John Holmes (actor)

Gebenini divorced him while he was in jail in 1982. He was married four times and had three children, two daughters (Nastassja Kinski and Pola Kinski, both being actresses) and a son (Nikolai Kinski). Holmes was incarcerated in connection with the murders, but was later acquitted. Herzog's retrospective on his work with Kinski was released in the United States as My Best Fiend. Four of the gang's members were later found killed in what is now known as the Wonderland Murders or Four on the Floor (police reference to the crime). Due to him playing a lot of crazy, murderous villains in his films (for example in the Edgar Wallace series) and his determined, often obsessive behavior, he often was referred to as a crazy genius. After the robbery, Nash is believed to have suspected Holmes had a part in it, and after getting Holmes to confess to his participation, allegedly exacted revenge against the Wonderland Gang. In real life, Kinski often appeared as a drunken, sex-crazed maniac, chronicling his exploits in an (largely fictitious) autobiography that rivals Wilt Chamberlain's in terms of sexuality. He alienated all his family with claims of incest, and when he died, only his son Nikolai attended the burial (his ashes were sunk in the Pacific Ocean).

Allegedly in exchange for his life, he told gang leaders about Nash and a very large stash of drugs, money and jewelry Nash had, and helped to set up a robbery. Fritz Kortner (whom Kinski mentions in his autobiography) was also famous for being very harsh and brutal during rehearsals. After stealing from a couple of drug runs, Holmes found himself in trouble with the Wonderland Gang. This was seen as the only way to achieve perfection. Karl Paryla, for example, saw it as part of his "methodology" to drive "his" actors close to a "nervous breakdown", because then they would perform better. At the same time, Holmes was closely associated with the Wonderland Gang, frequently selling drugs for them. To scream and shout abuse uncontrollably was common behaviour of theatre directors during rehearsals. Holmes had developed a close friendship with drug dealer and nightclub owner Eddie Nash, who supplied Holmes with cocaine, heroin and other drugs he desired. He was a victim of the German directors he initially had to work with.

In 1981, he was arrested for stealing a computer from a car. He was an extremely hard worker and strove for perfection; however, he was frequently at odds with co-workers and directors and rarely a good team player. The money Holmes was earning at the time was not enough to support his drug addiction, and he ventured into crime, selling drugs for gangs, prostituting himself to both men and women, committing credit card fraud and petty theft. With his fluency in English, his unique appearance, and his ability to project on-screen intensity, Kinski was always able to get roles, although the quality of the productions varied wildly, most of them considered "junk" (Schrott) by Kinski himself. He starred at a time when an attractive personality and a certain amount of acting ability were demanded of porn stars. His international reputation was built on his collaborations with director Werner Herzog in such films as Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Woyzeck (a deep and tender portrayal of the Woyzeck character, possibly the best performance Kinski ever produced on screen) (1978), Fitzcarraldo (1982) and Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979). By 1978 Holmes was reputed be earning as much as $3000.00 a day as a porn actor. His film roles include A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958), The Counterfeit Traitor (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), For a Few Dollars More (1966), Grand Slam (movie) (1968).

In 1973, Holmes' career began to take off with a porn series built around a private eye named Johnny Wadd. He started on stage in Germany, became a legend as a monologist (presenting the prose and verse of William Shakespeare and Francois Villon, among others), and soon moved, pragmatically, to film, where the money was better. Holmes was arrested during this time for pimping and pandering, but avoided prison time by becoming an informant for the LAPD. He began acting and changed his name to Klaus Kinski. With the success of 1972's Deep Throat, The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, porn had become chic although it was still illegal. After the war, he chose to return to West Germany rather than Poland because of the spread of communism. Initially, he did magazine work and the occasional 8mm loop (both straight and gay), keeping his work in porn secret from his wife. When he was in a POW camp, he realized his acting talent as he performed for his fellow prisoners.

While recovering from the collapsed lung, Holmes frequented a club in Gardena, where he met a man in the bathroom who encouraged him to do pornography. He spent most of his time during the war as a POW under British control. Holmes found work as a forklift driver at a warehouse, but the rigors of driving in and out of a frozen warehouse created severe health problems, causing Holmes' lung to collapse on three separate occasions. Kinski went AWOL and surrendered himself to the British forces. For the next two years, Holmes and his wife lived quiet, uneventful lives. Kinski supposedly spent his short term in the military flagging down American planes and begging them to shoot him. They married in 1965. As World War II engulfed Europe, Kinski was drafted into the German Army and served in the Netherlands.

It was during his stint as an ambulance driver that he met a nurse named Sharon Gebenini. In 1930/31, the family moved to Berlin and Klaus attended the Prinz-Heinrich-Gymnasium in Schöneberg. Upon his discharge, Holmes moved to Los Angeles where he worked in a variety of jobs. Kinski was born Nikolaus Karl Günther Nakszynski to an ethnic Polish father, the pharmacist Bruno Nakszynski, and a Danzig (Gdansk) pastor's daughter named Susanne Lutze, in Zoppot (now Sopot, Poland), which was then located within the territory of the Free City of Danzig. At 16, with the permission of his mother, Holmes enlisted in the United States Army and spent three years in Germany in the Signal Corps. Klaus Kinski (October 18, 1926–November 23, 1991) was an international film actor who was regarded as one of the best German actors of the second half of the 20th century. John Holmes was the youngest of five children.

John's mother, a devout Southern Baptist married Edward Holmes a few years later, and changed John's birthname from Estes to Holmes. Born in Pickaway County, Ohio, John never knew his father, a railroad worker named Carl Estes. In reality, it was somewhere between 9 and 11 inches long (23-28 cm). Some elements of the film Boogie Nights were loosely based on Holmes, who was widely publicized as having a 13½-inch-long (34 cm) penis.

Holmes was particularly active in the period before condoms were customarily used in adult film, and was a user of injectable drugs; he died in 1988 from complications due to AIDS. John Curtis Estes (August 8, 1944–March 13, 1988), better known as John Holmes, was an adult film actor of the 1970s and 1980s and is generally considered to be the greatest male star in the 35 years since cinematic pornography lost its illegal status and became generally available to the public.