Toby Ross

Last updated

Toby Ross is an American film director who made straight and gay pornographic films in the 1970s and 1980s and later on went to produce nonsexual and cult films with a strong sense of comedic flare. Many film aficionados consider Ross the only missing link between adult films and commercial independent films ("Ross—himself a prominent 70s queer filmmaker whose films bridged the gap between porn, exploitation, and art cinema"), [1] as Ross calls it The Antarctica of the film business. He was born in Landsberg am Lech, Germany, to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father. At the age of eight, his mother having remarried an Austrian Jew, he moved with his mother and stepfather to Israel. He served two years in the Israeli army. After studies in Los Angeles, attracted by stories of the freedom in San Francisco, he moved there in the 1970s. [2]

Contents

Before Ross made feature films he made loops, which were shot on silent 8mm or 16mm. His earliest feature films were partially composed of some of his loops with added soundtracks. Some of his later films were very successful in underground gay film circles. These films include Do Me Evil, Cruisin' 57, and Schoolmates.

His earlier theatrical features were released under Cinema Mirage. In 1980 he started a company called Hornbill Films which he used to release his hard core films onto VHS and in 1995 his regular general audience films some shown in various festivals. He produced several films for Bijou Video [3]

In the early 1980s he began making movies on video instead of film.

He no longer makes hardcore porn movies, only "erotic story movies." [4]

On October 8, 2008, Canadian film maker and experimental klezmer/hip hop musician Josh Dolgin showed Cruisin' 57 at the Pop Montreal music festival; the film was accompanied by a live band and played to a packed house with standing room only. [5] [6]

In the winter of 2010 Josh Dolgin released his Film "Socalled The Movie" in which parts of a documentary he made with Ross profiles Toby Ross as one of his influences. [7]

Awards and nominations

Many consider Ross to be on one league with John Waters and Gus Van Sant.

Films

From XXX to regular motion pictures

In 2005 s he began making regular comedy films which include Bowser Makes a Movie, Get a Life, and Father Knows.... In 2007, he and Joe Rubin directed the movie Live For Sex, Die For Love which was a departure from Ross' comedies into dark and semi-surreal drama. It was a success.

In the spring of 2008 he started working on a spy thriller called "Moon over Hong Kong", an all-male homage to the James Bond genre. "Like a Moth to a Flame" in 2009 has reunited Ross with Rubin and was available on DVD November 30, 2009. One of the trilogies of Moth was shot on 16mm and directed by Joe Rubin. 2011 was the year he released his dark erotic crime documentary "Payton Collins Serial Rapist", the film spent 3 weeks as #1 best seller on www.tla.com and was a success. Payton Collins was nominated as the best gay thriller for 2012 TLA GAYBIES award.

Father Knows...

Father Knows... is a 2007 American film starring Cort Donovan as Brad, who has just completed his memoirs. The film then goes into an extended flashback about Brad's relationship with his childhood friend Ira and the ups and downs which follow. Their romance takes them from Chicago to San Francisco and back and along the way they both learn a lot about life and each other. The film was shot in Chicago, Illinois on digital video.

Homosexual, Toby Ross and the 70s and Paper Dreams

From 2012 to 2014 Ross made a few documentaries, notably "Toby Ross and the 70's" with an Ebook version (much racier than the video) in which the San Francisco era (1971 - 1977) is retold in a new light. [10]

Paper Dreams 2015 The history of the erotic all male magazine industry (1966 - 1973) retold in a "film noir" style to enhance suspense.

American Pop Culture Icon - The Rise and Fall of Bill Eld 2020

Examining the life and meteoric rise of "the most beautiful male pinup in the world" (Toby Ross) from the heights of the modeling world to a bitter sad end. Toby Ross calls it "The Madame X syndrome and is told in a captivating dramatic manner..

Filmography

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Parker</span> American pornographic actor

Al Parker was a gay American porn star, producer, and director. He died from complications of AIDS at the age of 40.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chi Chi LaRue</span> American film director

Larry David Paciotti is an American director of pornographic films. He appears as the drag-diva persona Chi Chi LaRue, and has been credited as director under the names "Lawrence David" and "Taylor Hudson".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GayVN Awards</span> Gay adult entertainment industry award

The GayVN Awards are film awards presented annually to honor work done in the gay pornographic industry. The awards were sponsored by AVN Magazine, the parent publication of GAYVN Magazine, and continue the recognition for gay pornography which was part of the AVN Awards from 1986–1998. The awards went on a hiatus after the 2011 ceremony and returned in 2018.

<i>Boys in the Sand</i> 1971 film by Wakefield Poole

Boys in the Sand is a landmark American gay pornographic film, released early in the Golden Age of Porn. The 1971 film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan. It was the first gay porn film to include credits and to be reviewed by the film industry journal Variety, and one of the earliest porn films – after Andy Warhol's 1969 film Blue Movie, but preceding 1972's Deep Throat – to gain mainstream credibility.

Lukas Ridgeston is a Slovak actor and director in gay erotic movies and model in Bel Ami gay erotic magazines and books. He was born in Bratislava, then part of the former Czechoslovakia, now capital of Slovakia. Lukas Ridgeston is best known as "The King of Gay Porn" or just "The King".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Clark (actor)</span> American gay pornographic film actor

Will Clark is an American gay pornographic film actor. He is a member of the Grabby Awards Hall of Fame and has received a special citation from the GayVN Awards for his fundraising work in support of HIV/AIDS charities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Scarborough</span> American pornographic film director

Steven Scarborough is an American gay pornographic film director, the founder of Hot House Entertainment (1993), and he was an Executive Vice-President and director for Falcon Studios from 1987 to 1993.

<i>Shifting Gears: A Bisexual Transmission</i> 2008 American film

Shifting Gears: A Bisexual Transmission is a controversial GayVN Award winning bisexual pornographic film written and directed by Chi Chi LaRue and released by Channel 1 Releasing in 2008.

William Higgins, also known as "Wim Hof" was an American independent director of gay pornographic films who based his businesses in the Czech Republic since 1996. He started his career as a porn director and producer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when sellers of pornographic movies, including Falcon refused to mail them to customers in many southeastern states for legal reasons. In addition, he said in an interview, that gay porn movies were "so bad" that he decided to begin making them himself. In 1978, he was busted and his premises raided. Although the charges were later dropped, Higgins decided to go on a "world tour" looking for a better legal environment for his films. After rejecting Australia and Thailand as new venues, he settled in Amsterdam, where his distributor was, and later relocated to Prague, a less expensive city. Although the legal climate in the U.S. has changed, he had no interest in returning.

Rod Barry is a former pornographic actor and director from the United States who has been credited in over 150 pornographic films and internet-based shows since entering the industry in 1996. Most of Barry's appearances have been in the gay pornography genre, but he has appeared in bisexual, transsexual and heterosexual videos. In 2008, he was inducted into the gay pornography industry's Hall of Fame.

<i>A Young Mans World</i> 2000 American film

Kevin Clarke's A Young Man's World is a 2000 American gay pornographic film written and directed by Kevin Clarke and starring Joe Landon and Ashton Ryan. It was produced and cinematographed by Barry Knight and Russell Moore of Delta Productions and distributed by Paladin Video. The film's duration is two hours; its date of production is July 22, 2000, and it was shot on high-definition video.

<i>Inch by Inch</i> (film) 1985 film by Matt Sterling

Inch by Inch is a 1985 gay pornographic film, directed, written, and produced by Matt Sterling, cinematographed by Nick Eliot and Doug Williams, edited by Paul James, and starring Jeff Quinn, Doug Jensen and Tom Brock with Mark Miller, Jim Pulver, Mike Raymond, Steve Wright, Tony Stefano, Steve Henson, Toby Matson, Christopher Lance, Kevin Luken and Bill Joseph. The runtime is 64 minutes, and DVD copies have been distributed by the Falcon Studios. The film contains sequences in the order of appearance: a man seducing each of two trespassers in his apartment, a foursome on the rooftop, a threesome fantasy, a window voyeurism, and the subway scene.

<i>Dream Team</i> (1999 film) 1999 gay pornographic film, written and directed by Jerry Douglas

Dream Team is a 1999 gay pornographic film, written and directed by Jerry Douglas, starring Tony Donovan, Rick Chase and Kurt Young, and produced by Studio 2000. This movie tells the coming-of-age stories of a group of high school basketball team players who come to terms with their sexualities at a young age in 1957, and later in a 1962 reunion.

<i>Out of Athens</i>

Out of Athens is a 2000 two-part gay pornographic film from Falcon Studios, starring John Brosnan and Roland Dane, and directed by Johnny Rutherford. Part one runs 87 minutes, and part two runs 74 minutes. In the film, after not being accepted to a fraternity club for his status, John Brosnan goes to Athens, Greece, posing as a Harvard alumni for a reunion gathering. There, Brosnan is exposed as an imposter and then is gang raped. A Greek resident Roland Dane, whom Brosnan met earlier during the tour, finds him lying on the streets and takes him to Dane's place, where they have sex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Douglas (director)</span> American pornographic film director

Jerry Douglas was an American film director and screenwriter, notably of gay pornographic films, as well as a novelist, playwright, and theatre director. He wrote and directed the play Tubstrip, which appeared on Broadway in 1974, starring Casey Donovan. His cinematic work won numerous adult film industry awards, and he was inducted into the Grabby Awards Hall of Fame and the GayVN Awards Hall of Fame.

Grabby Awards are presented annually in Chicago for the gay adult erotic video industry. The awards are sponsored by GRAB Magazine. The Grabby Awards and GRAB Magazine are owned and operated by Grabbys, LLC. The awards were owned until 2009 by Gay Chicago Magazine.

<i>Jumper</i> (1991 film) 1991 American film

Jumper is a 1991 American gay pornographic film directed by Chi Chi LaRue and starring Ryan Yeager as the titular character. Written by Stan Ward, the film was originally released by HIS Video. In the film, an angel, Jumper, is sent to Earth to spend five days seducing the following men in West Hollywood, California in order to influence their lives: an aspiring model, a straight-identified man, a nerd, and a Hollywood producer. During the journey, Jumper uses his angelic powers on a bickering couple to help them make up. Jumper is reunited at the end with the man who earlier identified as straight, whom Jumper seduced and then has fallen in love with. The film received generally positive reception and awards, including AVN Awards and Grabby Awards.

<i>The Other Side of Aspen</i> 1978 American gay pornographic film

The Other Side of Aspen is a 1978 American gay pornographic film produced by Falcon Studios, directed by Matt Sterling, starring Casey Donovan, Al Parker, and Dick Fisk. The film consists of sex scenes filmed in Lake Tahoe, California, interspersed with dialogue scenes shot in San Francisco. The Other Side of Aspen was Falcon's first feature-length release, notable as one of the first adult films distributed on videocassette.

References

  1. ↑ "BILL ELD: AMERICAN POP CULTURE ICON LOOKS AT THE LIFE AND TIMES OF A LOST QUEER SUPERSTAR". dailygrindhouse.com. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  2. ↑ David-Elijah Nahmod (November 12, 2014). "Long Ago and Far Away. Gay Porn auteur Toby Ross remembers". South Florida Gay News . p. 14. Retrieved November 24, 2014. The online version is titled "Interview: Gay Porn Auteur Toby Ross Remembers".
  3. ↑ Dowling, Bryan (2011). "40 Years of Bijou". IMDb . Retrieved 2024-01-17.
  4. ↑ From the Nahmod interview cited above.
  5. ↑ "Ottawa XPress - Film - the Socalled Movie". Archived from the original on 2010-06-07. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  6. ↑ "POP Montreal: Owen Pallett Scores a Porn a/K/A Final (Really, Really Gay) Fantasy - New York Music - Sound of the City". Archived from the original on 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2014-01-08.
  7. ↑ [ dead link ]
  8. ↑ "1998 Grabby Awards Winners". Grabbys. Archived from the original on June 4, 2004.
  9. 1 2 "GayVN Awards past winners". Archived from the original on February 19, 2009. Retrieved March 17, 2024.
  10. ↑ Ross, Toby (April 9, 2014). Chuck, Minnesota; Provorse, Carl (eds.). "Toby Ross and the 70's: An Erotic Memoir". Hornbill Books. Retrieved March 17, 2024– via Amazon.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.