Bobby Astyr(1937-2002)

Bobby Astyr, the "Clown Prince of Porn," was one of the pioneering generation of actors who made a name for themselves in blue movies in the 1970s, thriving in an industry where - aside from the legendary John Holmes - women were the star attractions. Like many of the first generation of adult entertainment stars, Astyr was Jewish (it was said of that first cohort that the female stars almost entirely had been born & baptized Roman Catholics and that the male stars - aside from the obviously gentile Holmes - were primarily Jewish, and that this had something to do with the repression of the Catholic Church and the lack of same in Conservative and Reform Judaism). Bobby himself believed that his religion made him more of a "mensch," someone who tried to help his fellow performers, many of whom were troubled or addicted to drugs.

While never a male porn star of the magnitude of Jamie Gillis or John Leslie, let alone the fabled King himself, John Holmes, Bobby Astyr appeared in well over 140 known blue movies, and perhaps was in scores more of loops that are now lost. Bobby won his sobriquet "The Cown Prince" by his uninhibited on-screen antics; he was't afraid to look foolish to get a laugh. His most remembered performance likely remains that of the non-plussed maitre d' in the 1977 classic "Barbara Broadcast" who, in case of any breakage caused by waitresses or restaurant patrons, penalized the perpetrator by "taking it out in trade." The following year, he met and fell in love with adult film actress Samantha Fox; they continued in a long-term relationship, sharing side-by-side apartments, for almost 24 years, until Astyr died of lung cancer in 2002.