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John Leslie, Porn Actor/Director of the 70s-80s

Somebody asked about John Leslie in the David Morris thread. They got an answer, which I've pasted below, but let's keep a separate thread about Leslie, k?

"John Leslie was born into a stable Italian-American family and was a very talented artist. So good that he got accepted into the Art Students League of New York. He did a quite a bit of freelance illustration work in NY mostly before getting into porn. He also got into music and became a very good blues harmonicist and a fairly good vocalist. He was a member of Brooklyn Blues Busters band which had success locally in NY and Michigan. He moved to San Francisco to try and get art related work and got introduced to some people in porn who encouraged him to give it a try, which he did. He soon became one of the biggest male stars in the business with his swarthy good looks, raw sex appeal, and effortless macho persona made him very popular with women in the industry (and female porn watchers as well). He was one of the few male stars back then who sometimes got top billing over the female stars. He started off shaky as an actor but turned into one of best actors ever in the industry. He met Kay Parker at an acting improv class, which led her getting into porn. He asked her not to say publically where they met, but she slipped and said once or twice in interviews. I guess he didn't want people to know he was getting acting training. He met wife in 1980 on a train ride. They married in 1987 and he retired around that time as a sexual performer and they remained happily married until his sudden death. Other than when he was performing, he remained faithful to his wife. He was one of the most successful porn actors turned directors ever also. The performers who worked with him when he was directing liked him as well because he was very professional and unlike some others, he never tried to get any of the female performers to sleep with him for parts or anything. He was good friends with Joey Silvera and Richard Pacheco and their friendship lasted decades until his death. I'll try to stop before this becomes poorly written novel.

I'll write about Harry Reems when I get more time."

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by Anonymousreply 15April 28, 2018 8:39 PM

Cut? Uncut? Can you tell anything from this picture?

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by Anonymousreply 1February 13, 2018 5:53 AM

R1 John was cut.

by Anonymousreply 2February 13, 2018 10:06 AM

I remember when I moved to San Francisco in the 1990s and was browsing through the entertainment section of the newspaper and saw an ad for John Leslie and his jazz band who were playing at Bimbo's, a popular night club in the city at that time. I looked at the picture in the ad and couldn't believe it was THAT John Leslie.

So I grabbed a friend and went to see him perform. He was a wonderful musician and could play a killer harmonica and you could tell he was having the time of his life.

by Anonymousreply 3February 13, 2018 10:11 AM

He was very 1970's sexy and handsome. His penis is very average though. I'm surprised he was so popular.

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by Anonymousreply 4February 13, 2018 10:19 AM

R4 He was popular because a) he could act, and b) he brought an incredible sense of sensuality to his roles.

by Anonymousreply 5February 13, 2018 10:25 AM

[quote]He was very 1970's sexy and handsome. His penis is very average though. I'm surprised he was so popular.

Most guys were average. Size didn't matter as long as the guy could read a line and get it up. John Holmes was the freak of the lot.

by Anonymousreply 6February 13, 2018 10:35 AM

John Holmes wasn't much to look at all, other than his huge cock. And even it wasn't that attractive.

What R4 said. Plus Leslie just reeked of sex and could get it up, on and off without any problem. He was very popular among the women performers and women who watched porn back then. He probably appealed to them more overall than to gay men (I always found him very sexy though). He had an effortless masculinity to him that many of the straight and gay porn stars of today could only hope to have.

You didn't have to be hung to be a big star in porn in the 70s and 80s. See Richard Pacheco and Randy West for example. They were less endowed than Leslie.

by Anonymousreply 7February 13, 2018 7:44 PM

Whoops. That should be "what R5 said".

by Anonymousreply 8February 13, 2018 7:45 PM

High definition porn has it's drawbacks. I was watching Vinegar Syndrome's Blu Ray of "Pretty Peaches" and during his scene with Juliet Anderson and the black girl, you could see that John had an outbreak of genital warts! Yikes! He tried to make them less visible by not trimming his pubes back at all and keeping his hand around the base area of his cock (where the warts were) but they can be seen for a few seconds when he takes his hand away.

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by Anonymousreply 9April 28, 2018 4:27 PM

Jesus R9 way to kill a thread

by Anonymousreply 10April 28, 2018 4:33 PM

R10 Well, the thread hasn't been booming exactly. STD's aren't the most pleasant topic, but I was surprised (and grossed out) by spotting them. I had seen a VHS rip of the movie before and it wasn't noticeable then.

Probably nearly all porn stars have herpes and/or HPV but usually don't work with an visible outbreak. Porn shoots back then could span over several days (or even a week or two) and he was the male lead so perhaps it occurred during production of the movie and just went on with filming as planned.

by Anonymousreply 11April 28, 2018 4:51 PM

Someone asked why John Leslie was popular. R4 nailed it. He was a really good actor, had great screen presence and was extremely charismatic and sexy. He is one of the few porn actors who I think wasted his potential and could've had a decent acting career.

by Anonymousreply 12April 28, 2018 5:06 PM

He could've made it as a regular actor if he had really tried and got the right break. He had the talent and looks. I don't think he really had an interest in acting until after he got into porn. He was focusing on a career in music and as an artist before that.

He's quite possibly the most multitalented person ever in in porn. He could act, sing, play blues harmonica and draw and paint. And was one of the better directors in porn also during the time he was doing that.

by Anonymousreply 13April 28, 2018 5:17 PM

He also was good-looking and had wonderful body hair too.

by Anonymousreply 14April 28, 2018 5:26 PM

Erik Edwards was another star from that era who could've had a mainstream acting career. Good looking, talented, and actually trained as an actor, he started making porn loops to earn some cash, and well, the rest is porn history.

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by Anonymousreply 15April 28, 2018 8:39 PM
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