It is exceedingly appropriate that porn star Ron Jeremy made his first mark in the "Regular Guy" section of Playgirl Magazine.
This is his appeal - he's the regular guy who became a porn star.
This is the centerpiece of the Scott J. Gill documentary "Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy," which was recently released on VHS and DVD by Docurama.
During the 75-minute documentary we find out that Jeremy, who was born Ronald Hyatt in Queens, N.Y., wants to be more than a porn star. He wants to be a legitimate actor. He has made over 1,700 adult films, slept with 4,000 women and would rather go to a party than an orgy.
He's also cheap - he carries luggage and his legendary phone book, a taped-together binder that contains a voluminous scrawl of phone numbers and contacts, in a plastic grocery bag on his many trips. Oh, did I mention, he wants to be legit.
We don't actually find out that much about life as a porn star from Jeremy himself because the man is slippery to interview. But through interviews with such diverse interviewees as his father Arnold, his sister Susan, adult magazine publisher Al Goldstein and Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis, we get a sense of who Ron Jeremy really is.
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Jeremy started out as an actor in New York City (starring in "off-Broadway and off-off Broadway" productions) and eventually segued into adult movies when he found legitimate acting jobs were hard, if not impossible, to come by in Gotham.
So you may ask yourself, "Why would someone want to make a documentary about a hairy, scraggly-haired, porn actor known as 'the Hedgehog?'" For one thing, men do not usually become stars in the heterosexual porn industry. Men are bit players - little more than props, really. It's the women who are marketed to the masses.
Yet Jeremy had carved out a niche in porn, mostly based on his longevity as well as his endowment. He entered the industry in the '70s, when filmmakers had the pretension of being "artistic." He is the prototype for the hammy porn actor whose acting leaves much to be desired but his penis appears to leave the women satisfied.
Jeremy made it through that era and the '80s and '90s to the current over-blown, billion-dollar incarnation.
The movie shows that Jeremy is an engaging fellow, affected by the early death of his mother. He also yearns to have more than what he has. The Hedgehog wants to be a legitimate Hollywood actor, not a sideshow. He'd gladly trade his status as a minor celebrity for being respected as an actor.
We see his life as bittersweet. He's a bright, energetic, educated guy with a master's degree in special education from Queens College who is best known for his penis. His primary praise comes from frat boys and regular guys who learned about sex through his movies. He'd rather have that praise come from movie directors and casting agents.
Yet he perseveres. He gladly accepts the honorary memberships in fraternities, and appearances at clubs and adult film conventions. He loves attention - and that is the primary motivating factor in his life.
That is why while Jeremy prefers indulging in food rather than women as he grows older, although he still loves to party and make appearances.
"Porn Star" is an interesting exercise in demystifying pornography - which it does. It also shows the glamour that the regular guys imagine is part of Ron Jeremy's everyday life is not all it's cracked up to be.
In some ways, regular guys have it better.
