Ron Jeremy’s face seems to be everywhere. Most recently on this forum selling rum.
How did he attain his position as the default male porn actor? Does he have an exceptionally good publicity agent? Is it an ironic statement because he’s hideously normal looking? Have all of the other male actors died or retired, leaving him as the last man standing at a time when the internet made porn ubiquitous? It can’t be the mustache, that’s de rigeur for the role.
My theory is that he’s the most affable, and didn’t mind to being the object of some friendly ribbing.
I’ve read here that he was specifically selected for his average (some would say subaverage) looks. If you are marketing your porn toward men, you want a non-threatening guy to be the male stand in. I know that I at least have a viscerally negative reaction to pretty guys when I’m in that state, so it wouldn’t surprise me if that is true.
(Then again, I also have a pretty negative reaction to other penises in general, so it doesn’t work for me. My porn can’t have males present.)
Totally. He has a natural ability, he’s self deprecating both in character and in interviews I’ve seen of him, he’s a nice guy who is good at what is required of him, and does it because he thinks it’s a giggle. In an industry overflowing with ego and narcissism he’s an anomaly, and that worked for him.
Once I saw him in Cincinnati Airport where he’d been stopped by a bunch of college athletes who were posing for pictures with him. I think it was a school like Notre Dame or some other religious affiliated school. Wish I’d had a camera with me because it would have made a fun picture. He seemed glad to give back to his fans.
Right. In the late 70s he had what then passed for reasonably decent everyman looks. Also, on the strictly mechanical side of things, he would reliably show up, able and ready to do the job – that makes for a longer career with more gigs. Arriving towards the end of that early crop of porn players who still had some level of non-porn acting ability and regular-folk personalities(*), that gave him a potential for some limited mainstream media crossover (mainly small roles on B-flicks/video and TV) that in turn meant more contacts outside the porn community. Combine all that and you have yourself a “face” of porn.
(*)Notice that in recent times there was a rise of female porn players (e.g. Jameson, Carrera) who are articulate and personable and can serve as faces/voices of the industry when someone needs a mainstream TV interview. But from the guys’ side it’s still Ron virtually alone.
He has also said that, in addition to his endowment, he also has the ability to finish on cue. When the director needs the money shot, they just have to give Ron the word and he’ll deliver.
That’s a (pun alert) big part of it. It isn’t easy getting aroused on cue and on set while dozens of people are watching and you have to stop as they move the camera setup. A writer I knew wrote about her experience as the screenwriter on a porn set and indicated that the ability to perform as needed was a big factor in getting work.
All that has been said above covers it pretty well.
I’ll just add that I’ve long thought of Ron Jeremy as the perfect proof of the old adage “Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.”
Of all his peers from the classic old days, he’s the one who lasted long enough (pun both intended while also not intended).
This. If you’ve ever seen him in the various reality shows he’s done, as well numerous cameo appearances he’s had in mainstream movies, you’d realize he’s actually a fairly decent comic actor. If he hadn’t gone the porn route, I could easily have seen him carving out a niche for himself as a schlubby Jonah Hill-type (but wittier and less annoying) character actor.
And as others have mentioned, it also helps that he’s hung like a mule.
