Behind the Scenes with John Holmes John Holmes is arguably one of the most influential and important figures in the entire adult film industry. Before he became an adult film star he lived with his wife and worked a humble job as a forklift operator. However, the rigors of this job which entailed a lot of heavy maneuvering and going from inhaling freezer air temperatures to the desert air caused many health problems for Holmes. His biggest problem was a collapsed lung which he suffered from on and off for a period of nine months. While Holmes was recovering from his illness, he frequented a mens club to play cards. One night while he was there, a photographer was standing next to him at a urinal in the mens bathroom and noticed the extraordinary size of his penis. This man encouraged Holmes to do pornography and in the late 1960s he began to do magazine work, but had to keep it a secret from his wife.

In the early years of his porn career, Holmes was often referred to as another name or as the Sultan of Smut. Holmes had a very early success with films such as Deep Throat, The Devil in Miss Jones, and Behind the Green Door. At the height of his career, porn had become very chic in a way, but many people still argued about whether it should be legal or not. In the heat of all of this debating, Holmes was arrested for pimping and pandering, but he was able to stay out of jail by becoming an informant for the Los Angeles Police Department. The era of porn that Holmes gained his popularity from was much, much different from the way it is today. In the late seventies, it was reported that he was making upwards of $3000 a day as a porn actor, which was much more than any other actor was making at the time. This was a time when pornography producers looked for acting talent in the stars and not just aesthetic characteristics. Today, being well endowed or having large breasts can compensate for a lack of personality or acting chops.

John Holmes was by far one of the most famous porn stars of all time and appeared in over 2500 loops, stag films, and porno movies in the seventies and eighties. He was most widely known for his gigantic penis, although its exact dimensions were unknown. Sadly, Holmes passed away in 1988 when he lost a long fought battle with AIDS.