Buck Adams, 52, a porn actor and director, was remembered yesterday at a service falling on what would have been his 53rd birthday. He died October 28 in Northridge in the San Fernando Valley following a decade of heart ailments.
Adams was a member of the Halls of Fame of both Adult Video News and the X-Rated Critics’ Organization, the porn world’s two biggest honors. Adams entered the porn business at the invitation of his younger sister, Amber Lynn, and they kept their relationship secret until they were cast in a scene together, at which point they refused and spilled the beans.
They are the only siblings to be members of both AVN’s and the XRCO’s Halls of Fame.
Prior to entering the adult business, Adams was a boxer and a club bouncer. The image comes from a scene in The Return of Johnny Wadd in which Adams gets prepared to stomp John Holmes.
Adams won AVN’s Best Actor award three times and as a director was able to score large budgets for his films, which he was an early master of chopping into several different versions for cable and XXX release.
Like many porn directors, Adams could often be volatile on set. This was tempered when he entered AA, and he was fondly remembered by his talent and costars as a gentleman.
Performer Cleopatra of the Nile, who attended Adams’ funeral, writes this appreciation:
Yesterday I attended a funeral ceremony for a dear friend who passed away from a stroke on Oct 28th 2008. His birthday is Nov 15th.
He died before his 53rd birthday.
This man was a legend. His name was Buck Adams. I fantastic boxer, fighter, actor, film maker….this man did it all. He also shared the best of his heart and soul with everyone. He was very real and loved living life with a passion. I learned a lot from this fabulous man. Even though I didn’t know him for a long time. He touched my life very deeply and I thank him for that.
His laughter and his joy brought that very thing to my life, laughter and joy and I wish all of you can take a step back and look at your lives and remember the friends in your life that bring something special to you because if nothing else, what was made abundantly clear to me during the funeral was that life is fleeting every minute. You only live once and you do not get to decide when your time is due.
Savor every moment you have and live it to the fullest. You don’t get it back, you cannot repeat it and remember that if what is in your life isn’t bringing you happiness, you are wasting your precious time.
At the end of it all……you really only want to remember those you loved, those who loved you and all the great things you got to do here on this earth…..
I took yesterday as a day to reflect and started to eliminate everything that wasn’t bringing me happiness because at the end of my day when I lay my head down to rest, I want this day to mean EVERYTHING to me, just incase I do not get another…..
I won’t dwell on negativity, I won’t allow bad things to enter my life. The people who don’t really love me or have my best interests in mind – need to leave my life so that the universe can bring those that have truth and love in their hearts into my world. Surround me with all that is good and beautiful.
I do not want to leave this earth with a book full of regret, sadness, pain, anguish or any of those feelings that have stolen valuable moments from my precious time on this earth….
This is what I learned from Buck……you are a gem sweetheart! Even though you may not be able to read this now, I know you can hear this in my thoughts and maybe perhaps there will be people who will read this and change their lives to live it from the depths of their souls and grasp the fruit of life and make it mean EVERYTHING!!
Just as he did
I love you Buck…..you made a difference to me
Adams’ death is the most recent of three from porn’s so-called “Golden Age.” Directors Gerard Damiano (1972’s Deep Throat) and Henri Pachard also passed away in the past month.
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Henry Pachard – “He was one of the greats.”
If there’s one thing that Paul Thomas Anderson nailed in Boogie Nights it was the delusions of grandeur (bordering on pomposity) that a lot of people suffer in the adult film industry. Buck Adams had a big dick. He fucked women in front of other people and then ejaculated into their mouths or onto their tits and ass. This is how he made his living and what he will be remembered for. Why is it that some people in the porn biz act as if what they do – fuck for money – does not define who they are, when, in fact, it’s all they are, the only reason that anyone knows who they are? Are people in the porn biz that ashamed of what they do? Every time I read about someone remembering some porn actor or actress who just died all they talk about is what a beautiful spirit they were, like a butterfly caught in the corona of the sun at twilight. The eulogy for Buck Adams was ridiculous, especially when I think about all of the ridiculous faces he used to make while he was fucking, or the time he was choking out Rebecca Wild. I mean, are you people fucking serious with this shit? Get over yourselves. Gain a little perspective on who you are and what you do. No wonder Boogie Nights chapped some hides. PTA pricked you ballon of self-importance. Learn another skill besides how to fuck and maybe you’ll earn the right to be taken seriously. Until then, go get fucked; it’s what you do best.
Nicely written but you make a contrary point. That people recognize Adams first as a porn performer is as much up to porn fans like you as it was up to him. But it is narrow-minded to assume that the off-duty hours of any jobholder resemble those of his workday. We can’t even accuse Joe the Plumber of this.
But I’d suggest that the derision in which you hold porn performers, assuming that what they do for cash is what they are, might lead to the sort of pomposity you talk about.
Unfortunately, porn performers, sex workers, etc. are least often given the break of the assumption that they d something else the remaining 16 hours of their day.
Good letter. I am much more inclined to your set of prejudices personally, but it’s important to cut porners the slack you would thoughtlessly give a waiter, a politicia, your doctor, your lawyer, or your mother.