Lee Ryder & Rod Phillips

[Steve]

Lee Ryder (born Darras Robert Pyron) on August 3, 1959, in Norco, California, and died on July 10, 1991, in Los Angeles, California of AIDS-related complications.  Lee performed in gay films from 1981 to 1986.  With his bad-boy good looks and slim body, Lee Ryder became one of the first gay porn superstars during a period when the pornography industry was making its transition from film to video in the early 1980s. Several of Ryder's first films were initially released on 8mm film reels as well as video (VHS and Betamax).

Ryder's first performance as a gay porn actor was in the film All American Boys, but it was not released until after his first film for Falcon Studios, Huge, was released in 1982. Huge had a very appropriate title as it not only described Ryder's sizeable penis (ten inches), but it also applied to how well the film and Ryder as a performer was received in the gay porn market. Huge was the beginning of Ryder's gay porn stardom which lasted until 1984 when new porn actors, such as Jeff Stryker, began arriving in the gay porn film industry. Ryder starred in only thirteen gay films from 1982 to 1986, but pictures of his face and body appeared in dozens of issues of gay porn magazines such as Drummer, Honcho, Stallion, and Mandate from 1982 to the 1990s. As recent as 2000, Unzipped featured several unpublished photos of Ryder in two separate issues. Even after more than twenty years after their initial release, videos featuring Ryder continue to gain new audiences. Lee in my opinion was one of the hottest porn stars ever.  

Rod Phillips (born Gregory Leslie Patton) on August 23, 1960, in El Centro, California and died on  May 24, 1993, in West Hollywood, California of AIDS-related complications but other sources claim that he "committed suicide by drug overdose" as he lay dying of AIDS.  Rod appeared in gay films from 1982 to 1993.

In the early 1980s, Phillips met Lee Ryder in the Boom-Boom Room, a popular gay bar in Laguna Beach, California. Ryder at that time had already achieved fame as a gay pornographic actor in films distributed by Falcon Studios. Within a few months of meeting Ryder, Phillips moved from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, and he and Ryder became lovers. Rod Phillips at the urging of Ryder soon began performing in gay pornographic films. One of his first film roles was in the Falcon Studio film loop entitled High Voltage, which co-starred Ryder and Mark Hunter (this film loop is included in the Winner Takes All videopak).

Phillips was blond, with a lean, muscular physique, somewhat beefier than Ryder's. He was almost as well-endowed as his lover, with a large, thick penis. The two appeared together in several Falcon films, such as Spokes.  Like Ryder, Phillips became very popular and was soon very much in demand as a performer on films and in night clubs. Because they both participated in the porn industry, their personal relationship, according to Phillips, had a rather competitive aspect. Sometimes one of them would get jealous over their compensation as sex workers. Like other couples, they also argued over money.

By the mid-1980s, Phillips and Ryder separated and each soon retired from active participation in the adult film industry. When Phillips made a successful comeback in 1990, he dated Joey Stefano who was at that time one of the most popular gay pornographic film actors. This relationship did not last very long and Phillips's comeback consisted of his appearance in three more videos.

Edited July 19, 2021 by Steve

[JackFTwist]

Great photo spread, Steve!  Ryder indeed was and remains one of the biggest stars in porn history, in terms of both popularity and endowment.  He might not have won any beauty contests for his face or lean, almost skinny body, but that mammoth cock offset those shortcomings by far, assisted by his ability to get it up, keep it up, and deliver a good “money shot.”  Phillips’s face never did anything for me, but the rest of him sure did.