“God created man … William Margold created himself.”
That phrase graced Margold’s business card and his Twitter page. And in his 73 years Margold, who died Jan. 17, created quite a character.
Nicknamed “Papa Bear”, he is being remembered as a pioneer in the San Fernando Valley’s porn industry.
An obituary on the website Boot Hill , a blog that chronicles higher profile deaths, said that he died during an evening broadcast of his program on XXXPornStarRadio.com that broadcasted from his Los Angeles apartment.
Margold was a trailblazer in the industry, said Jeffrey Douglas, board chairman of the Free Speech Coalition, an adult entertainment industry trade association.
“He was making movies prior to 1973.” Douglas said. “He was there at the transition of the industry from being in a gray zone to one that was clearly protected by the First Amendment,” said Douglas, a Santa Monica attorney who specializes in free speech issues.
From 1972 to 2007, according to a report, Margold appeared in more than 250 movies, including several dozen as a non-sex performer. He was also a director, writer and producer, and founded or co-founded several adult entertainment group.
But ultimately he was a historian and advocate for the industry, much of which in its early years was based out of the San Fernando Valley, where he had an office in Van Nuys.
His stance for performers was evident in a 1988 United Press International article that examined the health threat of AIDS in the industry.
Margold spoke of porn actors as being misunderstood.
“The real world doesn’t want to see the truth,’ he told UPI. “They really want to think the industry is bubbling over with orgies, that the people have no morals. That’s not true.
“The industry is loaded with people who are introverted until the camera goes on. We’re loners who band together for the acclamation of their peers, by doing something that most of society wouldn’t do.”
In 2001, an LA Daily News reporter assigned to a porn fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center caught up with Margold.
“This is a circus,” said Margold, who then was trade show coordinator for the Free Speech Coalition. “There are a whole lot of peacocks here.”
Douglas knew Margold for more than three decades and served with him on the coalition board from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.
One thing stands out.
“His passion for what he believed was right for the family of x, the performers,” Douglas said. “He had a vision of what was right for them and he pursued it with extraordinary zeal. What ever he was doing, whether writing for the industry, writing for the trades or doing commentary … was through the prism of the well-being of performers.”
Margold was also the founder of the Paw Foundation, which was dedicated to protecting people who worked in the adult entertainment industry.
“He saw that as his greatest accomplishment and it was his greatest love,” said Douglas.
According to a posting on the Internet Movie Data Base, Margold was born on Oct. 2, 1943, in Washington, D.C.
He attended Alexander Hamilton High School in West Los Angeles and graduated from Cal State Northridge with a degree in journalism.
Margold started out in the adult entertainment industry with agent ‘Reb’ Sawitz, working in the office of the Reb’s Pretty Girls modeling agency.
