Time—And The Economy—Has Not Been Kind To Porn Legend Jeff Stryker
Even baby gays have heard the hallowed name Jeff Stryker, one of the most famous gay-porn stars of the 1980s and ’90s. More than his physique, Stryker (born Charles Casper Peyton) was legendary for his amazing ability to bark orders at bottoms.
“Suck that dick!”
“Yeah, eat that ass!”
It’s not for nothing that John Waters called Stryker “The Cary Grant of porn.”
Alas, Stryker’s fame—cemented in flicks like In Hot Pursuit, Bigger Than Life and the heterosexual blockbuster Jamie Loves Jeff—has faded in recent years. After taking a stab at the “legitimate” stage with shows like Jeff Stryker Does Hard Time and “A Sophisticated Evening with Jeff Stryker” (produced by Bruce Vilanch no less), Stryker, 49, has been reduced to appearing in a clip on the website for Los Angeles bankruptcy attorney Jennifer Aragon—who happens to be his girlfriend.
Stryker pops up automatically—much like in his porn heyday—when you click on the site, but the only bitch he’s ordering around is his dog, Cody. “Cody stop. Sit! Good girl.” Even if you close your eyes, Stryker’s leisure-suit-and-Hai Karate voice is unmistakable as he talks about filing bankruptcy in the state of California.
In fact, we prefer watching it with eyes closed. Oh yes, Mr. Stryker, we’re straining under all this debt. We need some relief!
@Fitz: Right – a little cheesy (aren’t we all) but hardly a failure. What exactly does Queerty think he should be doing? Maybe they want all ex porn stars to just kill themselves at age 38 so the rest of us can feel superior?
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@the other Greg: It makes me think back to last week’s queerty post about “the worst kind of commentators” and listing “mean people suck”. There is nothing but “mean” in this entire post. Hypocrisy sucks.
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I have several of Stryker’s films, but bought because of the other people in them; I never bought a Stryker film because of Stryker. Stryker Force has Steve Hammond and Jim Pulver; Bigger Than Life has Tom Brock’s only bottoming scene. Jeff did nothing for me, but I recognize his popularity eclipsed all others in his time.
I don’t think the industry is interested anymore in building icons of Stryker’s level, names known even outside of the confines of porn. (And before Jeff, those like Jack Wrangler and Al Parker.) Once you have that level of popularity you have clout. And with clout you can state the terms under which you’ll work. There’s too much competition out there now for any outfit to risk being held hostage by a rebellious or demanding star.
The turnover is probably greater now than it’s ever been, most names lasting five years if they’re lucky. You could declare yourself a moratorium on watching or buying any gay porn for four years, come back and buy some fresh title in 2015, and chances are great you wouldn’t know a single name in the cast.
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Stryker has more talent in the head of his cock than all of the A List stars put together. Maybe if he was playing the pussy victim card and worked for LOGO…Queerty might have a better headline for him.
Queerty sold out big time when they sold out to LOGO in promoting what is probably the worst fucking show to ever be put on television. A show that if put on by any other network would have gays and lesbians demanding it be taken off the air.
SHAME…on Queerty.
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Saw Stryker in person at one of the Erotic Expos. His dick looks huge because he is so damn short, I mean really short. Same cock on a guy 6’2″ would just look “big” not “huge.” He was also a bit of an ass, hawking his DVDs and not being very nice about posing with “fans” for pictures.
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@Lefty: I was thinking something similar. I could not believe all those words! Don’t get me wrong, I like to read, but to have to read through all of THAT before knowing whether I should have read it in the first place is torture! A business site should have: concise blurbs with links to more as needed; testimonials; statistics; impressive graphics.
I don’t begrudge her ability to become an attorney, but that web site is off.
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@QJ201: I must disagree with one of the comments. I saw Mr. Stryker in his “Hard Time” play and at one moment he gets naked hard and goes into the audience. Well he got up on a chair and waved his “talent” in my face. It is in NO WAY – small or even average. It’s BIG!
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@Phil: “There’s more heterosexuals willing to date bisexuals than homosexuals willing to date bisexuals. (Yes, I mean in terms of both numbers and mindsets.)”
That is, utterly, incorrect – I have first hand knowledge.
Most heterosexual women are turned off by guys that also the gay-sex. Even girls who are totally comfortable with gay people are uneasy about dating a bi-guy. Whereas, gay guys, in my experience, have no problem dating bi-guys – though many, if not most, gay guys think bi-guys are just gay but won’t admit it.
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One of my fave memories is having my picture taken with Jeff when he was performing at Webster Hall in NYC back in the 90s. He was very nice, and stayed in character the whole time, like when I said, “Can I have a picture with you?” He said, “Oooh, yeah, man.” He was nice to me, that’s all I know. And his skin was like a baby’s ass on Saturday night. I thought he looked just stunning. He seemed about 5’7.”
And in the 80s the guy gave so many of us so many hours of pleasure to wile away the lonely nights, it seems nasty for Queerty to talk about how time has “not been kind” to him. I bet he still looks pretty damn good for 50. Since most of the Queerty staff is pretty young, I look forward to seeing how time treats them.
This commercial is hilarious, it’s almost as if he’s saying, “You like that bankruptcy, don’t'cha?”
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Still has a hot voice, looks good and he’s got a job: hate all the nasty comments noted above: that’s always the WORST part of gay life, the sniping and bitchiness. Give him a break, he’s had–and has–a pretty interesting life, and it ain’t over yet!
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OK, I’ve made a decision based upon this article: I don’t think that Queerty is a decent, fair, admirable site and I am not going to read it anymore. If anyone had ever told me that an article, written in a less than 5 minutes, by an editor looking for filler, would provoke this reaction in me, I would have laughed in his face.
Facts. I have little or no interest in Stryker/Peyton. I did meet in once at an opening night party and he was unassuming, gracious and charming to me — and to everyone with whom I saw him interact. But that is irrelevant.
About five years ago, I viewed a video on the ‘net, an excerpt from CBS-TV LA news. There was Stryker/Peyton (almost unrecognizable; he didn’t look great, but in comparison to his heyday, why would he?) explaining that he was angry because his son (who was also interviewed), a high school student, was being bullied. Of course, the assumption was that his son was queer. But that wasn’t it. It appeared to be bullying because of race. Now, as is the case with PC media outlets, they ran this several minute segment without ever mentioning young Mr. Peyton’s race, so the viewer had no idea as to the basis of this racial attack or harassment. The kid looked Caucasian, so I figured it was Latin against Caucasian bullying. Then I remembered that Peyton had Native American heritage, so I thought it could be Latin or Caucasian against American Indian. No matter.
The point is that, before bullying was even mentioned as a public health, safety and humanitarian issue, there was Charles Peyton decrying it for all the right reasons: my son has rights, he can’t study, etc. And he wasn’t hiding behind Stryker (something that was never mentioned), he was a concerned parent who appeared to be uninterested in publicity.
Did Dan Avery write about this?
He wrote about the man appearing on his gf’s really cheap-looking business site. I went there. I thought I saw in a thumbnail and that’s that. Why pick on this man? For someone who identified and spoke as really pan-sexual, he proudly appeared in countless gay parades, endorsed queer rights (way before it was fashionable) and performed at many, many benefits. Yes, there was self-promotion involved, but he could have just ignored homos and said that he was gay for pay like countless others of his ilk.
Like I said, this was pure, mean-spirited filler. And while I often enjoy the edginess of queerty, it took this banal article to corroborate that this is not where I want to find myself anymore.
You are of my kind but you are not my kind.
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Here’s a link to Stryker 2009.
http://www.laweekly.com/2009-0.....obsession/
Unlike James Dean, Peter Pan, Little Jackie Paper, etc, he has grown up into a grizzly, growling male animal defending his turf. Deal with it.
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@vinnyc: @vinnyc. Thank you for your comment about my no. 37 comment. It’s not a question of my sensitivity, it’s about the style and tone of journalism. Attacking rich, powerful, self-important celebrtoid fools is one thing. Stryker/Peyton is a powerless individual w/a famous history. There’s a word for this kind of behavior: it’s called bullying. Have a nice day. P.S. I only came here to find the URL for the story post; I wanted to forward it to some one.
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Sorry to be again so P-inC, but Jeff’s tool is among the immortals now, copyrighted and copied and sold world-wide these many years. My copy was purchased in Copenhagen in the early eighties, included squeezable scrotum, and was enclosed in a red velvet gold-corded drawstring bag.
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Who’s this idiot, Dan Avery, who wrote this piece? Let’s recap. This former gay-for-pay porn star is still handsome at 50, has a sexy voice, is married to an attractive, successful lawyer, has 2 great little kids he’s raising, lives in a nice house in suburbs. Did his wife a favor to drive more traffic to her website (which worked). Sounds pretty good to me. What do you guys have that’s so much better?
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@Mr. Enemabag Jones: And what sick f* would take pleasure in the failure of others? Your life that sad already?
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He may be nearly 50, but so am I and I’m sure he still knows what to do with his power tool.