Gay-listers (Images via respective studios)
One: Generally speaking, it's thought that women probably emotionalize sex a bit too much for their own good. But if that's true, then men definitely mythologize it too much for our own good. We can sometimes treat our partners like crap while still holding our heads up high, yet can wax nostalgic about unbelievably satisfying sexual encounters, revering them as if they were religious experiences.
Two: For gay men, with no societal instruction on what happens when two guys fall in love or even just lust, pornography was for decades the primary means by which we could find those answers.
Perhaps those two observations help to explain why we take our porn so very seriously, why we could probably talk for hours about specific scenes that opened our eyes to new activities of which we'd previously never dreamed, and why we are so madly in love with certain familiar faces (and other parts) who seemed to teach us how to do “it” and gave us permission to stop worrying our parents would find out so we could simply enjoy being pigs — at least on occasion.
The clone and only Al Parker (GIF via GIPHY)
With all of that out of the way, what follows is my highly subjective list of “History's 250 Greatest Gay-Porn Stars.” (Note the hyphen, because I have no way of knowing which of these guys were/are gay-for-pay stars, I just know I've seen them in at least one dirty movie targeted to gay men.)
Image at R: Matthew Rush (Image via MySpace)
In choosing which guys to feature and where to feature them, I'm using my own taste; my impressions as a former gay-porn industry professional (I worked for Torso, Honcho, Inches, Playguy, Mandate) as to each actor's overall impact during his career; each performer's observable longevity as an icon; and each performer's groundbreaking status, if any.
The upper part of the list is top-heavy with classic performers, and I think that is as it should be; this is not a snapshot of who's hot at the moment, but an attempt to catalogue the men who've made the industry over the past 50 years.
That said, I've also gone out of my way to give props to guys working today who I think have already made enough of a mark to warrant inclusion.
It's not science, so please don't flunk me.
I am offering a ranked Top 40, and the rest are in alphabetical order — while I felt confident justifying my Top 10, 20 and 40, beyond that, deciding who is #84 vs. #175 felt arbitrary. The twins entry counts as one, the two entries with couples count as two apiece.
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It's sobering how many of them are dead — few from the Golden Age of gay adult films (let's say the '70s through 1990?) didn't contract HIV since they were working condom-free both on- and often off-screen. Many others have succumbed to vices perhaps more common among guys who sell sex than among the general population. That's another thing to think about, how porn is a lot like the United States — obsessed with sex but too ashamed of it to deal with our interest in it, or to deal with the very real issues that pop up among those who make the porn we order but who are often shunned in practice while being venerated in theory.
The stigma is changing, slowly but surely, as words like “hustler” are replaced by “sex worker,” and as young'uns are, increasingly, exploiting their own sex lives via social media, making it highly likely that we will have our first dick-pic or beaver-pic POTUS sooner rather than later. I've made sure to include some of the guys who are leading the way on OnlyFans and other services.
Speaking of the dead, I've attempted to include their years of birth and death (along with the cause). If I have gotten any of this wrong, I would appreciate your comments.
Want some towhead? The titular stars of 1983's Leo & Lance (Image via Catalina)
If you are any of these guys, have information on any of these guys' birth dates, death dates, what they were like in person (if you met them), where they may be now, or any other tidbits — or if you would like to politely inform me I've left someone out — please do comment. I look forward to it, and I hope to avoid some of the eye-rolling vitriol the original post engendered. (Lists are never definitive. I'm not killing your mom by forgetting someone you jerked off to.)
If there is someone on the list you've never heard of, new or old, don't be proud of that — look them up.
If lists or porn or ranking people turn you off, move on.
No strings attached! (GIF via GIPHY)
And finally, if lists do turn you on, check out my lists of:
“History's 100 Hottest Movie Actors,”
“History's 100 Hottest TV Actors”
“Golden Oldies: 100 Most Memorable Golden Girls Guest Spots of All Time”
“Dead Reckoning: Which Year Was the Worst for Celeb Deaths?”
“History's 150 Best TV Theme Songs”
“RE: Runs—20 TV Shows That Were Gone Too Soon”
Enjoy this latest (my all-time greatest?) list ...
Twenty, 50 — who's counting? (Image via Treasure Island Media)
#40 Dawson (b. 1973)
This guy had the mystique component of being a porn star down pat, even in the digital age, when mystique could easily be dispelled with the click of a mouse. He was a pioneer of sorts, becoming perhaps the first well-known gay-porn star in the HIV era to be HIV positive and to shoot bareback movies, most notoriously Dawson's 20 Load Weekend (2004), dubbed “the most important gay porn film ever made” by Huffington Post and compared to child porn by Dan Savage for its potentially negative message
Uber handsome, Dawson's louche, almost blasé acceptance of loads from any- and everyone titillated an audience used to resolutely safe-sex commercial fare. With Dawson, they felt they were watching someone doing what he wanted, what he needed to do, come what may.
The Treasure Island staple has spoken about being addicted to the white stuff, saying:
To me, life is about experiencing ... going through what life has to offer.
All of it.
Then, he stopped working — and remains a legend to many.
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After appearing in things like Fortune Nookie (1998), he broke into the mainstream. (Image via video still)
#39 Brandon Lee (Michael Hernandez, b. 1979)
The most famous Asian-American gay-porn star of all time, Brandon Lee — his name chosen in tribute to the fallen action star who died four years before Lee's XXX debut — was discovered by Chi Chi LaRue in a gay bathhouse and went on to become a reliable top in a slew of films beginning in 1997.
At the time Chi Chi recruited him, Lee was an active-duty member of the military, and he continued making porn while serving his country. He tried outing himself to his commander to get booted, but was greeted with a friendly joke about “Navy” standing for “Need Any Vaseline Yet?” and served out his contract through 2003, the same year he graduated from Le Cordon Bleu.
Armed with his degree, he went from porn to catering with a 2010 move to San Francisco, where his tagline was, “Want to taste something ... naughty?”
Image at R: Hot stuff! (Image by Adam Bouska/NOH8)
Lee was a gay-porn trailblazer, overcoming a fake story that he was discovered delivering Chinese food to a porn set (he's Filipino-American, BTW) and breaking free of Asian-niche porn to not only become a rare example of a sexual Asian man in pop culture, but an Asian top in porn.
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I interviewed Eric in '98, leading to this thank-you sig. (Image via Torso)
#38 Eric Hanson (b. 1969)
Somehow, this iconic star was omitted from my first stab at this list — mea culpa.
Gorgeous Eric, he of the movie-star looks, was one of the primary Falcon faces in the late '90s ahead of his sudden retirement in 2003. Before it was all over, Jersey-born Hanson made a huge impression on the world of porn, perhaps most memorably getting stuffed by Jack Simmons in The Freshmen (1997) — which he recalled as his debut.
Ageless Hanson was spotted in a Florida gay club by Boomer Banks in 2016. (Image via Boomer Banks)
Hanson, who had gotten into porn via a talent scout who met him at the Copa in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, told Vincent Lambert in 2000 he was more bi when he started, but left the business more gay. He also offered this exchange:
VL: Is there any special fantasy you’d like to act out?
EH: I would love to be gang-banged by an entire football team — right there on the field, right during half-time. And televised! (laughs) That would be hot. They could shoot their loads all over me — totally flood me.
VL: Would you say you’re an exhibitionist?
EH: No.
Oh, Eric, please make a comeback with that scene as the centerpiece.
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Decked out (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
#37 Carter Dane (b. 1992)
This impossibly handsome French Canadian flight attendant has soared in porn, racking up Grabbys, Str8UpGayPorn Awards, and his fans' undivided attention thanks to his passionate bottoming and his humble attitude. CockyBoys is his perfect match, in that Dane's sensuality and eroticism are lovingly on sale, building on his boyfriend-experience vibe.
Images at R: Lovebirds (Images via Carter Dane)
He's so perfect as a bottom that he became one of the rare porn stars to make a topping debut instead of the other way around, with Levi Karter doing the catching in All Saints (2018).
A true beneficiary of the power of social media, Dane's been able to express who he is, capitalizing on his personal life in a way previously unheard of in an industry whose biggest stars' private lives were almost completely opaque, outside a few stray rumors about off-set hookups.
Great Dane (Image via CockyBoys)
Partnered with Alex Mecum (pictured above right; find him elsewhere on this list) and with a seemingly good head on his shoulders, the only way is up for this one.
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Wanna wrassle? (Image via Manshots)
#36 Jon Vincent aka John St. Vincent aka Dave Phillips (Jeffrey James Vickers, 1962-2000/heroin O.D.)
If you like 'em manly, by whatever definition, Louisiana-born stud Vincent — who was almost a pro baseball player until a drug scandal sank him — was your man. A hulking, aggressive top, it has been said that working with him was a challenge for even the most experienced taker.
He sizzled in dozens of films, most memorably Deep Inside Jon Vincent (1990), Bi Intruder (1991) and Every Inch a Man (1998), during a 15-year career that spanned only a few dozen films.
Vincent was rumored to have dated Joey Stefano. Imagine that match-up. His bio was A Thousand and One Night Stands by H. A. Carson.
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A porn legend who couldn't overcome his demons (Images via various studios)
#35 Mike Henson (Kenneth Seymour, 1963-2002/heroin overdose)
Henson wasn't prolific in the adult world, but most of the titles he appeared in were classics thanks in no small part to his very large part.
In particular, who can ever forget him in Big Guns (1987), one of the best — if not the best — gay sex flicks ever made, or his 1986 scene with Brian Maxon in Two Handfuls?
Henson had drug problems that precipitated his death at 38, and knowing he had HIV was no help. The best obituary for him — and one of the only obits on the 'Net for any porn star of the '90s and earlier — is this one, by his former roommate.
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Monsieur X (Image via AEBN)
#34 Cutler X (b. 1964)
If you haven't heard of Cutler X, you probably aren't a size queen. He of the baby-arm-sized endowment — who has been known to use his actual arm at times, too — is a bearded power top who has been in the biz since 2004, working for Dragon Media, Raging Stallion and others.
In 2015, assessing his career and his presentation, Cutler X said in Interview:
Years ago, I would not do porn unsafe because it seemed that people were being influenced by porn stars. Like, “Oh, if they are doing it, it’s okay.” Well, it wasn’t always okay. Now there is medication [that] gives a person the option to have unprotected sex and not become positive. So what does that have to do with fashion? Sex and fashion run together. In my own life, I dress in a way that I think will provoke people’s eyes to look at me and to want to have sex with me. If I can find clothing that is beautiful, that is socially acceptable or socially challenging, that would make me look and feel sexy, I like it.
His career only got better as he continued working, a true rarity in porn.
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On the Chase (Image via Falcon)
#33 Chase Hunter (b. 1964)
The mustache that launched a thousand rides, this classic type — he'd look great in leather, as a cowboy, behind a bar, with a bandanna of any color in any pocket — was a fairly constant presence from 1993-2007, though never doing the 20 movies/umpteen scenes a year that some lesser actors have been compelled to do.
Just absolute perfection in the Basic Plumbing (1993-2007) series, he has been an escort in Florida as recently as the past several years, fulfilling fantasies one transaction at a time.
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Wanna make a few bucks? (Image via movie still)
#32 Kip Noll (Thomas Earl Hagen?, c. 1957- or 1958-2001?)
He's been called the first-ever “twink star,” and that sounds about right ... who else, in the '70s, did the jailbait thing as prominently as Noll? He goes so far back he was in the silents — silent porn loops, that is. And with his William Higgins films, he helped popularize the trend of branding a last name so that newcomers could be introduced as a star's brother or cousin, hence Scott, Bob, Jeff Noll.
He was memorable in Grease Monkeys (1979), Room Mates (1980), Brothers Should Do It (1981) and Class of 84 (1984).
Note that there was some info online about his real name and about dying of a heart attack in 2001, but there is considerable confusion as to whether this was the same person as the iconic Noll.
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Our sweet Lord (Image via Falcon)
#31 Kris Lord aka Kris Kayman (b. 1973)
It blows me away to realize Lord started making porn over 25 years ago. I wish YouTube had existed; a viral video could've been made of reaction shots based on how gay guys' faces looked when they first got a load of Lord's what-a-man!hood.
In flicks like Grapplin' (1992), it was always fun watching his bottom co-stars struggling to do their duties. Didn't make that many movies, believe it or not, and only between 1991 and 1997. I'd have sworn he made dozens before researching this (33,000-plus-word???) post.
Cream of the crop (crop of the cream?): Down Home (1992), Driving Hard (1992) and Tough Parts (1992).
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He is big ... it's the videos that got small. (Image via Hot House)
#30 Rocco Steele (b. 1969)
The Pig Daddy Prince of Porn, Steele has the biggest, thickest tool in the toolbox — taking him to the hilt has become a rite of passage for porn's modern bottoms, maybe more so after his iconic pounding of Armond Rizzo went viral.
Huge, tatted up, bearded, and a total fantasy daddy for size queens, Steele is somewhat unique among name-brand porn stars in that he has been openly HIV positive for years — and fucks raw on film, something he has done with both HIV positive models and HIV negative models on PrEP. In this way, he is changing the face of HIV. He told Mark's List in 2015:
I'm in an amazing place right now. I have always been very spiritual and live a life of self-examination, so as soon as I found out about my status three years ago, I was able to reconcile the feelings I had very quickly. I had a healthy perspective from the start. I owned it and wanted to get on meds immediately so that I could get my viral load down as low as I could so my body would be healthy and my ability to transmit would be reduced. I became undetectable after 30 days on meds. I take my meds religiously and I don't drink any alcohol or take any drugs. I see my doctor regularly for lab work and I am effectively managing my HIV.
Having only been in porn since 2014 — he got into it to raise cash for his underwear line — Steele has clearly already left his mark on the industry, and probably left some kind of permanent mark on more than a few bottoms whose eyes were bigger than their rectums.
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Making Porn: Manchester (left), Dane Ford (center) & John Rocklin (right) (Images via Catalina)
#29 Eric Manchester (Ronald Liter, 1964-2023)
You don't need to know much more about my sexuality beyond my fixation on this Italian stallion, who made a huge mark on the movies of the mid-to-late '80s.
I can't get enough of him in Spokes II: The Graduation (1988) or, of course, In Your Wildest Dreams (1988). He did his work aggressively, leaving no bone unturned, with an intensity that was just this side of scary.
He had the kind of handsome looks that boys from the wrong side of the tracks have when they're young, which is when they use them to get away with enough to last them though their golden years.
An adult star with a mullet gives new meaning to “business up front, party in the back.”
I still have an escort ad he placed in one of NYC's gay rags probably 25 years ago. It was tempting.
I discovered his 2023 death totally by accident, after Googling his real name.
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Forever young (Images via Falcon)
#28 Kurt Marshall (James Allen Rideout Jr., 1965-1988/kidney failure due to drug abuse & AIDS)
“Die young, stay pretty” never applied more than to blond boytoy/struggling college kid James Rideout, who worked in the biz as Kurt Marshall. Only on the scene for a handful of films in the '80s, he died of AIDS less than four years — and only four films — after his debut in Sizing Up (1984). His other appearances were in The Other Side of Aspen II (1984), Splash Shots (1984) and Night Flight (1984).
His legend lives on because, due to an accident of fate and to his own sexual talents, he only appeared in A-plus productions, all of which survive prominently in our memories.
Blond ambition
Marshall was a troubled but thoughtful young man. According to Unnatural Quotations by Leigh W. Rutledge, he once said:
I think to be gay is to be blessed. We have so much freedom, so many choices. This isn't our moment to party or to think we're going to stay young forever...
Alas, he did both.
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#27 Armond Rizzo (b. 1990)
Born in Aurora, Illinois, Rizzo grew up a preppy Mexican boy who was chastised by his family for being too white, and for being too open to black people. Ironically, as one of the most famous superbottoms in the history of porn — and certainly one of the most inarguably gay-household names to enter porn in the past 10 years — Rizzo wound up becoming well-known for opening up to black men, and for opening up to dicks of absolutely any size, with the greatest of ease. He's a giver. (Or rather, a taker.)
The 4'11" Rizzo claimed to The Sword that he lost his anal virginity on a 12-inch penis as an 18th-birthday celebration, but that sounds like fan fiction. Regardless of the reason, his ability to take all comers is the white stuff of legend; a bareback scene between him and (fell0w Top 40 star) Rocco Steele should make any Top 40 list of the hottest moments in gay porn.
He said of losing his virginity:
It was more the person. This person was there for me through my parents’ divorce and really empowered and motivated me a lot. The connection we had … that made it easy to take. You kind of lose yourself in those moments during sex when you have a close connection with somebody. That’s why I was able to take it, which led to me now being able to handle such monster dicks. It was pretty amazing. A little painful, but it was softened by the connection.
Rizzo was recruited into porn by actor Shane Frost, with whom he'd chatted on Jack'd, but it was a natural progression — the self-described freak was always more suited for getting banged for money than he was for the Navy or culinary school (previous dead ends).
Considering the fact that there's a fan-made compilation video called Armond Rizzo Takes 29 Loads in 32 Minutes, it's clear that post-unmanageable HIV, gay porn is continuing to head into “batter is better” territory.
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Hiya, Sailor! (Images via Falcon)
#26 Bill Henson (Douglas Maxon, 19?-1994 or 1995/AIDS)
This one is my personal all-time favorite. Why? For starters, he was A-list-model beautiful with a perfect body that wasn't too ruthlessly worked out and did not look like a bottom while being exactly that, notably for directors William Higgins in Sailor in the Wild (1983) and Matt Sterling in A Matter of Size (1983). His robotic delivery (he was said to be a marine sergeant shy about having gay sex in front of the camera) only made him all the more erotic. Never has a porn star been so
disconnected from his work while simultaneously burning up the screen so intensely. His disappearance has spawned lots of rumors, but he did not retire with his family and live happily ever after. I have it on good authority that he did, in fact, died of AIDS. One record indicates 1995, while a source once close to him tells me 1994. Higgins told me in 2010:
The only information that I have is that I heard, several years ago, that Bill Henson had died of AIDS. I haven't been able to corroborate this information though, so please don't take it as an absolute fact.
For a good time, call ... (Image via The Hot Line)
The mystery of who he was only increases his mystique. I'd love to find out more about him, discover images of him from his non-porn life and learn more details — but that would take his offspring wanting to share that information. Let's hope they do someday.
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Recipient of a Ginger grant (Image via TimTales.com)
#25 Tim Kruger (b. 1981)
One of the current stars most likely to be turning up on lists like these 20 years from now is redheaded German Tim Kruger, who wisely runs his own site, TimTales.com, and controls his own destiny in front of the camera. Seems to have a good head on his broad shoulders (and, of course, cartoonishly huge other things), telling Kaltblut Magazine:
I never did regret my decision to start porn. Porn made things possible for me that I always dreamed about. I travel a lot, meet a lot of great guys (sometimes not-so-great guys, but that's normal), my sex life is absolutely fulfilled and I can live from what I do.
What he's done is a far cry from the old days, when guys made $200 and got sick. I often think of the guys of the '70s and '80s as if they were like the Motown singers who were cheated out of their rightful rewards. While performers today still have to struggle, there's a far greater chance of making a living instead of making a dying.
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If you're thinking of taking a seat, this Davenport would be the place (Image via Catalina)
#24 John Davenport aka Jon Davenport (b. 19?)
Now we're cookin'!
This guy has a supersexy late '70s/early 80s look about him and what amounts to a third leg, not to mention a coupla jumbo-sized eggs on him.
He was always a stunning top, never more so than in Big Guns (1987), when he angrily brushes off his partner's plea to take it easy so his girlfriend won't see any marks on his butt.
Also superb in Bigger They Come (1986), In Hot Pursuit (1987), Bad Boys Club (1988) and Handtools (1990)
Hiya, big boy (Image via Men of Advocate Men)
He did bottom once, in Bad Boys Club (1988). Rumor has it that he got married (to a woman) after he did some bi roles, and then retired from porn completely.
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Diesel-powered (Image via MySpace)
#23 Diesel Washington (b. 1976)
One of my favorite more current sex stars has to be this guy, who is a spirited, uninhibited top I've watched demolish many. It's like when you see those cocky cowboys who think they can handle the wildest steer at the rodeo — most wind up on their asses.
At one point a Titan exclusive, he is an award winner and one of the most popular men of color in porn history, and a wildly successful escort to boot. He is not shy to discuss issues of race in the adult industry, telling Instinct in 2017:
From the start, I wasn’t doing any stereotyping roles. This includes no thug/homie/homeboy/gangsta … none of that. I was not trying to play characters who had to be black. Then it was overcoming models who had racial hang-ups … which is still a problem. How can I thrive or get work if some models had racial hang-ups? I had to prove how valuable I am by promotion and consistently turning out hot scenes that pushed the limits of this Industry. I had to stand out in every single one and create a brand known for high intense scenes.
So, basically, I had to work five times harder than your average white model. My body had to be on-point all the time. Each performance had to be better than the last one. I wanted the respect from my peers as a performer/model, I wasn't some token black model inputted in scenes just to give the movie some color. I’m not just some BBC on the screen … it was a long road and a lot of work to reach this level.
His disenchantment has led him to departing porn more than once, always leaving it diminished with his absence.
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Tattoo you (Image via Instagram)
#22 François Sagat aka Azzedine (b. 1979)
Known for his distinctive scalp tattoo — which is the hard way to avoid being bald — French muscle god Sagat was a fashion-industry casualty before turning to porn, but he's never abandoned those roots. Even though he tops and bottoms (and does bondage) with the best of 'em, Sagat is just as likely to pop up in your Facebook feed as part of some current fashion line or high-end photo shoot. He is a true cross-over phenom.
Sagat also blogs (irregularly) and has starred in non-porn movies. He may have left fashion after feeling it rejected him, but he's done an amazing job of becoming a style icon in his own right, so that fashion is now coming after him.
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When Rush comes to shove ... (Images via Falcon)
#21 Matthew Rush (b. 1972)
This legendary biracial muscleman got his start in gay porn in 1999. Capitalizing on his bodybuilder's physique, he was a rare non-white performer who criss-crossed between mainstream films and films that fetishized his race, doing more of the former than of the latter. The vers star was perhaps at his peak in 2001's Hazed as a football jock.
A veteran of the Gay Games, an occasional actor (he toured with the stage play Making Porn and was seen in the 2006 comedy flick Another Gay Movie), he retired from porn in 2011, but got right back into the game. He went on to do many Web scenes, extending his career to a full two decades.
When he was arrested on a meth charge in 2017, his ghastly mug shot alarmed his many fans, who feel protective of the latter-day porn icon. He was arrested twice more before entering a drug program.
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His heart's as big as his dick. Well, it's close. (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
#20 Boomer Banks (b. 1980)
One of the first of the new-breed gay-porn stars who were brand-conscious more than simply bouncing from job to job, Boomer Banks — he of the 11-incher — is a rare performer who has successfully blended a personable online presence with hot movies featuring an edgy fashion quotient. He's a designer, flaunting his versatility on-screen and off-.
Devilishly handsome, the uncut icon, who was born in Mexico and raised in California — is also smart and opinionated. In 2017, he spoke out about the prevalence of race-based demands and body-shaming in hookup profiles, a highly controversial position to take in a community married to the defense that such bigotry is just a preference. He told Huff Post:
To me that sign means it’s okay to have preferences ― that’s not something I’m discouraging ― but feeling the need to post those statements on social media? That’s going a little bit further and delving into a racial bias, in my opinion.
Through it all, Banks has maintained a nice-guy image, and shows so signs of slowing down.
Best perfs? His CockyBoys stuff, all the way.
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A Ken-do attitude (Image via Mandate)
#19 Ken Ryker (Gary James Pokorney, b. 1972)
When this monumental Texan stud, the son of a Baptist preacher, hit porn, it was an event. Everyone went nuts for him, he was a major star on impact and his appearance in The Other Side of Aspen IV: The Rescue (1995), Falcon's 100th release, remains one of the most rented (remember when we used to rent porn videos?) of all time.
Ryker identified as bisexual but seemed to be with women more than men and caused some controversy when he got religion, sounding off about his porn past in a way that led people to believe he was disowning it.
Image at L: Ryker in 2019 (Image via Facebook)
He worked for a decade but it's been far longer than that since he made his last film, and judging from the fact that he's a married dad and a Trump voter now, it really was his last film, guys.
Nevertheless, the book The Films of Ken Ryker by Mickey Skee regularly changes hands for over $100 on eBay.
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Slow down, papi! (Image via Wikipedia)
#18 Tiger Tyson (b. 1977)
Debuting in porn in Sweatin' Black (1997) at age 18, this bisexual, African-Puerto Rican stud achieved fame with Tiger's Brooklyn Tails (1998) and was a Latino Fan Club star before forming his own production company, making him a rare and early man of color who was functioning as a producer and director in gay porn.
He left the business 10 years ago, but in 2011, James Earl Hardy wrote the play Confessions of a Homo Thug Porn Star, all about Tiger's rise to fame after doing time in prison. How many so-called legends of gay porn are legendary enough to have their life stories immortalized on the stage?
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But who's counting? (Image via Inches)
#17 Rick Donovan aka Dirk Moon (Roy Michael Artley, b. 1963)
I'm not sure, but I think 10-1/2" was a part of his Christian name. If not, he would've had no trouble persuading the state to change it legally. Donovan was noted for his mind-boggling, rectum-toggling wang. Unlike some later size men, he was pretty good-looking, too, though I've always been a fan of a strong brow. Good at silently smoldering, he was gay porn's Lauren Bacall. Or not. But he sure gave straightish actor Peter North something to think about in The Bigger, the Better (1984). His work stretched from the late '70s until 1994.
Online reports suggest he worked as a bartender in San Diego until several years ago.
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More like Boy.com — the ultimate modern twink. (Images via Men.com)
#16 Johnny Rapid (Hylan Anthony Taylor, b. 1992)
Performing in gay porn since immediately after graduating high school in 2010, Rapid — living up to his chosen name — quickly became a favorite for his daredevil bottoming skills, perhaps most iconically in THAT scene with Rafael Alencar, which must sure be among the most-watched of modern XXX sequences.
Considering he's shot over 200 scenes, mostly for Men.com, it had been a source of consternation among his fans that he originally said he was strictly gay-for-pay. He has since come out as bi.
Unfortunately, a run-in with the law — he was arrested for battery involving the mother of his child in 2015 — besmirched some of his angel-faced innocence, but as with most of the sins in gay porn, that infraction seems to have been forgiven, and he has gone on to continued success and winning awards.
Johnny at the 2017 Str8UpGayPorn Awards (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
He is also that guy who Justin Bieber could've earned $2 million for banging, but if you ask me, the money should've been flowing in the opposite direction.
Follow him on IG here.
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P.R. blitz (Image via Macho)
#15 Antonio Biaggi (John Melecio, b. 1978)
This Puerto Rican top is no stranger to controversy, whether it was working in bareback films before it had reverted to being the gay-porn industry standad, or calling out fellow porn stars for their public drug use on his blog. He has also been accused of race-baiting, and out-and-out racism, including being sued over it.
Image at R: Biaggi's standard answer (Image via Twitter @xxxbiaggi)
But while personae are important in porn, personalities aren't always; even some who might find him abrasive would have to admit he's one of the most mind-boggling tops of the era, due in part to length and in part to unbridled energy. He's fine in the mildest of mild but seems increasingly engaged the wilder the wild. He told Boy Culture (at the time my original list was made) he does not consider himself a “star” or “legend” — but that's why we make and read these lists and he merely appears on them.
He worked for Raging Stallion, for his own pay site and on his Just for Fans.
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The mighty Casey (Image via After Dark)
#14 Casey Donovan (John Calvin Culver, 1943-1987/AIDS)
A sexual libertine and part-time actor-model, Donovan became not just a but the gay porn star by virtue of his starring role in the seminal gay flick Boys in the Sand (1971), directed by Wakefield Poole. Donovan wanted to cross over — how many aspiring actors or models have thought, wrongly, that porn would be a good method of doing so? — but never did, in spite of working in quite a few plays of a non-sexual variety. He was said to have had affairs with Disney actor Tom Tryon and even Superman's Christopher Reeve.
Tryon, Donovan & Reeve (Images via head shots)
By the time I saw anything with Donovan, he was long dead. But I think his appearance in The Other Side of Aspen (1983) alone would have made him a legend even if Boys in the Sand hadn't already. For fans of camp, don't miss him in Ginger (1971) or Score (1973).
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This bottom was at the top of his game (Image via Playguy)
#13 Jon King (John Nelson Gaines, 1963-1995/AIDS)
King was a voracious bottom on film, one of the first exclusive bottoms to become a major star. He started out at 18 doing in movies what he was reputed to be very good at and preoccupied with doing off-screen anyway.
The pleasure he takes from the act is palpable in all of his movies, including those in the '90s when he'd come out of retirement. I remember seeing stills from those and finding them even hotter because it felt like he'd had to return to porn just because he craved that kind of sex again. (When he probably was more interested in making a living and getting his kicks as a fringe benefit.)
An excellent overview of King's life (including a stint in prison) is here, with comments from a couple of guys who had sex with and got to know him. He seems to have been as sweet as he was in his movies, where he thankfully missed the memo that gay sex stars are supposed to be tough, edgy and pseudo-macho.
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Not sure if all blonds do it best, but this one sure did. (Images via Falcon)
#12 Lance (David Alan Reis, 1962-1991/suicide due to AIDS)
Where do you begin with Lance? He was the gay-porn Madonna — one name only, please! This lumbering blond surfer came off as young, dumb and full of come-hither looks that he would happily consummate at length and with gusto.
He definitely had a big one and always seemed thrilled to share it. I think what I liked best about him was the contrast of the blond hair and the natural brown bush.
Lance reportedly grew up in foster-care environments and had a substance-abuse problem, but his issues were never reflected in his work, in which he always came off as carefree and sex-positive, especially in movies like Good Times (1982), Leo & Lance (1983), Big & Thick (1984), Student Bodies (1984) and Blonds Do It Best (1985).
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Something came between him and his Calvins (Image via Falcon)
#11 Leo Ford (1957-1991/motorcycle crash)
I'm a particular fan of brunets, and yet Leo Ford had a blown-out blond look that was pretty undeniable.
Lean, lanky and a sex machine, he appeared in two movies that anyone would be hard-pressed to deny as being among the Top 10 in their genre of all time: Leo & Lance (1983) and Blonds Do It Best (1985), both by William Higgins and both co-starring Leo and his hottest on-screen partner, Lance (who is #12 on this list).
Ford, model (Image via Falcon)
He also apparently dated drag star Divine ... how cool did this guy get???
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His name is Lukas. (Image via Bel Ami)
#10 Lukas Ridgeston (b. 1974)
The face that launched a thousand Bel Ami videos, Bratislava-born Mr. Perfect Lukas Ridgeston was a sensation from his first release in the early '90s (where he had his first sex with a man — Johan Paulik — on a movie set), headlining many of the company's high-profile videos.
His boyish looks, piercing blue eyes, giant endowment and sweet aura have made him a worldwide fan fave, yet one who retired in 2005 and who showed no signs of coming back until the announcement that he would return in 2013 (Work Unfriendly), which led to years of condom-free scenes with the Bel Ami beauty.
He also does still work behind the scenes at Bel Ami, as is the norm for that company.
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The ages of man-on-man. (Images via various)
#9 Brent Corrigan (Sean Paul Lockhart, b. 1986)
Aw, shucks, how could I not include the world's most famous bottom of the past 15 years? Corrigan got an ignominious start when the first producer he worked with in bareback productions was brutally murdered by another actor and an accomplice and Corrigan wound up being involved in getting the culprits on the record all but admitting to their crime. And yet Corrigan bloomed after that, moving into safe-sex-only productions, marketing himself relentlessly and then transitioning to legit acting in Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild! (2008) and Judas Kiss (2011).
With the advent of PrEP, Corrigan segued back into barebacking, and also recast himself as vers.
He's articulate and seems devoid of the defensiveness that plagued earlier stars, unless you count denying (Work Unfriendly) that he advertised his wares on the late, great Rentboy. And with that high-profile Andrew Christian gig and being the subject of a major motion picture (King Cobra, 2016) about his life, Corrigan has crossed over more than most of his peers.
Follow the icon on IG here.
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Into the Wilde (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
#8 Austin Wilde (b. 1983)
One of the most popular of today's actors has to be this biracial beauty. What makes Austin Wilde so special? He has the ability to be a hard-driving top, enough passivity to be a willing bottom, a preppy vibe that suggests you could bring him home to meet your mom, is ethnic, is not so ethnic that he turns off those eye-rolling guys who swear they aren't attracted to anyone with one drop of black blood in them — he's the full package.
Image at R: Mug hot (Image via Guys in Sweatpants)
Asked about whether there is a color barrier in adult movies, he said:
Until just recently, I've never dealt with casting, so, like anyone, I can speculate but I can't say for sure. So, maybe I got lucky? I can say that my personality has probably gotten me pretty far. A positive. and outgoing, personality in this industry will usually do you good (take notes new guys that think you're God's gift to porn). Oh, and my dick.
Despite the bravado, I can report he's very nice in person.
Austin's work with CockyBoys was his calling card, especially all the stuff he did with former real-life partner/sex partner Anthony Romero. He then cemented his legend, getting entrepreneurial with his site GuysInSweatpants.com and is now a total legend and multi-award winner.
Follow him on Twitter.
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“My parents aren't home...” (Images via Falcon)
#7 Kevin Williams (Ted Currall, b. 1965)
This blond superbottom of the '80s (and beyond!) has been entered more times that the front door. I loved his wooden delivery, which never failed to deliver wood because it was like he had no idea that what he was doing on film was nasty. The contrast between him and most of his leading men was pretty stark, whether it be rough-and-tumble Eric Manchester or beefy god Tom Brock or slick professional Jeff Stryker; Williams just always came off as an innocent, albeit one with a perfect butt that could swallow more than Jonah's whale. I mean, he made quite industrious use of that lazy susan in Hot Rods: Young & Hung 2 (1986) — that was the first time I saw two men take advantage of a single man's asset at the same time.
When he made a comeback in '98 and worked through the early '00s, I was shocked to discover he'd survived! A pre-condom bottom pornstar of the '80s that is alive today is pretty rare. I can only think of him and Kevin Wiles who seem to have made it.
Alas, in 2016, when he blocked me on Facebook when I called him out for being a huge Trump supporter. How?! A friend of his wrote me in September 2019 to inform me that Currall is a registered Independent, but that does not change what he said in 2016 when his Facebook image was of Trump.
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Not-so-secret 'stache (Images via Falcon)
#6 Chad Douglas (Martin R. Cox, 1957-1999/AIDS)
This enormous talent is one I'd have been embarrassed for my friends to know I was lusting after back in college. He was already so much older, from a whole different generation, the generation of handlebar mustaches, rings for more than just your finger and, yes, AIDS. If there was (or is) a gay caste, any fun I'd have had with Douglas would've been star-crossed for sure. Yet in spite of the fact that he wasn't my usual type, there was a startling amount of star quality and also sincerity in every scene he filmed, whether it involved a dated leather vest or just him, his third leg and some babbling twink on a couch having second thoughts about agreeing to do this until such time that he would begin having second thoughts about agreeing to let Chad stop when it was over.
I remember him most fondly for, er, challenging the Kevins — Williams and Wiles, don't you? Giant Splash Shots II (1986), Big Guns (1987), Too Big for His Britches (1988) ... the hits kept cummin'.
One of the most fascinating pieces I've ever read about a former adult star was a story by a girl who used to be babysat (pictured) by “Uncle Chad,” a Vice piece (now gone) that shed some light on what pornstars of the past did for day jobs. He was described as a “cool and wonderful” babysitter, and one the kid never knew had sex for cash until after he was dead.
Something else I found interesting about Douglas was the rumor that he had to be taught how to be the ruthless top he was (by superbottom Chris Burns, who lost more than one chair by sitting down) because in life he was much more of a bottom. All the attention to the mystique—the chasm between who pornstars really are and really aren't — gives one pause.
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The late, great Margaret Whiting's favorite J.O. rag (Image via After Dark)
#5 Jack Wrangler (John Robert Stillman, 1946-2009/emphysema)
This macho blond adonis is one industry figure about which a lot is known, primarily because he survived long enough to leave the industry and move into other fields—as well as moving into a much-gossiped-about relationship with legendary chanteuse Margaret Whiting, who was 20 years older than he and, well, a dame.
Born into an entertainment family in Beverly Hills, Wrangler was a child actor in an early TV series but by young adulthood had transitioned into other forms of entertainment: he was a go-go dancer and a stage actor all too eager to strip naked as the part required. This led to his being recruited into guy/guy movies in 1970, when making it was not something desperate straight boys commonly did for easy money, but was also a political statement. He went on to make dozens of gay and straight hardcore flicks — maybe his most famous being Kansas City Trucking Co. (1976), though I always liked a dirty mag I found showing him as a bottoming cowboy — before retiring and working with his life partner, Whiting, on her own career. I saw Dream (1997), a production he created for her around Johnny Mercer's music — did you?
The best way to learn more about him is to see the 2008 documentary Wrangler: Anatomy of an Icon. I saw it and loved it and will always regret that by then he'd already become too ill to attend. He had a Marlboro Man machismo and, as I've said before, Jack Wrangler had one of the industry's best-ever danglers.
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Idolized by millions (Image via Mandate)
#4 Ryan Idol (Marc Anthony Donais, b. 1966)
Considering the number of stars who've been arrested for everything from rape (Tim Barnett) to murder (Sean Cody's Addison, many others), you'd think the title of "ultimate bad boy" would be hard to pin down. But former Playgirl model and gay-household name Ryan Idol walks away with this one for a long series of bad behavior, culminating with his September 2012 sentencing to 12 years in prison fo attempting to murder his girlfriend. Not well liked on the sets of the few flicks he made (less than 10, most with his last name in the title), it was a perhaps unsurprising outcome for a man who it could be argued is one of the best-looking men of the entire genre.
He seemed unstoppable when he debuted in the early '90s, back when more consumers seemed satisfied just to see great-looking guys in sexual situations, no matter whether they might be 100% gay in their private lives. He never bottomed and took a while to warm up to other things, too, but he sure made uncomfortable look pretty.
He was best in Idol Eyes (1990), Idol Worship (1991), Idol Thoughts (1993), Idol Country (1994) and Idol in the Sky (1996). He retired in 1998.
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A bottom who crossed over, slightly, into the mainstream (Image via Falcon)
#3 Joey Stefano (Nicholas Anthony Iacona Jr., 1968-1994/O.D.)
A hugely popular bottom in late '80s and eary '90s films, Stefano became one of the most famous gay adult stars who ever lived, even inspiring a full-length bio after his untimely death from a drug overdose. I vividly remember the hubbub surrounding him, and recall watching him for the first time and being wowed by his relationship with the camera (not to mention with his co-starring penis).
Stefano became even more widely known for admitting to having sex with then-closeted mogul David Geffen, something he referred to while making an appearance on Robin Byrd's NYC-based cable-access show, and for posing in Madonna's 1992 Sex book.
His best? It doesn't get much better, in porn, than More of a Man (1991).
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As a singer, he could've released a 12" and really meant it! (Images via Huge)
#2 Jeff Stryker (Charles Casper Peyton, b. 1962)
Truth be told, I'm not wildly turned on by Jeff Stryker, even though he is inarguably the most famous gay pornstar who's ever lived. But his fabled kickstand is hard to deny and he's been in movies in which he's been surrounded by such primo tail it's impossible not to include him — he's the sun, which you need if you're interested in the rest of the galaxy.
Stryker is the ultimate brand, too — his movies were events the likes of which the industry had never seen and his lifelike dildo is the best-selling of its kind.
Even though he's done bi and straight films and won't commit to being called gay, I think he's basically on our side. After all, he was such a team player in Stryker Force (1987).
Probably his greatest was Powertool (1986), though if you like the ladies, Jamie Loves Jeff (1988) might fill the bill.
I met him at Outfest a few years ago and he was polite. I doubt that back then, even the cast of Brokeback Mountain would have caused the same ruckus as he did amongst the lavender-lens looky-loos.
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Bearing all (Images via Colt)
#1 Al Parker (Andrew “Drew” Okun, 1952-1992/AIDS)
The word “icon” gets tossed about fairly lightly, but if anyone on this list deserves it, it's Parker. The ultimate star for fans of guys with facial hair, this butch, denim-clad Colt Man—the consummate "clone"—made loops and became the face of the popular Surge Studios films.
His biographer, Roger Edmonson, wrote:
Al was a gay everyman, someone guys could identify with, not just stand back and gape at it awed silence. With his cropped hair, neat beard and taut but far-from overdeveloped frame, he looked like them. The look he embodied was one that could be copied by a majority of the men who were making the new gay social and sexual scene.
As well as Inches (1979) and A Few Good Men (1983), Parker was central to the unforgettable The Other Side of Aspen (1983).
He has earned the right to be #1 on any porn list, both for his iconic performances and for his early rise to the top of the heap. There hasn't been another one like him since.
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And now that you've feasted on my Top 40, here are the other 210 who round out my 250, in alphabetical order:
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Gay porn stars have often been treated like pinups. (Image via Jock)
Julian Adams aka Julien Adams (b. 19?)
I realize I say several times on this list that someone is “one of the best-looking” in history, but would I be lying to repeat this regarding Julian Adams? He's so precociously model-hot in every photo — and knows it. His era was the early to mid-'80s, culiminating with his appearance in Dynastud (1986). No one did tan lines quite like him.
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Butt of course! (Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Rafael Alencar (b. 1978)
This Brazilian bombshell has made movies for the past 10+ years, and seems to get better-looking as he goes along. His signature attribute might be his precociously gravity-defying buns, and yet his specialty is merciless pile-driving, as is most famously illustrated by his prison-shower schtupping of Johnny Rapid. He's shorter in real life than you'd think, but stands head-and-shoulders above most when lying on his back.
See above for a 2018 interview in which Alencar announced he would retire from porn ... and also implied he was hired for sex by Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and ... Patrick Swayze!
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Shady (Image via movie still)
Ben Andrews (b. 1985)
One of porn's most anatomically gifted members, Andrews gained infamy in a who's-bigger? battle between himself and Chad Hunt. No matter — the term “horse-hung” is thrown around a lot (well, in certain quarters), but since it applies to both, what's the fuss? The best he ever did? How about 2007's The Intern, in which he's geeked up to play “Ugly Benny?”
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Long career (Image via Falcon)
David Ashfield (b. 1960)
The ultimate dirty blond, David Ashfield got his start as a bottom in Falcon loops, but soon after his calling card became his endowment, which allowed him to appear in such titles as Below the Belt (1985), 9-1/2 Inches (1986) and Full Load: Maximum Oversize (1988). He also had an appealing boy-next-door vibe, making him equally perfect for Campus Jocks (1986), Freshman (1986) and Spring Break (1988). He also worked in a lot of trans videos, back when they had appalling names like — gulp — She Male Sperm Whores (2001). As Aziz Ansari points out in his stand-up, that shit wasn't so long ago!
Ashfield's other claim to fame came in the form of volume — he always made a memorable splash.
He was so good at porn in the pre-Viagra era that he was often called in to do the dirty work for tops who couldn't quite keep up, meaning that on top of his dozens and dozens of credits, he likely had uncredited parts in many more films.
As he told Hot Shots in 1987:
A lot of guys have a dick as long as mine, but most people don't have one as fat as mine. It's 6-1/2" around. And in the movies I can really fuck.
Porn-mag interviews are like job interviews — it's okay to sell yourself. He is rumored to have retired to a farm.
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Mr. Big (Image via ZebAtlas.com)
Zeb Atlas (b. 1970)
This massive (6'3"), muscular, bi top man began working around 2003 after killing it in bodybuilding competitions, and kept it up for nearly 15 years, becoming a muscle daddy favorite among those for whom size matters. He worked his way from body worship to oral (2008) to full anal (also 2008), telling the late David Forest in 2015 his advice to newcomers:
Be ready to get criticized but be strong… and do what your heart says to do. Don’t think that just because you’re straight … you can get away with minimal sexual activity. If you want to make good money … you have to be very good at the sex. Kissing and being orally versatile (front and back) is mandatory. If you can handle being versatile in anal … great. I’m only a top because that’s just what my body dictates. I have done everything possible [to try bottoming].
He runs his own, self-branded site — ZebAtlas.com.
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Why can't he be Alec's brother instead of ... any of the others? (Image via Hot House)
Scott Baldwin (b. 1971)
I always thought this '90s hottie looked like a nice Jewish boy you'd meet at a respectable gay birthday party at a Mexican restaurant, one you'd flirt with, exchange e-mails with (okay, phone numbers back then) and eventually properly date. I may not have been far off, considering what he told Mickey Skee in Bad Boys on Video: Interviews with Gay Adult Stars about his start in the biz:
I was a virgin. The first time I sucked was on film. The first time I got fucked was on film.
At any rate, he must've rehearsed a lot off-camera, because by the time he was helping to make several '90s classics, he knew what he was doing. Cute as a dimple on a baby's knee.
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Welcome back, hotter (Image via Target)
Paul Barresi (b. 1949)
This old-school performer was a Colt Model thanks to his beefy body and authentically straight air before he appeared in the gay classic L.A. Tool & Die (1979).
Image at L: He told all. (Image via NE)
He made gay and straight films, acted legitimately (and so close to Paul Lynde he was among those who discovered the camp icon's body when he died), produced and directed.
For your spank bank (Image via ATL)
However, he's probably best-known for telling National Enquirer in 1990 that he banged John Travolta for two years. One of the industry's most colorful personalities.
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Sink into that! (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Griffin Barrows (b. 1989)
One of the handsomest young men in porn, this Kentuckian straddled (and quite handily) the studio porn and self-made porn eras. He first hit the gaydar via Tumblr videos, where ChaosMen found him in 2014, all too ready to top and bottom and everything in-between.
Barrows later took matters into his own hands — quite literally! I write that because he was always especially into milking guys via handjob or blowjob, edging them forever until they exploded. That specialty led to a viral video that featured the kind of endless gusher (Work Unfriendly) that could make Old Faithful self-conscious, and Griffin's lean physique was the star of a Twitter-viral video of him showering (Work Unfriendly) that must be seen (and seen and seen) to be believed.
His OnlyFans (Work Unfriendly) was unlike some, where sexy guys are perfunctorily providing content; GB was an active participant with you in an exhibitionistic/voyeuristic sexual experience. Sadly, his JustForFans (Work Unfriendly) announced his retirement as of January 2019.
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Barry interesting (Images via various studios)
Rod Barry aka Rod Berry aka Rod aka Rod deBaer (b. 19?)
Here's a regular dude with an irregular sex drive whose emergence on the scene in 1996, after he left the Marines, was like the making of a new eff buddy — he has that casual air about him that seems to defy boundaries. (He's done transsexual and bi movies, too.) He was active when I worked in the magazine side of the business, so I saw a lot of him in those pages and on video. He was outstanding in A Lesson Learned (1998) and, later, in the scandalously titled White Trash (2003). He worked right into 2014, for a total of close to 20 years in the biz.
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God's GIF (GIF via GIPHY)
Jake Bass (Jacob Kelly Bass, b. 1991)
Porn's tattooed, fashiony, Canadian pup, he was first approached to do hardcore by CockyBoys founder Jake Jaxson (after he'd done solo stuff for Squirtz), who told him he was more than just a body — and right he was.
There is an arty air to the guy who refused to be labeled as gay, straight or bi, and an edge, too — at his peak, he wasn't afraid to look down on porn actors he felt were moochers, or to start Twitter wars over it. He has a fierce independent streak, and an independent fierceness. Quitting porn, he still markets sex toys.
For one of Attitude's 2019 Pride covers, he posed with poet Max Wallis, and told the magazine how his impression of Pride has changed, saying:
I’m not gonna lie, when I started going out and doing things, the last thing on my mind was that it was a time to be proud. It was an excuse to party and get fucked up. Unfortunately, that’s still true for a lot of people, as opposed to being when they take a stand for their individuality. I guess we all have our own way to get there.
He hasn't worked in a couple of years. Miss him? Follow him on IG here.
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Well-rounded, he is as thoughtful as he is sexxxxy. (Image via selfie)
Bruce Beckham (b. 1971)
One of porn's greatest comeback artists — the Judy Garland of peen? — Bruce, whose last name was inspired by David Beckham, came back into the fold a full eight years after hanging up his erection. Starting work in the biz in 2004 with Michael Lucas, he would go on to work with a variety of companies, displaying a natural quality in everything he does — “I'm not a position-ist,” he told Chi Chi LaRue in 2018 — and an effortless machismo that never comes off as retrograde or ridiculous.
A smartie, he reads books, goes to plays, is well-versed on current events, cherishes porn for its sex positivity and adores Madonna. He told Queer Me Now in 2016:
I’m a huge Madonna fan, I came out in high school years ago partially because Madonna was publicly embracing gay culture. I figured, “If she’s got my back…” I listen to almost entirely Madonna remixes/mashups/and megamixes at the gym. She really motivates me like no other.
Mr. Right! (Unfortunately, he hates comparisons, so we hope he will overlook the construct of this list.)
He's on OnlyFans here and IG here.
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Get Bentley (Image via Falcon)
Jim Bentley (b. 1960)
As ubiquitous in the business as someone's face covered in the stuff of life, Nordic blond Bentley worked for at least 20 years, starting in 1983 as a scrupulously versatile performer. Perhaps most famous for the various Splash Shots (1985) installments, he's known as a hearty presence in every scene. He's also an open book, having written the memoir Last Time I Drew a Crowd. In 2008, he addressed a Yahoo! group devoted to his fabulousness thusly:
I am alive and well and living in California. I am really looking forward to hearing from all of you. I am single and still gorgeous.
Considering the fate of so many of his contemporaries, bitch had a right to be braggadocious.
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I am an amateur Bilding inspector. (Image via Next Door Studios)
Jeremy Bilding aka Ryan Driller (Adam Cuculich, b. 1982)
I'm unashamedly in love with this gay-for-pay top man. He has a single-minded determination in doing what he does, used to be overweight and transformed himself, isn't afraid to do to men what Elaine Benes's sax-playing boyfriend had to be pressured to add to his repertoire for her and ... “I like his butt.” Sadly, he gave up on gay porn years ago. He does, however, still model expensive sportswear and undies and does straight porn (follow him on Twitter). Take it where you can get it!
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Porn spokes-man (Images via Falcon)
Kristen Bjorn (b. 1957)
Few men have had as broad an impact on gay porn as Kristen Bjorn has — he did, after all, segue from actor to director and producer before that was common, and his aesthetic is singular. Yes, he favors ethnic men, muscular men, straight men, lots of sex, all common — but the way he combines them is instantly recognizable as his. His tableaux of men draped over each other is a signature, and has launched countless Os.
London-born to a Russian mom and British diplomat dad, Bjorn was raised in D.C. In 1980, he made his porn-mag debut in Mandate and soon after performed in the 1983 Falcon videos Biker's Liberty and the classic The New Breed. He was fantastic on screen (and named after Björn Borg), but by the end of the decade had become a director, and from his first projects — especially Carnaval in Rio (1990) — he had become a rarity, a gay-porn auteur.
He put out a film as recently as 2016, extending his directorial career dangerously close to 30 years. That same year, Bjorn directed — from an ancient script by Sir John Gielgud! — the short film Trouser Bar, based on the late Oscar winner's obsession with corduroy and leather pants.
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Boy blue (Images via Men.com)
Vadim Black (Luke Hiles b. 1995)
This vers Men.com and Broke Straight Boys performer — a human menu of tattoos — had the darkly handsome looks of a '90s teen heartthrob, and the checkered past of a '90s teen heartthrob. Appearing in dozens of productions, his most-watched was probably the non-porn MTV show True Life, on which he spoke negatively about being gay-for-pay. He also lost fans over homophobic and racist tweets (he denied he was either — Work Unfriendly), but even though he retired, he still had his supporters who appreciated his ability to clock in and do a job he hated as if he loved it. Maybe that's why, in 2018, he ballsily announced he was coming back (Work Unfriendly), and launched an OnlyFans (Work Unfriendly) to capitalized on his bad-boy cred.
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Gay Blades (Image via Next Door Studios)
Chris Blades aka Truman Corbin Fisher (b. 1991)
A prototypical blond jock with a tight body and an ability to take one for the (whole) team, Truman (originally called Kent or Jon) was a bright light at Corbin Fisher for 18 scenes (his workout scene with Colt ... jaw-dropping) before being reborn as Chris Blades in 2015/2016. In his newer iteration, he has topped as well as bottoming, working for Bromo and Next Door Studios, among others.
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Top performer (Image via Catalina)
Bobby Blake (Edgar Gaines, b. 1957)
I know what you're thinking: You're thinking Bobby and I would make a darling couple. He may not be my usual type (I seem to be pegged as a twink lover), but after coming across [blushes, looks away] multiple videos of this stud punishing a series of tiny guys with bottomless pits, I have to say he made me a fan. He doesn't appear to be acting, nor do they, when they beg for mercy and he ignores them.
He's one of the only actors I can think of who published his own autobiography (which has this review on Amazon: “This was one of the most remarkableist book I have ever read.”).
Calling himself the “most successful African-American in gay adult film” may seem cocky, but let's face it — he is a legend. Unfortunately, he's a Bible-thumper as well as a rump-thumper, and is anti-marriage equality. Hmmm. It's okay to drill guys into unconsciousness, but not okay for two guys to get married? Well, maybe not — he's even spoken out against porn in his retirement. You might, too, if, as a black man, you'd appeared in something called Niggas' Revenge (2001).
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(Image via Lucas)
Brian Bonds (b. 1988)
Launching in porn in 2011, this Arkansas native has been in more porn films than you've watched. He is a super bottom, one who is known for handling double penetrations and fisting with the greatest of ease.
He is also a star of the cum-fetish community, appearing in many BreedMeRaw.com, Raw Fuck Club, Treasure Island Media and Kink.com flicks.
His longevity has allowed him to take advantage of the JustForFans craze, and his voracious sexual appetite makes him the ideal self-promoting porn star.
He is on Twitter here.
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Tan lines, muscles, fur, face — check, check, check, check! (Image via Falcon)
Phil Bradley (b. ?)
Working from 1988-1997, Bradley worked for Falcon and its subsidiaries, HIS, Bob Jones (for the tied-up stuff) and others, but while he was around almost a decade, he worked sporadically. The result is a résumé top-heavy with good projects, like Jock-a-Holics (1993), Home Grown (1993) and Barnstorm (1995).
He didn't focus on porn, so he didn't grant interviews or cultivate a cult of personality, which is all but required today, almost 15 years after his retirement, making him somewhat of a mystery man.
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He's the top! Among other things. (Image via Falcon)
Matt Bradshaw (b. 1965)
Active from about 1995-2001, this six-plus-footer with a schlong to match headlined projects for All Worlds, Vivid, Falcon, Hot House, Studio 2000, Catalina and many more. Handsome and versatile, he shone in The Renegade (1995), The Last Taboo (1996), Ripe for Harvest (1996) and Matador (1997), gaining a rabid fanbase in the condom era prior to the rise of social media. Look for him as the highlight of the hustler doc Sex/Life in L.A. (1998).
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Queens' Branson (Image via Mavety Media)
Mike Branson (b. 19?)
One of the biggest superstars of the 1990s, Branson was renowned as a top not only for his ability to always be hard at work, but to always have something nasty to say to whomever was on the receiving end of his claim to fame.
Mountainous and manly and as good-looking as they come, he's burned into many a brain from his appearances in The Freshmen (1997), The Chosen (1997), Manhandlers (1997), Hardline (1997), California Kings (1997) and especially Basic Plumbing II (1998). Rumors abound as to what he's been up to for the past 20 years — an engineer, a lawyer, an environmental activist, a ... circuit judge? (maybe a judge at a circuit-party wet teabag contest), suggesting he may be one of the most sought after whatever-became-ofs in porn.
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The long and shorts of it (Image by Bisonnes)
Tony Bravo aka Tony Bello aka Michael Pietri aka Tony Montana (1958-1990/AIDS)
The uncut, Puerto Rico-born stud (“But I'm Italian!” he insisted to Advocate Men in 1985) worked for the L.A. Recreation & Parks Department in the early '80s, including at the zoo, before moving to San Francisco and launching a porn career in 1984, working under several pseudonyms. A pint-sized pistol with a teddy bear tattooed above his bush, he was as popular in magazines (face man!) as he was on film, where he made a big impression in such fare as The Other Side of Aspen 2 (1985). He died of AIDS in 1990.
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Get a piece of the Brock (Image via Huge)
Tom Brock (19?)
I will never forget him for his scene in In Your Wildest Dreams (1989) where Kevin Williams is making a late dinner of his behind when Eric Manchester inserts himself into the situation. But really, in his handful of films shot from about 1985 to about 1991, this impassive statue of a man was just shudder-inducing. I always saw a bit of Jack Scalia in his face, but that body was more likely pulled from Muscle Beach. Matt Sterling, his main director, says he was gay for pay. I've never had a problem with that — who am I to discriminate? No sign of him after Bigger Than Life (1991).
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Happy Dad's Day! (Image via Suite 703)
Girth Brooks (Michael Gexler, b. 1982)
A hairy top with just about the perfect member — and one of porn's most dad-joke names — Girth Brooks was everyone's gay-for-pay fantasy. His proclivities meant he wasn't about to bottom or suck dick, but you can't have everything — until you can; when he gave it up, it was an event.
Active 2008-2017, he retired, married (not necessarily in that order), became a dad and got into real estate.
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Numero Bruno (Image via Target)
Bruno (b. 19?)
Hulking Cuban weightlifter who entered movies in the '70s, going on to become one of Colt's most beloved shaggy models. For years, his mustachioed look would have been laughed at as hopelessly dated, and yet it's definitely back in vogue now.
Bruno in 2005 (Image via Colt)
Back in the mid-2000s, Bruno made a comeback, posing as Hermes for Colt and showing that it's definitely possibly to keep your muscles nearly forever.
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Buster at his peak and (R) toward the end of his life (Image at R by Steven Cole)
Buster (Jeffrey Wayne Cole, 1956-1991/congenital heart failure & AIDS)
If Buster had never done anything else but accept pilot O.G. Johnson's johnson in Night Flight (1986), that would've been enough. As it happens, the Virginia native did only around 15 films (not counting packaged properties, many of which were posthumously released), but he did some sizzlers after launching his career in the late '70s — namely, Sailor in the Wild (1983) and Bigger the Better (1984).
Buster — first class all the way (Image via Falcon)
This clean-cut, dirty-minded power bottom was a hard worker, and his diligence was not always while nekkid — he ran for a city council seat in California in 1988 (but lost). His experience with HIV had inspired him to give back; if only he'd been allowed to try.
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Married without inhibitions (Image via video still)
Dirk Caber (b. 1971) & Jesse Jackman (b. 1973)
Caber and Jackman are the premier muscle-daddy couple of porn, husbands who have few limits in their raunchy videos, but who project an image of domestic bliss on social media.
Bostonian Jackman didn't get into porn until he was 38, an epiphany that came after a three-way with porn partners Hunter Marx and Ethan Anders in Saugatuck, Michigan. He was recruited by Titan Men, and his fan base (and overall girth) took off. Caber, a classical musician, got into porn with Titan Men via his participation in the NYC BDSM scene He has spoken about the couple's lives before and outside of porn, telling Manhunt Daily:
Jesse and I like to show we’re not just figures in a box that get taken out and put back when the cameras are off. We’re both doing that on our blogs, and we both write about finding a balance between our real life and our popular life.
Don't let this make you think any less of them as sex pigs, however: Double penetration, water sports and intergenerational taboo roleplay are all in a day's work for this modern gay couple.
In 2014, Jackman wrote a piece for Huffington Post in which he described how his mom found out he is a kinky porn star. Spoiler alert: Once she moved past the cattle prod, she got used to it.
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J.O. Cade (Image by Kristen Bjorn)
Joe Cade (b. 19?)
For all the dish on this porn legend, hustle over here (Work Unfriendly) — he had quite the juicy love life behind-the-scenes as well as on-camera — he married Brian Adams! He married Tom Chase! His brother Justin was linked to Al Parker!
Speaking of which, despite the fact that the similarly named Justin Cade has since come forward to assert that he and Joe were not brothers or even cousins, their scenes together in the '80s were probably intensified thanks to their off-screen, two-year affair.
Joe had these amazing, beefy Italian looks and a relaxed approach to all of his scenes, be they hips or lips, and was equally comfortable giving or receiving. Look him up in Cruisin': Men on the Make (1988). As for today, he apparently lives in Canada and works as a kickboxing instructor.
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Hot take (Image via Mandate)
Derek Cameron aka Brett Vickers (Lee McKinney, b. 1972)
This ridiculously hot, compact bottom — and he was a bottom like Orson Welles enjoyed a good meal — worked on and off throughout the '90s, but could always be counted on to perform like he was doing it for free.
One of his flicks was called Sex Psycho, and he fits that bill — he was just a very engaged weiner magnet, as in Manhandlers (1997), but one with a classically handsome face.
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Are you in the Matthew Camp? (Image via Instagram)
Matthew Camp (b. 1984)
Camp is one of the new breed — and new bred — of self-made, self-controlled porn. A go-go dancer and social-media sensation, he acted (as a lust object) in the film Getting Go (2013) and for many years inhabited the fantasies of his followers as a designer and fragrance-maker without being more than semi-nude. Then, he got nude. Then, he started fucking.
Before his OnlyFans ever presented a full “penetrative” sex clip, he was already raking in $10K a month. His decision to go further seems less like a way to make more money than it does a political statement. He told Salon of the 2019 doc Camp Chaos, in which he graphically recreates three extremely formative sexual encounters from his life:
With Trump, we’ll be in an economic downturn for the next 10 years, and so it’s important for LGBT people to get more money so we can have more power. It’s super-counterculture to the Christianity Patriarch foot we’ve been under for centuries. I find [sex] legitimizing. Freedom of speech is a huge thing and making pornography and documenting sex is a freedom of speech, and it gets people financially interested in that amendment.
He is anything but a typical porn star, and his output, while pornographic, also feels artful, also feels like protest, and could become prototypical for how “porn” is presented going forward.
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Flex symbol (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Nick Capra (b. 1976)
Could Nick Capra be gay porn's current ultimate daddy?
Working since 2002, Nick Capra can thank his porn-actor boyfriend Troy Michaels for introing him to Chi Chi LaRue. Before that encounter, he had no desire to make porn, as he told Manhattan Digest in 2015:
I had no intention to be a porn star. I knew no one’s names. They were my idols, for the five to 10 minutes I jerked off to them. That’s the extent of my porn adulation, before I entered the industry.
Like it or not, he's great at it, and this steel-jawed power top's looks only intensify as he gets older.
It's more than Capra's looks that have pushed him along in the biz; he has also probably endeared himself to his fans by being candid on social media about the ups and downs of his life, even about battling alcoholism.
Capra is a good example of a link between gay porn's condom-only phase and its move away from rubbers into the PrEP era — he used to be a condom stalwart, but now has a thriving OnlyFans devoted to his raw hookups.
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Gentlemen prefer dirty blonds (Image via Advocate Men)
Cole Carpenter (John Erickson, b. 1957)
This fuzzy blond god was a highly-sought-after top of the '80s with a John James pout and a giant personality. I remember he did bottom once, demanding a condom — which was one of the first times I saw a condom used in a gay porno. But then he turned around and topped the guy without wearing one himself, which was a confusing message, especially 30+ years ago.
Carpenter, who worked from 1985-1988, is not to be missed in Bigger They Come (1986), Too Big for His Britches (1987) and Spring Break (1988).
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The opposite of twink (Image via Advocate Men)
Paul Carrigan (Manning Tillman, b. 1966)
I feel like Paul Carrigan was in porn so long he was directed by Edison. I don't remember a time when he wasn't in dirty movies (he actually started around the mid-'90s and retired in 2006), I just remember spotting him and finding his thick, meaty build unique in mainstream, high-profile flicks. He looks like someone's overzealous dad at a Little League game who gets ejected for cursing out the umpire, or like a somewhat past-his-prime football player who's still knocking down more trim than guys half his age.
And yet in movies, Carrigan — who is married in real life and an actual dad — is usually an absolute hog for it. That has to be his appeal. He's actually quite handsome, but I think it has more to do with his anything-goes air.
Interestingly enough, he did many bi and straight films, too, and directs — he's now successful behind the camera on non-sexual movies like a small project called Avatar (2009). He may be one of porn's greatest success stories.
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Papa Cass (Image via InHand Video)
Lou Cass (b. 1966)
I always found 6'3" Lou Cass to be irresistible — he had that fluffy '80s hair and looked so frickin' innocent, but could be a single-minded top, including with Joey Stefano in his last porn movie before moving on to bigger (impossible!) and better things: working as an actor and musician. Music? Yep — his “Rated X” is considered to be the first song by a former gay adult actor to hit any Billboard chart.
American knows a good drag queen and a good porn star when we see them! (Image via Lou Cass)
I interacted with Lou a few years ago when I was editing a magazine because, as it turns out, he's a huge Britney Spears fanatic. In fact, this guy who could probably find a lot of his old fans looking for his autograph shares my passion for in-person encounters with celebs. He's a fan of/friends with everyone from E.G. Daily to Tori Spelling.
Follow the now older, but actually even hotter, Lou Cass on Twitter here.
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Rex appeal (Image via HIS)
Rex Chandler (Paul Fow, b. 1966)
One of the first stars I became aware of who was gay-for-pay, Chandler — a onetime Mr. Michigan — entered the field at the very end of the '80s and starred successfully in a series of top-only roles, notably Heat in the Night (1989) and A View to a Thrill (1990), between 1989 and 1991.
In 1996, sexy Rexy made news by touring in the play Making Porn by Ronnie Larsen, which was art imitating life. He also showed up in Gregg Araki's arthouse film The Doom Generation (1995).
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Chase in the hole (Images via Falcon)
Tom Chase (b. 1965)
Starting out as a smooth, pistoning stud top, Chase transitioned into being a thicker, hairier vers (though he rarely bottomed) man. His bottoming scene for Mike Branson in 1998 (California Kings) is the stuff(ing) of which legends are made. He has worked on and off since his debut 20 years ago, retiring at one point mid-career. His told Spread:
When I became fully aware of the scope of fame that came with being Tom Chase, I decided it was too dangerous to continue “feeding the monster.” I needed to separate myself from it and regain focus on me. By doing so, I’m now able to embrace all that I represent to people. At first, however, it was too overwhelming for me to handle.
I would say he is mostly a bear at this point, one with many, many fans who would gladly ignore those signs in the zoo that beg patrons not to feed the growling inhabitants if he'd work again.
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Like Barry Bost-dick (Image via Nova)
Michael Christopher (b. ?)
This strapping Michigander had that '70s look in spades — great hair, Travolta body. He launched in 1982 with Best Little Warehouse in L.A. (1982) and Skin Deep (1982), and was red-hot in Pleasure Beach (1983). The vers bisexual has said the latter film was the one in which he was the most turned on personally.
His 1982 flick How I Got the Story casts him as a jock being interviewed by a horny reporter — when there's a fag on the play. It's prototypical for that kind of scene, a nasty Nova slice of heaven.
He worked for a variety of companies, including Catalina, HIS and others, and was a staple of XXX mags, back when guys actually paid for them, but retired without a trace (that I've found) in 1993.
Don't miss this rare, on-camera interview with the retro stud, taken from 1984's Trick Time.
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Better red (Image via Titan Men)
Will Clark (b. 1968)
One of the most famous gingers in gay porn, Will Clark has said his hair is partly why he got into the industry to begin with, saying redheaded actors were not in demand back in the day. That led to go-go dancing, and go-go'ing led to his debut in the Hot House flick Dr. Goodlove (1996) — but only after Falcon rejected him for being a pasty, hairy redhead.
Branching out into leather and BDSM movies, he wound up a staple of the business for a decade, becoming a well-known personality, HIV/AIDS activist and writer. A great example of a porn actor whose persona blew up as much as his sex work — and he did it before the rise of social media.
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Brandon aka Jeff has been on his own since age 17. (Image via Sean Cody)
Brandon Cody (Jeff Cope, b. 1989)
It can be hard to make an impression when you're known by a first name plus a studio name, but Brandon of Sean Cody has certainly broken through, enough so that he is now just Brandon Cody. As the studio's most popular model ever, he started as a kick-ass top and racked up countless views in 2015 when he spread for the first time, becoming just as exciting a bottom, and working for Men.com, Next Door Studios, CockyBoys and others.
Image at R: Bellying up to the bar (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
How did he get into porn? He told The Sword in 2018:
Everyone always has this same question, what made you get into gay porn? And honestly, the answer is Hollister I was working as a door model yes that is what my job title literally was I stood there mainly texting on my phone being the first person everyone saw when they walked in. I got 8-hour shifts which are and was unheard of back then. But I guess the manager Jared Allman took a liking to me, and he kept saying you need to just go jack off for some money … Eventually, obviously, I took him up on his offer! Lol — yes working at Hollister can make you develop into a porn star.
With a giant smile reminiscent of '80s star Lance, a solid body and gifts in the front and the back, he's got that cleancut-boy-gets-dirty look that has made Sean Cody an enviable business model, and he's also just really good at sex. If reacting to being rimmed is an art, this guy is Keith Haring — groundbreaking, universally enjoyed and a joy to behold.
Follow him on IG here.
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Gino through the years (Images via various & Vincent Lambert)
Gino Colbert (?-2015/heart attack)
How I could've almost forgotten Gino Colbert is beyond me — he not only had sex on film for over 20 years (1980-2002), he also directed porn from about 1987-2011, putting his stamp all over the industry from the inside out. It was said he was partly to thank for discovering Joey Stefano and the Rockland brothers.
What made Toledo-born sexual tornado Colbert so ubiquitous was that he worked in straight, gay, bi and trans films. He got his start as an assistant to Joe Sarno, who was profiled in 2013's A Life in Dirty Pictures. As my friend Vincent Lambert notes, Colbert's own work includes such classiques as Three Brothers (1998), Men in Blue (1998) and, yes, Tijuana Toilet Tramps (1994).
What can you say about a man who appeared in both Inside Seka (1980) and John Wayne Bobbitt: Uncut (1994)? He was game.
Lambert recalled of Colbert upon learning of his untimely death:
In recent years, Colbert oversaw the annual Hall of Fame induction presentation at the now-defunct GAYVN Awards and helped Robert Van Damme with the launch of his RVD Productions. He was also a guest speaker at UC Santa Barbara graduate film program, and he was honored with an annual film festival dedicated to his work at the former Tomkat Theatre in West Hollywood. While he had stepped away from the business, Colbert remained a devoted movie buff and fan. He was also one of nicest and most thoughtful guys you could ever meet—in or out of the industry.
He died in 2015 — obituary here.
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Fit to be tied (Image via Falcon)
Landon Conrad (b. 1978)
This impossibly handsome Falcon Studios exclusive from Salt Lake City has appeared in dozens of productions for Falcon, Kink.com, Men.com, Raging Stallion, Lucas and more. He's also famous for his live shows.
Especially hot in The Other Side of Aspen VI (2011), he has said of his personal life:
When I’m not fucking other hot guys on camera and being Landon Conrad, I am personal trainer. I spend a lot of time in the gym working out and training clients. In my free time, I like to just chill and spend quality time with my boyfriend, my two little Chihuahuas and my friends.
He is on Twitter here.
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He was kinda like the Dennis Quaid of XXX. (Images via Falcon)
Jeff Converse (David John Roth, b. 19?)
The absolute coolest coach ever in Spring Break (1985), at the end of which two of his players get to use him like a human Fleshjack, Converse was a solid guy whose pecs were his calling card (note advertising piece above), along with his ability to make other men's privates vanish for extended periods of time.
I don't think he did very many movies, but he worked for about seven years and was memorable in The Other Side of Aspen 2 (1985), Powertool (1986) and its sequel (1991). No idea whatever became of him, but I recall a porn review that wistfully noted he was “one of the biggest, most powerful men the reviewer had ever seen get so thoroughly and enthusiastically fucked” — and that wording has stuck with me.
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You better kink! (Image via Raging Stallion)
Race Cooper (b. 1973)
This Canadian performer worked for about five years, from 2009-2014, appearing in stuff for Kink.com, Raging Stallion, Men.com and others. The vers actor is known for being the opposite of vanilla — shooting everything from water sports to fisting. An accessible pig, he used to run a chatty, personable blog for his fans before dropping out of the biz.
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Vlad the impaler
Vladimir Correa aka Marcello Matar (b. 19?)
Correa was a Brazilian bodybuiler who brought a perfectly proportioned body and a stoic, pile-driving top's mentality to the few gay roles in which I saw him — but he sure looked great in the magazines. One choice vid was Inside Vladimir Correa (1991), which was completely mistitled! But I loved him in Out of Bounds (1988) with Chris Williams (also on this list).
According to IMDb, he later did bi and then straight roles, working until 1997's Hunks. I can't give further information on this, but I am told he is alive.
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Granddaddy of all Helix stars (Images via movie stills)
Alan Corriveau (b. ?)
This horse-hung, fully versatile twink was a popular fantasy guy in early gay porn, apparently debuting (as a top) in Dirty Words (1976) and going on to appear in Hay Ride (1981) and Pleasures in the Sun (1983).
I believe it was the latter that was a later, repackaged version of a '70s Falcon flick, The Lifeguard, which contains a classic three-way between Corriveau, Gordon Grant and Duff Paxton (Corriveau pictured with Paxton at right) that is competitive with anything produced today in terms of hot sex and hot guys.
The '70s look
What ever happened to Corriveau is a mystery, as is common among the earliest porn actors, whose splash was intense, but fleeting, for them — even if it still lingers for their fans.
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Piercing/gaze (Image via Falcon)
Sam Crockett (b. 1961)
Tall, nipple-pierced Crockett — he of the icy glare — worked in porn for 20 years (1994-2014), so it's impossible to pick his best bits. But what the hell, how about Alley Boys (1995), Family Secrets (1996) or Bad Behavior (2000)? Nah, it's Dirty Stories (1995), in which his authoritarian air is used perfectly as he bad cop-bad cops Kyle Brandon's delinquent manhole.
Working in the pre-DVD era, he retired, was arrested on drug charges in 2011, and returned to porn, dipping into bareback and cam shows before hanging up his junk for good.
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Crosse...my heart!
Damien Crosse (b. 1982)
What sold me on this modern Cuban-American adonis is his work in, and then out of, a business suit. Despite his penetrating stare, Damien Crosse really just looks like what would happen if one of your gay pals sprouted a drop-dead body and then went around sharing it with people for money. Which is to say he's hot and yet seems approachable.
Now a married man, he cranked out porn until 2018 — he and hubby Francesco D'Macho run Stag Homme Studios from Spain.
He's on IG here.
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“Woof” seems so inadequate. (Image via Raging Stallion)
Steve Cruz (b. 1972)
This tattooed, fuzzy San Franciscan worked in porn from 2006-2013, excelling as an eager bottom and branching out into directing. He made over 50 films, most for Raging Stallion, and most playing up his naturally edgy vibe. Not only popular with fans, Cruz was also an award-winning performer — he took home GayVNs for his (dirty) work and was Raging Stallion's 2008 Man of the Year.
He was great — and directed himself — in Hotter Than Hell: Part 1, and was a stand-out in such films as Lords of the Jungle (2006) and Communion (2007).
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We was Robbed! (Image via Advocate Men)
Rob Cryston aka Robbie Roberts (b. 1971)
I feel like it's provable, the theory that Rob Cryston was in every film made in the '90s. According to Wikipedia, he's done over 200. I'm not sure I've had sex over 200 times. Cryston has lost himself in many roles, but he seems best at being a pig bottom. Which is not something that works on the average person's résumé, but in his business, it's a selling point.
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The one and bone-ly (Image via Fleshjack)
Cody Cummings (b. 1980)
Launching in 2006, Cody was at first only down to flex, no sex. Then he got serviced. Then, finally, he went full gay — well, bi — in a series of films, including bottoming for the first time in 2012. Or did he? He has since sworn never to so much as orally please a man.
His long relationship with Next Door Studios went seriously sour in 2013, and he's been retired since 2015, even if he remains at the forefront of many stans' minds — at least, the stans who dig resolutely gay-for-pay trade.
He is on Twitter here.
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Tanner launched a YouTube account in 2017, but it was short-lived. (Image via selfie)
Tanner Davis aka Sean Cody Tanner (b. 1992)
With a boy-next-door look but a mischievious grin, this brunette heartbreaker became a hot commodity on Sean Cody (with over 40 scenes) in 2013, before bowing out in 2016 and re-emerging as Tanner Davis. His work at Sean Cody was enough to make him a favorite, and it had to be — in spite of his comeback, he has since virtually disappeared, though in 2018, Tanner briefly crossed over into mainstream attention when he was spotted with out The Walking Dead actor Daniel Newman.
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What don't they feed them in Iowa? (Image via Corbin Fisher)
Dawson from Corbin Fisher (b. 1985)
In the way that OnlyFans and JustForFans have revolutioned gay $ex lately, newer studios like Randy Blue and Corbin Fisher did the same, capitalizing on the Internet in ways the older studios didn't do as successfully, or as quickly.
Among the top stars to emerge from those new studios — most of them with single names, and appearing in scenes just as often as in full-length features — was blond bullet Dawson, the Iowa farmboy who worked from 2005-2017 as vers, but who was especially, undeniably star material as a top.
Is it really useful listing his rez? The best titles are simply descriptors, and most begin with Dawson Fucks.
In 2012, he told Men of Porn:
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would end up in front of a camera on a porn set. I sorta fell into it not knowing what the outcome would be. At first it was more about putting a few extra bucks in the bank. Now, six years later, I try to keep the fans happy with continuing to push my comfort zone and try new things. The fans are my motivation to stay on-camera.
His girlfriend is a lucky woman.
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Here is the north part of Dcota. (Image via Falcon)
DCota (b. 19?)
This dreamy little number made under 10 movies from 1990 to 1992 and then, as one blogger fan of his states, “completely dropped out of sight.” He seems to have been a sneaky sort, never doing any interviews, doing very few movies and then taking off. Maybe he was a student who graduated or someone who needed money badly for a specific debt who paid it. Many of his co-stars, like Steve Fox and Matt Gunther — are dead, so no other info seems to be forthcoming about what ever happened to DCota. I remember him from Steven Scarborough's Compulsion: He's Gotta Have It (1991).
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The One Jake (Image via selfie)
Jake Deckard (Jake Zorax, b. 1972)
This stud-next-door was one of porn's favorite leading men, a hard-driving versatile performer who transitioned successfully from actor to actor/director. Mr. Deckard is humble, too, saying in 2007 of his best physical feature:
I am amazed that people look at anything on me. I guess I would have to say my legs.
After retiring in 2013, he came back in 2015 to tangle with Rocco Steele.
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Hair apparent (Image via Instagram)
Tommy Defendi (b. 1989)
The stubbled stud from Florida got into porn at 18 because he was told, as a server, he had to shave his face. His first time on-camera was his first full-on sexual experience with another guy, making his CollegeDudes247.com debut a real debut.
The completely versatile performer has worked for Men.com, CockyBoys, Kink.com, Raging Stallion, Bel Ami and others, but retired in 2016 to pursue DJing.
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Easy to spot (Image via SexGaymes.tv)
Lucas di Fubbiano (b. circa 1970s)
Way after, and then way before, raw was all the rage, there was Machofucker, the rules-breaking, booty-destroying site dedicated to bottoms with no regard for their ability to ever walk again and tops ... well, there simply needs to be a better word than top for those dudes. Condoms? Never, ever.
Sticking out, booty first, among all the bottoms was Lucas, a Dutch (of Italian extraction) escort with a perfect bubble and extreme tan lines who could handle anything thrown at him, often while whimpering, “Take it!” in his cute accent and demonstrating his A-plus squatting abilities.
He has worked with Falcon, Colt, and Raging Stallion, always bottoming, and even taking on the Mangiatti Twins at once, but Lucas apparently hasn't appeared in anything new in about six years. Our loss.
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Caribbean King (Image by Fred Bisonnes)
Melchor Diaz aka Melchor Agular (19?-1995/AIDS)
This Puerto Rican devil was a familiar face (and booty) in movies throughout the '80s and into the early '90s, before he became too ill to work. He was sexually voracious but also had a playfulness that I always find welcome in adult movies, got great reviews from co-stars and was an integral part of both Night Flight (1984) and Dynastud (1986).
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He's delightful, delicious, delovely, DiMarco (Image via Unzipped)
Dino DiMarco (b. 1966)
Big, hunky face-man Italian Dino had a fleshy body and often indulged in leathergear. Always loved his immaculately groomed hair (the stuff on his head) and his expression, a mixture of a glare and a pout. He was like, “What if Joey Tribbiani did porn?” Probably at his best in Night Walk: A Bedtime Story (1995). I don't believe he's made more than one movie this millennium.
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He truly was as big as they come. (Image via HIS)
Chad Donovan (b. 1972)
A bleach boy for the ages, Ohio-bred Chad Donovan — who didn't suck in any way except the good way, and could do that to himself! — worked in porn for 20 years, starting in 1991 (it was released in 1994), appearing in some '90s classics like By Invitation Only (1994), Beverly Hills Hustlers (1996), Size Matters (1996) and Jockstrapped (1997).
Chad's good work — including direction — has secured him a spot in the GayVN Awards Hall of Fame, and also won him a partner in the form of Antonio Madiera.
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Does anyone get to enter the Dragon? (Images via Falcon)
Justin Dragon (b. 1976)
“Dang” seems to what one should say when one spies a guy who looks like Dragon. Beginning with The Violation (2000), this frequent Falcon exclusive bored a hole into the ... let's go with hearts ... of his many fans courtesy of his sensual performances. Dashing, and in possession of one of porn's best backsides, one that until his brief comeback in a scene with Dylan Reece was not being put to good use.
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Stop Dragon my heart around ... (Image via Dragon Media)
Ray Dragon (b. 1962)
Ray Dragon identifies himself on Twitter as having been around “1,000” years. Not exactly, but close — the dancer got into porn in 1990 after he posed for Jim French of Colt Studios. Overnight, Dragon's personal brand of body-hugging clothes clung to many in the gay community, especially his slutty swimsuits.
After a 12-year absence, Dragon returned to porn, chalking up appearances in films for Titan Media, Colt and, eventually, his own company, Dragon Media. Known for his macho look, he is equally known for his technical abilities behind the camera, leading him to direct, produce, shoot and edit porn; Whiplash (2004), which he prouced, directed and starred in, was an award winner.
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Wasn't on your high school guidance counselor's list of possible trades. (Image via Twitter @trentonducati)
Trenton Ducati (Zachary Ivey, b. 1977)
The ubiquitous green-eyed #NastyDaddy has his own site, on which he sells original films that make the most of his legendary, limitless topping abilities. Who better to be his own man, considering Ducati has won many awards, including a 2013 Performer of the Year accolade from XBIZ.
Image at R: Fighting the good fight (Image via The Fight)
The stereotype is that men get into porn and then slide into various addictions, but porn was apparently Ducati's saving grace — he overcame a 15-year addiction to meth and is now celebrating over 10 years sober. (His #KILLMETH campaign made an impact several years ago.) He says of porn:
It's been a life-changing positive experience for me. This industry has provided me with the ability to travel pay off debt and meet quality people.
Among them, his husband David, a go-go boy he met after a very public breakup with fellow porn star Tate Ryder.
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Dylan bobs (Image via Hot House)
Marc Dylan aka Chris Gabriel (b. 1984)
For power-bottoming his way to the top, Marc Dylan deserves an award for sheer enthusiasm. There's something appealingly unlikely about his ability to be so mercilessly pounded while looking like a straight wrestler who wouldn't even be tolerant of flirtatious come-ons. In his movies, he did everything from mild to wild, but seemed more engaged the more unhinged things got. Was probably 2011's most memorable newcomer, but by 2013 had retired. Sad — I've watched this (Work Unfriendly) a million times.
The Nick Jonas look-alike has also posted widely viewed videos to YouTube on how to make bottoming a snap. Unfortunately, he has blocked me on Twitter, and I have no recollection as to why.
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He loves me, guys! (Image via Mandate)
Eduardo (b. circa 1964)
The blond Cuban god who would come to be known as Eduardo emigrated to the U.S. as a kid (fuck you, Trump) and grew up in Miami. He drifted into porn — the mainstream kind as well as more fetishy features — where he gained an immediate, diehard following for his effortless topping and square-jawed good looks, not to mention the fuzzy bod.
Image at R: Eduardo pictured in 2007 (Image via TitanMen)
Following a '90s relationship with porn performer Sam Carson, he retired in 1999 to live in Boston with a partner he described as “handsome and hairy,” but made a triumphant comeback looking even better in 2008's Breakers (TitanMen). The comeback was all too brief. He is now said to be running a salon.
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The best little boy in the (adult) world (Images via Falcon)
Brian Estevez aka Mike Raymond aka Michael Wayne (b. 19?)
The reason for his inclusion starts and stops with his scene under Tony Stefano in Inch by Inch (1985). But Estevez was also famed for no-handed squirting — how very pre-Kristen Bjorn! He always had such a fresh look, like he was doing dirty movies while on spring break and really counting on his parents never finding out. I wonder if they ever did, or at least whatever became of him?
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Being Frank (Image via Nova)
Frank Evans (b. 19?)
This insanely hot guy-next-door strongly reminds me of Miley Cyrus's long-ago ex, Justin Gaston. Regardless, I think he made a big mistake not becoming what, back in my innocent Michigan days, I would have called a high-fashion model. Just a perfect look. I think he did loops in the 1970s more than actual, full-length movies. I haven't found any personal info about him. Anyone?
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Young Blue Eyes (Image via Bel Ami)
Kris Evans (b. 1986)
This 6'4", muscular Bel Ami model first tried out with the thriving company at the tender age of 18. His ridiculous body is his calling card; it's served him well in scenes with fellow Bel Ami buddies like Lukas Ridgeston. As has happened with several others, Evans was scandalously revealed to be in this disreputable line of work while simultaneously serving as a cop in Eastern Europe, leading to him having to step away from the less important of his two lines of work — the cocksucking, in case that's not clear. But it's okay — he's pretty good at switching positions.
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There'd be no stopping me if I looked like this — consider yourselves lucky! (Images via various)
Brent Everett (Dustin Germaine, b. 1984)
This eternally boyish top (well, most of the time) has worked with the biggest names of his era, starting with Brent Corrigan. A regular in nudie magazines (remember those?) he also was one of the most mainstream stars I noticed, early on, to do barebacking in major productions, albeit often with his main squeeze and later hubby Steve Peña, from whom he separated in 2017. Everett made gay-blog headlines in 2016 when he came out as a drug addict, posting on social media:
Let me come clean about something that I’ve been fighting and hiding for years. I’m an addict. I have used hard drugs on and off for years. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through in my life. I put my family through hell and hurt everyone close to me. All they did was try to help me and I pushed them away. All I can do is apologize to them for any pain I caused. The person I become when on drugs is not human. It’s someone else. It scared me and I know it scared the ones I loved. This is not how I pictured my coming out as an addict to be, but I want to own up to it.
He is back in action in 2019, and available for one-on-ones.
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He delivered. (Image via Catalina)
Grant Fagan aka Grant Fagin (Eric Lawrence Grant Fagan, 1966-2017)
Grant's innocent look was a nice contrast to his ability to put 'em away in his face, and while I'm striving to keep my blog risqué without going too far, it sucks not to be able to show off his #1 asset — which was behind him.
Image at R: Fagan late in life? (Image via FindAGrave.com)
He was in later films, in the '90s and apparently right into the early '00s, but he was most sizzling in earlier works, like Hunk (1985), Young and Hung (1985), Spring Semester (1985) and especially Pizza Boy: He Delivers (1985), mostly bottoming but capable as a vers, too. He won the Grabby Comeback of the Year Award in 1991.
It is reported online that Fagan died in 2017, and I believe this is him, but I have no details on how he passed away.
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Abs-olutely outstanding (Image via Raging Stallion)
Pheonix Fellington (b. 1994)
A relative newcomer on the list — he kicked things off in porn in 2017 at Lucas — Fellington has quickly become a favorite of viewers via his near-constant workload, for everyone from Naked Sword to Raging Stallion to RFC and other bareback-exclusive studios before settling in at Helix. He has said he got into the biz to show people how to have sex!
With his good looks, perfect body and enviable package, his entry into gay porn was heralded by Str8UpGayPorn as a bona fide event — and they weren't wrong. Their readers have considered him in such categories as Viewer's Choice: Favorite Gay Porn Star and Best Cock, boding well for his future on this and other lists of porn greats.
He's on Twitter here.
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One of the best bods in the biz (Image via selfie)
Darius Ferdynand (Peter Baranyai, b. 1988)
Hungarian-born face man Darius has been in porn since 2011's Blake Mason production So Big It Hurts, and has appeared in dozens of popular titles, including Daddy's Boy (2014), Secret Diary of an Escort (2014) and Busted Holes (2019).
By 2015, the London-based actor was known as Britain's Best Bottom. He told Vice of his working preferences:
I personally prefer to have a gay or at least bisexual partner on set so there's more chance for real chemistry, connection, and less pretending. Also, I like to be wanted—I don't wanna be with someone who doesn't desire me. Though I had a few straight partners who were absolutely fantastic, experienced with male bodies and were doing everything right just as a gay man would. I would even say they quite enjoyed it. At the end of the day, it's a job — we all know exactly what we signed up for. Doesn't matter if you're gay, bi, or straight—if you like it, do it. If not, then you shouldn't force something that you don't find enjoyable.
Also, don't force something that you do find enjoyable. Hashtag: Consent.
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I hear the curriculum is a ball-buster at SMU. (Image via Falcon)
Dick Fisk (19?-1983/car crash)
This guy was not my usual type, but there was just something so appealingly sleazy about him with that then-hopelessly retro 'stache (this was before the phrase “porn 'stache,” before the ironic wearing of the porn 'stache and before the return of the 'stache in general).
Just hugely endowed and not afraid to use it, he was stellar in Steam Heat (1978), The Other Side of Aspen (1979) and Spokes (1983). Seems to have worked from 1977-1983, dying in a Halloween car accident.
A leg up in porn (Image via Instagram)
Pierre Fitch (b. 1981)
Hard to believe, but dirty-boy-next-door Pierre Fitch is coming close 20 years in the biz, having started out in the early '00s, when he was a barely-legal draw in such fare as Pierre's After School Special and Pierre's Freshman Year (both 2006) before tattoos — not just-outta-high-school innocence — became his stock in trade. He's now known as one of the industry's more adventurous and dominant types, whether on top or on bottom.
By 2016, the CockyBoys regular had quit the biz (explosively), but for only a year — he came back, as hot as ever, minus on-again, off-again BF and frequent co-star Ethan Chase.
Pierre is on IG here.
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Flexx appeal (Image via Advocate Men)
Lon Flexx aka Lon Flexxe (David Lee Anderson, 1965-1995/AIDS)
This late '80s player was a very focused performer, kinda the Anthony Perkins of the genre — cute but intense. Like Perkins, he died of AIDS, but not before appearing in noteworthy fare like Davey and the Cruisers (1989) and More of a Man (1991).
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Getting some trim (Image via AEBN)
Dean Flynn (b. 1981)
Super handsome and in possession of a Cary Grant chin, Titan Media testosterone delivery system Dean Flynn was a staple from 2006-2012, making about 40 unique films. Among his hottest: Barn Storm (2007), Campus Pizza (2007), Chainsaw (2008) Folsom Undercover (2008), Bad Conduct (2009) and Malpractice (2012).
He said in a 2010 interview that being in porn was hard work, but said it without his tongue in cheek. Part of his appeal was his deadpan, utter lack of camp. Just a regular guy, suckin', fuckin' and doin' the job.
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Built Ford-tough (Image via video still)
Colton Ford (b. 1962)
This man's man was only in the biz for 10 months, but made a big enough impression to jump-start a singing career. How many of your fave pop stars can take a fist in the out door? (Well, quite a few.) Last year, Ford had this to say about his film career:
I had moments that I enjoyed, I had moments where it was work, but all in all, I think I was able to keep it in perspective. That isn't always easy to do. Think about it. All of the [sic] sudden you're thrust into the public eye, feeling validated and desired on put on a pedestal, just for the way you look. If you don't know who you are, it can really fuck with your head. Just as in mainstream entertainment, but on a smaller level, celebrity and fame can become a drug that you need and want more of.
So can Colton Ford sex movies ... but we're just going to have to make do with what we have.
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A still from Love, Lost & Found (Video still via CockyBoys)
Sean Ford (b. 1997)
A modern porn star whose sensibilities put the “art” in “smart,” Ford describes himself as a little boy from Little Rock, a Marilyn Monroe/Jane Russell reference that is emblematic of his deep knowledge of pop culture past. Completely versatile, the cerebral twink is all about creating work that is sex-positive.
On that tip, Ford told Str8UpGayPorn he got into the business because:
I like to fuck, I look good on camera, and my mom’s okay with it.
The kids are all right, and on top of that, this kid is young and determined.
Ford — award winner (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Best-known for the poundings he's taken and given for Helix and CockyBoys, Ford seems to be a new kind of porn star in the same way that CockyBoys strives to be a new kind of porn company — there is an artistic depth to him above and beyond the money shots.
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More hair on his head than on the entire rest of my body (Image via Catalina)
Cody Foster (Shawn Louis Sumner, 1970-2007/liver cancer)
If someone's gonna be gay-for-pay, it's at least polite to bottom — and bodybuilder Cody Foster did that all over town, though there are conflicting reports of how into the gay sex he wasn't after all. Prior to entering porn, he had gotten married to a woman and gotten into plenty of trouble with the law, both civilly and criminally Loved his giant hairdos, which were erotic because he wore them without irony. A quintessential perf was his debut in Malibu Pool Boys (1991), which came out some six years prior to his wife leaving him. Sadly, he died of liver cancer.
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You should see Foster's banana. (Image via Falcon)
Devyn Foster (b. 19?)
Compact top man of the '90s who could always be counted on to prepare the landing pad with his beautiful-lipped mouth. Had the ultimate Leo DiCaprio Titanic swooped hair. A pint-sized Greek god, he worked from about 1993-2000 in dozens of films for Rage, Vivid Man and others, including All Man (1995), Bigger the Better (1995) and Boys on the Hood (1996).
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Foxhole buddy (Image via Falcon)
Steve Fox (Rommel E. Hunt, 1966-1997/suicide)
Born in Alabaster, Alabama, and raised in Atlanta, this Nordic-looking blond adonis got his start in porn around 1991, bottoming in Secret Shore Leave (Assoc. Video Group). Among the seven films in which he appeared were the Falcon videos Compulsion: He's Gotta Have It (1991), Buttbusters (1992) and Flashpoint: Hot as Hell (1992); and the Huge hit All American (1995).
Fox had a perfect look, but it was one that was at odds with his tumultuous personal life, which was reportedly marred by substance abuse and mental illness. He took his own life at 32.
I remember seeing his pictures on the refrigerator of legendary gay editor Michael Denneny and realizing we had more in common than books.
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Bottom-ful brunch (Image via Falcon)
Devin Franco (b. 1989)
But ... he looks so cleancut! But he's not.
Franco arrived on the porn scene in 2016, and has made more movies than some stars who have been in the game far longer, known for his athletic, at times balletic bareback sex. More dazzling as a bottom, he also has fisting up his ... sleeve.
He's worked steadily for Lucas and, occasionally, CockyBoys, NastyDaddy.com and Falcon. He's also got a God's-work attitude toward porn:
I’ve always loved porn and sex. I thought it sounded like a great opportunity to get paid to travel and fuck hot guys. I applied not really thinking anything would come of it, but I heard back right away. I thought why not finally get to be apart of the fantasy? Plus, I feel like I am doing the world a service by helping people relax and get their rocks off.
When the New Mexico native is not getting stuffed, he designs and custom-builds furniture.
His highly entertaining Twitter is here.
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That's a wrap! (Image via Falcon)
Lane Fuller (b. 1977)
This collegiate stunner was a Marine before working from 1999-2005 for Falcon and All Worlds, who capitalized on his catalogue-model looks.
Torso Magazine's 1999 Man of the Future was A+ in Tales from the Foxhole (1999), Two Brothers: A Savage Night (1999), How the West Was Hung (1999) and the Drenched series (2003).
Starting out as a twink bottom (his butt kinda mandated it), he bulked up and let his body hair happen (dare I call him a Fuller bush boy?) later in his career — and he dated fellow legendary bottom Kevin Williams on his journey.
It's been close to 15 years since he stepped in front of the cameras.
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Hair we go again! (Image via Catalina)
Anthony Gallo aka Antonio Morais (b. 19?)
This friendly, furry, Brazilian tough guy (he once stuck a screwdriver up a co-star ... who does that???) is sort of the anti-pretty-boy porn star, one who started churning out a huge variety of scenes beginning in the '90s. Gallo had an evident bodybuilding past and was beloved for his lean build and devilish expression.
I remember him from Forum's A Love Story.
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There is a Rod. (Images via various)
Rod Garetto aka Rod Garretto aka Rod Garreto aka R. Lucky aka Rod Gasretto aka Rod Guerra (b. 1966)
One of the field's most prolific performers, this Mexican superstud always looked justifiably proud of what he carried below the waist. On his driver's license, where it asks about anatomical gifts, his probably said, “Hell, yeah!” After his 1987 debut, he made easily 100 films, including bi fare, calling it quits ... actually, he has films up until 2011 under his name. Is this like that episode of The Twilight Zone where Ann Blyth plays a movie star who turns out to be not just a look-alike of a star from 30 years earlier, but the same star, an ageless, undying vampire who could even be Cleopatra? More power to ya, Rod.
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He can do anyone you can do better. (Image via Randy Blue)
Leo Giamani (b. 1978)
From 2008 to 2010, this Italian sexual handyman (he could take care of anything) burned brightly in movies for everyone from Jake Cruise to Falcon and Randy Blue. He also escorted, knocking down good money for his rock-hard muscles. An Italian god whose career was all too fleeting, in 2014 he came out of retirement to work exclusively for Paragon Men doing solo stuff, and he was back doing man-on-man action scenes for The Guy Site by the following year. Since then, he's worked, but maintained a head-scratchingly low profile in porn.
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He delivered — briefly. (Image via Falcon)
Gianfranco aka Johnny Diamond (Ali ?, b. 1971)
Also known as Ali (his real first name), Iranian Gianfranco debuted in the mid-'90s, working for Falcon, Bacchus, Forum and other studios, who capitalized on his lethally handsome look. He appeared, during the condom era, in memorable scenes with Sonny Markham and many others, but his career was relatively brief — he's been out of porn for 20 years, focusing more on print (Colt) and dancing as he has continued to bulk up massively.
Among his must-see work: Gianfranco Delivers (1996) and Erotikus (1996).
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Ain't Grand love? (Image via Mandate)
Max Grand aka Max Grandioso, Marcello (Rene Grandos, b. 1967 or 1970)
Hotter-than-hot Latin porn star Max Grand/Max Grande was an MVP who was all over porn in the '90s, working for Studio 2000, Hot House, Catalina, All Worlds and more.
Images at R: With Jason Ridge in '08 & drawn by Robert Richards
Six feet tall, the vers looker was a welcome and remarkably sensual addition to any scene, renowned for his deep-throating skills and forays into bondage. He reportedly was living in San Francisco after retirement.
A threatened comeback following his last films in the early 2000s failed to materialize.
Watch him in Summer Fever (1994), Face Down (1995) or Bad Ass Lieutenant (1997), but seriously, he made like 100 flicks.
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You're soaking in it. (Images via Falcon)
Gordon Grant (?-1990s/AIDS)
This early, '70s-era Falcon stud was — according to Bijou — of Dutch and Native American descent, and came to Hollywood from Alaska. He lit up several Falcon shorts and starred in Dirty Words (1976), which is considered the company's first feature.
He lives on in the erotic imagination thanks to his solid build, later capitalized upon in Colt layouts, and strong, silent demeanor, not to mention his movie-star looks and third leg down to there. An aggressive top, he also bottomed, notably in The Lifeguard, a '70s FalconPac, and was very convincing in a certain loop depicting him as a horny businessman on the prowl.
His other proper films include Hot Truckin' (1977), a blue-collar smorgasbord; Working Late (1981); and Pleasures in the Sun (1983). He is thought to be dead, but very little information is out there on this adonis-and-a-half.
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Porn's biggest divo (Image via Pleasure Productions)
Matt Gunther aka Seth (Steven Matthew Lang, 1963-1997/AIDS)
This pretty, icy Mexican-American mostly-top had a bit of a sneer about his looks, which would have been perfect for a Patrick Nagel painting, and that sneer seems to match his personality — he was legendarily hard to work with ... in the bad way. But his work on film is what we're talking about here, and he was outstanding in Deep Inside Jon Vincent (1990) and Big Bang (1990). Even did bondage in Abduction (1991).
Stories about the last year of his life are miserably sad — he wound up ill with AIDS in a wheelchair and would have died in hospice care but was removed from the facility for acting out. There's a movie in there somewhere, and not the naked kind.
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Boy Troy (Image via Falcon)
Troy Halston (b. 1970)
Born in Denver, this sharp-featured blond debuted with Catalina and went on to perform for over 20 years, ripening from a young cowboy type to a handsome daddy at MenOver30.com, vers (and game for bi videos) all the way. A dead-serious performer, he is the solid type of actor who is among everyone's favorites even if he is nobody's #1.
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A Stryking Force in the porn biz (Image via Falcon)
Steve Hammond (Darren Culmar, b. ?)
I'm not the only one wondering whatever became of Steve Hammond, the impassive, Nordic-blond top man who pretended to get drilled by Jeff Stryker in Stryker Force (1986) — check out this plea from Fleshbot for any info.
Hell, I didn't even know that he made a movie in 1998 as this blog taught me, so anything's possible. And truth be told, I didn't know he was faking it in Stryker Force until reading that piece — my heart is broken. Beautiful hunk of man with a ridiculous butt who was at his best in The Pledgemasters (1989).
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Harden your heart. (Images via Falcon)
Johnny Harden aka Johnny Hardin aka Johnny Hardon aka Ricky Bradley Gene Carrier (Gene Carrier?, b. 1956)
As a kid, I got in trouble once when my mom found doodles I'd done of enormously hung men and enormously chesty women. Thank God my perverted pencil was bisexual, or I might've outed myself at age 10 instead of the far more manageable 18. But the kind of crazy, out-of-proportion members I was drawing were no match for what Johnny Harden had swinging between his legs. Yes, he called himself Harden. Get it? Get it? Still, that was a sight better than his queasy-making Playgirl nom de rod — Gene Carrier. Sounds about as sexy as Huntington's chorea.
Still, we're not talking about the name, but the guy behind it, and again, it was hard to beat his big one. (I'm sure for him, as well!) He always seemed so tickled to have it, and cultivated a great bush, too.
Loved him in Cruisin' the Castro (1981). He was also the first guy I ever saw swallow himself, let alone the first who could penetrate himself. Himself.
He's alive — and very angry I dared to write positively about him. He's mad his porn image still exists in the world, but considering his movies are still sold, I told him my venerating him on my little blog is the least of his concerns.
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For Blake & Colton Ford, making movies was a real boyfriend experience. (Image via Advocate Men)
Blake Harper (b. 1968)
This hot-as-hell staple of turn-of-the-millennium flicks was once the partner of Colton Ford, who he brought into the biz. He retired in 2006 and went back to nursing in his native Canada. That same year, he said of his movie career:
The most positive thing resulting from my porn career is recognizing and understanding what ego is and how to keep that in a healthy perspective ... The best part about being in porn was the ability to fulfill a fantasy. The worst part was having to be on sexually, even when I didn't want to be.
He also suggests that people who want to get into the field should just make their own at home, which is a great way to bring the studios, rather than the performers, to their knees.
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Bill me, please. (Image via The Advocate)
Bill Harrison aka Ken Harrison aka Big Bill aka Ronnie Shark (William Kennedy Harrison, 1947-1991/AIDS)
In possession of one of the biggest manhoods of all time, regular (but hot) guy Harrison got his start in early '70s loops, was the straight construction dude who finds his way into a magical sex den in Wakefield Poole's hypnotic Bijou (1972) and later directed for Tyger/Fox Studios. His penis certainly livened up the shower scene from Too Big for His Britches (1988).
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Hardened by Hart (Image via Jocks)
Adam Hart aka Jake Ryan (b. 1969)
I think I most appreciated the earliest phase of this bisexual porn staple — the wholesome bodybuilder who didn't look like he would be in this line of work — more so than phases two and three (goateed thirtysomething and superbuilt blond daddy, respectively), but there's no denying his impact in the field, which lasted from the early '90s until he moved on to straight movies. Great in Take Down (1992) and Hart Throb (1993).
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He described himself as a hard person — kinda on the money. (Images via Huge
Brian Hawks aka Brian Hawkes (1959-mid-'80s/car crash?)
This blond bad boy worked under other names (David Anders, Shawn McIvan, Charles Michael Jourdan, Angel Damien — call him anything, just call him!), burning a — um — hole through early-'80s porn with a swimmer's build that kept him afloat through various adventures in bottoming and topping.
He was at his zenith with Brian's Boys (1983) and also stood out in The Bigger the Better (1984), which came out shortly before he vanished, rumored to have perished in a car collision. According to Retro Males, in April 1985, he gave an interview while dancing in NYC, saying:
Most of the people in the business, the people who pay the boys, are fuck-overs. They take as much as they can while giving as little as possible. This whole business is a big bunch of lies!
Seems as likely that he left the business willingly as it is that he died in a car crash.
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Hazzardous materials (Image via Rufskin)
Johnny Hazzard (Frankie Valenti, b. 1977)
Johnny Hazzard was active in the industry from the mid-2000s until a few years back, doing gay and bi scenes. He was a musician simultaneously and starred on TV in The Lair under his real name. Best in Detention (2003), Deceived (2004) and maybe Take a Load Off (2011), the latter of which is a title that really should have been used before 2011, he received acclaim for acting in the drama Tiger Orange (2014), about gay brothers reconnecting in the wake of their father's passing.
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What is it with guys named Henson? (Image via Catalina)
Steve Henson (b. 19?)
This serious-looking preppy twink had a seriously cute butt and no compunction about putting it to use in a string of indelible films in the last half of the '80s: Like a Horse (1984) was one and The Pizza Boy: He Delivers (1985) was an even better one, but Inch by Inch (1985) was the ultimate.
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The man, the legend (Images via Manshots & Colt)
Billy Herrington (1969-2018/car accident)
New York-born bodybuilding competitor Herrington, one of the ultimate musclegods — and always good for an intense muscle-worshiping scene — transcended the genre and rose head and shoulders above other meatheads when he became a popular subject of Internet memes. In 2007, memes created from his 1999 flick Workout: Muscle Fantasies 3 (Can-Am) exploded, making the top a bona fide mainstream celebrity in Japan.
Image at R: The meme event! (Image via meme)
Herrington entered the porn biz when a GF sent his pics to Playgirl, and was considered gay-for-pay in the beginning. He later came out as bisexual.
Sadly, he died in a car crash in 2018, a fact confirmed by his grieving mom. RIP, Aniki.
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He's on the Hunt, he's after you ... (Image via Hot House)
Brad Hunt (b. 19?)
This impossibly handsome Chicago-area artist made a dozen or so flicks from 1993 to 1995, including the classic Flashpoint: Hot as Hell (1994) and one close to my heart called Rear-Ended (1995), then dropped out of sight. He had body hair at a time when that was out of vogue.
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Hunt-ing big game (Image via Inches)
Chad Hunt (b. 1973)
You don't have to hunt too hard for Chad's calling card, which at 11" might just as well be slung over his shoulder or thrown around his neck and worn like a scarf. He did dozens of movies in the '90s as a daunting top before bottoming in 2008, the same year he left the biz. In person, he's completely nice and not at all intimidating. He's a single dad, too, something we often forget about our pornstars — their money shots sometimes hit the jackpot.
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A rare smile from a merciless piledriver (Image via BG)
Igor from Machofucker (b. 1980s)
Igor, a Russian superstud, is easily the #1 top on Mach0fucker, the condom-free, interracial porn site known for its distinctive jungle-beat opening music, impossibly huge endowments and oceans of bodily fluids. He has appeared in numerous unforgettable sequences, including with Lucas di Fubbiano and the site's popular bottoms Kriss Aston and Marco. Very little info out there on Igor, who is said to be straight, but once you've seen him in action, you don't forget him.
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A little action (Image via Next Door)
AJ Irons aka Fabian aka Alonzo (b. 1981)
I have an unfortunate crush on pint-sized AJ Irons, who burst onto the scene a few years ago as a purported bicurious jock. Well, he's had his curiosity satisfied in every hole in his body many times over by now, and yet he still exhibits signs of not really having whatever answer he's looking for. He's small, but only vertically, and has a flawless little gymnast's build, but his biggest selling point for me is his mischievous grin. His portfolio is quite diversified, having appeared in bi movies, as a cuckold and doing escorting to boot. He gave as good as he got, making him full-service — and worked about 2009-2015.
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Action Jackson (Image via NoirMale)
DeAngelo Jackson (b. circa 1985)
The top in one of the most viral interracial gay scenes in porn history — his rim-massage from Jackson Reed in 2018's BBC Massage — FlavaWorks actor Jackson's place among the stars is already secured. One of the fittest currently making porn, he's also got one of porn's most incredible butts, making him an Instagram favorite. He's got a good head on his very good shoulders, having gone to college to get a criminal justice degree. Will he quit porn as he segues into fitness, or keep the candle burning at both well-developed ends?
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This time I know it's fur real. (Image via selfie)
Colby Jansen (b. 1978)
The self-proclaimed daddiest daddy on the scene, former rugby player Jansen is the bear of your dreams, one who since 2009 has won awards while topping, bottoming, filming trans scenes (he was married to trans performer Gia Darling for a decade) — you name it. In 2013, Jansen described his sexuality as follows:
I like sex with men, I like sex with women and I like sex with male to female transsexuals. However, I don’t really feel like I’m 50-50 bisexual, rather it’s a range. Sort of like my tastes in beer, one day I want Guinness, another day Labatt’s Blue and another day, whiskey! My sexuality is fluid and I don’t want to be locked into any label or box just to make it easier for some judgmental person to understand.
He's a force on Twitter (Work Unfriendly) and rebuilding his Instagram, which makes sense — in 2015, he told Manhattan Digest:
... [T]here is nothing cooler than getting an email from someone who says that I was their inspiration for getting fit and being happy while doing so. I’ve had people send me all types of great messages and that is the kind of thing that is my driving force in doing all of this.
He's also appeared in some of porn's most creatively titled flicks, including My Brother the Hooker (2016); Doc, My Ass Is Numb (2017); and Feminist Assassin Penny Enslaves Colby Jansen (2019).
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Tanks a lot! (Image via Bijou)
Chad Johnson (b. 1960)
Not to be confused with the wide receiver (Chad only received in 1984's Pipeline, and later called it “rape”), this shaggy top man made movies in fits from then 1984 on, including a late '80s comeback when he needed to make a car payment and a 2000s comeback after a decade-long relationship with co-star Dane Ford ended.
Image at L: All the singlet laddies (Image via Catalina)
In 2002, director Gino Colbert said of the self-professed odd man out of porn:
Chad is truly one of the great, genuine guys in the business and he has only gotten more handsome with time.
He's a chiseled masterpiece, like the Lincoln Memorial, except less prone to being usurped by Trump.
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Red alert! (Image via HIS)
Ty Jones (b. 1965)
This phenomenally fit black actor was usually kept in productions that capitalized on his race, including at least 30 films whose titles stressed it. He was also often paired up with other men of color, but I first heard of him — since I'm a Madonna fan — as the star of the 1988 interracial film Who's Dat Boy?... and yeah, that title made me cringe even then. (Though a Ryan Murphy re-creation of it would be divine.)
He topped, he bottomed and he served baby face. According to IAFD.com, he worked into the 2010s (including in occasional bi and trans films), seemingly calling it a day in 2011.
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Golly, Levi! (Image via selfie)
Levi Karter (b. 1993)
The pocket-sized Paraguayan wonder has a sweet disposition that translates to the screen beautifully, and a tight body that's refused to quit. Adopted as a child and raised in Ohio, he came out at 14, a harbinger of where kids were going. A college cheerleader, he met up with CockyBoys guru Jake Jaxson and became a porn superstar in no time flat, starting in 2013.
His distinctive tattoos are his signature (the R is for Rihanna, a millennial to the core), but so is his uninhibited performance style across all his films.
In a 2015 Gay Demon interview, he talked about his appreciation for the porn that came before him, saying:
Brent Everett was the first guy I jacked off to and Pierre (Fitch) I discovered while looking for more Brent. They're both versatile and they are the two performers in the industry I admire most because they have both successfully made stable careers for themselves in the industry in front and behind the camera and they look so sexy doing it — that is something that I want to make for myself.
Mission: Accomplished. Find him on IG here.
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Katt's kit-off club (Image via MuscleService.com)
Tom Katt aka Thom Katt aka Tom Payne (David Papaleo, b. 1970)
When I published my first list, I of course left off many, many names. I'm human! Most were a matter of personal opinion, but among the few icons I totally forgot, a man who received dozens of angry write-ins, was muscle god Tom Katt.
Usually a bottom, Katt made an appropriately big impression in porn from the beginning, making ripples both for his bodybuilder's physique and for sometimes being hairy enough to satisfy bear lovers. He appeared in many flicks, including Splash Tops (1992), Body Search (1992), Behind the Barn Door (1993), The Wild Ones (1994), and his last effort, 2003's Lords of the Ring.
Sadly, around that time, Katt — after a period during which he identified as bisexual — re-embraced religion. In 2006, he came out as straight and embraced Christianity, renouncing porn. On the plus side, Katt, who had left Catholicism as a kid when his mother was murdered by his stepdad, has said he is not anti-gay:
What I found is that so many people — including myself at one time — believe those crazy so-called Christians who say, if you’re gay or bi, God doesn’t want you. That’s a big piece of crap. They are misconstruing and give twisted interpretations of Biblical scriptures. I’ve extensively studied the scriptures they try to base that on, and it’s just not true.
Still, turning his back on being gay and on porn has been a less than ideal ending to a storied career.
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Colby says, “Cheese!” (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Colby Keller (b. 1980)
Is he a porn actor? A performance artist? Colby Keller came to us via Sean Cody, but has worked for various studios since. He's handsome but approachably rugged, which makes him all the hotter. He'd be very popular on Scruff even if he weren't nasty-famous. As Frontiers4men once pointed out, he comes off as rather intellectual. He's also pretty funny, saying that the biggest misconception about him would be:
That just because I do porn, I can't handle a big conversation as easily as I handle a big cock.
Keller didn't endear himself to some porn fans when he announced he was supporting Trump, not even when he went on to explain his protest vote.
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And God created Adam ... (Image via Tom of Finland)
Adam Killian (b. 1975)
Killian debuted in 2003, and went raw in 2014. He has a huge fanbase and still works, mostly as a top, when he's not selling real estate on Fire Island or spending time with hubby (of 10 years) Marco Milan, which whom he has co-starred. Now more of a daddy than ever — and with more than a passing resemblance to Lorenzo Lamas — the beloved buttfucker is on Twitter here.
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Golden throat (Image via Men.com)
Allen King (Alain Egaña Ramos, b. 1990)
One of current-porn's prettiest pups, Spanish-born Allen King wanted to be a porn actor ever since he was a teenager — and didn't wait much beyond that to make that dream come true. He was riding high at CockyBoys (including working with BF Angel Cruz) a few years back before a demotion to Lucas.
No matter; with his sparkling looks, the eager flip-fucker (whose name is oddly reminiscent of the late comic) has also already crossed over into pop music, including the songs “My Boy” (2018), “No Soy Tan Malo” (2019).
Your King is love. (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
His take on negative porn stereotypes, as told to Gay Demon in 2015:
Porn is not bad for young people. I think porn is good to learn about sex for people without experience and for situations where we are horny and alone at home.
Find him on IG here.
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King is your love. (Image via Falcon)
J.W. King (Jim Waldrop, 1955-1986/AIDS)
King was a macho, stereotypically stached Texan porn star of the early '80s who made huge impressions in Wet Shots (1980); Pacific Coast Highway (1981); Rawhide (1981), in which he stuffed Chris Burns with a giant dildo and his giant member simultaneously; Brothers Should Do It (1981) with his namesake (and non-relative) Jon King; and These Based Are Loaded (1982).
Although the magazine's higher-ups frowned on gay-porn actors, King — as Jim Waldrop — made the cut as a centerfold in Playgirl's January 1981 issue, demonstrating that his rugged appeal bridged the sexes.
Once he tested HIV positive, King spent the last two and a half years of his life waitering in L.A. before succumbing to AIDS on December 5, 1986. His partner, John Murphy, also died of AIDS.
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Heat of the Knight
Chad Knight aka Chad Nite (b. 1970)
A gay-for-pay actor (he was married before entering the industry in his early twenties and went on to have kids), Knight is nonetheless best known as a bottom on film, and one who was in about 50 movies the first three years he worked. Don't Kiss Me, I'm Straight (1991) and Knight Moves (1991) are two I remember as among his best, but how do you pick a best from a guy whose been in something like 100 movies? He retired in 2004 to — wait for it — spend more time with his family.
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Gone way too soon (Image via AEBN)
Wilfried Knight (1978-2013)
This German beauty is now one of the tragic ones, having taken his own life in 2013 after what was described as a long, exhausting battle to have his Canadian marriage to American Jerry Enriquez recognized as legal in the U.S., an impossibility — at the time — due to the now-defunct Defense of Marriage Act. In fact, Knight died within weeks of Enriquez's own suicide.
Before dying, Knight posted the following on the importance of a national gay-marriage law:
Gay marriage should exist on a national/federal level, so that multinational gay couple[s] can simply live together as multinational straight couples do. Laws should change for any international gay couple: my partner net clear signs he wanted me to die with him, to follow him, therefore had no will after our 9-year relationship. My marriage is valid in Canada, NOT in the USA. Therefore his family gets it all, when I get nothing.
If only they had been able to hold on a couple more years. Here's hoping that hard-won right is never relinquished.
As a porn star, he was a hairy, versatile stunner, working from 2004 until his passing for Lucas, Colt, Raging Stallion, Titan, Kink.com and others. He maintained an active Twitter, which was often dedicated to his love of pop stars.
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VPI from a POV VIP (Image via Instagram @maxkonnorxx)
Max Konnor (b. 1986)
With a background in theater arts, this relentless top from Albany, Georgia, went from zero to sexty (sorry) with a slew of hard-pounding appearances with Icon Male, Black Rayne, Lucas Entertainment, Raging Stallion, DawgPoundUSA, and more, not to mention his thriving OnlyFans account, which showcases his insane body and insane sex drive.
As with many of the more recent names on this list, due to the changing nature of porn (technologically and socially), his performances are far more raw and real than those of some past icons, who were sometimes constricted by clunky cameras, society's disdain for all things sexual, and, well, their own heterosexuality; he clearly loves what — and who — he does.
Honesty moment:
— MAX KONNOR (@maxkonnorxxx) January 17, 2018
I hate when guys refer to my dick as BBC or anything along those lines. You don’t specify the color of a white dick..... I am not a fetish. I am a human being.
He's also not afraid to speak up, such as when he mentioned on Twitter that he isn't on board with the term “BBC.” Mayhem ensued.
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He saw the future, but did not survive long enough to experience it. (Images via Falcon)
Tim Kramer (Douglas Murrell Cooper, 1958-1992/AIDS)
This entry written by Shawn Mayotte:
Doug Cooper was known as Tim Kramer, one of the biggest gay-porn stars of the '80s. I met Doug through a mutual acquaintance. We quickly became friends.
Doug was a smart and compassionate person. Since I was only posing for photo shoots and he was very successful performing in films, I thought of him as a “star.” He was always humble and treated everyone with kindness and respect. I learned a lot just from being around him.
Mayotte, the eulogist (large, image by Kent Schlesselman) & Kramer (inset; image via Falcon)
Doug and I not only shared first names; we also ran escort services in Hollywood. I didn’t see it as competition because there seemed to be enough clients for everybody. Also, my foray into the escort-service business was lucrativek but brief.
Doug was smart and he knew the value of the “Tim Kramer” brand. I remember when he told me about a solar-installation company he wanted to invest in, and though I saw the potential, he saw the future. When he was diagnosed HIV positive, he started an AIDS support group and began promoting safe sex. He truly cared about others. He became very ill in 1991 and passed away in 1992.
Doug, you taught me how to stay strong and care for others even when we’re in pain. I know your star shined bright and brief, but you made a difference in many people’s lives, including mine. If you were here today, you’d be thrilled to see that you were right: Solar is the future. I cried when you died, but I know you’re in Heaven making it a happier place for others. You taught me a lot about life and thinking ahead.
I’d like to end this tribute to Doug with a line from one of my favorite songs by the Waterboys that describes my feelings about him and his vision: “I saw the crescent /But you saw the whole of the moon.”
Rest in peace, Doug — you’re not forgotten. — Shawn Mayotte, 2017
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If porn were Olympics, Dolph would be a gold-medal winner. (Image via The Sword)
Dolph Lambert (b. 1988)
This Bel Ami vision appeared on the scene in 2007 and worked for six years as a bottom (at first) and top, including in such films as Todd and Dolph (2010) and The Peters Twins in Taboo (2010). Wholesome was always his stock in trade — a European farmboy who doesn't look like he should be quite as good at doing what he's doing in his videos.
It all ended in 2018, when the last of his stored-up scenes was revealed, years after his exit from the business that treated him like a bona fide movie star. (Hell, he was even a target of the paps in 2012 when Elton John squired him around on a vacation!)
Sorely missed.
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I liked Lance a lot. (Images via Catalina)
Christopher Lance (Robert Lance Slacke, 1966-1994/murder)
I remember this '80s twink most for his spirited portrayal of “Steve Harrington” in the Dynasty spoof Dynastud (1986), but he made quite a few slutty appearances — two holes, no waiting. He topped and bottomed in films by the best in the biz (William Higgins and Matt Sterling) before being stabbed to death by a roommate.
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Bear with me on this one. (Image by Colt)
Ledermeister (Paul Gerrior, b. 1930s)
They don't make them like Ledermeister (German for “leather master”) anymore — studs of his ilk were strictly limited edition.
This burly, handsome, old-school macho man with excellent muscular symmetry become a star via a series of Colt scenes and shoots, and probably lived on in the hearts and one-handed memories of his fans due to the dearth of scenes he left us. Whether wrestling, modeling leather or simply getting to the point, he was a winner.
Pre-fame Gerrior (Image via personal photo)
According to The Bear Book II by Les Wright, Gerrior can be called the orginal bear, and was a lineman for the utility company in San Francisco, as well as a gym rat, who first posed for Rip Colt in 1971. Jack Fritscher (b. 1939), who wrote a forword for the book, is sweet on the guy:
Paul Gerrior was a god, an archetype, the Platonic Ideal of masculinity. In media, he was virtually the first gay man to look like a man. He was a human rebuttal to the straight stereotype of powerless effeminacy.
Gerrior in 1985 (Image by this man)
Gerrior is rumored to be still living, but if not, he is thought to have lived long after his years in porn.
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He will be your father figure. (Image by Richard Sullivan)
Richard Locke (1941-1996)
Richard Locke, the so-called “Daddy of all Daddies,” was born in California. By the time he started shooting porn in the '70s, he already had a distinctive fatherly look — trade for days — even though he wasn't quite in his mid-thirties yet.
He was recruited into porn by a casting-director friend, making his debut for director Jim West in Dreamer (1975) for HIS. He was only in one scene (with Clay Grant), but it stuck. It was promoted with posters in the NYC subway system (I want one), which caught the eye of Joe Gaga aka Tim Kincaid, one of porn's only true auteurs.
Locke himself is a seminal part of gay porn thanks to his appearances in the trio of Gage classics: Kansas City Trucking Company (1976), El Paso Wrecking Corp. (1977) and L.A. Tool and Die (1979). In them, his performances are elemental; he never looks like he is putting on his masculinity, and he always looks sweaty, ripe and ready. He is who they were talking about when they described a “Gage Man.”
Image at R: Still from L.A. Tool and Die (Image via VCA)
Locke considered porn secondary to his main vocation — building houses powered by solar energy. He also toured gay theaters from 1977 on speaking and meeting fans, and would one day become an AIDS activist thanks in part to his comfort conversing with the community
In 1978, his younger brother Robert, also gay, interviewed him for Blueboy. It's a must-read, as it is a rare example of a verifiably real interview with a gay-porn star from the past, and one of the only examples I could find of a Golden Age porn star's family commenting on their work.
Image at R: Thinking man's stud (Image by Joseph McCarthy)
Here is the level at which Locke thought:
Don Juan has said in the books by Carlos Castaneda that a warrior, though he's frightened to the tip of his toes, always puts on a facade of having his feet on the ground, of being unafraid. There have been times in my life when I've been very frightened, but I've always maintained a facade of having it together. I'm sure that I have insecurities that I don't know about. It's always a progressive thing. Once you accomplish one thing, you've got another thing to accomplish. It's something that's ongoing; you've still got balls and chains to throw off until the day you die.
When I — I can't say I became gay— when I recognized that I was gay, I threw off a ball and chain, but that was just the first in a series of them. To me it was the first because up until that time nobody knew I was gay.
Retired from porn for years, Locke made a non-sexual appearance in 1995's The Diamond Stud before dying of AIDS complications in 1996.
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You do know Jack. (Image by David Lloyd)
Jack Lofton (b. ?)
Mustachioed, uncut Jack Lofton appeared in some 33 videos between 1988 and 1991 (and more overall, with repackaging of scenes), flip-flopping and appearing in such condomless and condomful fare as Big Boys of Summer (1988); My Brother, My Lover (1988); All Night Long (1989); and Highway Patrol (1989), among others. He was aggressive and rough at times, earning his share of fans before disappearing off the map.
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Clint Lockner, cover man (Image via Mandate)
Clint Lockner (Charles Stephen Romanski, 1943-1993/AIDS)
This hugely popular Colt man of the '70s and '80s had served in the Navy and the Marines, had been a pilot, and had been an LAPD cop, carrying that natural swagger into his hypermasculine films. Ironically, while a police officer, Lockner had worked on the vice squad. Especially vivid depictions of vice in action were his match-ups with Mickey Squires, which are like watching a cage fight with insertion.
Lockner, who was partnered for many years with L.A. Tool and Die (1979) star Dan Pace (Daniel Pacella), went on to co-own the private Sanctuary club in Hollywood (1979-1984), work at Radio Shack, and take on a job going after debts for Bank of America — only by phone, he didn't ride up on delinquents on his Harley.
Image at L: Daniel Pacella (Image via video still)
He died of AIDS in 1993.
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Getting to the point. (GIF via GIPHY)
Michael Lucas (b. 1972)
I can't think of anything kind to say, but he certainly earns a place on any list of greatest porn stars. So let's compromise: You write something nice about him.
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“Officially, I'm a porn star now — whatever the fuck that means.” (Image via Instagram)
Jack Mackenroth (b. 1969)
When Jack Mackenroth announced he was easing off his role as a relentless HIV-awareness activist in 2018, the public had no idea what was about to hit them. While the designer had spent 10+ years (since coming out as POZ on Project Runway) fighting to destigmatize HIV, he was underpaid and exhausted ... but could his second act as a proud sex pig have been predicted?
Oddly, even though Mackenroth is less the poster boy for HIV than he was, in some ways, he is doing more to fight the stigma of HIV — and of the sex behind it — with his new work by having unprotected sex on a seemingly daily basis, and fighting ageism (happy 50th!) while he's at it. The message is that HIV is manageable, and that it also need not be spread, thanks to PrEP.
Stylistically, I see a link between Mackenroth and the Colt Men of the '70s, but also the surreality of figures like Peter Berlin or the illustrations of Tom of Finland — with Freddie Mercury's flamboyance thrown into the mix.
However you perceive or categorize him, and whether or not you find his career trajectory uplifting, he is one of the neo-porn stars with the most content on his accounts, something unimaginable in 2007, when he first came to fame. He is also his own producer, and is doing something he threatened to do all along — start living instead of worrying about dying.
Follow him on IG here, and on JustForFans here.
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Taking Marino for an answer — early, and later on (Images via Colt)
Vinnie Marino aka Ray Acosta aka Rafael Acosta (b. 19?)
Vinnie was one of those incredible William Higgins boys, but was one who stood out to me because of the two basketballs he carried around in the backseat of his jeans, which were usually off anyway. These were the days before fake butts existed, so his endowment was particularly noteworthy. He got his the old-fashioned way, by working out; in fact, Marino had been a prize-winning bodybuilder. He definitely did wonders for my own body, none of which lasted but all of which are repeatable. He seemed to still be doing solo videos until at least 2004.
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Stairway to heaven (Image via Nova)
Lee Marlin (b. ?)
This early-years jock type topped (in 1979's Boys from Riverside Drive) and bottomed (in 1977's Grease Monkeys) with equal aplomb, and appeared in vintage classics like His Little Brother (1980), Roommates (1980) and Tub Tricks (1984).
Very little is known about him — where he came from, what happened to him — but he has that '70s up-for-anything vibe and his image was recycled in many a magazine, and also in films like Directors' Best: William Higgins 2 (1998).
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Bigger is better. (Image via selfie)
Carlo Masi (Ruggero Fredi, b. 1976)
This massive Italian stallion worked for about six years (2004-2010, but he retired officially in 2013) for Colt, topping and bottoming with gusto and building a name for himself as a Tom's Man kinda man.
In 2018, 12 years after his first porn scene with Adam Champ (born Gustavo Leguizamon), Masi put a cock ring on it — the two were wed in a civil partnership ceremony in Italy. The nuptials were delivered by Vladimir Luxuria, a trans former MP in Italy's parliament. The happy moment came the year after Masi, working as a math teacher after earning his Masters, had been recognized by his students at La Sapienza University of Rome.
Pietro Boselli, Carlo Masi — it seems like Italian math instructors are entirely more attractive than the job requires.
In 2017, he told Vice of his former career:
I obviously miss the money and the attention you get when you're a porn star – being appreciated by fans, not having to queue for clubs, that sort of thing. But the industry seems to have changed. Guys I know in the business tell me that they feel that standards have slipped a bit – they think there's less care and attention for actors these days.
I'd wager plenty of Masi's old fans still care for him — forgetting him simply doesn't add up.
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Ben there, done ... a lot! (Image via Helix)
Ben Masters (b. 1996)
Ben, an ubertwink, made his mark as a boy-bodied, big-butted bottom for Helix and CockyBoys, using social media to aid in his rise to the top of the porn game.
He also gained notoriety thanks to his personal life, which always draws interest. Unfortunately, that entails unpleasant things like being expelled from ballet school and becoming embroiled in porn love triangles with very ex-BF Cameron Parks.
Image at R: Cameron Parks(Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Here's hoping he bounces back, because he has true star quality.
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Tommy, can you hear me? (Image via CreateSpace)
Gus Mattox (Tom Judson, b. 1960)
We love our gay-porn stars who go on to mainstream success, don't we? We have to — there are so precious few of them. But that could and should be changing, and Tom Judson is one of the examples who paved the way.
Already a successful composer (films like Metropolitan in 1990, and The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love in 1995) and off-Broadway actor/writer, Judson renamed himself Gus Mattox and dove headfirst into hardcore in 2003, winning a GayVN Award and tons of fans with performances in films like Bootstrap (2005) and Night Callers (2005). HIV positive since 1993, Gus hadn't expected to see 40, but instead was a wildly popular sex icon past 40.
He retired in 2006 and is now a cabaret performer, works with living legend Charles Busch, promotes a T-shirt line and in 2011 published the excellent book Laid Bare: Essays and Observations.
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Cole & Hunter (M) with Dirk Caber (L) & Jesse Jackman (R) at Hustlaball 2014 (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
The Maverick Men (b. 19? & b. 19?)
Pioneers of the current do-them-yourself era of porn via an Xtube account that blew up, Cole and Hunter — the Maverick Men — have for years run their own popular site (Work Unfriendly), trawling the Internet for sex-crazed, notoriety-seeking playmates, including straight-up hos and curious virgins, all willing to be tag-teamed by the limitless daddies. They love scruffy, natural guys, but also seem to get off on corrupting twinks and jocks who don't look like they'd do porn. One of their coups was bagging Mr. “Leave Britney Alone,” Chris Crocker.
They specialize in anal deflowerings and daddy talk, and have always preferred bareback sex, noting that they do so with precautions:
Engaging in some sexual practices without condoms may be risky (e.g. taking raw loads up your ass from strangers who either don’t know their HIV status or other sexually transmitted infection (STI) status, or haven’t been tested in a long time.) Of course, many guys we’re with get tested regularly and tell us they do not have any infections, but we chose to use recent test results so we can all have sex without condoms. This is our choice and guys in our videos appreciate and agree with our philosophy. Importantly, if we are not 100% sure of the situation or if there was not enough time to get proper testing done, you will see condom use in our videos.
Studio? They don't need no stinkin' studio (aside from financial backing by Online Buddies) — they use their own equipment to film their own equipment in action. And in case you want to get with them, but don't want the fame, you're out of luck: They claim to only play with others on camera. Now that's a novel set of open-relationship rules!
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How did they not do a parody called Brian's Schlong? (Image via HIS)
Brian Maxon aka Steve Bramble (b. 19?)
This wildly slutty brunet-cum-blond of the '80s livened up everything he was in, even though he was apparently gay-for-pay, but nothing more so than his work with Mike Henson in the classic Two Handfuls (1986). For that scene alone, he's a legend, but his predilection for wrecking rears also helps.
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The real McCoy (Image via Falcon)
Kyle McKenna (Russell Charles McCoy, 1968-2000/suicide)
This hungry bottom — appealingly collegiate and clean-cut, yet quite the pig — first came to my attention via his role in Balls in Play (1993), a better-than-most baseball-themed movie. Loved his looks and his performance. He ground out movies over the next several years, making them like there was no tomorrow. In 2000, he committed suicide via drug overdose, ending what had apparently been an unhappy, short existence.
As with many of his peers, information regarding McKenna on the 'Net may or may not be true and is hard to verify; for example, it's repeated everywhere that he had been abused by his dad and an older brother and that his mom wouldn't claim his body when he died, and yet a credible-sounding guy who grew up around McKenna refutes at least some of that information in this interesting eulogy.
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#MeCum (Image via Raging Stallion)
Alex Mecum (b. 1987)
One half of a gay-porn power couple with Carter Dane, this (always) strapping (usually) top takes the dirty out of nasty, always seeming to enjoy himself in a way that is almost ... oddly ... wholesome?! Maybe that's why he remind me of a superhero any time I see him in action. (Or it could be his 2016 Captain America: A Gay XXX Parody ... )
He grew up Mormon so was worried he would be branded a slut when he first went into porn, but told Queer Me Now in 2017 he thinks porn helps guys accept themselves, not the opposite.
Watch the full, charming video to discover why this guy is so well-liked in the biz:
Oh, and his sex video with fellow listed star Griffin Barrows is hot and sweet.
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Hands-on (Image via GuySpy.com)
Trace Michaels aka Trace Hunter (b. 19?)
If you're not familiar with this incredibly hot, hairy, hunky, sex-crazed performer's specialty videos — in which he massages some of the sexiest men alive — you must get thee to the Google. It's insane how long he can prolong the inevitable, whether that means him stuffing his massage victim or getting his client so hot and bothered he has to provide the opposite service. He does it all well and with relish, plus his dirty talk and his acting are top-notch. Somehow, he is currently single, or so says his Twitter. And somehow, he offers an incredibly low rate on Rentboy (in Florida), when you can find him on it. So even if you add in a ticket from NYC, the cost is — oh, uh, forget I wrote that.
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Hungary-man dinner (Images via Catalina & Hot House)
Arpad Miklos (1967-2013/suicide)
This Hungarian hunk gave up a chemistry career in his homeland when he moved to NYC and became an in-demand escort and porn actor in the '90s, a stand-out top in such features as The Vampire of Budapest (1995), Comrades in Arms (1995), Buckleroos: Part 1 (2004), and dozens of others.
Hirsute and handsome, he was also known for an ingratiating smile, and for lending his name to gay causes, including raising money for NYC's Ali Forney Center for LGBTQ youth. His appearance in the music video for “Hood” by Perfume Genius hinted at his potential as a dramatic actor.
His suicide came three years after his final film, and was a painul reminder that people who seem to have it all together are sometimes suffering inside.
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Bad-boy next door (Image via Helix)
Joey Mills (b. 1998)
One of the biggest things to happen in twink porn in 20 years, Joey Mills — a Missouri native and onetime Helix superstar who debuted in 2016 — also has star discourse via a bad breakup with ex-boyfriend Ben Masters, who felt current boyfriend Angel Rivera not only stole Joey, but “killed” Rivera in the process. The ensuing, high-profile estrangement only served to build up the followings of all three.
Mills announced in February 2019 he was exiting Helix (so did others), and the studio promptly canceled his book tour (inset image by Matthew Rettenmund) — while it was still underway. More appealing drama to enhance his on-screen escapades, which include DPs handled with nonchalance.
Whatever he does next, he will do it with a Warholian detachment that somehow registers as cool, and that somehow makes his performances as a barely-legal-looking bottom or skilled top even hotter.
Required viewing? Lifeguards (2016).
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Geek-tastically hot, he was briefly followed by Anthony Scaramucci. (Images via Instagram @mrblakemitchell)
Blake Mitchell (Lane Rogers, b. 1996)
This new-wave porn king is built, but not a musclehead; is cute, but wouldn't be mistaken for a Bruce Weber (b. 1946) model; wears geeky specs; is actually bisexual; and is as much himself online as any other porn actor in history. All of these things distinguish him from some of the porn gods of the past, but he has in common with the best of them a mind-blowing charisma and sexiness.
The Kentucky-born charmer got into porn after meeting a gaggle of cam girls and realizing he could do what they were doing. His cam career launched in February 2014 with a buddy, then he was scooped up by Helix while visiting his ex, porn actor Caleb Reece. He was an immediate sensation precisely because he is so authentic.
At the peak of his success, Mitchell left gay porn for a bit, leading to a collective one-handed gay gasp, but he did return after six months — perhaps to save it.
In 2019, he reverted to his given name, Lane Rogers. Follow him on Twitter here.
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Brad: To the bone (Image via Falcon)
Brad Mitchell (b. 19?)
Who says porn stars always have clever names? Brad Mitchell, whose name sounds like one you'd find in your high school yearbook, could have been named Millicent Fenwick and still have been arousing. God, his clefted chin! He was a well-endowed Falcon regular who flip-flopped in his scenes in films like The Pledge Masters (1989) and Deep in Hot Water (1989), working for about five years with some of the, er, biggest names in the industry.
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One of porn's most IDable faces (Image via MarcusMojo.com)
Marcus Mojo aka Landon Mycles (b. 1986)
Working in porn from 2008 to 2016 (with a break in there), this blue-eyed cutie was a staple at Next Door Studios and for Men.com, among others. He's fully versatile, and happy to do bi videos, too. Muscular, smiley and a hard worker, he still runs his own, slick site — MarcusMojo.com.
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You make him wet. (Image via HighPerformanceMen.com)
Dean Monroe (b. 1972)
Dean Monroe has good taste in icons as well as a good hear for what works — hey, he could've wound up being called Mineo Van Doren. This painfully handsome gay British boy already has over 10 years worth of films under his belt, in which he's been particularly effective in and out of a business suit and/or on the receiving end of innumerable gang-bangs. He's streamlined his body over time, losing his softness but winding up pretty close to just about anyone's ideal. He also sings and acts in non-porn. They say you could listen to a great singer sing the phone book. I could watch him screw it.
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No More. (Image via selfie)
Markie More (b. 1992)
“Perfectly Content in the Midst of Misery,” his upper-chest tattoo reads, and Markie More — a gay-for-pay dream with over a hundred scenes for Next Door Studios — was that kind of porn star, one with a baby face, but an inked-up edge.
In May 2019, he announced he was leaving porn, which he feels is “lustful” and “deviant,” and though those are pretty judgmental terms, he has said repeatedly — on Twitter — that he is not trying to judge others, just trying to do what is right for himself. Sadly, the group he has aligned himself with is Mormon-run, so draw your own conclusions. Still, he also used to donate $250 from each of his sex scenes to gay-straight alliances, so perhaps there is hope for him yet.
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One of porn's best builds, even his hair had excellent body! (Images via Ramshot)
Peter North aka Matt Ramsey (Alden Brown, b. 1957)
Here's an adult-film survivor — the great Peter North, one of the best-looking dudes in the biz when he entered it, was himself entered (under the name Matt Ramsey) by Rick "Humongous" Donovan in a deliciously classless classroom scene from the classic The Bigger the Better (1984) and appeared in a fair number of other gay flicks despite now being better known for his straight work. He's alive, kicking, directing/producing porn and looking pretty good, judging by this interview from a couple of years ago.
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Czech-Czech-Czech-Czech it out! (Image via Bel Ami)
Pavel Novotný aka Max Orloff aka Jan Dvorak aka Jakub Moltin aka Jaros aka Jarosl (Jaroslav Jirík, b. 1977)
Sensationally good-looking Czech model has more fake names than Lady Gaga's Twitter followers — but no matter, he's unforgettable in his Bel Ami (2001's Coverboys) and William Higgins (2000's Prague Buddies) work, and pretty terrific in his other work, too (1999's Czech Point). But to me, he looks more like the quintessential Kristen Bjorn boy, no?
Does anyone else remember when he got into a ruckus in Cuba and was arrested, but received aid from the late George Michael?
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Who's yer Paddy? (Image via selfie)
Paddy O'Brian (Liam, b. 1986)
This handsome, gay-for-pay, Cockney-voiced Irish lad from London debuted in 2010, and has worked for Falcon, English Lads and, mostly, Men.com, becoming one of England's most famous gay-porn stars of all time. He's vers, in spite of his off-screen proclivities, and he's got a reputation as a pro who is cleancut and into porn for the money. He's great in domination scenes, and fills out a suit nicely.
He's on IG here.
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Great Scott (Images via Men of Advocate Men)
Scott O'Hara aka Spunk (John R. Scott, 1961-1998/AIDS)
The guy with “the biggest d*** in San Francisco” (he won a contest and everything!) did about two dozen flicks in the '80s and early '90s, including the classics The Other Side of Aspen 2 (1985) and In Your Wildest Dreams (1987). But his true claim to fame was as a writer — his Autopornography (which plays on his ability to fellate himself) is a must-read for anyone interested in the genre. Is it me, or did he seem to be performing alone even when with a partner? He just always struck me as a singular figure, one whose sex-on-film work was part of a larger art project.
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The boy Next Door (Image via Randy Blue)
Justin Owen (b. 1992)
A sensation when he began bottoming for Randy Blue in 2013 (and later just as in-demand for Helix and Next Door), Owen is one of the premiere catchers of the past 10 years, in spite of rumors he was all but gay-for-pay. For the record, he declared himself bisexual in 2013:
I would describe my sexuality as very curious. Always interested what my own limits are, and what people are willing to do. So, bisexual!
Sadly, he called it quits in 2017, his Twitter going dark the year before. More sadly, he is now extremely religious — like, he thinks gays should become ex-gays, he's anti-abortion and he believes the End Days are near. Another End Gay, unfortunately.
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A raw talent (Image via Hot Desert Knights)
Jeff Palmer (David Zuloaga, b. 1975)
L.A.-born, Argentina-raised Palmer was raised in a conservative Christian family, but snuck a look at a gay-porn movie starring Peter North in his early teens. The eye-opening experience led him to sex work when he was underage, first in Brazil and then in Amsterdam, where he acquired a no-limits attitude about sex.
Moving to Miami, he debuted as a Falcon exclusive in the '90s. He left, but returned in 2001, and by 2002 was an unapologetic bareback performer, HIV positive and loudly against medications of any kind to fight the virus. He overcame a crystal meth addiction and worked doing webcam sex scenes, providing his audience anything and everything it wanted to see.
Palmer, who has retained a reverence for religion, is also one of several porn performers with music careers, releasing singles from 1999 that include “Conectando” (1999), “Easy” (2000) and “High” (2001). Still, it's unlikely his beats will ever drown out his fame as a greedy, do-anything bottom.
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As a Bel Ami manager, he came with hands-on experience. (Image via Bel Ami)
Johan Paulik (b. 1975)
In the '90s, Paulik and scene mate Lukas Ridgeston were the sensations of the industry, bringing pure, boyish, unspoiled good looks, giant prongs and dirty sex to a whole new level. Having starred in some of Bel Ami's most fondly remembered titles — Lukas' Story (1994), Sauna Paradiso (1994), An American in Prague (1997) — he retired 10 years ago and became Bel Ami's GM.
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Getting to the bottom of things (Image via Falcon)
Jeremy Penn (b. 19?)
This mostly top of the late '90s always seemed to be in a singlet or some other kind of jockish, form-fitting gear, and never flinched from any task that was demanded him, although rumor has it he was straight. I'm not sure he was ever better than in his debut, The Freshmen (1997), but his career-finale bottoming scene was as good a way to say good-bye as any — even if some have suggested insertion was achieved only via trick editing.
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Man with a van (Image via Colt)
Brad Phillips (Steve Casavant, b. ?)
This hirsuit, chiseled hottie worked in the biz from about 1984-1992, though his popping up in compilations continued for years after he retired. He was involved with fellow porn stud Butch Taylor in his free time. On-screen, one of his most famous pairings for Colt was in The Company We Keep (1984), bangin' away with Matt Ramsey aka Peter North in a legendary scene that took place in a van, and he was outstanding in Falcon's Touch Me (1988).
Along with his porn creds, Brad popped up as a very visible (maybe just to our thirsty eyes) extra in three 1988 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation — “Encounter at Farpoint,” “Justice” and “11001001.” He got those jobs after being used as a model for the fitting of the uniforms, then being cast for background work. He was also interviewed in the 1993 documentary Sex Is ..., in which he admitted his sex work made him lonely.
Having survived a disfiguring illness, Brad is alive and well as of March 2019.
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He got his stage name from River Phoenix! (Image via Blade)
Dean Phoenix (Curtis Dean Hutchinson, b. 1974)
This Mexican-born wonder is just plain cute. He started in the biz in 1998, including a 2004 comeback that featured his first time bottoming (on film) and a much briefer 2009 comeback that he indulged in only to experience the process after having kicked booze. His reason for doing porn is unique:
Porn is so addicting. I knew I'd never date; being a porn star meant I was promiscuous, not to be trusted and unable to connect. I got to have sex without being in a real relationship, and I got the fame.
Do call it a comeback! (Image via Next Door Raw)
After retiring, he worked as a bartender and, covering all the bases, a drug and alcohol counselor. As of 2016, he was back in porn and bigger than ever. If you're lucky, you can also catch him dancing at strip clubs.
He's on IG here.
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It was fun to view Quinn's cummings. (Image via Catalina)
Jeff Quinn aka Rhett Routley (b. 1959)
Looking like he should've been a Bruce Weber model — with that quintessentially '80s piece-of-A look — Quinn, like Kurt Marshall, appeared in a small number of movies, but only in movies that made a big impact, including The Switch is On (1985), Inch by Inch (1985), Hot Rods: Young & Hung II (1986) and the best ever, Big Guns (1986). Despite bottoming in most of his movies at a time when HIV was all over the industry, I have found no info that he got sick — he seemed to have made his money and disappeared. Since publishing this list in July 2019, Jeff has contacted me to assure me he is very much alive.
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Simply the chest! (Image via Titan)
Victor Racek (b. 1975)
Czech-born Racek was a hard Titan (and Kristen Bjorn) worker only a few years in the early '00s, but his cool energy is forever emblazoned in the memories of porn buffs, especially his performances in Desire (2001), My Best Friend's Lover (2001) and Italian Style (2001).
Today, a personal trainer, Racek is an easy star to spot in Hell's Kitchen, NYC. He looks like he could step right back in front of the camera on a moment's notice.
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I did it for ... Johnny! (Image via Falcon)
Johnny Rahm (Barry J.T. Rogers, suicide/1965-2004)
This sweet-faced, horse-performer was, like so many sex workers, raised in an extremely religious environment. Sensationally, he came out as gay while attending Bob Jones University, which promptly kicked him out. That was a bad-ass move in the '80s.
From 1988 until the early '00s, he was a familiar face in porn, with award-winning highlights including Body Search (1993) and All About Steve (1995). Late in his career, he worked in bareback productions after learning he was POZ. Dealing with HIV, depression and hepatitis became too much for him, and he took his own life in 2004 after being rejected for financial assistance by Social Security.
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Rambo: First Bod (Image via Catalina/Manshots)
Steve Rambo (b. 1956)
This handsome heartbreaker made his porn debut in 1992 in Nutt Crackers, becoming a popular draw throughout the rest of the '90s until his retirement in 2006.
In 2002 — long before the days of “in front of my salad???” — when the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC ruled the world, Rambo appeared in the film Boy Band. Unfortunately, one of his scenes has since become an undyingly mortifying meme: In it, he awwwkwardly encounters and exchanges words (and sex) with Brad McGuire. It must be seen to be believed:
Right?!
In spite of this claim to infamy, Rambo was a solid sexual performer in such fare as Steve Rambo's Wild West Adventure (1998), Big Guns 2 (1999) and Party in Provincetown (2002), and a highly desirable DILF at a time, during the condom era, when daddies weren't as popular as they are today.
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If you like to watch, he likes you to watch. (Image via Raging Stallion)
Adam Ranzi (b. 1981)
In porn since 2013, fuzzy, handsome Adam Ramzi (I'm a fan of a man with a statement brow) described himself as a child as such:
I was definitely a faggy kid who loved all things pretty and artsy, from flowing fabrics to musicals. My parents split when I was 7, and it was the furthest thing from amicable, so that dulled my torch for a while, but it came back eventually.
He was recruited into porn when selfies online caught the attention of Raging Stallion, and he went on to work with Naked Sword, Falcon, Men.com and CockyBoys. I like his CockyBoys work in 2016 best, but others are going to love him most for his Kink.com bondage shoots.
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The look of lust (Image via CockyBoys)
Taylor Reign (b. 1990)
The artsy, angular angel is not only a fuckboi, he's also a popular draw at gay events, a fitness model and a designer/stylist worthy of that regal surname.
As hard as it is to believe, he's already been in the biz since 2011, and while he has dabbled here and there for others, his best stuff is for CockyBoys, including outrageous match-ups with Arad Winwin, Ashton Summers, Josh Moore and Cory Kane, among many others.
Taylor in his own words, for Garçon Model:
He is on Twitter here, and on IG here.
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Are you a Rhodes scholar? (Image via Falcon)
Erik Rhodes (James Elliott Naughtin, 1982-2012/heart attack)
We like our porn stars to successfully pretend to be losing themselves in the moment, but Rhodes wasn't pretending — from the beginning of his career in 2004, nobody came off as more lost in a series of moments. He topped and bottomed, eventually bottoming out in 2012 after steroid abuse and recreational drug use probably led to a heart attack in his sleep.
Upon his death, he was the rare star who received a lengthy New York Times obituary, albeit one entitled: “An Early Death but Perhaps Not a Surprise.”
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It's always good when 18-year-olds don't mind having their pictures taken. (Images by Greystoke for In Touch for Men)
Bo Richards (b. circa 1962)
A prototypical surfer brat, blond Bo Richards had a short (1980-1982) but sweet career as a top that generated scenes many men of a certain age still have handy in their spank banks.
The Main Attraction had a trippy disco sequence. (GIF via GIPHY)
Richards was discovered via a shoot by AMG's legendary beefcake shooter Bob Mizer (1922-1992), who apparently caught him just as the smoke was clearing from the candles on his 18th-birthday cake. He went on to pose for Nova, and appeared in such hits as The Cruiser (1980), Afternooners (1982), and The Main Attraction (1982).
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If he's gay for pay, I'm buyin'! (Image via MenMagazine.com)
Reese Rideout (b. 1982)
Reese Rideout is somewhat controversial in the field because he's an unapologetically gay-for-pay performer, one who has no problem submitting to (squirmy, on our part) interviews with his wife. But for my money, if you're good at it, that's what counts—he's not vying to be head of the HRC, he's hammering rumps on video. And he's versatile, for good measure.
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A Ridge too far (Image via TitanMen)
Jason Ridge aka Jake Lavelle (b. 1974)
This retired prolific pornstar (over 50 films) and massive Madonna fan was memorable in A Matter of Size 2 (2005) and Unzipped (2005), among many others, before starting his own production company in 2007. His flip-flopping scene in his debut, Nasty Nasty (2003), led him to say:
The whole sexual act ... it's a job. Of course, you enjoy doing it.
I respect his process.
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Hal-lelujah! (Image via Mandate)
Hal Rockland (b. 1975)
This '90s top entered the business after his (real-life) brother Vince and before their (real-life) brother Shane. They were like the Jonas Brothers, except with geographical semi-incest. His videos were major events, especially Flashpoint: Hot as Hell (1994) and By Invitation Only (1994). Also like the Jonases, the Rocklands had been born into a religious family. Hal exited the business after finding (relocating?) God, getting married and becoming a father. He is said to work in construction somewhere, and what a body of work.
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Dear John (Image via Falcon)
John Rocklin (b. 19?)
Easily one of the most stunningly good-looking men ever to set foot in porn, Rocklin was versatile on film and built like an Olympic gymnast. He is immortal for his scene in Big Guns (1987), in which one guy teaches another how to please his girlfriend in the most hands-on of ways.
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Just call him Hand Solo. (GIF via GIPHY)
Roger (1955-1982/car accident)
No gay-porn list (including the one I did in 2013) would be complete without a tip of the hat to Roger, one of the medium's first stars. He did many sizzling loops and movies in the '70s until the very early '80s. His relentless, slow-mo rimming and topping of Jack Wrangler's butt in the avant-garde Sex Magic (1977) still packs an erotic punch; his rimming of Bruno in a Bullet Gold compilation led to an equally memorable, if opposite outcome, one that showed off Roger's eagerness as a bottom.
Roger that — he was known as Tom Garrett in Target mags. (Image via Target)
I have not a clue what became of Roger — have you?! UPDATE: A reader points out that Roger died in a car crash while pursuing his girlfriend.
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A legend in his own behind (Image via Next Door)
Anthony Romero (b. 1991)
As a past half of the famous “Austony” (with Austin Wilde), Romero was built with a serious look that could make him a desirable top, but had a Bambi innocence that fed his inevitable bottoming scenes. (His ridiculous booty helped, too.) Cute as a button, he was always feisty — as here, talking about why he left his old studio:
I wasn't happy being a mediocre performer in a studio of shit models with a shit owner ... I don't know how long I will perform, but hopefully long enough to immortalize myself in this industry. I don't half-ass anything, so I'm not going out prematurely.
He seems to have retired around 2016.
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In bloom (Image via selfie)
Ryan Rose (b. 1985)
Bursting onto the scene in 2011, Rose — an ex-Marine, Andrew Christian poser and frequent Adonis NYC dancer — was initially a Sean Cody model, then a Falcon exclusive, but has worked with Naked Sword, Raging Stallion, DucatiPorn and others. Looking like a J. Crew model, the intoxicatingly handsome slab of beef got into porn when he lost his construction job and quickly became a gay-household name.
Ryan said in 2018:
When I first started this journey, I knew who I was. That’s changed a few times since then, but now I have the biggest puzzle of all: Who am I? Where do I go? I guess that depends entirely on where I want to be.
Sadly, his controversies have overshadowed his stellar ability to, um, flip any situation, including embarrassingly stating he didn't vote for Obama because of his finances and feuding childishly with other actors. He was also arrested for physically attacking his porn-star BF, Bobby Hart, and has copped to substance-abuse issues. Every Ryan Rose has its thorns.
Rose called it quits in 2018, ending with The Last Rose.
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Abs-olutely would (Image via Falcon)
Marco Rossi (b. 1970)
A New Yawk '90s dream, this buff, buffed (he always looked like someone had waxed his chassis, like he was a coveted car) Italian-American bro was a big draw for Falcon, Vivid and Forum, in particular, but worked for a number of top (and bottom) brands.
Excellent in Mirage (1993), Ace in the Hole (1993), Getaway (1993), Idol Country (1994), and The Urge (1995), he shot porn from about 1993-2001. Some sites list later titles, but I have not independently verified if some were really shot then or were compilations; I don't recall him working much after the '90s.
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And God created Adam ... (Image by Ralf Reuhmeier)
Adam Russo (b. 1968)
Shaggy daddy and self-professed size queen Adam Russo is comfortable on top or on bottom, and — as he once told Squirt — it's because working in porn is merely an extension of his real life;
Sex is my avocation and my vocation.
You're hired!
An older guy in porn, Russo, who comes from the NYC fashion industry (Geoffrey Beene, Joan Vass), has done the gamut, seeming to excel in fetish videos. Plus, he looks great in a suit — business or rubber. His advice for how to grow up to be just like him is unsparing, as recorded in a Manhunt Daily interview years ago:
Say to yourself, “Am I really going to do this?” In that case, get yourself to the gym and work out. There’s so much competition and so many beautiful boys out there that you’ve got to really be on your game.
Sir, yes, sir.
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Public stache (Image via Falcon)
Donnie Russo (b. 1964)
One of the quintessential '90s porn studs, Brooklynite Donnie Russo was a Colt-worthy, chiseled, classic model with a cherished ass and a porn stache that was a hot throwback to the '70s. Vivid in movies like Total Corruption (1993) and Brooklyn Meat Company (1999), he got progressively kinkier as he aged — tatted up, big into fetish videos, taking his fans along with him for the unexpected ride.
Russo also branched out as a director, especially of piggy titles, keeping him active long enough that he was on the scene over two decades. He's now the partner of acclaimed gay photographer Aaron Cobbett.
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For Ryan out loud (Image via Rage)
Eric Ryan (1954-1993/lymphoma & AIDS)
When I became aware of adult movies, Ryan had already appeared in countless examples of them, a masculine, sex-addicted presence who could've passed for a randy soap star or the handsomest trucker alive. I loved that his hair was thinning on top—it added to his realness. He was especially awe-inspiring in Leo & Lance (1983), but had been in grittier movies since the '70s.
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Hard Ryder (Image via Falcon)
Lee Ryder (Darras Robert Pryon, 1959-1991/AIDS)
This early-'80s stunner was already retired by the time I saw my first adult movie, but whenever I caught a glimpse of him in one of his amazing appearances — Huge (1982), A Few Good Men (1982), Spokes (1983), The Biggest One I Ever Saw (1984) — he definitely made his mark.
Sleazy Ryder (Image via Falcon)
It's incredible to think he only made a dozen or so appearances.
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What would porn be sans Diego? (Image via Men.com)
Diego Sans (b. 1989)
This Brazilian stunner has been working for nearly a decade already, bringing a romantic, boyfriend quality to his scenes, including work for Men.com and Randy Blue. Though he bottomed early on, his bread and butter is as a take-charge top.
One of his most-viewed performances came in the popular Tarzan: A Gay XXX Parody, one of his films directed by his partner Marc MacNamara. Yes, they are a gay-porn power couple — me Tarzan, you ... also Tarzan.
The award-winning looker is on IG here.
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He's everywhere! (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Billy Santoro (b. 1976)
One of the best-known stars of today, six-footer Santoro has a towering presence on social media and a crackling personality, one that has established him as instantly recognizable online, on the street, at RuPaul's Drag Con— wherever.
A voracious bottom, this always-grinning Italian plays well (and is always ready to be vers) with all others, but seems to be personally drawn to youngsters, once admitting on Instagram that hung twinks “make me young.” BTW, he's single following a bad breakup with ex Seth Santoro (b. ?).
When he was young himself, Santoro was bullied for his looks and for being effeminate, something many gay men faced, and something quite a few butch gay-porn stars have referenced (Austin Wolf among them). He told Str8UpGayPorn in 2014:
I was brutalized over my appearance throughout my childhood. I defended myself and almost always got the short end of the stick whether it was coming home from school with a black eye or being attacked further for throwing punches “like a girl.” So when I hear an attack on me about those sorts of things, it takes me back to those horrible days, which included multiple suicide attempts. I tend to lash out.
Of all the current stars on this list, Santoro is among the best-positioned to make similar lists for years to come.
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Brutally handsome (Image via Bullwhip)
Aiden Shaw (b. 1966)
A pornographic renaissance man, British performer Aiden Shaw was renowned for his perfect, and perfectly enormous, member, but has lately been making his mark more for his writing ability. Starting in 1996, he began publishing poetry and fiction. He's written two autobiographies honest enough to cover his life as a hustler and drug addict coming to terms with being HIV+, and has also sung and modeled. He's one of the field's luminaries (he retired in 1999 and after resurfacing in 2003 did so again in 2004), a man with a movie star's presence and a model's artful elegance.
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Keep it up, Jack! (Image via Titan Men)
Jack Simmons (1970 or 1972-)
BoyfriendTV.com describes Jack's penis size as simply: Big. No lies told! The rest of him is large and in charge, too, at about 6' and 220 lbs. This African American porn mainstay has been working since he was 21, and began directing by the late '90s. He has been in dozens of films for everyone from Falcon to All Worlds to Titan and HIS, and also made his share of bareback films pre-PrEP. His most memorable moment? Maybe the nightstick scene in The Freshmen (1997) with Troy Halson and Jake Cannon.
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He should've been on the cover of Feet (Image via Inches)
Joe Simmons (Thomas Williams, 1959-1995/AIDS)
One of the industry's best-built and most artistically beautiful men (he posed for Robert Mapplethorpe), Simmons was versatile in every sense of the word — aside from the adult stuff, he acted in plays and modeled. But also, he was a jack-off-of-all-trades in sex films, topping, bottoming and doing both vanilla and fetish flicks. I would argue he's one of the ultimate black icons of the business prior to the very recent trend toward accepting actors of color as actors, not just fetishized co-star.
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You're the bottom—you're the inspiration ... (Image via All Worlds)
Danny Sommers (b. 19?)
This all-American twink spent the 1990s bottoming for every top in the biz, and with a smile. I'm not sure I could pick a single role of his that sticks out for me (though I think he bed-battled with Jon Vincent, with both coming out the victor), but I recall him being in every dirty magazine I looked at or worked on in the 1990s and never losing his cuteness. Rumor has it that he went back to school (for what?) after leaving the biz.
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Zak was like twice his size when he made his comeback. (Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Zak Spears (Khristofor Rossianov, b. 1965)
This strapping muscleman from Chi-Town got his start in 1993, retired in 1996, returned in 2004 and continued working through 2011. He said in 2007:
My longevity in this business has been a godsend. How many people in this industry have been around for 14 years? Not to even mention not being fucked up on drugs, and not drinking excessively. I'm not a goody two-shoes by any means — hell, I'm putting my hand up people's butt.
The aw-shucks muscle bear is an all-time favorite of many, and one whose return to porn would be most welcome.
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Squires on and in Honcho with Joe Paducah (Pat Webb, ?-?), plus going it alone. (Images via Zeus & Colt)
Mickey Squires (Richard Bernstein, b. 1947)
A UCLA cheerleader in 1969 and 1970 and later one of Colt's hottest early-'80s studs, they don't make 'em like Squires anymore. Luckily, they don't have to, since the beefy bottom is alive and well in Palm Springs.
Squires had square-jawed machismo and a trimmed beard, not to mention a taut, muscled body that could easily absorb hits from hung studs like J.W. King (1955-1986) and Jack Hacker (?-?), making him one of the most popular masc bottoms in porn. Ever.
Founding EIC of Drummer Jack Fritscher (b. 1939) recalled in his 1999 book Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer — A Memoir of the Sex, Art, Salon, Pop Culture War, and Gay History of Drummer Magazine from the Titanic 1970s to 1999, Vol. 1 shooting Squires at the home of Bob Cato (b. circa 1946), the man whose van crashed into the taxi carrying film legends Mary Martin and Janet Gaynor, the latter of whom eventually died of her injuries:
Squires was also lensed in Super-8 footage by L.A. photographer and bodybuilding champion Jim Enger who in the mid-1970s (before Enger partnered with Fritscher) was the partner of the wildly famous Colt model and former LAPD cop Clint Lockner, who several times co-starred in front of a camera with Squires.
More on Squires and Enger (circa 1958-?) and Fritscher and Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) and that whole scene here, proving that Mickey truly was at the center of the gay-sexual universe.
Squires — still active on social media — is a self-professed Stephen Sondheim buff and proud progressive. You can follow his train of thought on Twitter.
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Try these on for thighs! (Image via Instagram)
Dallas Steele (Jim Walker, b. 1972)
A onetime TV reporter in Dallas, Steele left the industry to launch his porn career with Colt. A daddy from the get-go, he has become one of the most popular silver-daddy stars in the skin trade, working with Titan Men, Raging Stallion, Men at Play, Naked Sword, Lucas Entertainment, Kink.com and mothers.
He told Instinct the following about his corporate vs. porn pursuits:
Think about it. There are cameras virtually everywhere we go these days. Couples — straight and gay — often record their sexual exploits and share them with friends. In 20 years, it’s going to be hard to find many people who don’t have a video out there somewhere. Hopefully, the world gets past the idea there is something wrong with people producing movies for pleasure. Porn is the #1 industry on the internet. Someone is watching. I’m pretty sure it’s not all horny teenagers.
He's on IG here.
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The real Steele (Image via Falcon)
Tom Steele (b. 1966)
I have to admit that he was far more appealing early on, when he was fresh on the scene. He never lost his membership in the Giant Schlong of the Month Club and he's one of the few who about whom it's said he had 10 inches and about whom that seemed to be true. Steele started in the '80s, then made a surprise return in the late '90s. I loved him as a jock, but I don't recall ever seeing a snake like that in a locker room. Granted, I tend to dress at home and wear a shirt while swimming, but ... sheesh.
UPDATE: A reader let me know Tom is alive and well — “happy and healthy.”
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Cover man (Image via Mandate)
Glen Steers (1958-1994/AIDS)
The legendary Colt model sold a lot of pictures without having to appear in too many actual films — but when he did, he gave them his all. He was a top-notch top in Triple Threat (1983), One in a Billion (1984), Company We Keep (1984) and Hard to Come By (1985), and in the '90s was moving into daddy territory (in his thirties) in Big Bang (1990), in which he mades Mark Baxer rim him, and Rimshot (1991), in which he defiled newcomer Danny Sommers. The latter movie was his last, or his Ron Swanson-g.
As good as he was in action, Steers will always be best-remembered for his portraits — a bad cop, a dirty daddy, a kinky coach, and he wore the hell out of a pair of shorts or a distressed jockstrap.
Steers died of AIDS in 1994.
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Carrying on the Stefano name (Image via Men)
Kurt Stefano (b. 1972)
This guy always had such a sexy, rough-hewn look, and would've looked even better with some body hair. I recall when I worked at the adult mags, a colleague interviewed him and asked what his turn-ons were. After a pause, he blankly said, “I like to get beat.” Okay, then! Now we know how our next Valentine's Day will play out. I think he falls into one of my favorite categories, which is “insatiable bottoms who don't look like insatiable bottoms.” And yet he also was said to be gay-for-pay. I'm not sure if you can pay someone enough to fake it that often and that well, but he was pretty great in his late '90s movies.
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Trash-talkin' top man (Image via Catalina)
Tony Stefano aka Tony Marconi (b. 19?)
He was absolutely killer in Delivery Boys (1985), seeming to take deep pleasure from ordering his scene mate to worship his muscles: “Gonna finally gimme what I been wantin'?” I mean, who would say no to that? But when he forced two different voyeurs (Steve Henson and Mike Raymond) to lick him all over and then submit, back to back, to his impressive front in Inch by Inch (1985), he really created a porn classic, a scene that still pops up on free sites today. His mumbly, Italian-stallion delivery is authetic until it hurts — which, incidentally, it appears to do.
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Stone fox (Image via Catalina)
Chris Stone aka Bobby Vega (b. 1968)
This Latin swallow fire worked from the late '80s until the mid-2000s, always giving good face as well as the other. I remember him for the films that played up his Costa Rican roots (and root), like Los Hombres (1991) or Latin Attraction (1997), but he must've made 100 features, both as the main course and as a side dish. He had a member as long as his illustrious career.
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(Image via HIS Video)
Eric Stryker (Michael Skrzypcak, 1954-1988/AIDS)
The other Stryker, handsome, bottle-blond, former Air Force sarge Eric made porn under a variety of other names, including Noel Kemp, Mike Kelly, Mike Saunders and Michael John Saunders, but there was never any doubt who you were seeing. Colt was his intro to nude modeling and porn, and they captured him perhaps at his peak, though Jock Dreams (1981) and A Matter of Size (1983) remain stand-out performances.
The make-it-hurt locker — a shot from Jock Dreams with J.W. King (Image via Rawhide)
In 1984, after his partner died of AIDS, Stryker, HIV positive, became an outspoken AIDS advocate. In 1987, Stryker reportedly appeared in the AIDS doc It Starts with an A (about which I can unearth no info at all), and marched in the Christopher Street West Parade in WeHo in a revealing outfit — one chosen to reveal his KS lesions. If that story is true, what a fighter he was.
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Like it like that (Images via Bel Ami)
Dano Sulik (b. 1975)
This Bel Ami babe was active for over 10 years, most prominently in the Personal Trainers series (2001-2005). He perfectly sums up the casual vibe in every Bel Ami production, telling Manshots several years ago that he never really has to think about whether he wants to top or bottom a guy he meets because:
There is not a real answer to this because I prefer to be top, but I don't mind to be bottom either. It's just when I feel that somebody would like to fuck me, if I like him, I would let him.
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Boy of Summers (Image via Helix)
Ashton Summers (b. circa 1996)
This Puerto Rican dancer shimmied his way into gay porn as a greedy bottom for Lucas Entertainment and as a bi top for Helix and CockyBoys. While with Helix, Summers had an intense but short-lived fling with Joey Mills that nonetheless catapulted them into powercouple jr. status. Summers has come a long way in a short time.
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The Colby (Image via Falcon)
Colby Taylor (b. 1973)
This Colorado-born cocksman debuted with 1997's Taking of Jake, and quickly became one of Falcon's go-tos, appearing in much of their output during that era.
Famously, he appeared with lover Dean Phoenix in Out of Athens (2000) — the flick is forever, but the relationship soon ended. Other highlights: Hot Wheels (1997), Summer Reunion (1998), Poolside Sex (2000) and the Jocks Violation series (2001-2002).
He retired in 2002, returned in fine form, and walked away for good (for bad, if you're a fan) in 2006.
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Chris me, beneath the milky twilight ... (Images via Catalina)
Chris Thompson (19?)
This striking porn god had a romance-novel look that served him well when he crossed over into bi porn. He really heated things up in Never Big Enough (1984) and Campus Jocks (1986). He eventually retired, but is alive and well and does not wish to be linked by name to his porn past.
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Get Christy love (Image via video still)
Twins, Especially the: O'Briens (?-?), Christys (?-?), Bartoks (?-?) & Peterses (b. circa 1990)
Many gay men have a thing for twins. “I'm maaaad about incest!” a friend of mine once cooed. For many others, it leaves 'em cold. But there's no denying the taboo popularity of twins in the history of gay porn.
The first set of (alleged) twins I saw in porn had to be the O'Briens (inset, top), who looked not only like twins, but like kid. They were 18+, so the mag said, but what was shocking was they didn't just pose like they were having sex, they did the deed.
More famous were the '70s Christy Twins, who some have suggested were merely look-alike lovebirds.
There were also the Bartok Twins, Jirka and Karel, (inset/bottom)who appeared in the William Higgins flick Double Czech (1999).
Finally, Elijah and Milo, the Peters Twins, were Czech teens who went all the way for Bel Ami, bragging that they were not only having sex on camera, but as real-life boyfriends. So scandalous were they that lofty Salon took notice in 2010.
So-called Gemini Twins — I have zero info on them (Image via Twins Together)
There have been others, real and imaginary, but the ones who are twins and have gone all the way on camera deserve medals for the bravery, considering the fact that many porn fans would find it deeply offensive, and one can only imagine how they lived it down among family and friends and future employers. These guys were on the front lines of perviness!
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Wet dream (Image via BadPuppy)
Jesse Tyler (b. ?)
This '90s Nordic thriller had a lean, what-are-steroids? body and a professorial, handsome, Malcolm Gets face, but being boyfriend material didn't stop him from fucking his way through over two dozen flicks for everyone from Mustang to HIS to Falcon. Especially sexy in his BG East Wrestling work (no sex required!), he was best in House Rules (1993), Balls in Play (1996) and Athletic Supporters (1999).
He had work that was released until the very end of the '90s, but stopped shooting in 1997; if you're trying to find him today, don't resort to Google unless you're a huge Modern Family fan.
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Body-ody-ody (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Johnny V (b. 1985)
If gay-porn actors had a Q rating, Johnny V's would be through the roof — who doesn't like this ginger-blond dynamo? Starting in porn in late 2013 with a LegendMen solo shoot after making the bodybuilding and go-go scenes in Chicago, he was a Falcon exclusive in 2014 and has since been in dozens of scenes (Naked Sword, Hot House) most effectively — but not exclusively — as a big ol' bottom.
In 2015, he told The Man Crush Blog his biggest challenge doing porn was from the outside:
The biggest challenge would have to be dealing with all of the haters and bullies in the world. I don’t get too much hate, but there are always a select few who like to be an annoyance in one’s life.
You can follow Johnny V, who also runs AmericanMuscleHunks.com, on Twitter here.
Slovak superstud (Image via Bel Ami)
Martin Valko aka Serkej Petronov (b. 1971)
Martin Valko, a Bel Ami superstar, was in the seminal classics Lukas' Story (1995) and The Plowboys (1995). With a perfect body (and the face to back it up), he was gloriously versatile and, as with most Bel Ami lads, exuded an innocent sexuality that reminded one of Germany before WWII. Unfortunately, he was in a terrible car accident in '97; he survived and films that were in the can continued premiering through '99. But he never worked again.
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Raw-inspiring (Image via Chaos Men)
Vander (Vander Pulaski, b. circa 1990)
Famous for countless Chaos Men bareback scenes — and called a “living legend” by Str8UpGayPorn — Vander has become one of the most prolific gay-porn stars since his 2010 debut. Popular for his thick, football-player, fuzzy build, he has, over time, become far leaner, changing up his look fairly dramatically. But his performances are consistent — dirty, raw and aggressive, in stark contrast to his potentially vanilla look. If there is a more experienced performer who revels in his work as much as Vander, who is he?
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(Images via Instagram @alessiovega_nyc)
Alessio Vega (b. ?)
Compared to many on this list, Alessio is a newcummer. With a wholesome look that belies how hole-some he is, he also gives new meaning to the term “new breed” — he's one of the most protein-obsessed of all the self-made thrillionaires on social media, pimping himself out multiple times a day to surprise tops with his gooey center. He's like the Cadbury Egg of bottoms, this one.
His online persona is enhanced by his cheerful sharing of his love life with completely understanding (and equally cute) husband Taylor Collins, a pro dancer. It boggles the mind to piece together how free-to-be-you-and-me these two are as you watch Alessio in the middle of yet another claustrophobic, bruising orgy, but Alessio's lack of inhibition probably makes his OnlyFans (Work Unfriendly) as popular as any of NYC's legendary baths back in the day.
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Let's Wade awhile. (Image via Falcon)
Travis Wade (b. 1972)
Such a sorely missed Falcon-stable stud of the late '90s and early '00s, Wade made waves in fare like The Freshmen (1997) and Hardline (1997) before retiring, thus depriving the planet of his aw-shucks cuteness (if you could overlook that Dumb and Dumber 'do he sported early on) and spot-on body. But the top did offer a parting gift when he parted his legs and bottomed in The Crush (2000). If that was meant to be a good-bye to porn, it was the best-bye ever!
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Rear admiral (Image via Instagram)
Alam Wernik (b. 1994)
Prominent among modern social-media sex workers, Brazilian blond bombshell Alam Wernik is EVERYWHERE. From his 2018 porn-studio debut in NakedSword's The Chosen Few (with Arad Winwin, pictured) to his extensive OnlyFans encounters to his Falcon work, the insatiable bottom and well-traveled escort is probably one of 2019's #1 sex icons in the gay community.
Prolific porn directress mr. Pam told AVN in 2018 of his appeal:
He’s so sweet and nice, and is such a wonderful person. And in addition to being gorgeous, he’s also super piggy and loves sex. It’s so hard to find both — usually they’re either really pretty but might be a little reserved when it comes to sex, or they’re really piggy and they look a little rough or whatever (in a good way). But he’s both.
Wernik, who was raised in Buenos Aires, got over what he has called shyness to use social media to raise money for medical school. Once his twink looks and eye-popping butt took over, it would appear all shyness has evaporated, and the social media step has turned into a destination. He is earning more money now than he would in the medical field — and that is a huge advancement from the fates of sex workers in the not-so-distant past.
He has close to a million followers on IG, in case you would like to be 1,000,001.
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Pool boy Josh (Image via Hot House)
Josh Weston (Chad Jason Hull, 1973-2012)
Discovered by the great Chi Chi LaRue, this Nevada native made his debut in 2001 with Falcon, racking up an impressive number of appearances as a bottom (The Sword dubbed his work “iconic”) and winning Grabbys and GayVN Awards in the process. After working with Hot House, he segued into bareback porn before the rise of PrEP, which was a controversial move for a well-known performer at the time. HIV positive, he was working on a memoir (Sleeping My Way to the Bottom) when he died in 2012 of complications of AIDS, specifically septic shock and bacterial endocarditis.
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The blond target of Big Guns (Images via Falcon)
Kevin Wiles (b. 19?)
Great actor! Kevin Wiles was so believable stammering his way through an encounter with Chad Douglas, a neighbor with a trick robe (loved him rasping for Chad to slow down in order to avoid a premature money shot) in Big Guns (1987), and somewhat more assertively directing himself (not literally) in scenes like a three-way with other boys of the moment in Spring Break (1988). A bottom, he was really cute and preppy but able to accomodate anything and everything. I feel like he should be higher on more “greatest porn actors of all time” lists, but there seems to be only so much love for the receivers.
Around 2007, Wiles (who retired to Oregon) posted to his own Yahoo! fan group:
I have periodically checked this site and have been kept apprised of some of the commentary by friends who have made them selves known to the group as being my friends. For a period of time I will be more than happy to jump into the conversations as they occur... I will not likely be posting a pic, have to give it some serious thought as one of your members made me aware of the can off worms that would potentially be opened by doing so...By the way thanks gents. I have enjoyed seeing what you have written about over the last months. I will say it has been like eavesdropping on conversations about ones self and it sat strange with me to do so prior to my now joining in. Being simultaneously public and private has a type of discordant tension that does not go away. Having done what most would consider a private act voluntarily in public requires one to have either postured for the results before or after the act. I would say I took the latter approach, deciding as the films started to become widely known how to consider myself as being known as Kevin...Well, I don't want to get on too psycho cerebral a note right out the gate but I appreciate the chance to introduce myself and some of where I am comming [sic] from as we start some conversations. Bottoms up..
Kevin, if you're out there, I'd love to hear from you and find out what's been up with you. If nothing else, I need to know how you maintained your perfect '80s hair throughout all of your sexcapades!
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Once more into the bleach (Images via Catalina & Falcon)
Chris Williams (Todd Dunning Bart, 1967-1991/AIDS)
You can tell I came of age in the late '80s from many of the men on this list, none more so than Williams. This two-toned, bleached-blond preppie type was on fire with Vladimir Correa in Out of Bounds (1987) and in other spurt epics, especially his swan song Young Cadets (1989).
A bit too solid to be a total twink, but along with Kevin Williams a blond bottom extraordinare of his era in spite of appearing in only nine movies and two magazine spreads.
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The kind of pillow talk that demands an in-depth conversation (Image via Advocate Classifieds)
Brett Winters (b. 1968)
Brown-haired, blue-eyed twink top Brett Winters turned 50 last year, which also marked the 30th anniversary of his porn bow in Casting Couch (1988). Over the next dozen-plus years, he would appear — off and on — in over 60 features, usually topping, and go on to win the Men in Video Most Cuddly Stud Award in 1996.
Brett 15ish years after his debut, and 15ish years ago, circa 2004 (Images from here)
The 5'6" dynamo was well-liked in the industry for his no-drama personality. A Long Beach, California, native, Brett was made for porn — until he wasn't, retiring for good by 2001. He had been working in New Mexico prior to his career, but appears to have moved to Portland, where fans reported he was tending bar circa 2005.
Wherever he is now, I'm betting he's still a traffic-stopper.
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A Winwin proposition (Images via Instagram)
Arad Winwin (Mahmoud Reza-Asefi, b. 1989)
Calling himself (on his IG) an international cover model and Andrew Christian Trophy Boy, Iranian Arad is a modern-day Gianfranco — a shockingly handsome, perfectly proportioned model everyone seems to love. His sparkling career in porn (for CockyBoys, Men.com and others) almost never happened — first, he had to do his time in the Iranian military, and then he had to escape the country, which he did at 22.
On his way out of Iran, he was arrested in Turkey and imprisoned for six months, which meant there was a good shot they'd deport him to Iran, where he would be executed for desertion. While in prison, he applied to the U.N. Refugee Program, and was accepted, leading to his arrival in Dallas.
He told Queerty in 2017 of his odyssey:
For me, freedom and happiness are contagious and I want to help spread hope to other LGBT people who must live in any oppressive environments whether it is a small town in the U.S, or with a family that isn’t accepting or in a country like Iran where people aren’t allowed even basic freedom.
It's been a heady journey from life-or-death struggles to leave Iran to promoting products on IG for thousands of dollars and becoming a top escort and porn performer, and he hasn't forgotten his roots. He even took time out to shoot SEX POWER FREEDOM, a sexy photo book with political overtones.
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Born in Texas, he proves that old saying true. (Image via Instagram @austinwolfff)
Austin Wolf (b. 1983)
Describing himself as “fitness-obsessed,” strapping (6'4", 247 lbs.), Austin Wolf has quickly become the king of OnlyFans and similar sites, raking in over half a million dollars a year on subscriptions alone.
Image at L: (Image via selfie)
His journey has not been without bumps in the road — he told The Sword in 2014 that sex addiction cost him many friends and a serious relationship, saying philosophically:
Life has a way of happening whether you want it to or not. There’s nothing you can do to stop, there’s nothing you can do to speed it up. All you do is keep your side of the street clean and everything kind of happens.
You might think that dealing with sex addiction by becoming an award-winning escort and Randy Blue porn actor might be like an alcoholic getting hired at a vineyard, but Wolf makes it work for him, smartly commodifying seemingly countless sexual encounters on his own terms.
Hard to believe, but he was a beanpole with a high voice before he bulked up — and the rest is history. He also sometimes bottoms, though is mainly renowned for his topping skills, of which he told Gay Calgary:
Am I talented? Sure. I think a good top has to know what it feels like to be a bottom. It allows him to know what works and what doesn’t. For tops who disagree with me on that, chances are I am way better at this than you.
At one point, he was thinking of leaving the business if things didn't go his way. They did, and so he didn't.
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Kurtis, part of your inspiration board (Image via Men.com)
Kurtis Wolfe (b. January 10, 1989)
Physically, a throwback to the lean 'n' slightly fuzzy men of '70s porn, Kurtis Wolfe is also the kind of triple-X actor you'd bring home to Mom — a pro with no stories of diva or substance-tinged behavior, a top who will bottom if asked politely. He's worked for Randy Blue, Men.com, Falcon and others since 2013.
Earlier this year, Wolfe made (gay) news when he admitted he had to fake a money shot while having sex with Trump supporter Sergeant Miles — and was paid double to have sex with the guy in the first place. Speaking of payment, he is an in-demand escort for all the reasons cited above.
Find him on IG here.
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Why not take all of him? (Image via Instagram)
Wesley Woods (b. 1986)
This cheeky “friendly neighborhood hoe” is a new-breed (new-bred?) kind of porn star, one who embraces his sex positivity but doesn't try to put on a mysterious or hypermasculine persona, instead playing up his quirky humor (he is actually a comedian) and self-deprecation, making him a hit on social media.
Wesley's also called out Colby Keller for his Trump vote and in 2018 made headlines for being gay-bashed, an incident he talked about publicly to help others wake up to the fact that we are not as safe as we take for granted.
He's on Fancentro.
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Sean in 2013, already on his way to fame (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)
Sean Zevran (Josiah Jennings, b. 1988)
Currently one of the most popular porn stars working, biracial Zevran — a 5'8" musclestud with one of the industry's best bodies and best booties — is successful because he never comes off as anything less than 100% involved in his scenes. Topping or bottoming, sometimes hairy and sometimes shaved, the Shreveport, Louisiana-born, East Texas-raised performer has worked for CockyBoys, Raging Stallion, Falcon, Randy Blue and more.
In 2017, he told Gay Demon of his career:
I’d like to add a lot more creativity and diversity to my work. I hope to branch out to many different studios in the near future and see where that takes me. As for retirement, I think I’ll realize that threshold once I get there. So far, though, I seem to still be going strong.
He blogs occasionally, never afraid to be outspoken, and is on IG here.
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