GOLDEN GODDESSES: 25 LEGENDARY WOMEN OF CLASSIC EROTIC CINEMA, 1968-1985

by Nelson, Jill C.

  Michael was an artist, a great guy. He had a master’s degree from Columbia University. He’d shot A Night of a Hundred Stars and the Toni awards and a lot of commercials and that kind of stuff. He actually ended up in the adult business because of me. He wanted to come out to the west coast and do straight stuff, and obviously, the entrée I had was in adult. If you read Georgina Spelvin’s book [The Devil Made me do It], he’s “Iron Mike”. Iron Mike is one of the guys she writes about, and that is actually my husband. She talked about her “Michael,” and I talked about my “Michael” and I got married to him. At the AVN awards, I went to introduce her to him and she just about fell over because my Michael was her Michael. It’s a small world but I still wouldn’t want to paint it. He was a cameraman and he was a lighting director. He was my lighting director for almost everything I ever did except at the end when he got to be too sick.

  It was tough at first because I didn’t know the production side of the business very well. I first started producing before my oldest son Christopher was born — he’s now twenty-seven. We started working on Electric Blue stuff for the Playboy Channel. I started into producing that long ago. I’d just gotten out of the business and he was going to be my cameraman. I didn’t know a lot and he was very short with me. He was very impatient with me. I was learning and I just said, “Hey now. I’d like to keep the money in the family, but I know there are a lot of clients who are much worse than I am and you’re very nice to them. You treat me like one of your clients or I’m not going to work with you again.” He did and I did, and we had a life-long working relationship together. At first, he was expecting me to know stuff that I didn’t know. I sure learned, but at first, I didn’t know since I haven’t been on that side of the business before. I hung out with the crew mostly more than the cast. I gravitated there, and anyway, he was great after we had that initial talk. It all worked out quite well.

  We were together for twenty-seven and a half years because we were together for a year and a half before we got married. He’s the father of my two boys. During the last ten years, we were on and off in our relationship. Towards the end, I had relationships with other people. He passed away a year and a half ago. I got him a kidney and liver transplant and he ended up passing away from cancer stage four, metastasized cancer. Michael was sixty-nine when he passed. He was eighteen years older than I was.

  Boogie Nights

  Many people unfamiliar with sexually explicit films first hand have at least seen or have knowledge of the first Hollywood picture to attempt to emulate the golden era of adult filmmaking titled Boogie Nights (1997). Directed by the self taught, San Fernando born maverick, American filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson whose more recent film There Will be Blood (2007) was nominated for eight Academy awards, Boogie Nights (inspired by the life of John Holmes) follows the rise and fall of a fictional 1970s porn legend, Dirk Diggler (played by Mark Walhberg). The mass appeal of the picture (nominated for Oscars in three categories) is responsible for putting Anderson on the map as one of the most masterful and exciting mainstream directors of the last two decades. Hamilton, who was hired by Anderson to play a family court judge, believed the role of Diggler’s lover and fellow porn star Amber Waves (portrayed in a scintillating performance by Julianne Moore), is the incarnation of a few select porn Goddesses, including Hamilton. In 1999, Jane was rehired by Anderson to appear as part of his ensemble cast in Magnolia. Hamilton was also in the popular TV series Six Feet Under in 2001 in addition to other mainstream roles, but it is her commanding turn in Boogie Nights film buffs won’t easily forget.

  Boogie Nights was great. I was really excited about it and found out that Paul [Thomas Anderson] is a big fan of mine. That was exciting to learn that someone in the straight world knew of me. Ron Jeremy is responsible for putting us together. Paul wanted to get to me and Ronnie knew how to find me. He got the two of us together and I went down for a reading and everything, and I got the part of the judge. Paul said he would never put me in one of his movies as a porn star, a prostitute, a hooker, or anything like that. [Former adult performer] Skye Blue is also in the film and [adult performer] Summer Cummings. Those girls were the chicks that were in the hot tub scene. Skye is a producer and director and does a lot of Playgirl and adult stuff.

  On the day we were shooting the scene, I was sitting there and Julianne Moore was in the make-up chair next to me. I didn’t want to be rude and I didn’t want to say anything to her. I thought that maybe she had to concentrate. She really didn’t say “hi” to me and I didn’t say “hi” to her. I tried to give her, her own space. We weren’t leery of each other but maybe just a nice “hello” or something and that would be it. I was thinking, “Oh my Gosh. Okay, here we go.” She certainly wasn’t mean or anything, but she wasn’t friendly. Looking back, I probably didn’t appear very friendly either. She’d never been around somebody from our business. She had no idea what we were like.

  We were on the set and I said something to her or she said something to me about Annette Haven. Now, I like Annette but she’s a nut case. She’s a hypochondriac and she’s a nut case. I kind of said to Julianne like, “Oh yeah, she’s great.” or something to that effect.

  Then she said, “Oh, my god, did you find that…” and all of a sudden it broke the ice and we were chatting like there’s no tomorrow. Julianne is just one of the nicest gals you’ll ever want to meet. I went to a couple of openings with her because I was in Magnolia (1999) for a second too. You’d probably miss me. My name is on the credits longer than my face is on screen. I played the dental assistant in Magnolia that harasses Bill Macy. He’s also a lovely man, by the way. Whenever I run into Julianne, it’s always, “Hello. How are you?” It’s been years now since I’ve seen her, but for a while, I was running into her a lot at openings and premieres. She was always just the kindest, nicest, down-to-earth person. I have such respect for her; she’s such an amazing actress. It really made me feel good that she took the time to address me as a fellow actor and to acknowledge me. I had a quick, but small relationship with her. It was very thrilling for me. She’s just a lovely, lovely person.

  Mark [Walhberg] and some of the guys came to one of my sets because they wanted to see what an adult film was like. I think I was doing something for [adult company] Adam and Eve at the time. It was one of my house party videos or something like that; they came over and hung out, they were just nice guys. I didn’t pay too much attention to them because I was directing. They just observed and talked a little bit; they hung out near craft services. They talked to some of the actors to get kind of an idea what it was all about and what we were about, how we worked. What it was like on the other end.

  Jane’s role in Boogie Nights as the family court judge is crucial to the story as porn star Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) battles her estranged husband in a courthouse for shared custody of their young son. In an ironic and powerful scene, Amber’s husband (played by late adult performer John Dough) manages to convince the judge his wife is unfit to jointly raise their son, not only because of her involvement in pornographic films as an actor, but also because of her struggles with alcohol and drugs. The final shot of the segment shows Waves crying alone outside by the courthouse wall, devastated by the judge’s ruling.

  I filmed that courtroom scene in one day. I think there were about four or five takes and that was it. I was probably in make-up longer and then there was the lighting. After they see everything, they ask you to go away and then they light it and shoot it. I did feel great to be a part of it. A lot of people in our business really didn’t like that movie. It makes it look like our business is a violent business; that we’re about being violent. You know, when you make a film you have to realize it’s not reality. If you notice many of us are well spoken and can put a sentence together so that makes us uninteresting. We’re kind of like regular people. If you want to uncover somebody, you have to go for something dramatic. P.T. Anderson is a filmmaker. It wasn’t a historical piece. He took dramatic license.
We wouldn’t have shot where he had a shooting; that would have never happened. We wouldn’t shoot in San Fernando Valley at that time. This was pre-1980s.I just saw Boogie Nights again a couple of weeks ago and it was very interesting to see it on the big screen. I didn’t remember it being so violent and so off the wall. There were always those characters around and especially at that time, everybody was doing blow. It wasn’t just us — doctors, lawyers, everybody — it was the time when that was going on; it wasn’t just our business that was out of hand. Look at the music business. We’re lucky that any of us are still alive, I am sure.

  A Renaissance Woman

  Jane Hamilton is anything but naïve when it comes down to how outsiders might critique and dissect her profession. She is not willing to yield to those who don’t know her, nor can she be untrue to who she is at her core. Sometimes leaving well enough alone is all that is required.

  I don’t usually volunteer the information about my work unless it’s appropriate or unless I’m bored and I want a reaction. I don’t usually share who I am with neighbors. First, because it’s not necessary, it’s not that I wouldn’t share but I don’t think it’s got anything to do with our relationship. I’m not concerned about what they do too much. I’m concerned about them being a good neighbor. Do I hide what I do? No. I’ll tell you what, because I do movies and many of them are low budget, I wear many hats. We were doing a show where we needed a police car and after finishing up at about two am, I drove the police car home at night. I drove it to my house and when I woke up on Saturday morning the whole neighborhood was a buzz. They got all excited and I was dead tired, I’d gotten home at three or four o’clock in the morning and I’m going, “You guys. It’s a prop car. I used it for a shooting in a movie; it’s a prop car. Everything’s fine.” They were okay, but it was funny. I do happen to have the best neighbors in the world and we watch out for one another’s houses. How much do they know about me? I don’t know. I don’t think it really matters. There are family friends of our sons. They’ve grown up together and our kids have known each other their whole lives. We are best friends and they know everything about me, and they’ve been in my movies. They’ve done extra roles in my movies and stuff like that. They’ve been great friends and there is definitely not a problem.

  For Hamilton, choosing the scenic route has brought about an acute self-awareness. It’s taught her that having the right to succeed or fail is one of the most beneficial and practical tools a woman can possess in her arsenal. Any regrets Jane might have are few and far between.

  Nobody forced me to choose the path that I chose. I chose it myself and I’m very glad. What other genre would I be able to be so successful as a star and as a director, as a producer, an occasional writer, and as an editor? Where else could I do all of those things and be successful, be given a shot and given a chance? A feminist means being able to make your own choices in life even though they might be unpopular with people and other women. I am a feminist and this is one of the only jobs where the women are paid more than the men are so I consider myself a major feminist. I’m able to make my own decisions about my life and choose the kind of work that I want to do. I have control over my body and I might use my body or my brains as little or as much as I want. Anybody who decides to go into sex work that has a choice of doing other things, I think they are feminists. You have to be.

  A lot of people have a feeling about women, especially, that they get into this area of work because they can’t do anything else. They are perceived as victims and they have to do this as if it’s their last holdout or they are forced or something. That’s not always the case. That’s what helped us to get out from under the whole prostitution thing — it was a choice and both partners are being paid. It is different if you’re a woman who can’t do anything else, but this has helped me to be a better person. It’s helped me to be okay. When you meet actors or actresses who don’t have any recognition yet, they’re just neurotic people. “Look at me. Here I am.” Because I’ve been able to be a star and have fans, I don’t need that anymore. I’m comfortable in my own skin and I feel fulfilled. I have some kind of validation that I am special. Therefore, I don’t have to go around and ask if I am special. Like I said, it’s not for everybody, but for the people that it’s good for, I think it can be a real saving thing.

  There is something in my personal past I would change and it has nothing to do with adult. It’s tough for me to even think about so I’m certainly not going to discuss it. There are decisions that I made that might have influenced people’s lives and maybe not for the better. It has to do with family and animals. Those are the only things I regret. I have regrets that the last time my dad was sick I waited so long to come here to Las Vegas. I had been back and forth and I needed money very badly, and I had a job so I stayed for the job. I cancelled the one over the weekend which is when he died so I have that regret. I also have regret that I didn’t take my husband to the beach one last time to see the ocean. I told him that we were going to hang out and then I was working and didn’t get a chance before he passed. I don’t regret any of my decisions in porn. I don’t regret the choices I’ve made. I regret that the choices I’ve made that have had such an impact on my family and my kids.

  Somebody once told me that being a porn star was one of most selfish things you can do. I didn’t understand that and I was completely pissed off at that comment, but upon reflection, I think he’s right.

  He said that because you decide to do what you want to do you kind of just say, “Deal with it” to parents and your family, and to your loved ones. Somebody came up one time and asked my dad about a picture of me, and said, “Isn’t that your daughter, Sid?”

  My dad looked at it and said, “No, that’s not my daughter.” I think when my family could be proud of me, they were. I’d always said I would never get married and I would never have kids. I met my husband and the first I wanted to do was to get married, and have his kids. It was a biological thing. I met him and I fell in love with him. I wanted to marry him and have his babies. This business affects your life in a lot of different ways. My children; especially my older one has been very affected by it. I didn’t realize it until now and he’s going to be twenty-seven. I wasn’t aware of it until he was about eighteen and he kind of pointed it out to me. It’s been a difficult life, but I think as a result, my boys are much nicer to women. They’re not the kind to sleep around. I think they have a pretty damn good respect for women.

  The kids have been very good for the most part. My children are cool, I love them — we get along great and we’re best friends, but at the same time, they are much more conservative than I ever was. They grew up with a mom who pretty much anything goes so the good things are that we’re completely close and they are completely loved, and the bad things are that they’ve got a very outspoken mother who tells them probably way too much information. Now, my kids are much closer to me than when they were growing up. We sit and we’ll party together, and smoke and joke and laugh. They’re my favorite people in the world, actually. They’re very interesting and I think they’re funny. They’re sarcastic and they’re cynical and enjoyable people.

  [Renowned erotic photographer] Suze Randall really was my mentor in showing me that you could be in our business and you could be normal. You could have a family and the kids were going to be okay. You could work in our business and still be a good mom. I remember when I first started hanging out with her we’d take Holly [Suze’s daughter] to the beach and watch her in the water. Holly’s a big photographer now. She’s taken over the business and she’s a lovely gal. She’s a wonderful gal. We use her when I shoot for Adam and Eve.

  It’s been very interesting financially. It’s been tough for me financially lately, and I mentioned to one of my sons who is a PA (Production Assistant) with me — he works on sets — I said to him that I may go back and do some Cougar scenes or something like that. He said, “Mom, do whatever you’ve got to do, but I don’t want to be on that se
t.” That’s my younger son. He’s fine with it, but my older one said that if I did that he would never speak to me again which is pretty radical, seeing as how close we are. That’s how much he really doesn’t like it.

  In addition to occasionally accepting credible roles in television and movies in recent years, Jane has also flirted with the notion of making a return to the classroom.

  I could go back to teaching today, but I probably would need to pick up a few credits. I’ve thought about it, but with my history teaching kids and with the internet, it just opens it up to bad stuff unless I was teaching at the college level. High school — I could be accused of all sorts of things because of my sexual background. When my kids were little, I was a substitute teacher in New York, off and on for about a year or so. I was working here or there once or twice a month. They would call me when a teacher was absent. You really have to be careful because you get all sorts of labels. Being a mother, I was completely freaked out by the possibility that people might think I’d be inappropriate with my children. They figure that if we are liberated sexually we must be deviates.

  I got my sexual drive from someplace. I’m a sexual being. My mom is still very sexual. Her dementia demonstrates itself in her sexuality. She constantly has me screwing the caretakers and the caretakers are constantly running off to get married. She told me her caretaker proposed marriage to her a couple of weeks ago. She’s been very sexually charged her whole life. It was very difficult because my father was unable to make love to her. I would talk to them and tell them that you don’t have to have a penis to make love, but that didn’t seem to make sense in their minds especially for men. It’s just still a very much a part of her — her whole sexuality. My mom and dad were very demonstrative. I know now that when my mom used to pass my dad and they’d both laugh she was reaching behind and cupping him. I’m also very affectionate.