Ron Jeremy Biography

Ronald Jeremy Hyatt (born March 12, 1953) known by the stage name Ron Jeremy, is an American adult film actor. Nicknamed "The Hedgehog", he was ranked by AVN at number one in their "The 50 Top Porn Stars of All Time" list. Jeremy has also appeared in non-pornographic films, such as The Chase, Orgazmo, They Bite, The Boondock Saints, Crank: High Voltage, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead, Detroit Rock City and 54.

Early life

Ron Jeremy was born in Queens, New York to a middle-class Jewish family. His father, Arnold, was a physicist and his mother a book editor who served in the O.S.S. during World War II, as she spoke fluent German and French.

Jeremy attended Cardozo High School in Bayside, Queens, where former CIA director George Tenet, and actor Reginald VelJohnson were his classmates. Jeremy earned a bachelor's degree in education and theatre and a master's degree in special education from Queens College in New York. He taught special-education classes in the New York City area and was a substitute teacher for regular classes.

Pornographic film career

Jeremy left the teaching profession (he called it his "ace in the hole") to pursue an acting career in New York City, and says he learned what it was like to make no money as an actor who "starved Off-Broadway." Jeremy posed for Playgirl after his then-girlfriend submitted his photo to the magazine, and subsequently moved into the adult film industry as a means to support himself.

He started using his first and middle name professionally in the adult industry, after his grandmother Rose was pestered by people calling her thinking they were contacting him. Rose"?listed at that time as R. Hyatt in the phone book"?was pestered at all hours by prospective suitors who'd seen Jeremy in Playgirl. "She had to move out of her apartment for a month," he confides. "My father told me, 'If you want to get into this naked, crazy business, so be it, but if you use the family name again, I'll kill you.'"

Jeremy had his nickname "The Hedgehog" bestowed upon him by Bill Margold after an incident on the set of Olympic Fever, shot in 1979. Jeremy flew in from New York to shoot the movie, dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, expecting warm weather. During his motorcycle ride to the set, located near Lake Arrowhead in the California mountains, the weather deteriorated to blizzard conditions, which chilled him to the point of hypothermia. Upon arriving at the set, Jeremy was immediately whisked away to warm up in a hot shower. When he finished, his skin had taken on a pink hue from the temperature extremes, and the hairs on his body were standing on end. Margold's comment upon seeing Jeremy after the shower was, "You are a hedgehog, my friend. A walking, talking hedgehog." Contrary to popular belief, the nickname had nothing to do with Jeremy's weight gain, as he was quite physically fit at the time.

Jeremy is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for "Most Appearances in Adult Films"; his entry on the Internet Adult Film Database lists more than 2,000 films in which he has performed, and an additional 281 films which he directed. By way of comparison, John Holmes"?the next highest-ranked male star on the AVN Top 50 porn stars"?has only 384 acting credits listed on the IAFD.

One joke that made the rounds within the industry at the time was "the kinkier acts some actresses would not perform were bestiality, sado-masochism and sex with Jeremy." However, he has since been recognized for his contributions to the adult industry by being inducted into both the AVN and XRCO Hall of Fame. Additionally, Jeremy's work earned him a spot on the Adult Star Path of Fame located in Edison, New Jersey. Ron Jeremy has said that violent video games are worse than porn.

Non-pornographic appearances

Film

Outside the adult film industry, Jeremy worked as a "special consultant" for the 1986 film 9½ Weeks. He appears in the 1996 horror film They Bite in a role making a film-within-a-film (Invasion of the Fishfuckers) - another horror film, both in the same vein as Humanoids from the Deep. He also served as a consultant on the 1997 film Boogie Nights"?which chronicled the emergence of the fictional porn star Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg, loosely based on the life of porn star and former co-worker of Jeremy's, John Holmes)"?and the movie The Chase, in which he has a small cameo as a news cameraman. He played the monster "Blisterface" in ABC's children's show Bone Chillers. He also appeared in the 1999 film The Boondock Saints, played a bartender in 2002's Spun, and also acted in 2003's cult film Zombiegeddon. He was an extra in Ghostbusters, played a male strip-club announcer in Detroit Rock City, and had a cameo in the film Killing Zoe and in the porn spoof, Orgazmo. In addition, he appeared in several productions released by Troma Entertainment, such as Terror Firmer, The Toxic Avenger IV: Citizen Toxie, and Poultrygeist.

He was the subject of a feature-length biographical documentary, Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, released in 2001 and widely distributed on DVD by mainstream retailers. Within that same year, he is briefly seen on the Heavy Metal Band Fear Factory's DVD Digital Connectivity. In 2003, Jeremy appeared as himself in, and lent his name to, the comedy film Being Ron Jeremy, a parody of Being John Malkovich. Jeremy is a frequent interviewee in documentaries about the porn industry, or related subjects such as Fuck: A Fuckumentary.

He was featured in the music video "The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle" by A Day to Remember in 2007 off of their CD entitled For Those Who Have Heart. In 2007, he appeared in the comedy film Finishing the Game as himself. Jeremy starred 2008 in the erotic horror film I am Virgin, which was released in 2010.

Jeremy has a cameo in Crank: High Voltage, playing himself as a protester angry at the low salaries porn stars get. Another 2009 cameo was in "Stripper: Natasha Kizmet. He once again appears as himself in the 2009 release One-Eyed Monster, a horror film parody predicated on the premise that an alien force takes over Jeremy's penis and begins killing people in the woods. In an effort to uniquely promote the film, Ron Jeremy's penis started its own blog, and began to tweet on April 2.

Ron is the Lead Antagonist/League Owner in the sports comedy Tetherball: The Movie and appeared in the western comedy Big Money Rustlas featuring Insane Clown Posse in 2010.

Television

In 1980, Jeremy competed on the game show Wheel of Fortune as Ron Hyatt. Among his winnings was a trip to Mazatlán.

Jeremy appeared in the second season of The Surreal Life, during which he developed a close friendship with Tammy Faye Bakker despite her devout Christianity and disapproval of pornography, and returned to the franchise for the ninth season of The Surreal Life: Fame Games, in which he finished second to Traci Bingham on the season finale, which aired on 25 March 2007. Jeremy also appeared in a segment on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show. Additionally, he made appearances on Penn and Teller's Bullshit! in episodes regarding penis enlargement and circumcision. In 2005, he appeared on the UK reality TV show, The Farm. Jeremy also made a brief cameo on Lewis Black's Root of All Evil, in the episode YouTube VS Porn, in a short segment where people on the street were shown a video of hardcore pornography, and Jeremy was the only one disgusted by the video.

Jeremy is part of a running gag on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning and Premiere Radio Networks' The Jim Rome Show. Rome, who normally despises the porn industry, has a new-found respect for Jeremy for recording a program bumper saying, "This is Ron Jeremy, head coach of the Miami Heat, and you're watching Jim Rome Is Burning." The bumper is a reference to Jeremy's striking resemblance to former Miami Heat and Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy. Jeremy was seen in the Robot Chicken episode, "A Piece of the Action", which was voiced by Michael Benyaer. In this episode, he and several others parody The Surreal Life and Lord of the Rings. The segment lampoons his penis size by having his character unseat a knight on horseback using nothing but his erect penis. Jeremy appeared as himself in the 2001 Family Guy episode "Brian Does Hollywood", in which he is a presenter at the "Woody Awards" for which Brian Griffin is a nominee. Comedian Kathy Griffin went on a date with him in the third season of her reality show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Ron Jeremy has also appeared in a part on a show on Comedy Central called Tosh.0

In 2003, Jeremy appeared on The Frank Skinner Show on British TV, and performed a duet ("I Got You Babe") with former Cabinet minister Mo Mowlam. Jeremy appeared on Chappelle's Show as himself in a spoof called "What if the Internet was a real place?", in which he asks Dave Chappelle if he would like to see some of his films. Jeremy also appeared as a guest commentator on the Fox News Channel late-night news and comedy talk show Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld in 2007. In the "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" episode of Newsradio, Jeremy can be seen sitting in the audience at Jimmy James's reading, along with Brian Posehn. Jeremy appeared in Tosh.0 as the falling prom girl's date. Jeremy appeared on Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, as himself, in Bourdain's "Food Porn" (Season 5) and "Food Porn 2" (Season 6) episodes. Jeremy appeared on Silent Library in 2010. In the show, he was the "Mystery Creature" that was concealed underneath a sheet in a cage, the contestant has to feed him carrots while being blindfolded.

During the 2013 Academy Award broadcast, host and emcee Seth MacFarlane mentioned Jeremy in his opening monologue, "From Whoopi all the way down to Ron Jeremy, it eventually found its way to me", joking about the number of rejections that Oscar organizers must have gotten from potential hosts before they arrived at him. Later in the April issue of AVN magazine in the Crossover Report section, with roughly 1 billion viewers worldwide, the writer observed that "...the mere fact that his name made its way into one of MacFarlane's openinging lines would suggest that he has officially reached household status on a global scale."

Music

Jeremy has appeared in videos by Sublime, Mercury Rev, Moby, Insane Clown Posse, Kid Rock, LMFAO, Everclear, Sam Kinison, Guns N' Roses, Mad Yellow Sun, Los Umbrellos, XXX Rottweiler Hundar (Icelandic), the Radioactive Chickenheads, A Day To Remember, Escape The Fate, Christina Linhardt, Necro, Flight of the Conchords and My Darkest Days, and Armin Van Buuren. In addition, he released a rap single called "Freak Of The Week" which peaked at 95 on the Billboard rap charts; a music video for this was also produced. Jeremy introduced Boston ska punk band Big D and the Kids Table at the 2011 and 2013 Vans Warped Tour in Carson, California, and also appeared in their new video for the song One Day. In 2001, he made a small appearance in industrial/groove metal band Fear Factory's DVD Digital Connectivity, where he welcomes the viewer, in the "Digimortal" portion of the DVD, "to the world of Fear Factory." In 2008, Brooklyn rap artist Necro featured Ron as well as Jack Napier, Rebeca Linares, and several others for the videos "Who's Ya Daddy" and "I Wanna F**k". In 2011, he appeared in LMFAO's music video for the song "Sexy And I Know It". In 2011, he also appeared on the rap group "Bankrupt Records" album "Double Vision" on the skit "The Ron Jeremy Call". In 2012, he made an appearance in Canadian rock band My Darkest Days music video for their song "Casual Sex". In 2013, he appeared in the music video for the song "This Is What It Feels Like" by famous DJ Armin van Buuren.

Video games

Ron Jeremy was featured as a playable character in the Celebrity Deathmatch video game. His image was used as a fairy in the game Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, in which he gives tips and advice to the main character. Ron Jeremy also stars in Bonetown as the king of Bonetown and sex god. Ron Jeremy appears in the 2011 video game Postal III as Raul Chomo, the mayor of the fictional town of Catharsis, Arizona.

Video

Jeremy appeared in a series of viral video spoofs for video sharing website Heavy.com. The videos lampooned include Britney Spears, lonelygirl15, Little Superstar and others. In 2007 he had a cameo appearance in "The Plot to Bomb the Panhandle" video, by A Day to Remember. In addition, Ron appeared on an episode of Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, titled "Pamous Movie Star".

In January 2009, Jeremy made an appearance with David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) in an episode of Faustino's show Star-ving, which airs on Crackle, as does the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. In June 2009, he did a cameo in the music video "10 Miles Wide" by Escape The Fate, along with Dennis Hof and other adult video performers. In December 2010, Jeremy starred in the Break.com video Tron Jeremy, a parody of the film Tron: Legacy.

Advertisement

As a further indication of his crossover celebrity status, Jeremy has posed in an advertisement for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to raise awareness of the overpopulation of domesticated animals. In the poster, he lies partially nude on a bed, a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. Poking fun at his notoriety, the title of the advertisement exclaims, "Too much sex can be a bad thing. Spay and neuter your cats and dogs." Jeremy also appeared in a 2008 video for PETA, explaining why in his view, more humane slaughter practices by KFC would be "not just a moral thing but also a smart business move," quipping that "The Colonel might get a promotion and become a General" as a result.

Books

Jeremy released his memoir, titled Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz, in February 2007. The book was published by Harper Collins.

Public speaking

In 2005, Jeremy made headlines when he was invited to address the Oxford Union. According to the Union's librarian, Vladimir Bermant, "Ron is the biggest and apparently the best in the business, so I'm sure he'll have some fascinating stories to tell."

Personal life

In 2006, Jeremy began a series of debates on pornography opposing Pastor Craig Gross, founder of anti-pornography website XXXchurch.com, visiting various U.S. and Canada college campuses as part of the "Porn Debate Tour."

On January 29, 2013, Jeremy drove himself to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after experiencing severe chest pain. Doctors discovered an aneurysm near his heart and he was operated on the following day. Three weeks later, he was released from the hospital, showing off his scars, saying he'd lost 45 pounds and planned to change his diet, and telling New York Daily News reporters "Eating healthy food is depressing, but it's keeping me alive. My dad is 94 and still going strong. He got mad at me for this. He jokes that he and my mom gave me the perfect body, and I screwed it up."

Businesses

Jeremy is the official spokesperson for the pay-per-minute pornographic website HotMovies.com. The operators of HotMovies also operate Jeremy's website, located at RonJeremy.com. He makes several annual appearances on behalf of HotMovies at events the world over, such as Exxxotica, AVN Adult Entertainment Expo and Venus Berlin.

In June 2009, Jeremy, and business partner Paul Smith, opened Ron Jeremy's Club Sesso, a swingers nightclub located in the financial district of downtown Portland, Oregon.

Jeremy is also involved in the marketing of a line of rum "Ron de Jeremy" to which he lent his name, "ron" being Spanish for "rum". Television ads for the rum, featuring Jeremy himself, proclaim that it's rum, "Ron Style"'.

Partial filmography

• Olympic Fever (1979)
• Inside Seka (1980)
• Debbie Does Dallas Part II (1981)
• 52 Pick-Up^? (1986)
• One Night At Mr. Wolfes (1987)
• Caged Fury (1989)
• The Lords of Magick (1989)
• Dead Bang^? (1989)
• As Cute as They Cum (1990)
• Super Hornio Brothers (1993)
• The Chase (1994)
• Class of Nuke 'Em High 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid (1994)"?Troma film
• Killing Zoe (1994)
• South Beach Academy (1995) -- "Weed" Whacker, as Ron Hyatt
• dendam kuntilanak (2001)
• Mr. Stitch (1996)
• Tromeo and Juliet (1996)"?Troma film
• George Wallace (1997)
• Orgazmo (1997)
• Ronin^? (1998, scene cut by the studio)
• Terror Firmer (1998)"?Troma film
• The Boondock Saints (1999)
• Detroit Rock City (1999)
• American Virgin (2000, Cameo)
• Nash Bridges: "El Diablo" (2000)
• Reindeer Games^? (2000)
• Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000)"?Troma film
• Just Shoot Me!: "The Proposal: Part 2" (2001)
• Alex in Wonder (2001)
• Fast Sofa (2001)
• The Rules of Attraction (2002)
• Back by Midnight (2002, Cameo)
• Hell's Highway (2002)
• Night at the Golden Eagle (2002)
• America's Sexiest Girls (2003)
• Paris (2003)
• Parts of the Family (2003)"?Troma film
• Tales from the Crapper (2004)"?Troma film
• The Nickel Children (2005)
• Andre The butcher (Dead meat) (2005)
• Slaughter Party (2005)"?Troma film
• Charlie's Death Wish (2005)
• Poultrygeist (2006)"?Troma film
• Not the Bradys XXX (2007)
• Loaded (2007)
• Finishing the Game (2007)
• Crazy Animal (2007)"?Troma film
• Succubus (2007, Cameo)
• One-Eyed Monster (2008)
• Stone & Ed (2008)
• I am Virgin (2008)
• Homo Erectus (2008)
• Crank: High Voltage (2009)
• Stripper: Natasha Kizmet (2009)
• Almost Amateur (2009)
• Frenemy (2009)
• Blood Moon Rising (2009)
• Trade In (2009)
• Malice in Lalaland (2010)
• Beaches, Buns, and Bikini's (2010)
• Big Money Rustlas (2010)
• Killer School Girls from Outer Space (2011)
• Chillerama (2011)
• The Haunted Trailer (2012)
• Wish I Can Turn Back The Time (2013)
• Return to Class of Nuke 'Em High Vol.1 (2013)
• Pest Control (Kill Chucky Cheese) Radioactive Chicken Heads

^? - directed by John Frankenheimer

Awards

• 1983 AFAA Best Supporting Actor for Suzie Superstar
• 1984 AFAA Best Supporting Actor for All the way in
• 1986 AVN Best Supporting Actor"?Film for Candy Stripers II
• 1991 AVN Best Supporting Actor"?Video for Playin' Dirty
• 2006 F.A.M.E. Award for Favorite Adult Actor
• 2008 Big Daddy Award "Big Daddy Award"
• 2009 Free Speech Coalition "Positive Image Award"
• 2013 "Kyri Michael Award"

See also

• Golden Age of Porn

Bibliography

• Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz. Memoir, published in February 2007, by Harper Collins.