LAS VEGAS—Late Wednesday night, living legend Ron Jeremy sat down with AVN in the hallway outside a suite party on the top floor of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to share some memories of fellow Golden Age icon William Margold, whose passing dominated the conversations of AVN Show attendees as the news broke on the afternoon of the expo's opening day.
Among the stories Jeremy told was the fabled tale of how Margold bestowed him with his universally known nickname "The Hedgehog." Below, a transcript of Jeremy's musings:
People don't realize that Bill Margold was really, really a very sweet, sweet man. Bill started the careers of Serena and Seka; he pretty much was singlehandedly the guy who made them who they are, and that's why their friendships lasted forever. Bill had a very, very paternal feeling towards us, he used to call us his "kids" always. He called porn stars his kids, and he was Papa Bear. And he had an office next to Jim South's at World Modeling where he actually had bears there, and if a girl was getting in the business and should not be in the business, like Colleen Applegate [aka Shauna Grant -ed.] or a Savannah, a girl that took her own life, he would try to find ways of comforting her and making her feel better, and he put a bear on her lap. Like, I actually have a master's degree in special ed, and Bill wasn't really trained to give people that kind of advice, but he was good at it. He was darn good at it. People would leave his office feeling much better, and it really worked. They'd either decide to stay in the business and give it their best, or get out of the business. A lot of girls were under pressure from their families and boyfriends and whatever, and Bill was really, really good about that. Never got into a fight with anybody, so none of the boyfriends got pissed at him—a true testament to his abilities at negotiating and helping people with their feelings. As I always like to say, if he wasn't as sweet and as Papa Bear-ish as he is, he'd have a face like a panda bear and a raccoon, 'cause some boyfriend would bash him.
He used to call himself "the West Coast Jamie Gillis," I remember that, 'cause he felt like he was up there in the ranks, and he said, "I'm the same thing to the West Coast as Jamie Gillis is to the East Coast." It was very funny. But anyway, so now the main story about me and Bill is that I got booked for a film called Olympic Fever. [The director, Phil Marshak] directed Dracula Sucks and then went on to direct Olympic Fever. I'm booked, it's my first California movie, I'm all excited. I'll be meeting this girl named Seka who will be playing a Russian. I'm gonna play a Russian, and I gotta kiss my own penis in the movie, which is funny. I did it back then a couple times. So I'm all excited ... I had done a couple of films in New York—Debbie Does Dallas Part 2, Girls of Godiva High, Sizzle, that was I think about it—so I'm on my way to my first film in California, rented a dirtbike. I'm picturing sunny California. That's what we're always told, that California is sunny, it's hot ... I didn't know that there's a section of California that you'll freeze your ass off even in summer weather—Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear. I didn't know. So I rented a dirtbike, a 400 Honda Hawk, to drive me up there 'cause it's cheaper than a car, and I love motorcycle riding and I'm licensed. So I take this bike up to Lake Arrowhead to meet with Connie Peterson, Candida Royalle, who are in the movie, and I froze. There were icicles for real under my mustache, there were icicles on my chin, there were icicles on my chest hairs, I was literally freezing. And I said, "I might die, I might not make it. What a disaster, my first California film, and I die in the process of making it." So I get there to the set, Bill Margold goes, "Hi, I'm Bill Margold," and at that time he worked with an agency called Pretty Girls, with a guy named Reb Sawitz, and he goes, "Hi Ron, I've heard all about you, you're this kid from New York, pretty good, big dick." 'Cause I had modeled for Playgirl, people knew me, and not an ounce of fat on me. So Bill sees I'm literally frozen, he goes, "What the fuck is this? Get in the fucking shower man, warm up." So he throws me into the shower with Connie Peterson and Candida Royalle, I fucked them both in the shower, it was steaming hot, and Bill brought some cameras in, handheld, to add that to the movie. So Bill shot me a little bit doing some sex in the shower, and then I come out. Static electricity, if you're freezing cold and you go from freezing cold right to hot, your hair stands striaght up. And I was a little pinkish, so Bill Margold goes, "What the hell?" And these exact words: "That's not a human, that's a furry little hedgehog." And so the name Hedgehog was born on my very, very first California film.
In my documentary [Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy -ed.], Al Goldstein—also the late, great Al Goldstein—tried to take credit for giving me that name, and Bill Margold goes, "How dare he!" Bill was pissed. 'Cause in my documentary, Al said, "I named him The Hedgehog," and he goes, "Bullshit he did!" And I did correct it, I said, "No, no, Bill Margold gave me that." Al wanted to call me Manatee, 'cause they're friendly little fat creatures who swim well, and I swim well, they get their noses cut 'cause they want to visit boats and they get their faces chopped from being too friendly. They want to be everybody's friend. And Al Goldstein said I should file for tax exemption status for being an endangered species, manatee. But anyway, it didn't ever work, The Hedgehog was the name I used, and that name has stuck with me for years. Some people think it offends me. No, hedgehogs are adorable! It wasn't a matter of being fat or porcupine-ish. The word "hog" is misconstrued, because you ever look at a hedgehog? Adorable! Like Sonic, the game hedgehog. They're the cutest damn things! They're breathtakingly adorable. I don't think you could pet them though, because they have those little bristles.
He had this true love, that meant the most to him—Viper. His real soulmate was Viper. She died too, so now they're together, I hope. He was nuts about her. Drea was the one before that. Because he was excited that me and him and John Holmes were doing Drea at the same time. It was me, Bill and John Holmes doing a four-way with Drea. But his real love was Viper. He always talked about her, he always cared about her. And he had a nice little rivalry with Jim Holliday, who also passed away, and Jim had a lot of nice things to say about him. They were like a love-hate relationship also.
He wrote a lot, he was a writer probably first and foremost. Bill was called a renaissance man. People actually used to call him that; he loved to be called that, too. Bill was a very, very mellow guy. Didn't want to get into fights with people, he just wanted to do his thing. Used to love to eat at The Pantry, which I joined him. He loved sports. He helped my career a lot too, because he saw I did a good job and I was pretty hung, he got me some work. He got me over to the Pretty Girls agency, which then I went over to the World Modeling, Jim then became my agent, and Jim and Bill were always at odds, because they were the only two competitive agencies. And then they became friends, like, "You got your thing, I got my thing, there's room for both of us." And now look, now there's like 10 to 15 agencies.
Anyway, getting back with Bill ... a real teddy bear. A sweet, caring Papa Bear. That's what he'd want on his gravestone: "Here lies Papa Bear, who cared about his kids."
