Gay Porn? Watchoo Talkin' 'bout?

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm one of those people that when I see someone I think is attractive, talented, cool, etc. in some random episode of some TV show I happen to be watching at the time, I jot down their name and look them up later, on IMDB. I'm interested as to whether or not they are still working and if not, what they did last. It's always interesting to see where their career took them (or didn't).

This post is really more about how we make some of the strangest connections with seemingly unconnected things, more than about actual gay porn. Allow me to elaborate. A few weeks ago I was watching an early episode of Different Strokes. It was the episode titled "Willis' Birthday," in which Willis thinks that no one remembered his birthday. As it turns out, it's quite the contrary and when Mr. Drummond asks what he'd like for his birthday, Willis says a birthday party in Harlem with all his old friends.

Fast forward to the birthday party. At one point, upstairs neighbor, Luther is out on the fire escape watching the party going on inside before he decides to climb in through the open window and join the festivities.

When I saw Luther (AKA Scorpio) I thought to myself "Rowr, he's pretty hot. I wonder who he is and if he went on to do anything else?" So, I looked him up on IMDB. As it turns out, the only other things he did was gay porn. Pretty surreal, huh? Naturally, I had to try and find the video covers of his various gay exploits, but was only able to find 3 out of the 6 that he did. I noticed that his last film was in 1986 and that he passed away at the age of 46. Dying at what I consider to be a relatively young age, I can't help but wonder if it was somehow AIDS-related.

So, being me, I went about trying to find more information on who he was and what happened to his career. In the process, I stumbled across this blog entry, that said: "Whatever Happened to Scorpio? When I would hang at "The Bar" on Second Avennue and East 4th Street in the 1980's, I'd often chat with the afternoon bartender named "Scorpio". Scorpio was a famous porn star at the time, and would moonlight doing happy hours... and we always had interesting talks. Am wondering whatever became of him?? The current staff at The Bar is clueless (new owners). IMDB reports on Scorpio's contemporaries: Leo Ford died in a motorcycle accident, Lance passed in the early eighties, and Jack Wrangler is still going strong. But whatever happened to Scorpio? Enquiring minds are dying to know..." Isn't it strange how some people just kind of slip away into oblivion? I guess this is kind of a weird post, with no real rhyme or reason. It just makes me kind of melancholy knowing that people can so easily fade from existence.

I've included some screen captures from the episode of Different Strokes: (1) Oh Scorpio, you loveable scamp! (2) Edna gets her swerve on! (3) Scorpio lookin' for a "dancin' queen."