We often focus on the freshest, pole (or hole) pleasing fap movies coming down the pipe on this site. But let’s not forget about the classic porn films, and more importantly, the performers who made them. Some of them are still with us; others have passed on. Most of them retired a while back; a few are still selling skin in one way or another. They all have had interesting stories, so let’s look at actors from the pornography industry’s deep past.
The sexy seven retro stars who built an industry
Tamaki Katori
Career timespan: 1962-1972
Career signature: being the first starlet to star in hundreds of arthouse erotic films
Noteworthy movies: Flesh Market (1962), Okinawa Hanging Phantom Ghost Story (1962), Bed Dance (1967)
I was considering several people to open this blog up with, including the Untamable Texan Candy Barr and even the original femme fatale stripper Matta Hari. However, I quickly came to the conclusion that I had to start with the Snow White of Smut.
Let’s begin by looking at arguably the first real pornstar, but first, we need to look at some timely context. Historically, the Japanese have been pretty cool with nudity until increased Western influence starting with the Meiji restoration up through occupation of the islands after World War II.
Yeah, that meant to end a series of wars, which is great, but this was also the start of imported prudishness. Public bathing started to decline, attitudes towards sex continued to become puritanical, and displays of nudity were taboo.
Sadly, this bullshit still dominates Japanese legal codes, but there was some push back in the form of “pink films” back in the wild ‘60s.
While I don’t think that she was the first-ever, Tamaki Katori is definitely the first pink film star to make it big and solidify her reputation in the stickier pages of the history books. The movie she’s most known for is 1962’s Flesh Market. If it sounds to you like an erotic ‘80s erotic horror show, it kind of was.
Apparently, the plot focuses on a young woman investigating the murder of her sister and has a run-in with gangbangers. Sadly, of the original fifty-minute cut, only twenty-one minutes are known to exist, so good luck finding any clips of the film.
(By the way, if you somehow find a long cut, link me to it.)
Fortunately, that sensational movie inspired an entire generation of artistic pornographers and rocketed Katori’s career into the stratosphere. No longer scared by the censors and assholes, filmmakers were on their knees offering Katori work.
In no time, she was being offered 20,000 yen per film. When you adjust for inflation and translate that amount into modern currencies, that’s about what relatively well paid modern-day porn actresses makes per scene. The one other big difference is that Katori was one of the few operators in the fledgling form of film, so she scored an impressive amount of work. And in just a decade, she managed to perform in 600 films in total.
And unlike Flesh Market, you can find the full version of many of these erotic extravaganzas (apparently) copyright free.
John Holmes
Career timespan: 1969-1988
Career signature: creating epic erotic series and having the longest dong
Noteworthy movies: The Danish Connection (1970), Johnny Wadd (1973), The Return of Johnny Wadd (1987)
This guy’s story seems to be a mix of fantastic myth, ludicrous legend, incredible achievements, and rampant crime.
Let’s start with what Holmes was known for: his exceptional anatomy. While he wasn’t jacked up like the Peter North and the majority of middle-aged male performers, Johnny boy did seem to be exceptionally gifted in the groin region.
In fact, according to Dorothea Patton AKA Seka, going down on Holmes was like deep throating a telephone pole. Other porn pros often joked that Holmes could never get fully hard because there would be too much blood in his head and not enough in his head. And allegedly, there are some starlets who seem to have confirmed that.
There are no official measurements, but it is widely considered that Holmes’ hog really could have (almost) been as big as he claimed it to be. It really does seem like John Holmes’ penis really is a joke – one could almost say it’s a knee slapper. XD
Anyway, with this exceptional member, John got consistent work since starting in the year which ends in my favorite number. This was just in time as this was right about the beginning of The Golden Age of Porn.
With his winning charisma and long hanging cock, John Holmes was one of the legends who managed to plow his way through some of the first pornstars, some of whom are mentioned elsewhere here. The movies he starred in were – especially compared to the wall-to-wall smut you see now – extremely well-made and (shocker!) had a pretty well-done plot.
Of course, the fucking is pretty great as well, so good, in fact, that Holmes was considered to be the Elvis Presley of Porn – he was the King.
One of his earliest films which put him in the limelight was The Danish Connection, but what really put over the top was his Johnny Wadd series. Holmes’s titular character was a private dick who had a penchant for using his not-so-little dickie when solving crimes. The first installment came out in 1973 and became a running project for Holmes throughout his porn career.
As luck (or maybe misfortune) would have it, this is around the same time where John’s life seemed like a real-world version of an HBO series.
Like far too many people who gain fame, John had a taste for drugs. And despite his porn career, he turned to hooking, theft, and slinging narcotics to support his habit. Instead of being arrested in a bizarre twist, Holmes lived up to his surname and started solving crimes by working with the FBI.
Even with his brush with the law, Holmes never really righted himself and got involved with more crimes (including the Woodland Murders) and got himself arrested. Didn’t help things much that he also contracted HIV after getting hooked on heroin a few years later and in ‘88 died.
Say what you will about his personal life, but there’s no doubt that Holmes helped create the Western world of smut.
Nina Hartley
Career timespan: 1984-present
Career signature: a committed sex performer and educator who’s been a stalwart for the industry
Noteworthy movies: Anal Annie and the Backdoor Housewives (1984), Best of Nina Hartley (1986), Who’s Nailin’ Paylin (2008)
My regular readers know that I’ve fawned over this woman’s work before, so it’d be dumb not to mention her again. Hartley started doing sex work as a stripper then swiftly transitioned into porn in ‘84.
Almost immediately, Hartley blew up to superstar status, becoming as famous as Linda Lovelace, Ron Jeremy, and Hyapatia Lee.
Starting in the nineties, Hartley expanded her career by producing educational erotic media, including books, movies, and web series. Perhaps my favorite thing about Nina is what she started doing in the aughts and publicly taking on the pernicious anti-porn lobby.
While there’s no nudity in those public speeches, I think there’s something sexy about a powerful woman calling out the bullshit of puritanical prudes.
Proving that she had staying power, Nine continued to make movies even though she was filming with girls who were younger than her implants. And if you ask me, she often performed a lot better.
If you need proof, look up Hartley’s role in the exemplary political parody Who’s Nailin’ Paylin.
Last I knew, Nina has stepped away from doing hardcore porn. However, this seems to be a temporary pause due to coronavirus. Give it time, and I’m sure we’ll see even more of this legendary cougar.
Ron Jeremy
Career timespan: 1979-present (maybe?)
Career signature: having had more sex on camera than possibly any other human being
Noteworthy movies: Debbie Does Dallas Part II (1981), Super Hornio Brothers (1983), Not the Bradys XXX (2007)
You know that The (in)famous Hedgehog was going to be on this blog.
Where to begin with this one? Starting at the tail end of the seventies, Ron Jeremy has been tapping tail almost without stop since then. I think he’s done just about every major starlet of the late twentieth century, and a good number of the ladies on this blog multiple times.
With such an epic career of continuous work, Jeremy has been in more porn movies than maybe any other pornstar! According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he’s been in something like 2,200 movies, but the editors at IAFD says he’s been in 2,484 fap films.
Whoever is correct, that’s an impressive filmography by any measure. Hell, that’s almost as many women as I’ve banged.
It’s no secret that even as a pornographer, Jeremy was and has become exceptionally controversial. So, “what is he up to now,” you might be wondering — dealing with public scrutiny but with extraordinarily high stakes this time.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock – or I guess, if you aren’t as plugged into porn culture as me – The Hedgehog has been in court facing a ton of rape allegations. Last I checked, the story is still in development, but I’ve got a breakdown of the major facts here.
So far, it’s not looking too hot. Still, I’ve heard that prosecutors are worried they’ll wind up with a hung jury. 😉
Traci Lords
Career timespan: 1984-1987
Personal signature: the first one to make the porn-to-mainstream transition
Noteworthy movies: Deep Inside Traci (1986), Taste of Traci Lords (1989)
I know a lot of people think that Sasha Grey was the first pornstar to cross over into mainstream entertainment. In a sense, this is true. She was the first (relatively) modern super famous porn performer to get into silver screen movies and other parts of the media.
However, I think there are contenders as to who the original starlet was to pull off that trick. A case can certainly be made for Traci Elizabeth Lords.
While the circumstances are undoubtedly shady (and literally illegal) as to how Traci got into the business at such a young age, she made quite an impression. The first modeling she engaged in didn’t involve sex, just nude photography, though she eventually started doing hardcore scenes.
Apparently, she impressed all the right people she was making $1,000 a day and acquired the moniker, The Princess of Porn. But her work showing skin didn’t stop there. Besides all of the movies she has done, Lords has modeled for Club, Juggs, Velvet, and Penthouse.
Even while doing porn, Traci caught the eye of the mainstream and appeared in the Helix music video “Gimme Gimme Good Lovin’.” After leaving porn, Traci got into acting, starting with the ’88 sci-fi remake of Not of This Earth. It took a few years, but her acting career took off in the early nineties, as did her dabblings in music.
She continued to focus on being involved in music. Despite writing an autobiography that scathingly criticized the porn industry, she decided to participate in the comedy Zach and Miri Make a Porno. Before that, she even embraced her stage moniker as her legal name, too.
Weird, huh?
Anyway, Lords has continued acting, doing minor activism, and has played the part of a mother, read: not MILF.
Pro-tip to all of you: don’t try to find Lords’ oldest movies. Even if you could find them, it’s rumored that they were when she was still a m*nor. So, I’d stick to watching her work later work.
John Leslie
Career timespan: 1975-2010
Career signature: the first major male performer to become a successful smut director
Noteworthy movies: Obsessed (1977), Talk Dirty To Me (1980), Curse of the Catwoman (1992), Crack Her Jack series (circa 2007)
Known by multiple aliases, John Leslie was one of several Midwesterns who left the country for southern California’s big cities. Like a lot of the legends of that time, he banged a ton of women and starred in some 300 or so films.
His first series of movies are pretty good, but I know that a good number of my readers aren’t too into focusing on the guy when fapping. What those of you will be interested in, and one of the things that makes Leslie’s career unique is that he is one of the first real pornstars to start working on the other side of the camera.
If Leslie was good at fucking on film, he soon proved that he was even better at directing. Over the decades, Leslie made dozens of adult movies in a variety of genres. As the years went on, Leslie did adapt by shooting more in the no-fourth-wall style of filming. Still, even with changes in trends, Leslie continued to do the more artistic porn movies just like those from the old days. That’s not to knock them, though,
Like a true pro, he continued producing porn up until the point that most people would already be going into retirement. His most recent movies include compilations for Evil Angel, multiple movies for Caballero Classics, and a funny and spunky parody for VCA.
Besides the other noteworthy’s listed below, I’d check those out too if you want to get a taste of this man’s work.
Too bad that Leslie died of a heart attack back in 2010. However, this was still after leaving an indelible stamp on the sex filming business. To summarize, John Leslie has been involved in over 600 adult movies, won thirty acing, directing, and writing awards, and been inducted into the XRCO and AVN Halls of Fame.
Shit, and I thought I felt accomplished.
See you on the other side, stud.
Seka
Career timespan: 1977-1993
Career signature: being the comeback cum queen with a versatile skillset
Noteworthy movies: Teenage Desires (1977), Peep Shows: Blonde Goddesses (1982), American Garter (1993)
One of the key things I have noticed about show business is that if you’re going to go by a one name alias, you had better stand out. During her incredible career, I think it’s obvious that Seka did.
Born Dorothea Hundley and initially operating under the alias Linda Grasser, she changed her name to Seka in honor of a Vegas blackjack dealer. Even before she formally got into adult movies, Seka showed signs that she was destined for great things.
Back in the day when you could only get pornos from brick-and-mortar stores, Seka had created a small empire of seven adult bookstores on the American east coast as a young adult. While managing this chain, she ended up watching a ton of porn but was put off by how women were portrayed. Rather than simply complain about and convinced she could do it better, Seka joined the sex scene.
With that motivation, Seka started filming in 1977 though the first few films she was in weren’t all that much to write home about. But as the years went on, her star power rose until Seka was one of the women who was virtually synonymous with porn.
As we’ll see throughout this woman’s backstory, Seka was not one to beat around the bush – unless, of course, she was being paid to on a set.
Somewhere around her two hundredth film, Seka stepped out of the business, citing a lack of adequate pay and concern over the HIV crisis. At this point, she didn’t need the industry to make money and instead did stripping, nude modeling, and running her personal fan club.
Seka came back to cumming on camera for a bit in the nineties until moving on to other things. Since then, Seka has appeared on and hosted radio and talk shows as well as being featured in documentaries. As is typical, she’s had to defend her adult films and done so fiercely. If I had done all of the work Seka has done, I would do so with the same vigor, especially if I were also a member of the AVN Hall of Fame.
PornDude’s final words
If you already had or recently discovered your taste for the classics, it sadly is hard to find them. Sure, you can find them on popular tube sites, but good luck if they stay up for long. With modern studios filing takedown notices, it wouldn’t surprise me if the IP holders of retro porn are going to allow cyberpiracy to copy their movies.
So, there’s no guarantee that you can always see them whenever you want.
Good thing then, I know of a place to the best vintage smut. One tube seems to have gotten permission (somehow) with hosting nothing but complete vintage porn movies. The issue I have with some posts is that the quality can be crap, and you run the risk of getting malware if you download them. However, if you want hard copies, you can keep forever, look up my commentary on The Classic Porn.
I can think of no better example of an online DVD retailer that has a mammoth library with thousands of DVDs from the ’90s going all the way back to the 1960s. With such a collection, I can virtually guarantee you will see the work of the last century’s legends mentioned here.
Since this post is sure to arouse nostalgia feels, send it to your friends who were fapping to these movies back in the day. While you’re at it, tell them to look up the rest of my posts and get excited about what is to come.
Just wait, I’m sure it’ll make you cum and want to keep coming back for even more.
