John Holmes Gets Married & Leaves Another Palm Print
How great it would have been to be a fly on the wall at the Chapel of the Flowers in Vegas on January 23, 1987. You see, that was the day a sickly looking John Holmes, ambled across the parking lot with Misty Dawn, aka Laurie Holmes ne’e Rose, in order to get married. He would die about a year later…

I’m guessing a lot of celeb types have been married here, it looks familiar. Rodman and Carmen Electra!
A few years earlier on February 7, 1985, Johnny Wadd was honored by the porn industry and got to put his pipe-swinging hands down in cement outside the Pussy Cay Theater in L.A. His cement tribute is still there, I’m told.
Is that Bill Amerson directly behind him?
He was overlooked at the Oscars, just like the rest of the cast in the movie, Wonderland, but Max Clifford the chihuahua turned in his masterpiece performance as Thor. Max has only been in a few other films, so he made the most of it. He was even uncredited in the role, so what gives!?
localarts 10:27 am on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
I wonder how much Laurie Holmes makes off his estate? I’m guessing she has the rights to market his name. This is probably her full time job, now that she has retired her butt.
Jenn 11:31 am on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
Localarts, there is no telling. She was probably glad to retire her butt. I would think that at some point it would be wrecked. (Ewwwww) She gets on my nerves. I wonder what John’s bible thumping mother thought of his butt queen bride.
localarts 12:00 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink
I don’t care for her either. She strikes me as an opportunist. If I rememeber right, Amerson didn’t invite her to her husband’s funeral and at one time or another she has sued or tried to sue just about anyone that had somthing bad to say about her…. I better be careful, she might be reading this!!
John 4:41 pm on April 30, 2013 Permalink
When they dumped John’s ashes off the coast of Oxnard, CA, I read that those present included Laurie and Holme’s half brother, David. I need to read Sugar and Nelson’s book because they interviewed a shitload of people, and there is allegedly a decent sized chapter on the Wonderland and Nash story.
John 1:30 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
Wikipedia says she did a film about 5 years ago… mmmm hmmm.
Jenn 1:39 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink
Well, sometimes ya just gotta step out of retirement. Boredom can be hell!
John W 2:28 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink
10 years ago, I stand corrected.
scabiesoftherat 11:49 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
Holmes had no estate when he died. He was living in a flea-bag motel and had his hospitalization covered by the VA. I think I read somewhere that he was worth $800 when he died. As his wife, she can market whatever she wants but I can’t believe it’s lucrative. No one cares anymore about John Holmes. That’s the way it should be. She didn’t make any money off of Wonderland: The movie. She may go to porn conventions and talk about him for a nominal fee,…but the bitch ain’t gettin’ rich. She posted an interview in which John talks about the Wonderland murders on Youtube. I bet she was hoping to monetize that but there are so few hits that it’s just sitting up there doing nothing. 41k hits after 4 years
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wKdLnLYKs_c
localarts 7:15 am on April 30, 2013 Permalink
I’ve listened to those interviews a few years ago. I’ts just Holmes being Holmes, always hustling. Laurie Holmes slamed Wonderland, she seems real bitter about the fact she was never ask to be a consultant on the film or invited to be associated with it.
John 9:00 am on April 30, 2013 Permalink |
She runs a few web sites, I believe. But I can’t imagine many people putting money down to see his outdated pornos. LOL
scabiesoftherat 11:53 pm on May 1, 2013 Permalink
I can’t imagine anyone putting any money down on any pornos with the internet the way it is….from the free sites that I’ve seen, they have everything right there. There is always a retro section in which Holmes comes up quite a bit (pardon the pun). I can’t remember the last x rated movie theater I’ve seen on the road. I think the last one was in Sarasota back in the 80’s. It was the one and only porn theater in the county. It also was the exact same one that Pee-Wee Herman got busted in. (talk about a bad career choice…)
Jenn 11:32 am on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
He definitely got away with murder. I heard that the theater where he proudly displayed his hand and foot prints is now a gay theater. Don’t know if that’s true but I think that’s funny.
John 11:47 am on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
Yes, Jenn…correct. I read at findadeath dot com that it’s now a gay theater too.
Bonnie Brae 3:14 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
You forgot aka the butt queen!
localarts 5:37 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
The Wadd – Dawn Wedding. Now just imaging how that would have looked in the local papers back in the day. I’d be willing to mortgage the house that John’s mother didn’t have any wedding pic’s on the fire place mantel.
John 5:52 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
No, I doubt John’s mom came thru with an objection. She was just glad to be there… Omg! Only time will tell.
localarts 5:59 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
I’m sure his mother felt an enormous amount of shame and embarrassment.
scabiesoftherat 11:29 pm on April 29, 2013 Permalink |
What would be even worse if she was proud of him. That would be twisted and demented and I would maybe,…a big maybe,…feel sorry for him
John 4:21 pm on April 30, 2013 Permalink
The King even used his real name in his feature films. I often wonder what it would be like to have casually known someone in high school, and later they become an accidental person in the spotlight, not Holmes per se, but I was looking at Barbara Richardson and Susan Launius yearbook photos wondering what her old school friends thought about the headlines and gruesome crime. I pray none of my old alums end up that way.
Jill Nelson 6:31 pm on May 13, 2013 Permalink |
I always find it really interesting, amusing and somewhat sad to read the ongoing public opinion on Holmes and his widow Laurie. When our book was released five years ago, Sugar and I meticulously strived to differentiate between fact and fiction (in a 600 page book) but it’s obvious from reading this forum that people are comfortable to be pacified by the salacious and the senstational. Too bad.
For what it’s worth to readers of this forum, I have personally known Laurie Holmes for six years since having first connected with her when interviewing her for “A Life Measured in Inches”. (She stayed at our home for the past five days while visiting Canada for the very first time. She was wonderful, warm and b.s. free, just like always.) What is so infinitely refreshing about Laurie is that what you see is what you get. She does not play games, and surprise, surprise, she continues to support and love her late husband despite his many faults. If the public knew this amazing lady like Sugar and I do, perhaps the ugly comments would cease to exist but I realize that’s a tall order.
I have never known Laurie to be an opportunist. She is not a “bitch” but an individual who owns her past even if she doesn’t necessarily condone or feel proud of certain elements. The same cannot be said about other people (not named here) connected to the Holmes story. It was actually my idea for Laurie to post the interviews with Holmes on youtube and she agreed after much consideration and doubt. I don’t blame her for not wanting to convert the rest of the audiotapes.
Jill C. Nelson
John 11:14 am on May 14, 2013 Permalink |
Did you try to interview Eddie Nash? If so, what happened there? I would love to take him to lunch and pick his brain.
Jill C. Nelson 1:55 pm on May 15, 2013 Permalink
My co-author, Jennifer, contacted Nash’s attorney on a Friday afternoon in 2006 to request an interview for the book. Nash took the weekend to think it over and declined on the Monday morning.
John 12:30 pm on June 14, 2013 Permalink
That’s interesting, Jill. It’s a small world!
Brandy 8:35 pm on September 4, 2013 Permalink |
JIll, after your reply a few weeks ago to my confusion regarding the vast differences in Laurie’s reality & Dawn Schillers “reality” I re-read Laurie & john’s book. I re-read it with an open mind & putting herself in my place. As flawed as John was, we all are. Laurie loved him enough to marry him & saw what unfortunately no one on this forum can say they ever saw, a human being. A human being worthy of love. John Holmes is apparently relevant enough to have more than one movie based on him & people to start blogs & comment on them. I almost moved to LA 20 years ago, had bags packed. Being an addict, insecure, & someone who used my sexuality to communicate because I knew no other way, I can EASILY see myself having been drawn into the porn industry & drug sub culture with disastrous results. I stayed in Chicago, struggled, fell in love with two men no one thought worthy of love. They loved me even though I didn’t feel worthy of love. I am sober & very grateful now & try to see good in people as I hope they see good in me despite my past. Kudos to Laurie for all her struggles & having the courage to hold her head high & not be afraid to tell anyone she loved a man named John Holmes. As you said her son loved him too so there was certainly some redemption in that.
Brandy 8:42 pm on September 4, 2013 Permalink
I meant to add two more things. One-Thor rocked!
Twp-I doubt Laurie is making anywhere near what Dawn is making off off her John Holmes story. Everyone has to survive but enough already. “Pornstar pedophile” was so dumb.
dreamweaverjenn 7:13 am on September 5, 2013 Permalink
Hi Brandy. First of all nobody said John Holmes was unworthy of love or anybody in his life to love him. I KNOW there is/was a side to him nobody else saw. I’m glad he found Laurie at a time when they obviously needed each other. And kudos to you for getting and staying sober! That’s awesome! I need to say, I KNOW Dawn is not “making money off of her John Holmes story”. She is a single mother and struggles like the rest of us. She wanted to tell her story and started a foundation to help troubled teens make the right choices. She clearly says she made the wrong choices, didn’t really know any better and didn’t have much in the way of parental guidance. That is why she started the foundation so she can tell young people NOT to make the choices SHE made. Personally I doubt she would have gotten heavily involved in drugs had she never met John. Yes Brandy, I do believe there is that nicer, warmer side to John but having lived with addicts my whole life, and you being a former addict yourself, there are also sides to the addicts we love that are horrendous and nobody would believe until they see it. I feel for both Dawn and Laurie because it sounds like neither one of them has had an easy life. But I myself do not want to cut either of them down. I know they aren’t making money off of this. As Jill C. Nelson reminded me a couple of months ago, we need to be fair and remember that EVERYBODY has a side of them that is good, kind, wonderful, smart and that we are all worthy of love as human beings and that drugs make people do unspeakable things, things they never ever in a million years thought they would do. Have a great day and congrats again on your sobriety! I know it must have been and probably continues to be a challenge. Blessings to you!
Jenn 4:58 am on May 14, 2013 Permalink |
I…….I……..I……I just can’t even think of a response. Lol
Jenn 7:48 pm on May 14, 2013 Permalink |
I will probably actually have to check this book out.
Jill C. Nelson 11:27 am on September 5, 2013 Permalink |
Brandy, it takes courage to post about personal struggles (and overcoming them) on a public forum. I give you much credit and also for contributing your insights about addiction and how ugly it can be. Congratulations on your sobriety. I am sure that it is the result of a hard fought battle.
The story about addiction which is a large part of John Holmes’s story (and the Wonderland story, in general) is one of the many aspects that drew us to co-writing the book. I have never struggled with addiction myself but I have loved people in my life who have, and I know first hand about the damage and fallout as a kid growing up. Laurie Holmes has also struggled with addiction and has been sober for six years this fall. I’m proud of her as she is of herself. She does not consider herself a survivor because she has stated from day one that she made her own decisions. Today, Laurie is in a stable relationship, has a solid job in the medical community and has done so for the past four years. Both of her boys, now grown men, are successful people who are hard workers. Her youngest boy recently graduated from university with honors. Laurie and John were together during some of his best years but they were also together during some of his worst years health-wise. I am happy for her that she is able to say she loved John Holmes without feeling shame.
I did not watch “Pornstar Pedophile” and heard about it after it had aired. Based upon a title like that one though, it had to have been sensational piece. I won’t even touch the ‘pedophile’ part…
Jenn, I agree with some of your points with respect to Dawn. Talking about ESTEAM, I’ve said it before, Holmes’s dysfunctional and abusive childhood fits the description of a “throwaway teen” to the T. 😉 (I wonder if Dawn has ever considered that?) John was only a few months older than Dawn was (when she arrived in Glendale) when he made a decision to leave home at age 16 to join the army to escape a bad situation at home. I could be wrong but I have an inkling he wouldn’t have ended up in the line of work he found himself in, if things had been different back in Pataskala.
Greg 8:59 pm on July 12, 2014 Permalink |
Who knows the porn name of Sharon Gebenini Holmes wife of Johnny Wad? We need to know ASAP