John Holmes (actor)
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Template:Male adult bio John Curtis Holmes (August 8, 1944 – March 13, 1988) better known as John C. Holmes or Johnny Wadd (after the lead character in a series of related films), was one of the most famous male adult film stars of all time, appearing in about 2,500 adult loops, stag films, and porno feature movies in the 1970s and 1980s, including at least one gay feature film and a handful of gay loops. He was best known for his exceptionally large penis, which was heavily promoted as being the longest in the porn industry; however, its exact dimensions are unknown. Holmes also attracted notoriety for his involvement in the brutal Wonderland Murders in 1981, and for his death from AIDS.
Holmes was the subject of a long article in Rolling Stone magazine in 1989 and a feature length documentary, and the inspiration for two Hollywood movies (Boogie Nights and Wonderland).
Penis size
Holmes' main asset in the porn business was his exceptional large penis. Holmes' first wife, Sharon Gebenini, recalled him claiming to be 10 inches (25.4 cm) when he first measured himself. However, at the start of his cinematic career, he was widely publicized as having a penis ranging from 12.5 to 16 inches (32–41 cm) long when fully erect. "It is the size of two and one half 6 inch rulers (15inches)," as John Holmes once claimed in a video shoot.
In 2007, it was discovered that the coroner who performed the autopsy on Holmes took "secret" measurements of Holmes' penis in a flaccid state and reported it as being approximately 8.75 inches in length. This information appeared in the form of handwritten notes (scrawled on the back of the third page of the official Holmes' autopsy report) discovered by investigative reporter John Beck who is currently working on a new book about the life of Holmes. The coroner also noted that the size of Holmes' testicles were approximately "the size of a pair of large hen eggs." [citation needed]. Ron Jeremy has stated that Holmes was actually 11½ inches and used to brag that he was 14 inches.[1]
So celebrated was Holmes' reputed penis size that it was even used as a marketing tool for films in which he did not even appear. In the porn classic Anyone But My Husband, the promotional tag line read "Tony The Hook Perez has a dick so big that he gives even John Holmes a run for his money."[2]
Different attempts to ascertain the actual length of his penis have led to varying results. An American study of video footage of Holmes' penis concluded his penis was 10–11 inches long (25–28cm), whereas another study comparing many pictures of his penis to the estimated measurements of other parts of his own body led to the conclusion of 8 3/4 inches (22cm). Holmes' longtime manager, Bill Amerson, that "I saw John measure himself several times, it was 13 and a half inches".[3] Holmes' last wife, Laurie "Misty Dawn" Rose claims that John Holmes himself claimed 10 inches.
Veteran porn actress Dorothiea "Seka" Patton has claimed Holmes' penis was the biggest in the industry[4], though not all who had sex with him agree.
Regardless of the actual length of Holmes' penis, some people question whether he ever achieved full erections on movie sets. Veteran porn actress Annette Haven, for instance, recalled in the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes that "as the joke goes, if John ever became fully erect, he'd lose consciousness from lack of blood to the brain because his dick was that big. And it's true that his cock was never hard. It [having onscreen sex] was like doing it with a big, soft kind of luffa."
Number of partners
The women in Holmes' private life
While estimates of his on-screen and professional sex partners range in the thousands, it appears that there were perhaps four or five women who actually were close to Holmes in his private life. Holmes was reputedly meticulous in keeping his professional and private lives separate.
- In 1965 he married a young nurse named Sharon Gebenini.[5] He remained married to her until 1985.
- In 1975 he met Julia St. Vincent on the set of his blockbuster film, Liquid Lips, which was being produced by her uncle, Armand Atamian. Holmes and St Vincent stayed close until 1981 and the Wonderland affair. St Vincent produced the ersatz biographical film of Holmes' life, Exhausted.[6]
- In 1976 he met a 16-year-old, 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 1983 Holmes met his second wife, Laurie Rose. They were married in 1987.
Business activities
In 1979, Holmes and his younger half-brother, David Bowman, opened a combination locksmith service and antique shop called the Just Looking Emporium. However, Holmes' drug usage soon took precedence over business matters and the company went out of business before the year was over.
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 Penquin Productions, where Holmes could be a triple-threat: writing, directing, and performing.[7]
Charitable endeavors
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.[8]
Holmes mythology
Later years
In 1985 he met his future girlfriend and wife, Laurie Rose, a.k.a. Misty Dawn, a porn actress whose sexual specialty was anal sex. Rose and Holmes met on the set of the film Marathon. Holmes chronicler and confidante Bill Amerson states that Rose commented, "I want to have all that up my butt" (referring to Holmes' penis) and, in fact, off-camera that did happen and Holmes and Rose became a couple from that point forward.[3]
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.
Holmes married Laurie Rose in January 1987. He 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 forty three.[9] His body was cremated, and his ashes were scattered at sea off the coast of Oxnard, California.[10] Laurie Rose took the name Laurie Holmes and later published the book Porn King: Autobiography of John C. Holmes in 1998.[11]
Holmes' legacy has become more renowned and publicly acceptable. A documentary on his wild life (Wadd—The Life and Times of John C. Holmes) has achieved cult status among certain late-night college campus independent film houses, and some elements of the film Boogie Nights were based on Holmes' life, including the Laurel Canyon "Wonderland" murders. That aspect of his life was presented in a biographical movie called Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer and released on October 17, 2003.
Elio e le Storie Tese paid homage to Holmes with one of their first hits titled "John Holmes (Life Devoted To The Cinema)," included on their debut album Elio Samaga Hukapan Kariyana Turu, released in 1989.
After his death, Holmes was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award by the Adult 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' funeral services.
Finally, since the majority of Holmes' loops 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 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 many of Holmes' loops are lost.
Biographies
- Exhausted: John C. Holmes, the Real Story (1981 documentary)
- John Holmes: A Life Measured in Inches (2008 bio by Jennifer Sugar and Jill Nelson, Bear Manor Media)
- Wadd - The Life and Times of John C. Holmes (1998 documentary)
- The Devil and John Holmes by Mike Sager, Rolling Stone, June 15, 1989; reprinted in "Scary Monsters and Super Freaks" (2004).
- Porn King: Autobiography of John C. Holmes (1998).
- XXXL: The John Holmes Story (2000 documentary) [12]
- John Holmes: The Man, the Myth, the Legend (2004 documentary) [13]
References
- ^ Chris Neumer. "Ron Jeremy". Stumped Magazine. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
- ^ Source: www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6790983
- ^ a b Source: Bill Amerson interview in the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
- ^ "Seka Interview". fullonclothing.com.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
scarywas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Citation: "Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes"
- ^ Citations from "The Devil in John Holmes", Rolling Stone Magazine 1989
- ^ Rolling Stone article "The Devil in John Holmes", May 1989.
- ^ "John Holmes and the Wonderland Murders: AIDS and Misty Dawn". crimelibrary.com. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ McNeil, Legs (2005). The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film. Pavia, Peter. HarperCollins. p. 451. ISBN 0-060-09659-4.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Patterson, Joan (1998-07-12). "Holmes shares story of her famous husband in book `Porn King'". reviewjournal.com. Retrieved 2008-05-20.
- ^ XXXL: The John Holmes Story
- ^ John Holmes: The Man, the Myth, the Legend (2004)