Billy Herrington, who starred in numerous adult films for such studios as Colt, All Worlds and Jimmy Z Productions between 1999 and 2005, died on Friday, reportedly due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident. He was 48 years old.
Few details regarding the circumstances of his death were available on Monday morning. Herrington’s passing was first revealed in a Facebook post by film director Chi Chi LaRue on Saturday, but Herrington’s mother, Kathleen Wood also announced her son’s passing via Facebook about three hours later.
Herrington entered the adult industry after a girlfriend submitted nude pictures of him to Playgirl magazine in the early 1990s. Herrington claimed that he had no idea that she had submitted the photos to a Playgirl contest called “Real Men of the Month.” She forged his signature on the submission forms, and he was surprised to find that he won the contest, which came with a prize of $500.
After Jim French from Colt Studios saw the photos, he reached out to Herrington, and after a delay of about two years, the two met, leading to Herrington posing for a Colt Studios calendar—and appearing on television on The Ricki Lake Show and The Dating Game.
Though he said that he grew up believing that he was heterosexual, appearing in gay porn films helped him to fully embrace his bisexuality.
“I was aware of my heterosexuality before I was aware of my bisexuality, only because it was more acceptable in my surroundings growing up,” he told an interviewer in 1999. “I’m not entirely gay and I’m not entirely straight. I consider myself to be truly bisexual. I have a girlfriend at the moment and I have a boyfriend. They both live with me in my house, and they get along fantastically.”
Following his porn career, Herrington continued to work as a model and a stripper, but perhaps was best known for his accidental popularity as an internet meme in Japan, where thanks to hundreds or even thousands of homemade online videos based on a clip from a wrestling workout video in which he starred, Herrington developed a new and equally enthusiastic fan following who knew him as “Aniki,” or “Big Brother.”
The craze in Japan for Herrington’s internet videos, which showed him wrestling clad only in “tighty whitey” style underwear, was so intense that when he finally visited the country in 2009, a personal appearance in Tokyo’s high-tech Akihabara district reportedly drew more than 10,000 fans—and led to a toy manufacturer creating a posable action figure of Herrington called “Panty Wrestling Big Brother.”
Fans expressed their grief over Herrington’s passing on social media, with the Facebook post by Herrington’s mother shared nearly 4,000 times.
Chi Chi LaRue shared memories of the musclebound stud, whose big movies for All Worlds Video included Billy Herrington’s Body Shop, The Final Link, Tales from the Foxhole (all 1999) and Conquered (2001).
“He was a mountain of a man,” LaRue recalled. “When Billy walked into a room, you knew he was there.
“He was a really good performer and a really good actor, and the muscles didn’t hurt,” the director said. When asked what Herrington’s favorite movies might have been, LaRue said, “He was really, really happy when he was working for Colt. That’s the dream of every bodybuilding performer.”
But LaRue also talked about his biggest movie starring Herrington. “Conquered was so theatrical, with costumes and sets. It was a big production. [Billy] enjoyed being in those big productions.”
On the set of Conquered, LaRue was impressed with how well Herrington interacted with the cast. “I always thought he would be hard to work with and intimidating, but he always made his costars comfortable,” LaRue recalled. For his scene with seasoned performers Colton Ford and Blake Harper, Herrington did “a back-and-forth pep talk” before the action that impressed LaRue. “Billy had a good way of making his co-stars comfortable.”
LaRue shared another anecdote, recalling a time when he had invited Rob Halford of Judas Priest on set to meet Herrington. “Billy went from being this dominant, forceful presence to being this little fanboy. He was so happy to meet Rob.”
Chris Green, who worked in adult in the 1990s and early 2000s, enjoyed a two-decade-long friendship with Herrington that extended far beyond the years they were both in the industry (and both repped by agent David Forest). Herrington’s adult career “was one part of his life, but it wasn’t his entire life,” said Green.
“He’s not just another porn star—he’s like a TV personality in Asia,” Green said, talking about Herrington’s appearances as Aniki. “After the porn all these things came to fruition and he had a huge following.” (For more about this part of his life, see the site BillyAniki.com.)
When he wasn’t flying to Asia for appearances, Herrington worked as a carpenter. “He could do tiling, carpentry and all kinds of work. He was really good at it.”
Green, who describes the late star as “a really good guy,” said the “fluke accident” that took his life was particularly tragic because it came at a time when Herrington was “getting his life in control and turning it around and mending bridges.”
Green said, “I talked to the family, and they say that thoughts and prayers are appreciated, and they want to let people know that he had just celebrated one year of sobriety.” In fact, nine family members had traveled to Palm Springs to celebrate with him just last month.
“He was turning his life around, and boom.”
