Photo credit:
Chad Doering

 

What was the guy in 'N Sync thinking? After all, Ron Jeremy is one of the most well-known porn stars in the world. And yet Joey Fatone still used "Ron Jeremy" as his alias while staying at a Canadian hotel. Too bad the real Ron Jeremy was also a guest at that same spot. The veteran porn star spent the night answering the phone, trying to convince young girls that he wasn't their teen idol. And the teen idol had to deal with some very confused friends of Ron Jeremy.

You might have heard about that merry mix-up on MTV, or read about it in the millennium issue of Time. Ron Jeremy's name tends to pop up everywhere. Now his amazing story has been captured in Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy. The documentary follows Jeremy's transformation from Seventies porn stud to the pudgy performer now known as "The Hedgehog."

The adult film industry has been baffled to see a fat 48-year-old man emerge as porn's most recognizable face. Still, Jeremy's earned his fame. His initial work was in pictures that helped fuel porn's VHS boom of the early Eighties. Coed Fever, Wanda Whips Wall Street and Pink Champagne were popular titles that brought Jeremy into many people's homes. And 1979's Olympic Fever is still infamous for the scene in which Jeremy casually fellates his own ten-inch cock. (Jeremy on learning that trick: "I just bent over to tie my shoes one day....")

Jeremy's increasing weight over the years is often cited as part of his longevity in the porn world, because he's the one adult actor who resembles the market's target audience. A lot of credit should also go to Jeremy's charisma. The guy knows how to work a room, and he's managed to turn his underground career into mainstream film appearances. Jeremy's rotund figure appears in any number of mainstream flicks, including Detroit Rock City, Orgazmo and TNT's biopic of George Wallace. In fact, legendary director John Frankenheimer has been casting Jeremy in his films ever since the porn star helped as a consultant on 1986's 52 Pick-Up.

The busy actor still finds time to act in adult productions such as Booty Duty 5 and Sluts, Butts and Housewives. Jeremy has also become a proper rock 'n' roll icon, with his name invoked in songs by acts such as Sublime. And he's frequently seen on MTV in videos for performers including Kid Rock.

As a well-loved American entertainer, Ron Jeremy was certainly welcome at Hugh Hefner's recent 75th birthday party at the Playboy Mansion. Jeremy brought Hef a gift-wrapped Boogie Nights prop (a VHS box of the fictional porn film Oral Majority starring Dirk Diggler and Rollergirl). In between hitting the buffet and chatting with Playmates, he talked to Playboy.com about his dad's boner, sex with senior citizens and the very few adult film starlets who got away.

Playboy.com: How often do people say that you were in the first porn film they ever saw?

Ron Jeremy: Always, and I always like to hear that. Of course, it dates me back to, like, 23 years ago. That's back when most of the girls I'm working with now were born. But I'm still here, and I've still got a boner -- without the use of Viagra! A lot of the new guys have to use that stuff. I never use drugs of any kind. Well, I smoked a little pot in college, but that was it. I don't drink, I don't even take aspirin. I'm getting scared, though. I hear it's harder to get erections as you get closer to 50. But my dad's 84 and he can still get a boner.

PB: How did that come up in conversation?

RJ: That came up filming the documentary. One of the funniest things in the movie is when my dad tells me he has a girlfriend. I ask if he wears a rubber at his age, and my dad says he doesn't see the HIV virus hitting senior citizens. I ask, "What if the doctor says you've got the virus and you have 15 years to live?" My dad says, "I'd want that in writing!"

PB: Are you on good terms with your whole family?

RJ: Oh, yeah. I'm the only oddball. They're all doctors, lawyers and teachers. We have folks in government. I have six years of college heading towards a master's degree. I taught retarded children for a year. Then in 1978, my girlfriend sent my picture to Playgirl. My picture ran in their "Guy Next Door" section. It's the issue that had John Ritter on the cover. That was when I was young and skinny and had something called a waist. Now the stomach is big, but the penis sticks out more.

PB: That stomach's a trademark now.

RJ: It's a character actor's stomach. A lot of my fans are the usual raincoaters, but so many kids know me now from mainstream films. It seems like every college kid has seen Orgazmo, which I did with Trey Parker from South Park. When I do nightclub appearances, half of my audience isn't old enough to get in. I have to go out to the parking lot to sell T-shirts.

PB: You're like the ambassador of porn.

RJ: I've made it to a certain plateau. Another thing is all the marketing with me on it. There are Ron Jeremy T-shirts all over the world. They just came out last week with Ron Jeremy rolling papers. I get people calling me up, saying, "I can't believe I'm smoking a joint with your face on it!"

PB: Do male porn stars get to hang out with Playmates?

RJ: Oh, I'm friends with a whole bunch. One of my best friends has dated two of them: Shae Marks and now Barbara Moore. They're both great girls with wonderful personalities. I did South Beach Academy with Julie Cialini. I've done a lot of projects with Julie McCullough. There was a Daily Show skit with us as conventioneers. I did another film with Ava Fabian, and I've dated a few. Not many, just a couple. I can't compare with James Caan.

PB: Do Playmates have to worry about you trying to get them to do porn?

RJ: No, but there have been some major names ready to do porn films. I directed John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut, and we sold 80,000 tapes. It was the biggest-selling porn tape of all time, until the Pamela and Tommy Lee video was released. LaToya Jackson was about to do porn after the Bobbitt tape. She was married to John Wayne Bobbitt's manager. The deal was that Bobbitt would be the first, and then LaToya would do a film, with her getting a big chunk of cash.

Then, right before we were about to shoot, she asked if she actually had to have sex. She wanted a stand-in. We had to say, "Well, that would be cheating." But that tape would've sold better than anything in the history of porn.

PB: Do you ever worry about turning into some kind of unapproachable porn diva?

RJ: No, I've always liked it when people come up and say hello. It doesn't take that long to sign an autograph. It's really terrible when you can't sign them. Recently, I was at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the WWF Smackdown. I entered the auditorium, and the entire audience started screaming my name. Everyone thought it was part of the show. The Rock and Will Smith were there, but everyone was yelling my name. I thought it was great, but then they all started coming at me for autographs. There was no way I could have signed them all. I was just asking people to please not be offended. But otherwise, I encourage stalking.

PB: Does having sex off-screen ever interfere with your work?

RJ: You have to get around that. The trick is to not have an orgasm in private. That's what screws you up. If you're going to be having sex in front of the camera later, then hold off on the orgasms.

PB: Aren't women upset that they don't get to make you come?

RJ: Oh, they're fine. The girls I date now understand that I'm in the business.

PB: What bothers you the most about porn now?

RJ: What really gets me is all the girls I never get to work with. It was a lot easier back in the Eighties. I could work with all of them. There was such a select gang of stars. Now, there are so many girls out there. The only ones who got away from me back in the Seventies were Annette Haven and Jessie St. James. Now there are Wicked contract girls and Vivid contract girls and VCA contract girls. They're exclusive to one company, and how many scenes am I going to do for one company? You have to admire Jenna Jameson for being able to establish herself as a star with all those girls around. I haven't done her, though.

PB: Do you have any advice for guys trying to break into porn?

RJ: I tell them the truth, which is that you have to bring a girl. Single men can't get a job. Bring a girl to work with, and you'll get a job immediately. They always want couples. There are agencies you can call in the phone book -- World Modeling being the biggest -- but they're not going to see you unless you're working with a girl. That is, unless there's a gang bang being shot. Then they'll need every dick they can find. The problem is that you'll be on a set surrounded by a bunch of hairy guys.

Now, a single girl can get a job even if she's average-looking. There's always work for a new girl. We've got all these beautiful Russian girls and Czechoslovakian girls coming in. They're gorgeous with natural bodies, and they'll do anything. Most of the American girls are dancers coming into the business, and they're very selective about what they'll do and who they'll work with. These foreign girls will work with anybody.

PB: Looking back, do you have a favorite sex scene that you've done?

RJ: I hope that I keep having new favorite moments, but it was pretty great back in the Seventies and Eighties. There was no Viagra, and people didn't have to be tested for AIDS every month. You'd see a gorgeous girl on the set and go right over and hide the bacon. But the girls are looking better all the time. And the older I get, the younger the girls look.

If you want to see something that really captures me as a lover, there's Deep Throat II and John Leslie's Fresh Meat and recently there's been San Fernando Jones & the Temple of Poon. Maybe my best scene is in a film called Put It In Reverse, Part 3. That has me doing 14 girls at once. Some name actresses in the biz, too. And I had to keep changing rubbers while maintaining a boner.

PB: You have a reputation as a real stunt cock. A lot of people were surprised when you got it up for a senior citizen in 87 & Still Banging.

RJ: That was for me one of the most socially redeeming films I've done in my life. I wanted to prove that you're never too old to enjoy yourself. It was an important film to do. There were so many jokes and so little sex on the screen. But the woman was actually advertising in the papers to find lovers. That's how the video company found her. A lot of the video is me interviewing her, and she complains that she can't find men her age who can achieve an erection. I say, "Rose, men your age have been dead for ten years!" It was really cute, and it's kind of like karma. When I'm in my eighties, there's going to be a woman in her forties who'll do me.

PB: Do you have a favorite porn film that doesn't star Ron Jeremy?

RJ: If I'm not in it, I don't give a fuck about it. My favorite films with me don't even have anything to do with the sex scenes. I'm proud of films like Roommates and Fascination. They're usually the older ones shot on film, where I get to do some acting.

PB: And now it's all shot on video. You've been around long enough to see technology change porn for the worse.

RJ: I've taken it further, too. Me and Sharon Kane did a sex scene about ten years ago that was shot for a hologram. The idea was that we would appear lifelike right in somebody's living room. We did it in front of guys in lab coats, and I had to time my pop shot right smack to the millisecond. But nothing ever came of it. Everybody knows that the adult industry leads the way in technology. Eventually, there will be less need for porn actors. I think the day will come when there will be a lifelike doll in your living room. The face will have a moving image, so it becomes your favorite porn actress. You can fuck Seka or whoever else you want to have sex with.

PB: We recently reviewed interactive porn DVDs and noticed that you never once saw a male actor's face.

RJ: Now imagine those DVDs combined with a device that you can stick your dick into. That's the wave of the future. You'll even be able to adjust it to your body tone. If you're heavy -- well, then they'll use me. You can look down and see a stomach that matches your own. The penis will always be large, but it'll look like your body.

PB: Do you feel any closer to retirement?

RJ: My standard answer is that I'll stop when I find my penis under my pillow. Or maybe it'll pop off in my hand when I'm taking a piss: "Oh, man, there's my cock. Guess that's over." The real answer, of course, is that I'll quit when I stop having erections. Financially, I'm pretty OK. I could quit the business if I ever got a major part in a mainstream film. I'd be crazy not to. And then there's the matter of a family. I may want to settle down someday, and you shouldn't have a family and be in porn. A lot of people do it, but it's really hard to maintain the relationship.

PB: But what about the women who'll be going into the adult industry so they can work with you?

RJ: I wish to God that there was some truth to what you just said, but there isn't. Some girls are really happy to work with me, and some even request me. Maybe they want to work with me because I'm legendary, but most of them say it's because their friends want them to work with me. Mostly their guy friends. And then there's a very select few girls who'd prefer not to work with me. You see that in the documentary. You still brought up the worst part about quitting. I'll be married and some gorgeous girl will be asking to do a scene with me. There I'll be, saying "Oh, fuck, I'm out of the business." I dunno. Maybe I could get my wife to hold the camera.