LOS ANGELES - Cole Ryder was something of an anomaly in the adult entertainment world according to those who knew him. Friends and coworkers said the humorous, outgoing, affable Ryder completely broke the stereotype of the "gay porn diva."
Ryder died Wednesday at age 35. Although he reportedly had been ill recently, the cause of his death remained unconfirmed Friday. An autopsy was pending.
"It is rare to meet a person who you instantly like as much as Cole Ryder and then continue to like even better the more you get to know him," gay filmmaker Wolfgang Bang, owner of Red Eagle Films, told GAYVN.com the day after Ryder's unexpected death. "He was always warm and considerate of everyone around him. He was just an amazingly genuine and warm person."
That was a common sentiment about the masculine bear of a man who appeared in a number of videos for several studios over the course of his two-year career in gay adult entertainment.
"He was the nicest man, the sweetest person to everyone around him," said venerated director Chi Chi LaRue, whose Rascal Video subsidiary of Channel 1 Releasing signed Ryder to an exclusive contract in 2006. "He was never, ever rude or hard to work with on the set. Everybody who worked with him liked him."
Formerly a flight attendant and personal trainer, Ryder was discovered by C1R director Doug Jeffries at a gym in Los Angeles. Immediately overcome by Ryder's masculine good looks, toned body and megawatt smile, Jeffries introduced him to LaRue, who cast him in a scene opposite Johnny Hazzard in Leather Sessions. The movie was Ryder's first gay-porn experience.
LaRue said he was so impressed with Ryder during the shoot that he offered the performer an exclusive contract on the spot. Almost immediately, Ryder became a favorite both within the industry and with fans. His first appearance at Chi Chi LaRue's Live and Raw, C1R's live-action website, packed the chatroom with fans eager to see more of the muscle stud with the winning smile and famously volcanic, screaming orgasm.
"People thought [the orgasm] was a put-on, but it was real," LaRue said. "I always had to warn the other models before they shot with him, because it scared them."
Along with Tyler Riggz, Ryder represented the vanguard of a new breed of performer for Rascal Video. Previously the studio was known for the "West Hollywood look" of its young, slender models, but Ryder's beefy, hirsute manliness gave LaRue what the director described as "an exciting opportunity to explore new, harder-edge territory." Rascal's new direction debuted in the early 2007 release, When Bears Attack.
Ryder also appeared in Black Meat White Heat, Depraved, Sized Up and the award-winning Link: The Evolution for Rascal/C1R, and LaRue and Jeffries said he was a consummate professional on every set.
"He was very excited about the process," LaRue noted. "He always smiled and laughed and was funny. He made everyone feel at ease."
Bang, who cast Ryder in two films and had planned to cast him in many more under a special arrangement with Rascal, also praised Ryder's professionalism.
"I have never worked with anyone who was that professional and ready to do whatever it took to get the best possible scene," he said. "He had a unique deep-and-warm masculine voice. I remember him coming in to the set of In the Zone on the day when he was only scheduled to do his stills and offering to do a cum-shot as we were shooting background sex club footage. We were doing this with a moving camera and 12 models in the shot. He timed his cum-shot perfectly to happen as the camera came to him. This was with no preparation at all."
For all his maturity on-set, though, Ryder remained a kid at heart, according to Jeffries, who maintained not only a professional relationship with Ryder but also a close personal one.
"He loved Disneyland and Universal Studios," Jeffries said. "His favorite time was Halloween at [those two places]. He was just a big teddy bear of a guy."
Added C1R director of public relations Andrew Moore, "Cole was such a genuine person with an amazing heart. He made a lasting impression on me and I will never forget all the times we shared. He will be greatly missed, and although I only knew him a short time, I feel honored that I was able to know him at all. Cole's legacy will forever live on in his works and the hearts of his friends, family and fans."
Photo credit: Red Eagle Films
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