At the gangbang, we also had the opportunity to talk with Frank "Opie" Towers who's no longer Frank Towers but Ted Hunter. Hunter, who's got this golly-shucks-gee-whiz-way about him, laughs because he hadn't realized the similarity in names with AVN's Tod Hunter when he chose his new porn de plume. Hunter is busy putting the past behind him as he attempts to regain stature on the mainstream side of the business. Due to financial predicaments and very negative cash flow at the time, Hunter opted to appear in several gay features but realized very quickly that he was not cut out for that line of work. Hunter, a towering guy with lumberjack forearms, is now a licensed personal trainer. He says that aspect of his life is beginning to take off for him and has deflected some of the financial pressure that he previously felt.
Hunter: "I screwed up the past. I figured I can't screw up anymore. When I think about reasons why I did it, I remember the bill collectors calling. It was either that or live on the street. Well, I found out one thing. I'm straight. [He laughs]."
G. Ross: "Was there ever a doubt?"
Hunter: "There was no doubt. But I couldn't continue in that business because it just wasn't me. If I was gay, that was one thing. But it's not natural for me. I can't believe I did it."
Hunter started in the business in 1993 and his first appearance was a dialog-only role in the Mitch Spinelli film, Careless. "After that Mitch started using me more," Hunter said. Hunter was asked how he got into the business.
Hunter: "I went into a strip club in Upland. It was the first time I had ever been in one and I was very nervous. My heart was beating because I was raised a Baptist and had never been in a place like that. But I had a couch dance - it was great. I met a nice-looking blond there and we started talking over a few weeks. She goes, have you ever thought about doing movies? Her name was Alana. She had an eyepatch. She gave me the number of Michael Nance who was working at Western Visuals. I called them and was stuttering, I was so nervous. He set up an interview to see what I was like. I was living two hours away from LA at the time and came to Western Visuals. They took a couple of pictures, and said they'll get me work. Cal Jammer happened to see my pictures and gave me a call at home. My mom happened to answer the phone and came in the other room saying Cal Jammer is on the phone. I'm going, wow, Cal Jammer's calling my house. He was a big star for a long time. Then I networked on my own for awhile then signed up with Jim South.
Hunter: "I was starting to have fun with this. But my family found out what I did in 1995. After they found out about it, my scenes got stronger because I didn't feel I wasn't hiding anything. I remember how it happened. My brother's friend rented a video and saw me in it. He said you know your little brother's doing videos. My brother watched them and said, wow, that's him. He told his wife, and his wife told my mom because she thought that I needed prayer. Before that happened, my brother first contacted me, and I said tell dad but don't tell mom. He said we all felt you needed prayer, so they told my mom."
Hunter said he got in financial difficulties because his girlfriend [who's currently seeing John Wayne Bobbit] didn't want him performing with other women. "I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life," says Hunter. "I wasn't a certified personal trainer like I am now. So, basically I had no money. My parents had just gone through a divorce. I didn't know where I was going to live. It was a mess."
G. Ross: "Basically, you let your ex-girlfriend fuck up your life."
Hunter: "Yep."
G. Ross: "I hope she was a good lay to justify all that."
[Hunter said she worked in the business briefly but was here and gone before she could make a name for herself.]
Hunter: "Yeah...I thought she loved me. I guess she did at one time. But I don't know. She's with John Wayne Bobbit now if you can believe that? That's a Jerry Springer Show. I got dumped for John Wayne Bobbit....she looked like Juli Ashton. That type of look....and this is crazy. My dad, who is a firefighter, accepts what I do. He once asked me to get Juli Ashton's autograph which I did at the '98 CES Show. My dad's more open now after the divorce. It's funny to hear your dad say, this is my favorite starlet.
"Basically the adult industry is my wild expression of myself. When I'm not doing this I have a normal life. I spend a lot of time working out...and eating. I'm a normal guy. I like cocker spaniels. I love The Twilight Zone, football, just a normal guy."
Hunter said he was the proverbial 6'2" 145 pound weakling when he began working out. "I got teased all the time growing up," he said. "And I never got laid in high school. I think it was the Baptist upbringing that lead me into the industry.
"It's funny," Hunter added. "When I started working out, my arms grew the fastest. But I used to pad my jeans all the time to make it look like my legs were getting bigger. People would say look how big your legs are but I was wearing two pairs of sweats underneath my jeans. It was an illusion. Pretty wild."
Even though he keeps his interests apart from the business, Hunter concedes that it's difficult to meet women outside the adult industry. "Eventually you have to tell them," he says. "In my opinion, a lot of women in Los Angeles have hangups. They want you to drive the right kind of car. They want you to have money in the bank, and if you don't, they don't look at your soul. They don't look at the person. A lot of women are raised that men should take care of them and give them everything they want. It's sometimes easier for me just to work in the industry. I get paid and I have sex. That's every guys' dream. You don't go through all the hangups and the hassles. Does she like me? Does she want to sleep with me? Should I make my move? Here [in the business] is a beautiful girl, and here's my test. You go at it. It's kind of different."
[To get over the mechanical aspects of performing before the camera, Hunter says he's learned to block distractions on adult sets and focus on the girl. "It gets me off to know I'm kind of sinning with the way I was raised, that sex is such a taboo," he says. "For me I'm walking on the wild side, and I get turned on. Especially with Marylin Star. [He laughs].]
Hunter: "She's a wild one."
G. Ross: "Did you ever get her in the clinches and whisper insider trading tips in her ear?"
Hunter [laughs]: "There you go...do you think she ever cheated in high school?"
Hunter says he worked with Star a lot and she was one of his favorite partners.
G. Ross: "You made quite a couple. You're about 8'3" and she's 4' 11".
Hunter: "It was my fantasy. I was such a skinny kid, I felt like, wow, here's the captain of the cheerleading squad. Whenever I worked with her, I shook my head afterwards like I can't believe I'm working in this industry. I don't think I'll get away from that."
G. Ross: "How many of the Opie movies did you do?"
Hunter: "I think three."
G. Ross: "Weren't you going to do Opie Goes Dopey?"
Hunter: "We were going to do that, but I think Mitch [Spinelli] sold Plum. We were also going to do Opie Goes to Congress. That would have been a riot. We did one called Opie Goes Surfing where I'm asking where the beach is, and it's right in cameraview. It was so stupid."
Hunter who's one of the most tranquil and good-natured individuals you'll ever come across, is hard pressed to remember ever losing it on a set. "Maybe once when my call time was 11 am, and I didn't shoot until one in the morning; maybe then," he says.
