the prince of porn lived a far from glamorous existence
The name John Holmes is synonymous with pornography. From the mid-Sixties until the early Eighties, the legendary adult movie actor starred in more than 2,000 pornographic films, gaining worldwide 'fame' for being both extremely well-endowed and unusually sexually permissive.
Holmes' lifestyle reflected the apparently glamorous world of the porn industry and it's associated trappings, leading to a heavy cocaine dependency resulting in eventual erectile dysfunction and his subsequent 'career' downturn. The lavish life John Homes led hid a tragic and confused man.
Born on a kitchen table to (the then-unwed) Mary Estes in 1944, John Curtis Estes was aged four when his stepfather Edward Holmes began to take him to 'Sunday School', a ritual John willingly continued for another decade or so.
At age twelve, John was introduced to sex by a woman three times his age, and by age 16 had joined the U.S. Army, being stationed at Nuremberg in 1960.
In 1963, the then 19 year old Holmes was discharged from the Army, and married nurse Sharon Gebenini 2 years later aged 21. By 1966 he had begun to appear in gay porn films, and filmed his first ‘feature’ flick in 1969.
Despite his marriage, Holmes was arrested for pimping and pandering in 1972, and reputedly became an informer to escape the charges. His character ‘Private Investigator Johnny Wadd’ made his film debut later that year.
In 1981, four friends of Johns’ robbed (drug dealer) Eddie Nash's house at gunpoint of $100,000 in cash, $150,000 in jewelry, eight pounds of cocaine, a kilo of heroin, and 5,000 Quaaludes.
Holmes had received $3000 for unlocking the back door to Nash’s home the previous evening, plus a share the cocaine. Nash persuaded Holmes to confess, then the two men raided the Laurel Canyon hideout of Holmes’ acquaintances and murdered them all.
In 1982, John Curtis Holmes was charged with murder and was divorced by his wife Sharon upon his subsequent incarceration to await trial. Yet after only six months of jail time, Holmes was acquitted of all charges.
Just one year later, John made the gay porno ‘The Private Pleasures of John C. Holmes’ with Joey Yale, an bisexual porn actor who was HIV positive. The set was not a ‘safe-sex’ environment, and when Joey Yale died of an AIDS-related illness in 1986, John also tested positive to HIV, but did nothing to curtail his ways.
In 1987, a confused and ill Holmes married porn actress and prostitute Laurie Rose (aka Misty Dawn), at ‘The Little Chapel of the Flower in Las Vegas”. John is quoted as saying: "I think I'm married. I'm all fucked up. I'm not sure, but I've got a ring, Laurie's with me and I think we're married."
Eleven months later, Holmes' bride said goodbye to him as he lay dying of AIDS. At age just 44, the worlds’ first porn ‘superstar’ made himself an unhappy example of the personal erosion that an unhealthy sexuality and morally bankrupt life can bring.
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