Arnold Zwicky's Blog

(There will be frank discussions of men’s bodies and accounts in street language of mansex, so probably not suitable for kids or the sexually modest.)

Among the many reflections, exhortations, reminiscences, elegies, and tributes for World AIDS Day, today, one from Mike Thomas about three people who died of complications of AIDS who had been important in his life: among them a mutual friend, Howard Faye, who I wrote about in a 12/30/16 posting “Howard at 57”; and Bobby Pyron, someone I didn’t know personally but appreciated as the porn star Lee Ryder.

I’ve written twice about Ryder on AZBlogX — details below — and knew only a little about Pyron (his passion in life was flower arranging, and he was said to be self-composed, unassuming, and a really nice guy), but Mike pointed me to an obit for him (preserved on the AIDS Memorial Facebook page) that filled in many details.

On the Ryder watch. I came across him in one of the very first pieces of photographic gay porn I bought, a magazine of shots from the High Voltage segment (1983, with Rod Phillips — Pyron’s one-time boyfriend Greg Patton — and Mark Hunter, set on a secluded power transformer) of the Falcon compilation Winner Takes All (which I was eventually able to view on video). A cropped snippet of Ryder at the top of a three man-chain in this scene (with Phillips as the middle man):

(#1)

(You can view the whole tableau in my 8/17/11 AZBlogX posting “More Dick for your Dollar”.)

Pyron was part of the L.A. gay scene of the time; he was unabashedy gay; he had a very nice body (reminding me a lot of my man Jacques’s); and he had a prodigious cock. So of course he went into gay porn (as Lee Ryder) while he was establishing himself in the flower business.

Ryder in an iconic gay porn role, the hitchhiker:

(#2)

Also from the “More Dick for the dollar” posting (but again cropped), Ryder on the cover of men magazine:

(#3)

More on AZBlogX, in the 8/12/15 posting “Tearoom time: on part 3 (For Men Only) of Huge 1 ( Falcon, 1983). From the maker’s description:

Lee Ryder …, in his second starring role. Jockeying a car along the highway, Lee decides to fill up the tank and unload his bladder. At the service station he ends up at, he lures Rick [Jensen], the tall blond attendant, into the men’s room and discovers the lanky dude is possessed of a sausage-sized cock of his own. The pair are hungrily sharing lunch meat, when the door opens and in strolls a hot, horny number [Matt Stoker], who wastes no time getting sandwiched by two supercocks.

(#6) A suck sandwich: Rick (in his workshirt) on his knees sucking cock; Lee (in a Lacoste shirt) sitting on the toilet, getting his cock sucked while sucking cock; Matt (in no shirt) standing as he gets his cock sucked.

(#7) A more adventurous three-way, a spitroast with Matt as the meat: Matt sits on the toilet, but facing in rather than out; as Lee, on the floor, fucks him from behind; and Rick, sitting on the toilet tank, gets his cock sucked.

There’s no way to crop these scenes down for minimal respectability. But in that posting I also offered a still (#8) of Ryder in a wet t-shirt, cropped here:

(#4)

Bobby Pyron. From the AIDS Memorial page:

(#5)

Darras Robert Pyron (August 3, 1959 – July 10, 1991) aka Lee Ryder, who appeared in gay adult films, died of AIDS at the Chris Brownlie Hospice, Los Angeles. Pyron was 31 years old. His ashes were interred at Montecito Memorial Park, San Bernardino.

Born in Willows, California, Pyron grew up in Laguna and graduated from Esperanza High School, Anaheim.

Beginning in 1982, Pyron adopted the professional name Lee Ryder for modelling and by 1984 had been seen in several gay magazine layouts and magazine covers. He was also much in demand for gay adults films from 1982 to 1986.

However, Pyron’s interests had always been floral design. He worked for Crosleys Flowers in Los Angeles where he prepared floral arrangements for the VIP rooms at the @bevhillshotel and also the ones used for set decoration on the TV series Dynasty. [As it happens, I have recently posted on flower arranging / floral art, in the 11/30 posting “Green flowers”.]

Pyron led a “nomadic” life and liked to travel. During the periods he settled down, he worked for the Flower Loft, San Bernadino and Riverside and achieved his dream of having his own company — Pyron Designs — which he ran in the 9000 Sunset building in West Hollywood and later re-established it in San Francisco.

After being diagnosed with HIV, Pyron developed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and lost his sight. He lived in a studio apartment in San Francisco during his last year of his life and enjoyed a more simple life, visiting a People With AIDS day-care center or having a few beers for happy hour at a nearby bar.

Friends said Pyron was philosophical about his past, enjoyed the fame, traveling, and recognition for his floral creations and was not bitter about his situation or future. With his health in decline, Pyron returned to Los Angeles in June 1991 and became a resident of Chris Brownlie Hospice.

I haven’t found any photos on the net of Pyron with his floral displays. A great shame, since it was the flowers that it was all about.

As for Ryder, some of his scenes are assembled in a Falcon The Best of Lee Ryder compilation (2008): 1 from Huge 1; 2 from Biker’s Liberty; 3 from Spokes (with Phillips among the crew); 4 from Huge 2; 5 from Winner Takes All (sex on the transformer); 6 from Spokes; 7 from Huge 1 (service station men’s room); 8 from Spokes.

This entry was posted on December 1, 2018 at 7:26 pm and is filed under Death notices, Gay porn, Holidays, Language and medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.