Bill Amerson: Self

Quotes 

• Bill Amerson : John and I started HIV testing for all the adult film performers starting in 1985. We were the very first to insist that all porn actors and actress take an AIDS test. So... to show the industry that we weren't afraid of the test, both John and I went to a clinic and took the AIDS test together. We both came back negative. So, about four or five months later, we went back to take another test because we were going to do it every six months to show the industry that we weren't afraid of the test and that we were okay. On the second test, my test came back negative... John's came back positive. I was with John in the doctor's office when the doctor informed him that he was HIV positive. He explained to John about many things and what conversion was, and he told John that he could live a healthy life for another 15, maybe 20 years if John changed his lifestyle right away. The doctor told John that he should stop smoking cigarettes, quick drinking, quick doing drugs, start taking lots of vitamins and start watching his diet. John... didn't hear what the doctor said. He sat there, and he just didn't hear what the doctor said. And... that's a sore spot with me that lingers to this day. John could have lived a good number of more years had he not been that immature and reactive to the news. John, being immature and reactive as always, immediately doubled what he drank, doubled his drug usage, tripled his smoking habit. John just went from smoking a pack, to up to five packs of cigarettes a day. Drank a quart of scotch a day, and just didn't give a shit about anything. He knew he was going to die. John just didn't give a shit.

• Bill Amerson : John had so many stories about who he was, where he was from, where he'd been, what he'd done, all of which was to cover up his pain. John had a very painful childhood with an abusive and alcoholic father and stepfather, so John needed to be someone else. He needed to adopt another persona for a certain time. That's why John was able to lie all the time, to dance. Because that's how he got out of the pain, to forget about his painful childhood memories.

• [when asked if John belived his own lies] 

  Bill Amerson : Oh yes, John did believe a lot of his own lies. John often got so carried away with lying about stuff that he frequently began to believe his own lies himself. One of the stories that John told to the public was of my doing. During the early years of his career, John and I came up with a story about John being a gigolo. Once a year during the late 1960s and early 1970s, John would fly to England to stay for one week with a wealthy, middle aged widow named Lady Agatha to be her companion and escort. She would pay him $10,000, as well as pay for his round-trip plane ticket and give him a one diamond a year so he could put onto a ring that he wore on his right forefinger. Now for the record, none of that was true. But the public loved hearing it and the press ate it up. Many years later during the summer of 1984, John and I rented a fishing boat and we went fishing at his favorite place off the coast near Oxnard, California. John then started talking about the old days, and how he loved traveling on location to Mexico, Hawaii, etc, to film some of his movies. At one point he said, "Hey, remember when I used to go to England once a year to meet with Lady Agatha?" Incredulous, I looked at him and patiently said, "John, you never went to England." John said, "What do you mean?" I said, "We made that up. Don't you remember? That was a story you and I made up together for the press." After a short pause, John mumbled, "oh... right." So, bottom line, he did believe a lot of his own bullshit.

• Bill Amerson : I first met John Holmes in 1969 while casting for some still work magazine at the Crossroads of the World on Sunset Boulevard. We had an open casting call. It was towards the end of the day, and in walked this tall, skinny, very skinny, kid with somewhat of an afro haircut. He didn't look like the type of male model we could use for our nude photo shoots. My business partner said anyway to take him in the back room, have him take off his clothes to take some polaroid snap shots of him, say "thank you very much", send him on his way, and that was that. We went into the back room, he undressed, I set up the camera when he turned around, I took one look down at the size and lenght of his apendage, before I even took the first photo I said to him, "you're going to be a star." And that's how I met John Holmes.

• Bill Amerson : The closest John ever got to UCLA was stealing something out of a car in the parking lot. John didn't go to UCLA, he quit school in the 9th grade.