Ron Jeremy

Born Ronald Jeremy Hyatt to a Jewish family in Flushing, Queens, New York City, he took a BA in theatre arts and acted off Broadway before gaining a master's degree and started a career in special education. His decision to reject this career and join the newly formed 1970s New York porn scene was the start of a twenty-year plus career, although the initial move was by accident following an amateur appearance in Playgirl.

His move into pornographic movies occurred during the "golden era" of 1975-83 - marked by reasonable production values and script, with the movies intended for cinematic release rather than video. However, during this era production was still effectively illegal. Jeremy left New York for California but he was arrested twice and faced serious jail-time before being reprieved following the Hal Freeman precedent in the United States Supreme Court of 1988.

Despite his unprepossessing appearance he has been in around 1600 films and has directed a further 100 films personally.

He has also had small roles in mainstream films such as Detroit Rock City, 54, Ronin, Orgazmo and Killing Zoe. However, his material is often cut by squeamish studio executives.

Jeremy was the subject of a 2001 documentary film, Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy.

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