books. He was an active and committed libertarian as well.

O'Hara was a strong supporter of NAMBLA (the North American Man-Boy Love Association). He explained his support at a press conference held on June 24, 1994 to commemorate the Stonewall riots.

“When I was 12 and 13 years old I would have joined NAMBLA in a minute, because I knew I was gay and I wanted to go out and get laid, not just read 'The Gay Mystique' all my life; I needed personal contact. NAMBLA is willing to take the risks that no one is willing to take... . They're the only ones willing to acknowledge that adolescents actually do have sex lives. There is also a more basic reason why I support NAMBLA. They are the voice of dissent in the gay movement today. They're the whipping boy, the fashionable group to condemn. ... I say, watch out, tomorrow that whipping boy could be you.. . In the efforts of the gay establishment to suppress NAMBLA I see the seeds of tyranny.”

O'Hara was a cautious proponent of barebacking, praising the freedom from fear of risk it gave him, yet he had "HIV+" tattooed on his shoulder back in 1994. Four years later, he died of AIDS-related complications (Non-Hodgkin lymphoma) in San Francisco. O'Hara left his personal papers (consisting of 39 boxes of journals, correspondences, notes, and manuscripts) with the John Hay Library of Brown University.

Casey Donovan

2010-12-25T00:47:00.000-08:00

Casey Donovan (November 2, 1943 – August 10, 1987) was an American male pornographic actor of the 1970s and 1980s, appearing primarily in adult films and videos catering to gay male audiences.

Following a brief career as a teacher and a stint as a highly-paid male model, Donovan appeared in the film that would cement his status as a gay icon, Boys in the Sand, in 1971. Attempts to build on his notoriety to achieve mainstream crossover success failed, but Donovan continued to be a bankable star in the adult industry for the next 15 years.

Casey Donovan was born John Calvin Culver in East Bloomfield, New York, growing up there with his parents and older brother, Duane. He graduated from teachers' college in 1965 and after graduation accepted a teaching position in Peekskill, New York. He went on to take a job at the private Ethical Culture Fieldston School on New York City's Central Park West but was fired during his second year following an altercation in which he physically disciplined a female student (reportedly the daughter of actor Eli Wallach). Following his dismissal he drifted into being an escort and relocated to New York City. He also began pursuing an acting career, appearing in summer stock theatre with the prestigious Peterborough Players.

Through one of his escorting clients, Culver landed a spot with the Wilhelmina Models modeling agency, commanding an hourly rate of USD$60. 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 Circle in the Water, also in 1970.

In 1971, Culver played a supporting role in a low budget sexploitation thriller film, 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. Culver later took the character's name, Casey, and that of the popular singer Donovan to create the pseudonym under which he would appear in all his other erotic roles.

Culver first appeared as Casey Donovan in Boys in the Sand, directed by Wakefield Poole, in 1971. The film was an instant success and is considered one of the great classics of male erotic cinema. With the success and celebrity he garnered from the film, Donovan believed that he would be able to cross over into mainstream film. While there were meetings with directors like John Schlesinger and Raymond St. Jacques and talk of casting him in mainstream projects including adaptations of novels by Mary Renault and Patricia Nell Warren, the only film opportunities opened for him were as the star of more erotic films. These included the bisexual porn film Score, The Back Row with George Payne, L. A. Tool & Die with Bob Blount and Richard Locke, The Other Side of Aspen with Al Parker and Dick Fisk, Boys in the Sand II and Inevitable Love, with Jon King and Jamie Wingo. He also featured in non-sexual roles in a number of heterosexual porn films, notably The Opening of Misty Beethoven.

Outside his adult film career, Donovan continued to pursue stage work. In 1972 he was cast in a short-lived Broadway revival of Captain Brassbound's Conversion. Star Ingrid Bergman described him as "having the same kind and as much charisma as Robert Redford." He then landed a small role in the 1973 Lincoln Center production of The Merchant of Venice, which was praised as having "vivid appeal." Donovan had a successful national tour in the play Tubstrip, written and directed by Jerry Douglas. While the play was critically deemed entertaining enough to its target gay audience (having earned, in the words of one critic, a "nationwide gay housekeeping seal of approval") Donovan himself was judged as simply "no better nor worse [an] actor than most of the others [in the cast]." In 1983 he turned his hand to producing, with an unsuccessful Broadway revival of Terrence McNally's play The Ritz in which he also appeared.

Donovan's iconic status allowed him to build a lucrative career as a high-priced escort although it would cost him his legitimate modeling career as more and more clients made the connection between model Culver and porn star Donovan. He wrote an advice column, "Ask Casey," for the gay-oriented Stallion magazine beginning in 1982.

In 1973 at the height of his popularity, Donovan met actor-turned writer Tom Tryon and the two entered into a long-term relationship the following year. Tryon was deeply closeted and grew increasingly disturbed by Donovan's notoriety. Their relationship ended in 1977.

In 1978, Donovan purchased a house in Key West, Florida to run as a bed and breakfast dubbed "Casa Donovan." Donovan struggled to keep the house running and ultimately it failed. More successful was Donovan's time as a celebrity tour guide, conducting all-gay trips in partnership with an outfit called Star Tours to Italy, China, Peru and other destinations.

By 1985, Donovan's health had begun to deteriorate, as he had contracted HIV. Although he had counseled his fans through his "Ask Casey" column as early as 1982 to reduce their number of sex partners and take steps to preserve their health and urged them to be tested for HIV once the test was developed, he himself made little or no effort to change his behaviour as he assumed that he was already infected. Donovan died in 1987 of an AIDS-related pulmonary infection in Inverness, Florida, aged 43

Shauna Grant

2010-09-22T11:33:00.001-07:00

Shauna Grant (May 30, 1963 – March 23, 1984) was an American nude model and pornographic performer. Born Colleen Marie Applegate, she was sometimes credited as Callie Aimes, Callie Aims, or Colleen Applegate.

On March 23, 1984, Grant committed suicide in Palm Springs by shooting herself with a .22 Long Rifle. Shortly after 7 p.m. she lay down, placed the gun horizontally against her head, and pulled the trigger. The shot passed through her right temple, out the left and into the bedroom wall, according to police reports. The gun was discharged from such close range that the bullet left virtually star-shaped holes. Brain dead, Shauna was rushed to Desert Hospital, where life support systems were disconnected after two days.

Grant's funeral was held March 28, 1984, at St. Michael's Church, a Catholic parish near the center of Farmington. Members of the adult industry were absent from the ceremony, believing their presence would only exacerbate the family's anguish. Instead they contributed both flowers and letters. Grant was buried in her favorite color, pink.

Preliminary investigations by Palm Springs police posed questions regarding the circumstances surrounding Grant's death. Weeks after the event, police were still awaiting results of toxicological and gun-residue tests. The possibility of a foul play investigation hung in the balance. It is known that Grant had received threatening phone calls that related to her boyfriend's business affairs. Also, detectives noted Ehrlich avoided jail for a time by providing authorities with information. At the time of Grant's death, there were two people playing pool in Ehrlich's house--Brenda Rosenow, a friend of Colleen's, and Cal Ardigo, a friend of Ehrlich's. Shortly before Grant's shooting, two unidentified visitors showed up outside the home. The back door of Ehrlich's house was a possible means of access to the bedroom and to Grant.

Ai Iijima

2010-01-14T21:48:00.001-08:00

Former pornstar Ai Iijima was found dead at her apartment in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward, less than two years after she announced her retirement from show business, police said.

Iijima, 36, was found lying in the living room in casual clothes and with no injuries, police said, adding they believe she either died of an illness or committed suicide. An autopsy will be conducted.

Her body was found around 3:15 p.m. by an acquaintance who paid a visit to the flat after Iijima had stopped responding to communications from her several days ago. The acquaintance had the resident manager open her flat on the 21st floor of the building.

Iijima gained popularity in the 90s as a variety show host and for other roles. Her autobiographical novel "Platonic Sex" published in 2000, became a bestseller and was made into a movie as well as a TV drama.

In 2006, she made public that her health was not good due to a kidney disease. She announced her retirement in March last year, saying, "It is impossible to survive in the entertainment industry if I can not find my goal and dream, and cannot keep trying".

Teri Diver

2009-12-16T15:35:00.000-08:00

A migraine headache sufferer for years, Teri Diver's life came to a tragic end on January 2, 2001. She took an overdose of her migraine medication, which caused her to lapse into cardiac arrest and expire. She left behind lots of scenes, but she was most proud of the work she did behind the camera. Although for the most part unappreciated while she was alive, her videos helped bring a dose of female perspective to a scene that is often lacking in just that. She will be missed.

Marilyn Chambers

2009-11-01T02:04:00.000-08:00

Marilyn Chambers died 12th April, 2009, was an Ivory Snow box model who turned porn star. She had a long career spanning both adult and mainstream work. She was found by her daughter, McKenna, in the mobile home where she had been living the few months leading up to her death. Cause of death is unable to be determined by the LA County coroner and is being attributed to natural causes.

Eva Lux

2009-10-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

Adult film actress, fetish model and noted blogger Eva Lux died at age 32. It was reported that Ms. Lux, real name Leticia Lynn Blake died of a heroin overdose. Alsana Sin, a fellow actress, model and blogger stated on her blog site that her friend Eva Lux died just hours after they had filmed a scene together. One of the people who posted a response on Ms. Sins website summed up my feelings exactly: “Im tired of beautiful girls (or anybody) dying of drugs.” I was fascinated by reading Ms. Luxs own blog. It stopped four days before her death. She didn’t talk much about the world of porn, instead, she talked about the world, the daily grind, friends, religion and philosophy. Stay away from drugs folks. Prayers of comfort for her family and friends.

Eva’s Movie Credits Include:

Bang My White Tight Ass 16
Bang My White Tight Ass 9
Brooke Hunter’s Smokin’ 2
Debbie Does Spanking 3
Fresh Porn Babes 6
Gonzoman 2
Itty Bitty Titty Lesbians
Lesbian Bukkake 2
Lesbian Swirl Fest 2
Lipstick And Latex
Mature Women With Younger Girls 11
Payne For Hire
Ransom London
Trespass Into Torture

Linda Lovelace

2009-10-28T02:09:00.000-07:00

Linda Lovelace died 22th April, 2002 caused by a Car accident. Linda was taken to Denver Health Medical Center with massive trauma and internal injuries after the April 3 automobile accident, hospital spokeswoman Sara Spaulding said. She was taken off life support Monday, Spaulding said.

More about Linda Lovelace here

Sheridan

2009-10-25T05:55:00.000-07:00

On December 20, 2007, euro-porn model Sheridan, died tragically in a car accident on D1 Czech national freeway. She was on her way home from a shoot. The Czech beauty was only 20 years old.

Billy London

2009-10-24T05:51:00.000-07:00

William Newton, who went by the stage name Billy London, was a gay porn actor who was an adult performer and director for about two years in the late 80’s. On October 28, 1990, his head and feet were found in a dumpster off of Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, California. His gruesome murder was never solved. Wendi Berndt who is now the supervisor for the LAPD homicide unit announced in 2005 that they were re-opening the case. Berndt was the original detective on the case back in the early 90’s.

I have always been intrigued by the Billy London murder but have never posted anything about it since there is very little information available about him or his life. For instance, I was not even able to locate a date of birth and the only photo I could find was the box cover of the adult film Head of the Class. I am not even 100% sure that the actor in the photo is London. If anyone has any information about Billy’s life or the circumstances that lead to his death please comment below.

Jack Wrangler

2009-10-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Jack Wrangler, the handsome gay porn star that everyone thought was bisexual, is dead. He was 62 and as handsome as ever. A life-long smoker, he recently had trouble with a lung disease that took his life after a long illness and died “peaceful and comfortable,” according to his doctor, Wendy S. Ziecheck. He should also be remembered as a tireless activist for AIDS/HIV causes.

Wrangler never hid behind the “bisexual” label, but let people think he was, especially since he had a longterm relationship with his wife, and other women, throughout his life.

I was part of a team that honored Wrangler into the Gay Erotic Video Awards Hall of Fame in 1992, and he put his bare feet and hand prints into the Porn Walk of Fame at the TomKat Theatre in West Hollywood, Calif. We got to spend some personal time together.

“I never hid behind saying I was ‘bisexual,’ I always knew I was more attracted to men,” Wrangler told me when we were awarding him the porn Hall of Fame award. “But I think there’s something to a gay man who has great sex with women - I think a lot more guys do that than talk about it, and it’s not necessarily bisexual.”

He married Margaret Whiting and very much loved her. In fact, she was at the awards show when we gave him his award (but they didn’t marry until 1994). He recently told Gay Wired:

“When I met Margaret, no one was more surprised than me when I fell in love with her. We knew right away. We became friends, and when we first started going together… I mean, I was out. I’m not straight, I’m not bisexual - I’m gay. When I got with Margaret, I knew I had to change course. She would have my bags packed and sitting outside the door when I got home at night and things like that. Plus I would go through massive guilt whenever I did go out with a guy and I was with her. So I finally said that’s it. I went to her one night and said I’m never going to cheat on you again with anybody. So my sex life became very masturbatory. And I’m good at that - very good at that, in fact.”

Wrangler did 85 porn videos, some of them straight, some of them gay. In fact, he’s one of the rare performers who went from the gay adult videos into hetero porn (when there was far less stigma to gay men doing that!) He said he first had sex with a woman on film (in “China Sisters” in 1978). He was just always very sexual, and never had trouble getting it up for anyone or anything, he said.

He also told the Windy City Times:

“I just couldn’t live the gay lifestyle; it’s too hard to live. I’m very competitive, and with two guys having the same kind of thoughts, it’ll always be too hard for me. With a woman, there are different kinds of challenges because [ women ] come from a different place. Your interactions with women are always going to be surprising and different, whereas with a guy it’s one-on-one. It was just too hard; I tried it.”

Recently, at the GayVN Awards in San Francisco, the recent documentary “Wrangler, Anatomy of an Icon” by TLA Releasing, won Best Alternative Title, which is what they award to titles that are about the adult industry but aren’t really porn. A lot of the people shown in the documentary were in the audience that night, but not Wrangler, who was in New York, and heard about the win soon after it was announced.

Playwright Robert Patrick, porn directors Jerry Douglas and Chi Chi LaRue, porn star and director Gino Colbert, Hollywood funnyman Bruce Vilanch, journalist Michael Musto, porn star Joe Gage and many other friends of mine appear in the documentary.

Robert Patrick, my friend for more than a decade, not only performed with Wrangler, but authored the play, “T-Shirts” that they were in together. He wrote me this morning with the sad news and offered a picture that is in the slide show below.

“Jack, a Hollywood child (Marilyn Monroe baby-sat him), was getting nowhere much as an actor when a porn movie was offered him. He consulted with his father, a producer of “Bonanza,” who told him “just be the best.” Jack took his screen-name from his jeans and became the first identifiable personality on the tiny, blurry screens of gay porn. At a time when most “adult” actors wore socks and even masks, he created a persona modeled on the Marlboro man — butch. beautiful, and unashamed. And imitated! The gay “clone” look (plaid shirt, jeans) was inspired by Jack’s signature outfit. Having conquered gay porn with no real competition, he moved on to the more lucrative straight area.”

Before he got married he told Margaret he was gay, and she famously said, “Only around the edges, dear.” Wrangler himself told me, “It gets controversial with people always trying to label you, trying to understand you. I just let people think of me however they wanted, and I didn’t usually argue. People could fantasize about me however they wanted, that was just fine with me.”

Take a look at the video clips of Wrangler talking at one of this movie screenings, and below that is the trailer for the documentary. Also, I’ve compiled some of the more classic pictures of this handsome man, and see some personal photos, too.

Sasha Gabor

2009-10-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

Sasha Gabor died by a Heart Failure 27th June, 2008 while she was on vacation in Thailand.

Zoey Zane

2009-10-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

Zoey Zane, who's real name is Emily Sander, is a college student aged 18 years old who led a double life as a Internet Adult Model.

She was last seen leaving a bar near Wichita, Kansas with a man she had met at the bar. That man is Israel Mireles, who did not show for work the next evening. Apparently a large quantity of blood was found in his apartment, and the bed sheets were missing.

A reward of $3000 is being offered by smutle to anyone who gives information that leads to the capture of Israel Mireles, 24. He is suspect on Zoey Zane's disappearance.

A body found thursday in Kansas matches the description of Zoey Zane, but police isn't giving more details on the founding. It's not know to the public on how it was found or the state of the body.

Israel Mireles has been captured yesterday, 12/19/2007, in Melchor Muzquiz - Mexico. He is now behind bars on homicide charges, suspect in the death of Emily Sander aka Zoey Zane.

Israel Mireles was born in Mexico and was legally in the United States.

Robert McCallum

2009-10-15T01:59:00.000-07:00

One of the most important directors of the Golden Age, Robert McCallum (real name: Gary Graver), passed away Thursday, October 16, 2006, succumbing to a battle with cancer. Graver unfortunately consistently denied ever being "McCallum", claiming he never used a pseudonym on his films, but every performer I've spoken to who worked with McCallum has confirmed his identity as Gary Graver. McCallum suffered from the "Traci Lords syndrome", I think. Or in other words, because he worked with the underage Traci Lords, that may have affected why he didn't admit to having done adult films. In any case, though he was ashamed of his porno past and apparently took his "secret" to the grave (even a couple weeks ago, as he was dying, he denied being McCallum), he should be remembered by adult film fans for his incredible work: 3AM, V THE HOT ONE, THE ECSTASY GIRLS, COED FEVER, AMANDA BY NIGHT, GARAGE GIRLS, CENTERSPREAD GIRLS, SOCIETY AFFAIRS, PRIVATE TEACHER, SUZIE SUPERSTAR, TRINITY BROWN, EROTIC CITY, TOWER OF POWER, CRAZY WITH THE HEAT, DOLL FACE, PEEPING TOM.

Lea DeMae

2009-10-10T01:55:00.000-07:00

Lea DeMae, a popular star that had a six-year adult performing and modeling career, would have turned 28 on Dec. 26. She earned a nomination for AVN Foreign Female Performer of the Year for the 2004 ceremony. Lea died by a rare brain cancer on 9th December 2004.

More about Lea DeMae here

Russ Meyer

2009-10-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

Russ Meyer died at his home in the Hollywood Hills, of complications of pneumonia, on September 18, 2004.

Rene Bond

2009-10-04T01:51:00.000-07:00

Rene Bond died from liver problems on 2nd June 1996. She died in LA of liver problem, possibly cirrhosis.

Bodil Joensen

2009-10-02T01:46:00.000-07:00

Danish pornstar Bodil Joensen who made some bestiality loops. Many believed her to have committed suicide, however in the April 2006 UK documentary, "The Dark Side of Porn: The Search For Animal Farm", which traced the production of the notorious underground film known as Animal Farm from excerpts of her many bestiality films, it was stated by a close friend of Bodil's that she died on January 3, 1985 from cirrhosis of the liver.