Gay Porn Memories: Rip Stone, Hunka Burnin’ Daddy Beef

Let’s face it, in order to do certain names justice, you have to bring a requisite physical presence to the table. Flash Gordon, Clutch Cargo, Buck Rogers — these are not just hot guy names. They’re superstud mantles.

“Rip Stone” has got to be one of the tougher noms de porn to pull off, but damn if ol’ Rip didn’t knock it out of the park.

Physically, Rip was a lot of things at once — a little bit West Hollywood transplant, a lot more south of the Mason Dixon Line native, a dash of classic Wild West handsomeness, the cocky swagger of a pro wrestler, the air of a man who works with his hands — all of it topped off with the name-your-price-son venality of a muscle trade hireling.

It was probably his voice — one of those ultra-thick drawls you only ever really expect to hear on TV — that was his greatest asset, all the better for packing that extra wallop into lines like “Man, I ain’t ever sucked no dick before!” and “Dang it, boy — I’m so fuckin’ horny right about now that yo’ ass is turnin’ me on sum’in powerful!”

Rip always came across as one of those guys who was born to trade off his looks and cock, the lure of porn, hustling, and quick cash his ticket to La La Land (the peach tattoo on his pelvis suggesting he was a Georgia boy). He debuted around 1995, more of an eye-catching supporting player in gay features than a top-tier leading name. Even in his twenties, his face had this hypermasculine, rugged, and even rough-hewn cast to it that made him a premature daddy curio amid the more standard-issue pretty boys of the day. He’s one of a pair of masked stone gargoyles come to life who works over Chad Conners in the arty Night Walk, plays an army grunt who requires only a modicum of encouragement to spread in Cockfight, and got especially nasty in Leather titles like Boot Black II and International Mr. Leather Uncut. He also fares nicely in Muscle Up, Fox’s Lair, and Forced Entry.

He moved into more niche-marketed spheres (alternately billed as Chris Falconer or Bruce Gere) with wrestling-, bi-, transsexual-, and even straight bondage-themed entries to his credit, and was shrewd at altering his appearance from movie to movie, sometimes brunet and bulked-up from steroids, other times surprisingly svelte and blond. Industry talk had Rip claiming to be straight as an arrow — he was rumored to be married with a kid — while loving to take it up the ass at the same time. The sight of Rip topping is nothing to throw shade at, but he was at his best on all fours (onscreen and off, according to co-star and fuck buddy Blue Blake), grunting and wincing with aw-yeah-hurts-so-good delight.

Like a lot of guys, Rip boomeranged in and out of porn after a few years — a volatile temper fueled by steroid usage often cited as the reason he fell out of favor with studios — swinging back again in 2000, appearing in Playgirl (and looking a tad, um, altered) and lower profile features, though his new look didn’t seem suited to recapturing his glory days. He came out of retirement again very briefly in 2005, but the magic was definitely gone by then, things clearly not going well for the fan favorite. At his prime, Rip remains immortalized in all his Boy From Jaw-Ja splendor — DVD an elegy for days gone bye.

Like a rolling stone indeed.