John Holmes (1944-1988) had a prolific career in X-rated cinema, making over 2000 films over the course of a 20 year career. Never short of work, his popularity was guaranteed by his legendary 'endowments' and Holmes claimed to have slept with roughly 14,000 women during his lifetime.
Becoming addicted to drugs in the late 1970s, his life started to spiral out of control. He became involved in an underworld of drugs and larceny and was implicated in the famous Laurel Canyon murders. He managed to clean up his act in the early 1980s and began working again, however, he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1985 and tragically died three years later.