When John Holmes died of AIDS on March 13, 1988 there were a lot of us teenage kids who refused to believe that he ever made gay films (or had gay tendencies.) It was akin to saying John Wayne was a sissy. He may have really been closer to 10" than 131/2" but there was no denying he performed with hundreds if not thousands of porn actresses in his career. Thomas' Boogie Nights gave a highly romanticized version of the early life of John Holmes, but I have yet to really see an accurate documentary on him.
For one reason, like his penile measurement, much was publicity created illusion to further his porn legend, as well as further the budding porno industry in the San Fernando Valley. Screw's Al Goldstein himself said that 20% of John Holmes' 12.58" measurement was for publicity. Producer Bob Chin who (I believe) made Holmes' Johnny Wadd character wasn't above exaggerating the number of climaxes John could perform in one take. The porn industry of the 1970's needed John Holmes. A quote from an AVN source: "He put porn on the map. The explosion in mainstream popularity was thanks largely to one John Curtiss Holmes."
Many porn actors would be satified with that. But then why all the additional extraneous baloney about being a UCLA grad, or hiding his difficult early childhood in Ohio? America loves Horatio Alger stories, even if success is earned by ones penis. Perhaps it has to do with the fact, if reports are true, that Holmes' intellect did not match his penis size. He was, by all accounts, a gullible fellow not particulary astute with money or contracts, and taken to snorting most of his earnings up his nose in latter years. Those money woes were what led to his involvement in the Eddie Nash/ Laural Canyon murders and his bout in prision.
In the end, what I oddly remember most after his death was a short pseudo-documentary compilation of Johnny Wadd films with Holmes' screwing a dozen unattractive "monster muffed" actresses from the seventies. A guy from the Golden Throat Broadcaster School supplied the voice-over.
"But whatever role he assumed, he was always on the side of law and 'gewd.'"
Not a bad way to be remembered.
