A kind reader reminded me that today would have been my friend (and former porn star -- in the truest sense of the word) Mike Henson's 48th birthday. Ken Seymour, as I knew him, was a kind man and a loyal friend. I was so happy to reconnect with his longtime partner recently, and am still hoping to get some photos from our days as roomies in the early '90s. (I didn't have a camera then and missed documenting a lot of cool things.) It seems unimaginable that Ken's been gone for nearly 10 years as he still comes up in conversations all the time, and I think about him often, like it was yesterday. You can read his obituary HERE. Would love to hear memories from other friends and fans in the comments. You are missed, Kenny.
14 comments:
Mike was the total package. Looks, charm, sexiness. Not to mention how someone that looked so innocent could be so mischevious. I had a crush on him after I first saw Big Guns. I bet he could have crossed over to mainstream entertainment easily. He truly deserves Pop culture status. My heart goes out to those who loved him. He made my puberty in a small town in Texas bearable. Danke, schatz!!!
He was my #2 all time favorite.
I discovered Mike right around the time I discovered gay porn, and he has been a favorite of mine ever since. Even if my "type" of guy has changed, he can still do it for me, almost any time.
@Sean: Do tell, who's No. 1? (Team Johnny Davenport here!)
Team Davenport?! OMG! He was one of those selfish tops! LOL
Henson was a cutie, with a smile that could melt any queen's heart.
Johnny is 3 or 4.
Matt Ramsey is #1 he took it and gave it like no one else and when he shot it was a magnificent thing to behold.
So sad. My sympathies go out to you, Ken. He was a beautiful man and, apparently, a very sweet soul. It's funny, I can't say I ever saw any of his movies, but I can clearly see his face on the video boxes! That was a certain kind of fame itself...Heroin is really bad news. So, so many lives ended much too soon by that drug.
Oh my gosh, I didn't even know he died. I certainly remember him and his, ahem, movies.
As justahug states, heroin really is a killer just like what it did to Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, River Phoenix and so many others.
Do you know him or did you IRL? I'm trying to find his friend Michael who also worked in the industry and was from Georgia. I remember talking to him on the phone when his friend Kenny was over and we talked a bit about him studying for computer Science and his military SGT. friend of so many years.
But if anyone seeing this could help me find Michael from Georgia, I want to say hi again and find out how the silk pillow made from the Pope's hat turned out.
Scott: I was roommates with him so yes, I knew him. What is IRL?
Irl means in real life. So im not asking about Kennny, im asking about the guy named Michael Gere. Did you roommate with him?
I'm a Texas boy, too. Mike was the man. Got me off many a time. I'm more of a retro guy, when it comes to porn. I was saddened to hear of his passing years back.
Aside from his legendary videography, he was able to focus on his life goals. I did not know Kenny personally, but admire his abilities that I read about. His tragic death was shocking, but his life was not in vain as he brought about awareness of safe sex education. He was a leader and will be remembered as such. Jimmy G
It's the new year in 2021 and I've been cleaning really old stuff that I've stored away for many years in the space underneath my old waterbed that hasn't been used in nearly 2 decades. I find the VHS box of one of the movies Kenny gave me (Big Guns) so here I am thinking of him. I have to admit I haven't thought about him in a long long time, but I go on the internet to see if there's anything about him as I know he died a little more than 18 years ago.
I know nothing about Mike Henson as I only knew him as Kenny Seymour. We met at American River College back in the 80s and we took several classes together. After knowing him for a short time, he told me about his other life as Mike Henson. The individual I knew as Kenny was different from the persona he displayed in his films. Kenny was a fun gregarious guy, but he was also shy at times. He enjoyed music and we played video games down in Old Sac at a place called the Time Zone(our fave game was Gauntlet)and ate at Spaghetti Factory and The Good Earth. We'd sing "Take on Me" in my car whizzing down Business 80 heading to Old Sac. We danced at Ozzie Fenukins and had pizza right across the street afterwards. I got him to play tennis even though he was horrible at it. Those were some really fun times.
That was the Kenny that wanted to have fun as himself and not be something he was not. The image displayed in his films was not him at all. In order to create that image, Kenny had to force himself to bulk up because that's the image the industry desired and anything short of that and you're out. I told him that stuff (the steroids) was not good for his body, but unfortunately he said it was the quickest way to get bulked up. It made me sad that he had to aspire to some type of expectation of himself in order for him to fit in the industry. He was unhappy about that part of his life, but yet he couldn't distance himself from it. It was a tug o war that constantly caused conflict in his life. He wanted so much to be loved and accepted and he felt that alter ego persona of his could somehow satisfy and give him gratification in that respect.
Well Kenny decided to drop out of ARC and go back to his alter ego life which caused me extreme sadness. He told me that the people in the industry were unilaterally evil so I couldn't understand why he felt the need to go back to that life style. I knew I was going to lose our friendship once he left NorCal. He told me before he left he was grateful for the time we spent together, but he missed his life as Mike Henson and wanted to further that avenue of his future. I wished him the best of luck and hoped all his dreams and aspirations come to fruition for him. I got a call from him several times during the next year, but never heard from him again after that. It's been a little more than 3 decades now since that day he left, but I still remember it clearly. I just wanted to get this out there that he was just an all around nice guy who was just looking for acceptance just like the rest of us. I was extremely sad when I heard of his passing and wished we could have communicated in that stretch of time between the time he left Rocklin to his last place of residence in Pennsylvania.
Every time I pass by William Land Park and see that pond, I'll always remember our last time we saw each other there as we fed the ducks and said goodbye. If there's anything to this thing called afterlife, I am hoping I get to see Kenny when my time on Earth is up. He's gone, but will never be forgotten. RIP Kenny.
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