Billy Herrington

William Glen Harold Herrington (July 14, 1969 – March 2, 2018), known professionally as Billy Herrington, was an American model and pornographic film actor.[2][3] In the late 2000s, his appearances in various gay pornography movies led him to become a popular Internet meme on video sharing websites such as Japan's Nico Nico Douga, where he was referred to by the sobriquet "Aniki" (兄貴, lit. "older brother"). Since then, at least 110,000 short mash-up parodies of his clips—known as "Gachimuchi"—have been produced by fans.[4]

Billy Herrington
Herrington in Tokyo in 2011
Born
William Glen Harold Herrington

(1969-07-14)July 14, 1969
North Babylon, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 2, 2018(2018-03-02) (aged 48)
Palm Springs, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Cemetery
Cathedral City, California
Other names
  • Billy Marcus
  • Jake Mason
  • Aniki
Years active1990–2018
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Children1[1]

Early life and career

Herrington was born in North Babylon, New York. Herrington grew up in Long Island learning karate from his father, a sensei. He had interests in boxing, wrestling and martial arts, but did not start bodybuilding until he was 24 years old, after moving to New York City.[2]

Herrington began his erotic career when his then girlfriend surreptitiously submitted his nude pictures to Playgirl magazine. The photographs won him a "Real Men of the Month" contest and a $500 prize.[2] His appearance in the magazine caught the eye of famed photographer Jim French, but it was two years before Herrington posed for his first Colt calendars for French.[2] Soon after, Herrington was filming hardcore gay adult films for All Worlds Video, and appearing on mainstream TV programs such as Love Connection and the Ricki Lake talk show.[2][5] In 2002, Herrington said the adult film industry helped him to understand his bisexuality.[3] In 2016, he responded to a Twitter comment identifying him as homosexual by stating that he was straight.[6]

Among his starring roles is the Roman emperor in the Danish feature film HotMen CoolBoyz (2000). Herrington's scene in Conquered (2001) with Nino Bacci, Colton Ford, Blake Harper, and Jay Ross won the "Best Group Sex Scene" at the 2002 Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards ("Grabbys").[7] Occasionally, Herrington performed striptease acts at gay clubs in the United States.[8][9]

Internet meme
See also: Bara (genre) § Comparison to yaoi

Herrington gained fame in Japan as an Internet meme,[10] after a clip from one of his videos Workout was posted on Niconico, a Japanese video sharing website. Thousands of mash-up parody videos of him have been made, many of which utilize deliberate mishearings (soramimi) of lines from his films.[11] He is affectionately called "Aniki" (兄貴, lit. older brother) among the Nico Nico Douga community, and most of his videos are deliberately mistagged with "Wrestling Series" (レスリングシリーズ, resuringu shirīzu), "Forest Fairy" (森の妖精, mori no yōsei), "Philosophy" (哲学, tetsugaku), or all three.[12]

In February 2009, Herrington visited Japan to attend a live online event hosted by Niconico and garage kit maker Good Smile Company.[13] Herrington said that he is flattered and humbled by his fans' creativity.[14][15] A limited-edition Herrington figure was announced for a July 2009 release.[16] Two other limited-editions Herrington action figures were announced for the Halloween and Christmas holiday. The Halloween figure was released in October 2009 and the Christmas one was released in December 2009; both are Nico Nico Chyokuhan exclusives.[17]

As of March 2018, over 110,000 Gachimuchi videos had been uploaded on YouTube alone.[4]

Death

During the evening of March 1, 2018, Herrington was involved in a car accident on California State Route 111 in Rancho Mirage. He was found trapped in the wreckage and was brought to a Palm Springs hospital, where he died the next day.[10][18] News broke of his death one day later.[19] Fans responded with hundreds of tributes across video sharing sites and message boards. One tribute video uploaded on Niconico accumulated over 80,000 views in less than one week.[4] Herrington was buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California.[20]

Videography
  • 9½ Inches (1998) (Thor Productions)
  • Wrestlers: Muscle Fantasies 2 (1998) (Can-Am Productions)
  • Workout: Muscle Fantasies 3 (1999) (Can-Am Productions)
  • Minute Man 17 (1999) (Colt Studios)
  • Minute Man 18 (1999) (Colt Studios)
  • Body Shop (1999) (All Worlds)
  • Summer Trophies (1999) (Pacific Sun Entertainment)
  • Tales from the Foxhole (1999) (All Worlds)
  • Lords Of The Locker Room (1999) (Can-Am Productions)[21]
  • Playing with Fire 2 (2000) (All Worlds)
  • The Final Link (2000) (All Worlds)
  • HotMen CoolBoyz (2000) (Zentropa)
  • Conquered (2001) (All Worlds)
  • Flesh Trap (2001) (Fox Studios)
  • Naked Muscles (2002) (Colt Studios)
  • Ryker's Web (2003) (Arena)
  • Minute Man Solo 27: Big Shots (2006) (Colt Studios)

Awards and nominations
  • 2000 – Colt Man of the Year[3]

Adult Erotic Gay Video Awards

  • 2002 – Winner – Best Group Sex Scene (for Conquered)[7]
  • 2002 – Nominated – Best Actor (for Conquered)[7]
  • 2002 – Nominated – Best Three-Way Sex Scene (for Conquered)[7]

GayVN Awards

  • 2002 – Nominated – Best Actor (for Conquered)
  • 2002 – Nominated – Best Group Scene (for Conquered)

See also

References
  1. "ATKOL Forums". Atkol.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  2. Lambert, Vincent (July 21, 1999). "Porn Star Interview: Billy Herrington". Manshots. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  3. LaFrance, Richard (June 18, 2002). "A Conversation With... Billy Herrington". As The Grove Turns. Archived from the original on December 17, 2002. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  4. Hulme, Nicholas (March 13, 2018). "The life and death of a pornstar". Honi Soit.
  5. "Ricki Lake Musclemen Dating Game". January 11, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  6. Herrington, Billy [@BillyHerring777] (November 13, 2016). "I'm straight" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. "Billy Herrington Awards". IMDb. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  8. "ATKOL Forums". Atkol.com. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  9. "Body Building DVD – BodyBuilders". JimmyZ. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  10. "Gay Adult Film Star Billy Herrington Dead at 49". Towleroad. March 3, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  11. "兄貴の肉体にみんな夢中!". Windows100%. 2008 (6). Tokyo: Shinyusha. May 13, 2008.
  12. Billy Herrington on Nico Nico Douga Archived February 15, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. 「ワンホビ９」「ニコニコ生放送」で生中継!!┃無料アニメ動画ならニコニコアニメチャンネル (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
  14. 歪みねぇ兄貴の強く生きる言葉、ニコニ国賓が来日, ASCII.jp. February 13, 2009. (in Japanese)
  15. "Billy Herrington Interview in Japan (2009)" on YouTube
  16. "figma ビリー・ヘリントン ニコニコ直販". Niconico. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  17. "ニコニコ直販". Niconico. Archived from the original on November 23, 2009. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  18. "Adult film actor dies in Rancho Mirage crash". KESQ-TV. March 5, 2018. Archived from the original on March 9, 2018. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
  19. French, Michael (March 5, 2018). "Gay Porn Icon Billy Herrington Dies At 48". AVN. ISSN 0883-7090.
  20. "Billy Herrington". Forest Lawn Cemetery. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  21. Lords of the Locker Room
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