John Leslie, one of the best-known adult film performers of the 1970s and 1980s, died of an apparent heart attack on Dec. 5 at his home in Mill Valley, Calif. Leslie was 65.
The Pittsburgh-born Leslie (born Jan. 25, 1945) appeared in about 300 pornographic productions. Additionally, he directed and/or produced nearly 150 of them.
In the ’70s and early ’80s, before the video invasion, the burgeoning Los Angeles-based sex film industry gave rise to various porn auteurs. None of Leslie’s films achieved the renown (or notoriety) of The Devil in Miss Jones or Deep Throat, but he was featured in several relatively well-known titles such as Gail Palmer’s Candy Goes to Hollywood (1979), Anthony Spinelli’s Talk Dirty to Me (1980), and Spinelli’s High School Memories (1980), starring Annette Haven.
The milieu in which Leslie dwelt was superficially covered in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997).