This Article Originally Ran On Blumhouse.com
"John Holmes was to the adult film industry what Elvis Presley was to rock 'n' roll. He simply was The King."
— Bob Vosse
There’s this thing that happens, I think, with most boys when they hit the early stages of puberty - we see some porn and think “Man, I want that job!” When you’re 13, the idea of getting paid to have sex seems like the perfect gig. To a 13 year old boy, getting an erection in front of people isn’t hard (if you’ll excuse the pun) - the hard part is not getting an erection in front of people, so there isn’t the concept of performance anxiety.
As time moves forward and the 13 year old turns 14 or 15, they start to figure out why being a male porn star is maybe not the easiest work. You need, for lack of a better expression, the goods to get the job.
Johnny Wadd had the goods.
The early days were no fun for John Holmes. The youngest of Mary June Holmes four children, and the only one with a different father, John had to deal with Edward, his alcoholic step-dad. Edward, who was 35 when he first married Mary (then 17) was a serious alcoholic. Edward would, on occasion, come home drunk and proceed to vomit on the kids. A real winner of a dad, that Edward Holmes. Just for good measure, he would beat the crap out of them from time to time as well.
When he was 16, with the written consent of his mom, John joined the Army. After three years, he was honorably discharged and moved to Los Angeles.
How John got started in the porn industry isn’t clear. He stumbled around from job to job for a while - from door-to-door salesman, to janitor, to forklift driver. The forklift gig left John with a nasty case of pneumothorax, which hospitalized him three times. His wife Sharon, who he met 1964, also had serious health issues; she suffered three miscarriages in 17 months. It would be a good guess that it was money problems that lead to John’s life changing career.
In 1971, John Holmes starred in the movie that would turn him into a pornstar. John played titular hero Johnny Wadd, a private detective who solved cases and bedded women with equal excellence. The story of Johnny Wadd spawned a franchise that lasted 12 movies with some hilariously excellent titles. My personal favorite title is TAPESTRY OF PASSION (which provided the header art for this article).
John’s porn career took off. He became known as the longest, thickest, hardest dick in the biz, and for the first time, people were looking for porn movies that featured a specific man. Almost as soon as John entered porn, his relationship with Sharon shifted. They were still married, they still lived together, and they were still close partners, but Sharon was never intimate with John again.
Things were going well for John and Sharon in 1976. They both understood that their marriage was one of business now, and business was strong. Along with John’s porn work, they managed an apartment complex in Glendale. It was here that John met fifteen year old Dawn Schiller. Dawn had just arrived from Florida with her younger sister and her Vietnam vet hippie dad, and she took a liking to John right away; he was, according to Dawn, goofy and cute and nice. John took to Dawn too - she was sweet and innocent, not like the other people he knew. One day, on what had become a semi-regular outing, John, Dawn, and Dawn’s sister drove by an adult theater. There, on the marque, was John’s name.
John brought the two girls into the theater where he signed a few autographs before the movie started. When it did start, when John showed up on screen, Dawn laughed. At first, John didn’t appreciate the laughing, but soon enough, he joined in. John and the girls left the theater and went home.
Not long after, 33 year old John took 15 year old Dawn to Zuma beach, leaving her sister home. They spent the day in the sun - Dawn swam in the ocean while John watched. Then, as the sun faded away, John took Dawn back to his van where they had sex for the first time.
Not long after, when Dawn’s dad left for Florida, Dawn moved in with John and Sharon. Dawn was in love with John, and he was in love with her. As for Sharon, she saw Dawn as the daughter she could never have.
By 1978, Holmes was making $3000 a day, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with what he was spending on coke. The drug, not the sugary fizzy drink. Before he entered porn, John didn’t even drink, but filming made him nervous, so John turned to whiskey to calm his nerves. Then to pot. Then to the coke. Then more coke. And then even more coke. He had a serious coke addiction is what I’m saying. One year, for Christmas, he introduced Dawn to coke. She took to it quick.
Desperate for money, John turned to prostitution. For the right amount of money, or the right amount of coke, any woman, or any man, could spend some time with Johnny Wadd. If they weren’t into him, John would pimp Dawn out. When that wasn’t bringing in enough money, John worked as a delivery man for various drug dealers. Sometimes though, the deliveries would show up missing a few ounces.
One guy John worked for on and off was Eddie Nash, a Palestinian nightclub owner and drug dealer who had taken a liking to Holmes. The two had a beneficial friendship; for Nash, Holmes was someone he could show off to others so they knew he was in with the cool porn kids, and for Holmes, Nash was a guy who had lots of drugs. Nash lived big - big house, big car, big rings. The man had a lot of money and a lot of drugs, but not a lot of class.
In 1980, a few days before Christmas, John took Dawn to Eddie’s house. After a little bit, John left without Dawn. Dawn, as she would figure out, was being given to Eddie as a Christmas gift. The next day, Dawn returned to John with Eddie’s gift - cocaine. It wasn’t as much coke as John thought Eddie would give him, so John beat Dawn, hitting her so hard that her tooth ripped through her lip.
A few days later, on her birthday, John sent Dawn back to Eddie for more coke.
In January of 1981, John took Dawn and shoved her into the trunk of his car. He brought Dawn to a brothel working out of an apartment complex in the Valley, where she was forced to work for weeks. Dawn finally escaped the apartment complex and made her way to a Denny’s. There, she got change from a stranger and called her mother in Oregon. Her mom quickly bought Dawn a bus ticket to get the hell out of California and away from John Holmes.
John tracked Dawn down and called her. She refused to take the call, so John kept calling. Crying, he begged Dawn’s mother to tell her that he loved her. He sent her pictures of Thor, the dog Dawn left behind. He sent Dawn’s sister five dollars asking for a picture of Dawn. Real creepy stuff.
Dawn fell for it. One day, when John called, she got on the phone. John cried and pleaded for another chance. He put Thor on the phone. To Dawn, John sounded like the man she fell in love with five years ago. He told her that he wanted to leave California, but he couldn't do it without her. He promised that if she came back, he had one thing he had to do, then they could leave.
Dawn went back to Los Angeles. She arrived at the Burbank Airport and was greeted by John, who was visibly high. John took Dawn to a hotel where they spent a few days getting high and fucking. On June 28th, John kissed Dawn and said “Okay, baby, I’m off. This is it. I’m going to get the big one”.
John never returned to the hotel.
John had become connected to a group of drug dealers called The Wonderland Gang, due to their living on Wonderland Avenue. The Wonderland Gang, made up of Ron Launius, Joy Audrey Gold Miller, Billy DeVerell, David Lind, and Tracy Ray McCourt was a small group, but each one of them had managed to get addicted to heroin and tended to use more than they sold. From time to time, John would sell for the Wonderland Gang, but occasionally, he would take what they gave him to sell and he would use it himself. With the debt mounting, John had to figure out a way to pay off the gang before they killed him.
He told them about Eddie Nash.
The plan was in place - John would get into Nash’s place and make sure that the door to the back of the house was unlocked. Later, the rest of the Wonderland crew would enter the house and rob it. In return for his part, John’s debt would be paid off and he would get a cut of the cash and drugs taken from Nash.
John carried out his part perfectly. A few hours later, Launius, DeVerell, Lind, and McCourt went to the house. McCourt stayed with the car while the other three went inside. They took Nash and his bodyguard, Gregory Diles, by surprise. The three men handcuffed Nash and Diles, then went about robbing the house. Before leaving with massive amounts of money, jewelry, and drugs, Launius told Nash that he was lucky they didn’t kill him.
Back at Wonderland, the stolen goods were split up. The crew decided to short Holmes, which Holmes didn’t much like, but there was nothing he could do. John Holmes took his cut, including one of Eddie Nash’s very gaudy rings, and left.
Nash, being a tad crafty, had suspected Holmes from the moment the intruders entered his home. Once freed from the cuffs, Nash sent Diles out to find the drug addict big dicked porn star. Sure enough, Diles found Holmes walking down Hollywood Boulevard wearing Nash’s ring. Nash and Diles beat the crap out of John Holmes for a bit, but ultimately Holmes ratted on his associates.
A few days later, Nash sent Holmes with a group of men to the Wonderland house. Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, Joy Audrey Gold Miller, and Barbara Richardson were all beaten to death with lead pipes. Susan, Ron’s wife, survived the attack, but suffered brain damage and lost a finger. Billy DeVerell and Tracy Ray McCourt lucked out - Billy was at a hotel with a prostitute and McCourt had gone to his own home that night.
When John returned home, covered in blood, he walked past Sharon, and went straight to the bathroom where he drew a bath. Sharon went after John, worried that the blood was his. John said he had been in a car accident, but Sharon didn’t buy it.
John took off his clothes and there wasn’t a scratch on him. He got into the hot bath and sat quietly as Sharon stared at him. John broke down and told Sharon what had happened, that he had witnessed the killings. Sharon, shocked, said to John “These were people you knew, these were friends.”
John kept his eyes on the blood mixing with the water in the bath, “They were scum. They deserved everything they got.”
Police arrived at Wonderland some twelve hours after the murders. The scene was first discovered by some movers who heard the pained moans of Susan Launius. What they found was terrifying.
The body of Barbara Richardson was found lying in front of the couch in the living room. Joy Audrey Gold Miller was found dead in her bedroom, her head crushed in. Billy DeVerell was found in his bedroom on the third floor, his TV still on. Ron and Susan were in their room. Ron was dead in bed, Susan was on the floor. Above Ron was a single hand print. The print belonged to John Holmes.
Holmes is brought in by the police. They tell him that Eddie Nash has put a hit out on him, but still Holmes refuses to talk. They tell him that other dealers are looking to have him killed, but still John won’t talk. Unable to get anything out of him, the police let John go.
John and Dawn left California that day and headed to Florida. There, John, now with his hair dyed black, got work in construction. They lived at the Fountainhead Inn, a spot for people who didn’t have much and didn’t want to be found that I can only guess was named ironically. One night, John returned to his own ways and beat Dawn. She ran out of the room and down to the snack shop where John caught up to her. There, in front of others, John beat Dawn until she was almost unconscious. The next day, Dawn left John and called the cops on him. When they arrived at the hotel, the police found John watching GILLIGAN’S ISLAND. He offered them coffee.
John Holmes was brought back to Los Angeles where he was put on trial for the Wonderland murders - he was acquitted. A grand jury held Holmes in contempt when he refused to answer their questions about the murders. John spent 111 days in jail. When Eddie Nash was sentenced to prison on a drug charge, Holmes agreed to talk to the grand jury. Holmes, fresh out of jail and with no other discernible skills, went back to porn. Holmes, 111 days sober, went back to coke. Holmes, it seemed, was not going to learn his lesson.
John and Sharon divorced in 1983. In 1986, John tested HIV positive - John had a severe fear of needles and, according to many friends, never used them, so he most likely contracted the disease while filming. John made at least two movies after finding out that he was sick, though he never told the people he worked with. While they knew he was ill, John had told the producers that he had colon cancer.
John Holmes died from AIDS related complications in Room 101A of the VA hospital on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles on March 13, 1988. Dawn, who had been living in Thailand with her father, had returned to the US a few months earlier. She knew where John was, but never visited. She said she just couldn’t get up the nerve to see him.