BOBBY ASTYR

Bobby Astyr, the "Clown Prince of Porn," was one of the pioneering generation of actors who made a name for themselves in blue movies in the 1970s, thriving in an industry where - aside from the legendary John Holmes- women were the star attractions. Like many of the first generation of adult entertainment stars, Astyr was Jewish (it was said of that first cohort that the female stars almost entirely had been born & baptized Roman Catholics and that the male stars - aside from the obviously gentile Holmes - were primarily Jewish, and that this had something to do with the repression of the Catholic Church and the lack of same in Conservative and Reform Judaism). Bobby himself believed that his religion made him more of a "mensch," someone who tried to help his fellow performers, many of whom were troubled or addicted to drugs.