Birds of a Feather

By Will Seagers

 

There were many beautiful men that I got to work with in films over the years. Of course you had to have the "looks" to be in this biz. What I am talking about - inner beauty - was a bit rarer commodity. One of those rarities was Jim Bentley.

We met on the set of 1988's Cabin Fever and were immediately and mutually turned on... making what was filmed even more credible. It's sort of funny. I am not normally attracted to blonde men. He emanated a very strong sexual vibe that was both "top and bottom." That sort of makes sense, his being a Gemini! He truly had a dualistic sexuality, at least. Gemini men have played a key role throughout my life.

 

VHS boxcover and still from Cabin Fever featuring Jim Bentley and Will Seagers

 

Full cast, Jim Bentley, and Will Seagers in stills from Cabin Fever
Jim Bentley and Will Seagers on the VHS boxcover and in stills from Cabin Fever (DVD | Streaming)

 

After some scorching scenes before the lens, we decided to have some fun on our own. He invited me to his apartment on Polk Street in San Francisco that very night. We entered his well appointed apartment and I instantly noticed in his living room he had a large flight cage... we're talking 12'x6'x 6', if my memory serves me. He had it partially covered for the privacy of its residents - a pair of Moluccan Cockatoos! They were in that large cage for breeding purposes. I couldn't wait to tell Jim that I was a fan of Moluccans, myself. I had a lovely female, "Gloria," at home who was my pride and joy. After seeing all that, it was time for us to get down to having fun. I don't think we got much sleep that night. But, then again, that was not the night for sleeping anyway!

 

Pair of Moluccan cockatoos locking jaws

Pair of Moluccan cockatoos

 

As I had mentioned in previous blogs, my better half Tom and I had a very open relationship. (Tom was another of the many Gemini men in my life.) Tom and Jim got along quite well, although nothing physical ever happened between them (at least to my knowledge!). Jim came to our apartment frequently and always played with Gloria. She really seemed to like him and knew that he was a "bird person."

That New Year's Eve that followed, Jim and I went to the Gala at San Francisco's Galleria Center. We wanted Tom to join us but he was bound to working that night at Hamburger Mary's. We went nearly illegally clad in vestiges of two tuxedos... my red lurex tie and cummerbund and Jim in the gold version were probably the most covered parts of our bodies. Needless to say that the intended stir we wanted to create at the Galleria was a success. People thought that we were an item. And, for a period of time we were. But it was light hearted, foot loose and fancy free with no heavy feelings or commitments on either side. It was primarily a sexual affair... one in which we literally wore each other out. And, when the flame went out, a very nice friendship lingered. Miss you, Jim.
 

 

Bio of Will Seagers:

Will Seagers (also credited as Matt Harper), within his multifaceted career and participation in numerous gay communities across the country in the '70s and '80s and beyond, worked as a print model and film performer. He made iconic appearances in releases from Falcon, Hand in Hand, Joe Gage, Target (Bullet), J. Brian, Steve Scott, and more, including in lead roles in major classics like Gage's L.A. Tool & Die (1979) and Scott's Wanted (1980). He brought strong screen presence and exceptional acting to his roles and was scene partners with many fellow legends of classic porn.

 

Will Seagers, present day image

You can read Will Seagers' previous blogs for Bijou here:
Welcome Matt/Will
What's For Dessert?
On and Off the Set of L.A. Tool & Die
Wanted, Weekend Lockup and Weekends in Hermosa Beach
Honeymoon in the Palms

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RetroStuds of the Past: Focus on Jim Bentley

posted by Madame Bubby


Jim Bentley in Playguy

“He always brought class to his shoots.” – Josh Thomas, “Gay Spirit Diary”

His hot hung blond self was everywhere, and here he still is at Bijou Video, appearing in a stunning repertoire of films: Philip St. John's Getting It, Nova's stunner Heroes, LeSalon's supersexed Cabin Fever, and our new release Tough Competition, among others.
 

Jim Bentley smiling, tied up in ropes in Getting It
Jim Bentley in Getting It

Jim Bentley in a threeway in Heroes
Jim Bentley in Heroes

Though physically he embodied the Falcon Studios ideal of a gay porn stud, he was no cardboard figure. Interviews from the period reveal a likable person with a healthy, tongue-in-cheek sense of humor and a refreshing honesty.

Some tidbits from an interview in Male Review:

What's your favorite color?

I like electric blue, it's more modern. Beautiful!

(Someone on our copy of the interview wrote a snarky Who cares? Well, one has got to start somewhere in an interview.)
 

Jim Bentley Male Review interview, page 1
Male Review interview

What was the most tempting offer you've ever had from a fan?

A really handsome man came up to me a Greg's, said “Are you Jim Bentley? And immediately gave me the biggest lip-lock, and I loved it! He reached out and took what he wanted. He was only in town one night, so he took me back to his hotel. Fortunately, it was the Beverly Wilshire.

Who is your fantasy co-star of the existing porn stars?

I have a new discovery that I'm about to release to the world …

Let's say somebody who's already active though.

I'm usually the top, but I'd like to have someone just take my ass down on screen, I'm not sure who. It's a difficult question to answer. I'd say Al Parker.

Do you show your own tapes to your friends?

Yes, I see it first with a friend. I never watch it alone. I have a couple of friends who will tell me the truth.

Do your films turn you on?

It's hard to look at myself on the screen at first. Eventually, it swings around and becomes erotic again.
 

Jim Bentley Male Review interview, page 1
Male Review interview

And from Inches magazine, here's another fun fact: He used to sell figs for living. Yes, figs, of all fruit, a Biblical one!
 

Jim Bentley Male Review interview, page 1
Inches magazine

He went from figs to bigs, that is, being one of the bigs in the gay porn world during a exciting and frightening time: a gay sexual liberation, revealed in well-produced, well-acted films that revealed the power and beauty of gay sexual expression; and, simultaneously, the AIDS crisis which would decimate the actors in those films.

Where is he today? He did not die like so many of his generation, but lived, according to Josh Thomas at this source, to write an autobiography, The Last Time I Drew A Crowd.
 

The Last Time I Drew A Crowd book cover

According to the source, he is raising figs again.

His movies available at Bijou Video still, many years later, raise dicks.
 

Jim Bentley
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Retrostuds of the Past: Focus on Leo Ford

Retrostuds of the Past: Focus on Leo Ford

 

The appeal of blonds. Flaxen hair, the color of wheat. Usually with blue eyes. 

Blonde bombshells. Dumb blondes. Ditzy blondes. Marilyn Monroe! 

Blond beach beefcake. Vikings. Nordic supermen.  Tab Hunter! 

But they are also portrayed quite often in the movies especially as villains

I am thinking of that bunny boiler Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, and more recently, Two­Face in The Dark Knight

So many stereotypes about blonds and blondes. What's the fascination? Some people really glorify that hair color, even while making fun of those who are born with it and making them evil. Perhaps some envy going on there? You know, I love and hate you because I'll never be naturally blond like you. 

The gay blond pornstar kind of fits more in with the clean cut blond beefcake image that harks back to the muscle beach culture of the 1950s and 60s. Later, the muscles became less prominent and the skinnier youngman became the ideal. 

The first gay porn studies like Falcon picked up on both images, and as the seventies progressed, the hair grew longer and the image became less clean cut. Think of the white trash blond Robert Prion type, still the boy next door, but a real sex pig. 

One blond porn star, who, as his obituary in Manshots claims, exemplified the more clean cut blond image that resurfaced in the “GQ-yuppie” eighties, was Leo Hilgeford, who shortened his name to Leo Ford when he began to make adult films. 

Leo Ford


Leo was pretty much a phenomenon, cranking out one legendary porn classic after another. 
 

Jamie Wingo and Leo Ford in Flashbacks

His career began when he and this then-lover, Jamie Wingo, appeared in J. Brian's classic 1981 Flashbacks. He also appeared in Blonds Do It BestSailor in the Wild, and Games.

 

In Games, Leo Ford portrays a swimmer participating in the first San Francisco Gay Games.

 

His sex scenes are phenomenal, totally unforced and natural, and he even gets one with the legendary Al Parker, who plays a photographer. 

 

Leo also inherited some slides from J. Brian. When he died, he was planning to make them into a video.

 

Bijouworld now owns these slides, and we have scanned them into our digital archives. 


Leo died of head injuries sustained in a traffic accident in 1991. He and his lover, Craig Markle, were riding on their motorcycle when another vehicle sideswiped them. 

 

Check out our website for Games and Flashbacks, and for other titles (Leo is also featured  2015 Retrostuds Calendar as the February coverboy) that show those sometimes sexily evil blonds do it best and have more fun. 

 

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