Biography Of John Holmes
Date of Birth 08/08/1944
Given name John Curtis Estes
Birth place Pickaway County, Ohio, USA
Penis size 13 in.
Siblings 2 brothers, 1 sister
John Holmes is the biggest male star to ever have worked in the adult industry. He died of AIDS March 13th, 1988. His filmography comprises as many as 2500 hardcore movies and his career has spanned nearly two decades (from 1969 to 1988). Holmes rose to stardom in the adult industry because of his legendary penis size (13 inches, allegedly). He claimed to have had sex with as many as 3000 women during his career. Even in the nineties Holmes' name is not forgotten: in the P.T. Anderson directed movie BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) Mark Wahlberg plays a character called Dirk Diggler which is closely modeled after John Holmes. BOOGIE NIGHTS was a critical and financial success and is now widely regarded as a cult movie.
John Holmes was born to a bible-toting baptist mother (Mary Estes) and a manic-depressive alcoholic stepfather (Edward Holmes). When he was 16 John joined the army and spent three years in Germany with the Signal Corps. After leaving the service he moved to Los Angeles where he worked as an ambulance driver and forklift operator. In 1965 he married the nurse Sharon Gebenini. One day in the toilet of a poker club a man talked him into doing nude pin-ups. In the late sixties John acted in his first 8mm hardcore film loops. Due to the severe porn laws at that time none of these films were legally available. Only in the early seventies, when movies like DEVIL IN MISS JONES and DEEP THROAT drew lots of people into theaters, did porn become more acceptable and finally legalized. During that time John Holmes starred in his most popular role, that of smooth-talking private dick JOHNNY WADD.
At the height of his career (around 1978) Holmes earned 3000 dollars a day as an actor. Even in his private life, rich men and women paid huge amounts of money to play with him. John had taken up all kinds of drugs (from marijuana to mushrooms and cocaine) in the early seventies. By early 1980 he was sniffing a line of cocaine every 10 to 15 minutes.
Holmes held himself a 15 year old mistress next to his wife. She walked the streets to finance John's growing drug consumption. Substance abuse took its toll after such a long time and John was barely able to sustain an erection during a shoot. Due to his constant mood swings and unpredictable nature he was offered fewer and fewer roles in porno flicks.
To finance his cocaine habit he worked as a drug runner for a group of low-life criminals called the Wonderland Gang (they lived on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angles, hence the nickname). Holmes was arrested for the first time in 1981 for stealing a computer.
On June 29th, 1981, the Wonderland Gang robbed local drug czar Eddie Nash with John's help (Nash had been one of his cocaine connections). Three days later the whole Gang was found slaughtered in their Wonderland apartment. John Holmes was arrested May 20th, 1982, and charged with the murder of the Wonderland Gang. Eddie Nash had forced John at gunpoint to accompany him on his revenge on the Gang. But John didn't make a statement because he was afraid of Nash. He was released three weeks later. The case was never officially solved.
Soon after his release he got to know former porn actress and prostitute Laurie Rose. In 1983 Holmes starred in a gay porn flick titled THE PRIVATE PLEASURES OF JOHN HOLMES. In 1986 he tested HIV positive. Instead of taking care of his health he didn't cut back on cigarettes and drugs at all. Even after being infected with the HIV virus he continued to shoot porn movies.
John and Laurie married in 1987 in Las Vegas. On May 13th the following year, Holmes died of AIDS in a Los Angeles hospital.
Did you know that . . .
* In 1973 John ratted out his fellow pornographers to the LAPD to avoid serving time for pimping and pandering. Porn was illegal at that time and Holmes would provide information on who was shooting what, when and where...
* The documentary WADD: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN C. HOLMES gives insight into Holmes' chaotic career. It was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. PORN KING is allegedly John's autobiography that he wrote when he was incarcerated in the early Eighties. It was published by his wife Laurie after his death.
* Holmes did all the stunt work for his films: scuba diving, flying, sky diving, jumping from building to building, crashing motorcycles.
