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- Producer
Robert Charles Kerman was born on December 16, 1947, in Brooklyn, New York City. His father was a pickle maker and his mother did bookkeeping for the family business. He grew up in a in a middle-class Italian-Jewish neighborhood of Bensonhurst, sharing a two-family row house with his aunt and parents. He first became interested in acting during his freshman year at Lafayette High School. During his senor year he enrolled in a drama class and found another incentive to pursue acting: girls, pursuing relationships with a few of them.
After graduation he enrolled at Brooklyn College to earn a Bachelors Degree. While there he acted in over 30 plays the university put on, but recalled that he didn't get to act at all during his first year at the college because there were a lot of required courses to take and credits to be earned before acting came. During his second year, however, he took acting classes at night school. He also went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he appeared in numerous plays. During his final year at Brooklyn College, Kerman met the chairman of the acting department, Wilson Lehr, who had him audition for the play "Look Back in Anger".
Kerman began acting in many off-Broadway shows in both Brooklyn and Manhattan, in local productions of such classics as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", "A View From a Bridge", "Camille", "The Knack", "Joe Egg", and many other comedies and dramas, in both lead and supporting roles. Following graduation from Brooklyn College in 1970, Kerman went off on his own to pursue acting. He took such jobs as driving a Good Humor ice-cream truck and a taxi driver, since what he made from acting wasn't enough to support him.
Kerman become involved in the underground adult film business in the mid-'70s, performing--in non-sex roles--for $100 a day. He first performing on-screen sex in 1974 in director Roberta Findlay's Anyone But My Husband (1975), playing the lead role of the snobbish husband of C.J. Laing. Kerman was at first very uncomfortable with the sex, performing with Susan Sloan as a nude babysitter. When porn producers asked Kerman to create a "nom de porn" name for himself, a logo on a cardboard box of Bolla wine inspired him to create his porn acting name: "Richard Bolla" (often shortened to just "R. Bolla" because he didn't want people referring to him as "Dick"). He even briefly took the name "R.C. Bolla" for his middle name of Charles, but quickly dropped it.
Kerman's porn career flourished during the middle and late 1970s and early 1980s. He appeared in over 100 adult porn feature films in lead and supporting parts. His real acting talent made producers cast him in porn films with actual plots and stories, which made him a valuable commodity to porn filmmakers seeking to make story-driven feature films that could compete with mainstream movies. Kerman worked for many adult filmmakers on the East and West Coasts, such as Gerard Damiano, Gary Graver (as "Robert McCallum"), Henri Pachard and other port auteurs, and performing with such porn icons as Seka, Vanessa del Rio, Jennifer Welles, Ginger Lynn and Veronica Hart, among others.
Mainstream acting continued to remain Kerman's true calling, though, and in between porn roles he tried to pursue work in mainstream films. In 1979 he was introduced to Giovanni Masini, an Italian production manager who was filming a "B" picture in New York. Their association led to Kerman appearing in a small part as an air traffic controller in Ruggero Deodato's Concorde Affaire '79 (1979). Deodato then cast him in the lead role in his notorious film Cannibal Holocaust (1980), which was filmed in New York as well as on location in the rain forests of Colombia and Venezuela, an interesting experience for him in acting on location and seeing first-hand how the Italian film making business worked. Kerman was later cast by Italian director Umberto Lenzi for another lead role in an jungle cannibal film Eaten Alive! (1980), in which he played a rugged adventurer and trail guide. The film was shot in Sri Lanka.
Although Kerman wanted to continue working in Europe for Italian film productions, it was not to be. He returned to New York when acting jobs in Europe did not materialize. He planed to return to Italy, but labor laws prevented him from doing so--for his last Italian film role, a minor part in Lenzi's Cannibal Ferox (1981), he had to film all of his scenes in New York City, as he would not be allowed to work in Italy.
Kerman resumed his work in the American porn industry until 1984, when he moved with his girlfriend to Los Angeles to break into mainstream acting. His last adult film was Corporate Assets (1985), which was a big production shot on location in the San Fernando Valley. By early 1986 he had more or less quit the adult film business to pursue acting roles in mainstream movies and television. He landed an agent and within three months signed a three-year contract to act. He appeared in five or six television shows in guest star roles, and had small but memorable parts in No Way Out (1987) and Night of the Creeps (1986). Then one day his female agent fired him for no clear reason and, unwilling to get back in the porn business, Kerman returned to New York where by the early 1990s he dropped out of the acting business altogether, rarely working since.
In 1998 Kerman received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Free Speech Coalition's annual Night of the Stars, a gala event for the adult film industry. In 2001 the theatrical re-release of "Cannibal Holocaust" brought Kerman out of his self-imposed retirement to promote the movie in Los Angeles. It was there that director Sam Raimi asked him to audition for a role in the first Spider-Man (2002), and Kerman got the role of a New York City tugboat captain in small but memorable role.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Born in Rockford, Illinois, on December 14, 1962, Ginger Lynn Allen went to California in 1982 to visit her ill grandfather. She decided to stay and found employment as a manager at a Musicland record store in Redlands. She had lived in a trailer in one of the worst parts of the city for almost a year when she answered an ad for figure models. This led to employment the same day and a layout in Penthouse magazine. Work in the adult-film industry soon followed. She worked in the industry from December 1983 through February 1986, making a total of 69 films (plus countless re-issues and compilations). She retired, partially because the work was no longer fun and she had very little time off. That same year, she was approached by the FBI to testify on behalf of Traci Lords, who had just been exposed as having been underage during her years in the adult-film industry. She refused and was eventually arrested for tax evasion. Following her years in adult movies, she appeared in many "legit" films throughout the late 1980s and 1990s-- most notably the "Vice Academy" films. She also starred in Metallica's music video "Turn the Page." She has a son, who she gave birth to on March 24, 1996. She tours gentlemen's clubs around the country, and signed a comeback deal with VCA Pictures in 1999. She has starred in four new adult movies so far: Torn (1999), White Lightning (2000), New Wave Hookers 6 (2000) and Taken (2001).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
For over 20 years Canadian-born Peter North has been one of the most reliable performers in porn, with youthful good looks and a body sculpted almost to perfection from long hours spent in the gym. His career began in the days when porn movies were take-offs of legit films; they had plots, dialogue, (relatively) hefty budgets and were meant to be seen in theaters. He is still going strong (as of 2011), a holdover--but not a "relic"--from the "good old days" in an era of straight-to-video, low-budget quickies with no acting, little if any plot, tattooed / strutting / preening "actors" and bored, disinterested or barely conscious "actresses". Few porn actors have, or most likely ever will have, a resume as extensive as North's. Few, if any, can boast that they have been intimate on screen with as many of the superstars of porn as he has: Trinity Loren, Jill Kelly, Christy Canyon, Keisha, Taylor Wayne, Rebecca Wild, Ashlyn Gere, Victoria Paris, Jewel De'Nyle, and even (on several occasions) the legendary--and, at the time, underage--Traci Lords. North's enduring popularity has spanned generations of porn fans, both male and female, and even after all these years he still continues to impress and amaze both fans and co-workers with his, shall we say, "range".- Actor
- Director
- Producer
A veteran of over three decades in the X-film business, John Leslie has acted in, directed and produced hundreds of films. He has long been considered to be one of the finest "actors" in the business, in addition to one of its most reliable "performers". He has worked with many, if not most, of the legends of the adult-film industry--Seka, Juliet Anderson (aka "Aunt Peg"), Veronica Hart, Traci Lords, Kay Parker, Christy Canyon, to name a few. In Traci's Fantasies (1986), Parker interviews Lords and they both agree that they love working with him because of how special he makes them feel in intimate scenes.
John Leslie died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Dec. 5, 2010, in Mill Valley, California.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Composer
Sharon Kane was without a doubt one of the single most prolific and ubiquitous actresses in hardcore porn. Born on February 24, 1956 in Ohio, Kane grew up as a tomboy in a rural community with her mother and grandparents. Sharon briefly worked as a secretary for the Salvation Army before beginning her career in the adult entertainment industry in the mid-1970's as an exotic dancer at the theater The Screening Room in San Francisco, California. After making her hardcore debut in Alex de Renzy's Pretty Peaches (1978), Kane went on to act profusely in a slew of X-rated features over the course of several decades that encompass gay, straight, bondage, and even transsexual fare as well as 8mm loops and video productions. Outside of her acting credits, the versatile Sharon also worked on adult movies in a variety of behind-the-scenes capacities that include director, writer, producer, set designer, make-up artist, art director, set decorator, production assistant, and even composer (she often sang and played multiple instruments for the latter). Kane has since retired from the adult film industry and now resides in a remote rural area.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Additional Crew
Throughout the 1980s Honey Wilder represented the "older woman" segment of X-films. Often cast in supporting roles, she was known for her good acting, good body and energetic performances. Her best work was often as a "mother"-type figure, which she played in such films as the "Taboo" series (I-V) where she starred opposite Kay Parker, and as Traci Lords' mother in It's My Body (1985). She also distinguished herself as the scorned wife in Wild Dallas Honey (1982). Her voice has long been used for the "Surgeon General" disclaimer on VCA Pictures.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Adult-/mainstream-film star Amber Lynn was born in California. In the early 1980s she was a bikini and figure model in Los Angeles and part of the notorious Sunset Strip club scene when she met Althea Flynt, wife of "Hustler" magazine publisher Larry Flynt. She did some photo spreads for Hustler, taken by famed photographer Clive McLean, then did shoots for "Chic", "Penthouse", "Playboy", "High Society" and "Club" men's magazines. She soon got into the adult-film business, debuting in Bobby Hollander's Personal Touch III (1983). She spent the next few years in the adult-film business, then crossed over to become a featured dancer on the "gentleman's club" circuit--the first adult-film star to do so. She was earning up to $25,000 a week performing in clubs all over the US and Canada, to packed houses.
In addition to her adult work, she has had parts in several non-adult Hollywood productions--she belongs to SAG and AFTRA--such as 52 Pick-Up (1986) with Roy Scheider and directed by John Frankenheimer, and Evils of the Night (1985) with John Carradine and Julie Newmar. She has appeared on TV on The Man Show (1999) with Adam Carolla and Jimmy Kimmel and has guest-starred as herself in Who's Jenna...? (2018) from Lionsgate. She had a cameo in Season 2 of the Netflix series The Kominsky Method (2018) as Michael Douglas' fantasy girl, who may be the one to save him from a sudden terminal illness diagnosis; she is featured via her 1990 "Hustler" centerfold, "Both Ends Smoking." She also got a tribute on the final episode of HBO's The Deuce (2017),
She is a member of the Adult Video News (AVN) Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Free Speech Coalition (FSC). She has been a vocal opponent of the Los Angeles "Safer Sex in the Adult-Film Industry" initiative, which would mandate condom use in adult films shot in Los Angeles County. Since 1992 she has been involved in the Youth AIDS Foundation of Los Angeles, the first charity to accept contributions from the adult industry.
Amber Lynn has been a major part of the adult-film industry for almost 30 years and is one of the most recognizable names--and faces--inside and outside the business. She has appeared in over 350 films and more than 200 mens magazines and hosts her own radio show, "Amber Lynn Rock-N-SeXXXy-Uncensored", on LATalkRadio.com.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Herschel Savage, the star of such tongue-in-cheek productions as Orifice Party (1985), is one of the old lions of the porno film business, having appeared in close to a thousand features, videos and assorted shoots. Born Harvey Cowen on November 25, 1952 in New York City, the renamed Savage got his foot in the proverbial door back in the mid-1970s. In addition to acting in porn, he has also directed features. Savage also performs as a stand-up comedian.
As per his standing in the history of porn, Savage has been elected to both Adult Video News and the X-Rated Critics Organization Halls of Fame. Savage was inducted into the first class of the XRCO Hall of Fame along with such famed cinema studs as John Holmes, Harry Reems, Jamie Gillis, John Leslie and Paul Thomas.- Actor
- Director
- Production Manager
Harry Reems was born on 27 August 1947 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director. He was married to Jeanne Sterret. He died on 19 March 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Born in New York City, Jamie Gillis trained as a legitimate actor. In the early 1970s he drifted into performing in pornographic films, and continued to work in that field through the late 1990s. Despite the occasional foray into "legitimate" film, such as a cameo in Nighthawks (1981), Gillis remained identified with the porn industry, and is regarded as one of its most prolific and potent actors. After a stint as one of the "Nasty Bros". in producer Ed Powers' series of amateur "Dirty Debutantes" series, Gillis began branching out to produce homemade porn videos of his own, some of them made in France (where he was able to show off his command of the French language). Never having made a secret of his bisexuality, Gillis made his first all-gay porn film in 1997, a sado-masochistic video in which he did not actually perform sex acts, but rather issued orders to the other members of the cast.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jerry Butler was born on 13 May 1959 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor. He was married to Lisa Loring. He died on 27 January 2018 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Throughout most of the 1980s this luscious, New York-accented, sexy "girl next door" was a porn fan favorite. Unlike the typical porn queen, Taija was neither svelte nor surgically enhanced; she had a "this is pretty much the way I am" look that appealed to men and didn't threaten women. She seemed approachable, the kind of girl you could meet in a club and offer to buy a drink without getting laughed out of the place. She was a very good actress and an exceptional performer. About halfway through her career, however, she changed her look. She went from being a brunette who carried a few extra pounds to being a thin blonde, but she always gave energetic, enthusiastic performances no matter what her look. She left the business unexpectedly, and although there were rumors of a comeback in the mid-'90s, it never happened--definitely a loss for porn fans.- Actress
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Additional Crew
Lovely, busty and shapely knockout Renee Summers was born Cheri Roberdes on October 15, 1961, in California. She first began acting in hardcore X-rated films in her early 20s in 1983, and went on to appear in a little over 100 adult movies. She was nominated for three XRCO Awards in 1985 for Best Kinky Scene, Best Supporting Performance and Group Grope Scene. She married popular male porn star Eric Edwards in 1986. Moreover, Renee also worked on a handful of explicit adult features in such behind-the-scenes capacities as casting director, production assistant, production manager or production coordinator, writer, and even script supervisor. She has kept a low profile ever since she stopped working in the adult entertainment industry in the late 1990s.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Joe D'Amato was born Aristide Massaccesi on December 15, 1936, in Rome, Italy. At age 14 he began working for his father, a chief electrician and later the founder of the company A.C.M. By going to school in the daytime, Massaccesi worked afternoons part-time as a stagehand and stage cameraman around various film sets. After attending grade school, from 1953-57, Massaccesi worked for his father. Mole Richardson, another motion picture company, was looking for someone to work as an assistant cameraman and Massaccesi jumped at the opportunity. Starting in 1969 he worked as director of photography as well as assistant director for a number of films until 1974. His first directing work was in 1972's low-budget Stay Away from Trinity... When He Comes to Eldorado (1972), co-directed by Diego Spataro, under the pseudonym Dick Spitfire, but it was a commercial failure. Later that same year Massaccesi directed a western (under the name of Oskar Faradine). He then used his assistant's name, Romano Gastaldi, for his next film, Fra' Tazio da Velletri (1973), as well as a few others.
Massaccesi was reluctant to use his real name early in his directing career, since he was still known mainly as a director of photography and didn't want his directing jobs to jeopardize his cinematography career. He used his real name for screenplay and cinematography roles, but worked under many aliases (such as Michael Wotruba) to disguise the authorship of some films in order not to mix up the different genres of comedy, western, drama, thrillers and others. He used so many phony names that he may well have more pseudonyms credited to him than any other director in the world.
Massaccesi entered the horror genre with Death Smiles on a Murderer (1973) under his real name, which inspired him to make other gothic horror films. Under a new pseudonym, Joe D'Amato, he directed soft-core, erotic films starring Laura Gemser, such as Emanuelle and Francoise (1975), Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977), Emanuelle in America (1977), Erotic Nights of the Living Dead (1980) and others. He also directed such action films as Tough to Kill (1979).
Massaccesi, now referring to himself as Joe D'Amato, entered the "gore" genere films with Beyond the Darkness (1979), which remains his most successful horror film, shot in four weeks on a low budget entirely at a villa near Bressanone and which had an excellent music soundtrack by the rock group Goblin. His next horror film, but less successful than the previous one, was The Grim Reaper (1980), directed as "Peter Newton". The film starred Tisa Farrow, sister of Mia Farrow and the star of Zombie (1979), another gore genre flick.
During the 1980s and 1990s D'Amato directed over 100 hardcore porn sex films for the Italian video market, although under his many pseudonyms he continued to direct and produce other films. One of them was StageFright (1987) directed by Michele Soavi on which, under his real name, Massaccesi served as producer. He then directed two "Ator the Invincible" films. He directed the violent, hardcore Caligula: The Untold Story (1982), using the name "David Hills", a commercial exploitation (some might say "rip-off") of the successful film by Tinto Brass.
D'Amato's other films during the 1980s were Paradiso Blu (1980) and violent adventure films such as Deep Blood (1989), which were filmed in Florida, and Ghosthouse (1988). Some of D'Amato's greatest successes abroad were L'alcova (1985) and Pomeriggio caldo (1989), as well as the horror-thriller Hitcher in the Dark (1989) (aka "Hitcher in the Dark").
His long film career came to an abrupt end when, in January 1999, he suffered an unexpected and fatal heart attack at his home in Rome. He was 62. Joe D'Amato had made his mark on Italian cinema as a talented director, scriptwriter, producer and cinematographer with scores of films and more than a dozen aliases to his credit.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Writer
Jeanna Fine has had an on again/off again porn career for the last 15 years. She began her career in 1986 when she landed her first starring role in an adult film. She was 21 years old, into the "punk" scene with blonde spiky hair and her attitude was that she was going to take the porn world by storm. She was noted for her penchant for throwing herself wholeheartedly into rough, aggressive sex scenes, whether with men or women. However, she did have a reputation for a somewhat haphazard work ethic - she would often show up late for shoots, or not show up at all - and after shooting approximately 50 films in about a year, she disappeared. She returned three years later with a new look (long brunette hair), but disappeared again shortly afterwards. However, two years later she was back. Just as she was about to re-start her career, she fell in love with a Jewish man not in the porn biz, converted to Judaism and left the business yet again. She stayed away for several years to raise her son, but in 1998 she returned and this time appears to be back for the long haul.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Lovely and slender brunette stunner Erica Boyer was born Amanda Margaret Gantt on December 22, 1956 in Andalusia, Alabama. Her father Joseph Breckenridge Gantt was a former attorney for the state of Alabama. Erica was raised in a strict household and was raped in her early teens by a boy she trusted. Boyer moved to San Francisco, California in the late 1970's and began her career in the adult entertainment industry dancing and doing live sex shows at the O'Farrell Theater. Erica caught the attention of Marilyn Chambers, who encouraged Erica to make her hardcore movie debut in Beyond De Sade (1979). Boyer's adult film career subsequently took off after this; she did well over one hundred and fifty movies over the course of two decades. Erica specialized in lesbian scenes and received a XRCO Award for Lascivious Lesbian Scene at the first annual XRCO Awards show in 1985.
Boyer took a hiatus from the adult film industry in 1994, but made a regrettably brief comeback in the late 1990's prior to retiring from the adult film industry on a permanent basis and settling down in Panama City Beach, Florida. In the wake of her retirement Erica started her own massage therapy business as well as did volunteer work as both a clown and face painter. She was inducted into both the AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame. Moreover, Boyer was married twice and was the mother of a son, Davis. Erica's life came to a tragic abrupt end when she was struck and killed by an off-duty Florida Highway Patrol Officer driving a 2001 four-door Hyundai on December 31, 2009 in Panama City Beach, Florida; she was only 53 years old.- Exquisitely buxom, leggy, and slender 5'6" brunette knockout Krista Lane was born on February 26, 1959 in Germany. Krista first began performing in explicit hardcore movies in her mid-twenties in 1985; she rose to prominence in lead roles in X-rated pictures in the mid to late 1980s that were made by such notable companies as VCA, Vivid, AVC, and Metro. Lane won AVN Awards for Best Couples Sex Scene - Video in 1987 and both Best Actress - Film and Best Couples Sex Scene - Film the following year. Moreover, Krista was featured in several men's magazines that include Adam and Hot Shots. She retired from the adult film industry in 1989.
- Shauna Grant was born on 30 May 1963 in Farmington, Michigan, USA. She was an actress. She died on 21 March 1984 in Palm Springs, California, USA.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Gloria Leonard, the doyenne of the erotic film industry, was born Gail Sandra Leonardi on August 28, 1940 in The Bronx, New York. Blessed with a 40-33-37 figure and 5' 9", the brown-haired, brown-eyed porn star from porn's "Golden Age" (1972 until the advent of video tape) made movies under her own name as well as the alias(es) C. Gale Leonard and Gail (or Gayle) Leonard.
She appeared in approximately 70 adult films before taking over "High Society" magazine in 1979. In her 14 years as publisher of "High Society", she created the genre of "Celebrity Skin". The magazine also was a pioneer in the phone sex industry.
Miss Leonard served as the administrative director of the Adult Film Association from 1989 to 1992, until the AFA merged with the Free Speech Coalition. Gloria returned to the porn industry in 1997 and was elected president of the Free Speech Coalition in 1998.
She was married to the fabled porn producer Bobby Hollander. They divorced in 1990.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Julia Parton was born on 4 July 1964 in Kentucky, USA. She is an actress, known for Good Girls Don't (1993).- Production Designer
- Director
- Writer
Stephen Sayadian was born on 18 October 1953 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He is a production designer and director.- Actress
- Production Manager
- Producer
Respected porn star of the 70s and 80s who went on to minor roles more mainstream movies. Awarded AFAA 1981/82 Best Actress, AFAA 1982 Best Supporting Actress, CAFA 1982 Best Actress.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Samantha Fox (a stage name) was a New York City girl. Born and raised in the Big Apple, she came under the Broadway influence and studied dance throughout her childhood and teens. These young years of continuous practice resulted in a dancer's taut, slim body, which was fashionable at that time. She began dancing professionally before graduating from high school. The exposure led her into the entertainment business, and soon she was co-hosting a New York City television show. After that she began getting small parts in the adult film industry. Her break came when she was noticed by porn director/producer Chuck Vincent, who cast her in the starring role of Bad Penny (1978). This established her as a leading-role actress and resulted in her starring in several more adult films. In 1980 she won the Erotica Award for her work with Jack Wrangler in Jack+Jill (1979). The following year she was recognized with the Erotica Award again for her role in Tramp (1980). With these honors she established herself as one of the leading stars in adult films of the day, capable of a full range of roles from sweet innocence to hard domination. However, when the adult industry went from shooting on film to shooting on video, Samantha did not come off well. Women with slim, natural bodies like Samantha's lost favor with the public, which turned to the larger, silicon-enhanced actresses who became prominent in the late 1980s on into the 1990s. Her integrity preventing her from jumping on that particular bandwagon (her pronounced "Noo Yawk" accent didn't help matters, either). Consequently, roles became more and more difficult to find. However, her long-time friendship with Chuck Vincent and a few others in the industry, such as Gloria Leonard and Veronica Hart, brought her numerous small roles and walk-ons in the late 1980s, but we saw very little of her since. Her stage name has resulted in her often being confused with British pop-rock singer Samantha Fox (which is her real name). However, only the name, the suggestive lyrics of several of the singer's recordings and a sultry modeling career launch as a Page Three Girl come close to resembling what the actress Samantha Fox had done to forward the human right of self-decision, sexual expression and freedom, acceptance of alternative lifestyles, and offering of love.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Byron Mabe was born on 10 April 1932 in Walkertown, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor and director. He was married to Jennifer Ann Sharkey, Katherine Landstein and Patricia Joyce Steffey. He died on 13 May 2001 in Orlando, Florida, USA.