Jack Radcliffe (born Frank Martini; July 5, 1960) is an American former

pornographic film actor A pornographic film actor or actress, pornographic performer, adult entertainer, or porn star is a person who performs sex acts on video that is usually characterized as a pornographic film. Such videos tend to be made in a number of distinc ...

. Radcliffe is considered a pornographic icon, and in particular, an icon of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

bear subculture and its physical aesthetics.

Early life

Radcliffe was born in Staten Island, New York in 1960. He grew up with his parents and two siblings, a sister and a younger brother. Radcliffe attended school in Staten Island until leaving to attend college at

Buffalo State University The State University of New York Buffalo State University (colloquially referred to as Buffalo State University, SUNY Buffalo State, Buffalo State, or simply Buff State) is a public college, public university in Buffalo, New York. It is part of ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, earning two

Bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Neo-Latin, Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and university, universities upon completion of a course of study lasting ...

in mathematics and physics. He

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

in 1983 and later moved to

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

that summer.

Career

Radcliffe was "discovered" in 1989 by photographer Chris Nelson. Nelson featured Radcliffe (as "Jack Radcliff") in his

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and which can serve to inspire conversation o ...

''The Bear Cult'', which helped establish the iconic imagery associated with the nascent gay "bear" subculture. He debuted in issue #9 of Nelson and Nelson's partner Richard Bulger's foundational publication ''

Bear Magazine ''BEAR Magazine'' is a Periodical literature, periodical geared toward gay and bisexual men who are or admire "Bear (gay culture), bears", stocky or heavyset men with facial and/or body hair. It was initially published in San Francisco, Californi ...

'' and continued to appear in the publication as a model for the magazine's company, Brush Creek Media, after moving to San Francisco in 1989. Nelson worked as the magazine's photographer, while Bulger served as the magazine's publisher. During the same photoshoot, Radcliffe also shot his first solo adult video. Continuing to work as a regular model for Brush Creek Media, Radcliffe quickly became popular in the bear community. Several years later, Nelson and Bulger contacted Radcliffe concerning interest in shooting non-solo films for Brush Creek Media. Radcliffe appeared in seven adult films with Brush Creek Media and later appeared in additional films with Butch Bear and Massive Studio. He retired from adult acting after performing in ''Massive Muscle Bears'' with Massive Studio.

Other ventures

Radcliffe worked as the

chief financial officer A chief financial officer (CFO) is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances; i.a.: financial planning, management of financial risks, ...

of a software consulting company during the late 1990s and early

2000s File:2000s decade montage3.png, From top left, clockwise: The Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center (1973–2001), World Trade Center on fire and the Statue of Liberty on the left during the September 11 attacks, terrorist attacks on Sep ...

. He currently works as a realtor.

Legacy and cultural impact

Radcliffe is often cited as an enduring iconic representation (if not the most iconic representative) of the bear aesthetic in pornography, gay culture, and at large. He has been described as "the

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

of bear culture," a "poster boy of bear culture," and a "reigning bear icon." In a 2009 list of bear icons,

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

pop culture website

Queerty ''Queerty'' is an online magazine and newspaper covering gay- and LGBTQ-oriented entertainment and news, founded in 2005 by David Hauslaib. As of June 2015, the site had more than five million monthly unique visitors. History ''Queerty'' was ...

stated, "In the bear porn industry, Radcliffe is God. It’s easy to see why– if

Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...

were a bear, this would be his

ideal Ideal may refer to: Philosophy * Ideal (ethics), values that one actively pursues as goals * Platonic ideal, a philosophical idea of trueness of form, associated with Plato Mathematics * Ideal (ring theory), special subsets of a ring considered ...

." Despite this, Radcliffe has downplayed his iconography within bear culture. Radcliffe was the most featured cover model in the history of ''Bear Magazine''. In his 2001 forward for author and academic scholar Les K. Wright's ''The Bear Book II: Further Readings in the History and Evolution of a Gay Male Subculture'', former editor-in-chief of ''

Drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

Jack Fritscher John Joseph Fritscher (born June 20, 1939) is an American author, university professor, historian, and social activist known internationally for his fiction, erotica, and nonfiction analyses of pop culture and gay male culture. An activist prio ...

noted that Radcliffe remained Brush Creek Media's top box office earner and described him as an icon for the company. Wright also described Radcliffe as the first to embody the "bear beauty" aesthetic with his specifically marketed films. Conversely, Radcliffe has also been specifically identified as an example of the " muscle-bear" body type that later emerged in bear culture, contributing to a more muscular standard of beauty, seemingly in conflict with the "normal," "average," or fat ("

chub Chub is a common fish name. It pertains to any one of a number of ray-finned fish in several families and general. In the UK, the term ''chub'' usually refers to the species '' Squalius cephalus''. In addition, see sea chub. In family Cyprinid ...

") aesthetic origins of the bear community.

Filmography

References