It would seem that’s he’s extremely lonely, and has little to no dignity so he’ll agree to do almost anything in the hope of making a friend, which he (feels he) has none. He loves and craves any and all attention, but really has no genuine personal life to speak of. Or something like that.
I see what you did there.
These are the most important factors, I think. Not that I have any first hand experience, but I’m thinking that a porn movie set – with people pointing cameras and lights at you, other people standing around watching, and a guy shouting instructions at you – isn’t exactly a sexy and arousing environment.
Under those circumstances, a guy who can reliably get it up when he needs to, keep it up long enough to get the scene, finish when he needs to, not finish until told to, and then do it again and again, would nauturally be a much sought-after talent. I’ll bet 99%+ of guys couldn’t do what he can.
Longevity.
Thank you. I’ll be here all week.
I think that was all much more of a factor in the pre-Viagra era. All the long-term male actors (Randy Spears, Herschel Savage, T. T. Boy, Jerry Butler, etc.) are long-in-the-tooth now. These days, anyone can do it. And it’s also not all that important to be able to climax on cue, because you don’t have the pressure of a full-on film set … everything is done on video by a minimal (if any) crew and can be edited together without much trouble.
I heard Ron Jeremy on some kind of radio interview a while ago, and he said that a lot of male performers in the industry use Viagra now. He said he still does not, but that Viagra has opened up the industry to more traditionally good looking guys when it was once limited to the relative few who actually had the ability to perform as needed. He said something to the effect of, “the reason you always saw the same 10 or 12 guys in every porn movie (pre-viagra) is because we were the only ones who who could do it.”
It’s actually a pretty rare talent, and virtually every one in the industry I’ve ever heard talk about it (including one guy I used to know who did reels in the 70’s), says it’s a lot more difficult than it looks.
I can’t believe you passed this one up.
Say it with me: It’s a lot harder than it looks! 
I have heard from people who have met him that he’s a very nice person.
I’ve read the book and I can confirm that this is pretty much how it comes across. You just feel so sorry for him and want to be his friend. And yes, he does appear to be a very nice man.
I had the same impression as most of you, he’s easy to get along with and doesn’t get defensive about what he does for a living. I considered his endowment and the ability to deliver but he seemed to have a celebrity that extended beyond the basic requirements of the job. I know that several of the early porn actors have died and that there weren’t many to start with, but Ron is everywhere.
I guess it’s easier when you’re the only familiar face in an endless stream of potential new “starlets”.
Many of us have a sad little clown inside. I don’t want to minimize the pain he feels, but he’s got money and gets laid on a regular basis. That covers my basic needs and although it may not make me blissful, I’d be happy. I suppose that his notoriety doesn’t help him much when he needs someone to help him move though. That’s always a bummer.
I also heard a similar interview with the Hedgehog. In addition, he mentioned that he has a particular talent with eating pussy. Paraphrasing from memory:
“Some women like it up and down. Some women like it left to right. Still others like it clockwise, and still others like it counterclockwise. You have to pay attention.”
I’ve always thought of him as the William Shatner of porn.
I saw the documentary at a screening with Jeremy and the producers of the film. What I got was someone who is emotionally needy, but not a whole lot more than every other actor out there. He was an occasionally working actor before porn, but his day job was as a special needs teacher. His girlfriend at the time sent in a nude picture of him to Playgirl’s “Boy Next Door” and the porn producers contacted him. It turned out that he had the (then) rare ability to attain and keep an erection in front of a crowd in addition to being exceptionally large.
Some porn actresses love him, some loathe him - one contract reportedly specified “no animals or Ron Jeremy”, but all of the ones who worked with him praise his oral abilities, which he credits to Nina Hartley training him. He claimed that some actresses like the fact that he doesn’t use ED drugs, that they find it reassuring, that he has to be excited by them.
Personally, I’m grateful that I don’t have his length. If you have seen a lot of his movies, you’ll notice he almost always has his fist around the base of it during vaginal sex.
Also, he has a difficult time keeping a girlfriend. From the movie, it was clear that several had used him as a entree into the business and moved on. And one can only imagine how difficult it would be to have a relationship with someone who wasn’t in the business - the pool of people who can handle their mate having sex with other people all day is pretty small.
Not sure if it is from pre-Viagra days, but a Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends documentary from 1998 on the realities of being a male porn actor illustrated how getting and keeping wood is by far the most important quality. The producers emphasized this, as the entire crew is left standing idly while money burns whenever the star goes soft or doesn’t get hard in the first place. There sure were lots of worried faces around when just this happened on set.
I’ve seen the documentary on him (“Porn Star”) and he makes a couple of good points. He readily admits the big reason his popularity soared in the 80s was that an ugly guy like him was far more relatable than most male porn stars to their audience. Plus, he pointed out one reason he wanted to do the documentary was to show a normal person enjoying being a porn star. Most everything else on the porn industry comes out as a cautionary tale, with the actors either products of awful childhoods or horribly abused by the industry. Ron sticks up for the industry and he’s such a likeable guy that’s he’s a great statesman for the porn world.
Also he is a tireless networker. The movie showed him holding a notebook with the numbers of virtually everyone he’s met. Every page was covered with tiny print. If you know that many people you’re going to get far more favorable attention than if you’re a shut-in.
Is he lonely? A couple of commenters in the movie did note that he really doesn’t have that many close friends and that his networking almost seems like an attempt to avoid loneliness. However Ron himself claimed he’s happy and seems fine with the life choices he’s made.
Ron Jeremy started his career as a strapping, handsome star, but his looks went downhill very quickly, apparently as soon as he was able to afford food. He stayed in the business because of his physical abilities and his already-established reputation. Whether he is truly the king of porn, I cannot say. I’ve never actually watched a porno with Jeremy in it and I think a lot of guys probably haven’t. What Jeremy did was put a face to the business, and a face goes a long, long way. He became an icon for his trade, an instantly recognizable “character” with a heavy dose of humor and self-deprecation, and this was appreciated by everyone.
He is apparently a very likable guy. I dunno what reality show I watched many years ago in which even Tammy Faye Baker grew to like him.
Looked it up. It was The Surreal Life.
I have seen some of his porn, and some of his nonporn movies [the one about the porn shoot in the woods that goes really bad thanks to his cock turning into an alien is freaking hysterical!] and a few interviews. If I was single, I would consider dating him, he seems to have a killer good sense of humor, and be a really nice guy. His being in porn doesn’t really bother me - and I am sure he gets tested for STDs more than an entire college campus combined, so I am not overly concerned about that. I am sure that I am very peculiar, a nonjealous female, but I understand that sex is his job, and that he keeps it separate from his personal life. And I have no interest in ever being in a porn [though if I was thin and pretty still I would prefer to be in non porn as an extra, I just really don’t want to be in another porn. Been there, did that when I was young and it was the 70s]
He does seem like a nice enough guy, though a compulsive tummler.
In the film he said that he still wanted to father a family.
Former porn star Sharon Mitchell started an organization called Adult Industry Medical. They teach people who get into the industry to keep themselves safe and healthy and test everyone. They were actually able to shut the entire business down when one male lead showed up HIV positive (he had been making films out of the US). I believe Jeremy gets tested as often as once a week.
Buried the lead there.
And of course, no man can get jobs in porn if the women don’t want him to, so his amiable personality helps a lot, too.