Tom Judson :: Man of many talents (including X-rated ones)

Tom Judson is a 51 year-old man with a body for days, and for each muscle delineation he possesses a concomitant skill.

He is a composer, an actor, a musician who plays at least a dozen instruments from accordion to trombone, a rower, a former male escort, a writer, a world-class chef (please pass the apricot scones), and a home renovator.

Wait did I forget to mention adult film star? How could I not, especially since he won performer of the year in 2005 when he was 40-plus years old.

I know Tom Judson; I mean really know him, No, not in the Biblical sense although we did share a room in Hollywood when I went to cover the Gay Porn Awards. I walked the red carpet with Tom and was standing next to him at the ceremony, where he was nominated for five awards and kept losing one after another. I was there when he bowed his tall, lean frame over to me to whisper, "I am the Susan Lucci of porn."

’The Susan Lucci of porn.’

This is Tom Judson, he is funny, he is spontaneous and he is self-effacing as only a very bright person can afford to be.

According to Judson, "I took an unusual path and it seems I followed ever diversion my life led me on. When I first stared working in theater in 1980 at places downtown like LaMaMa, I was exclusively a writer of words and music. But back in the day we would all be in each other's shows as favors. No one was being paid so we leapt in to fill in the blanks. So I started performing because it was hard to get others to perform for free. People seemed to think I had something going on as a performer.

"But I always stayed a musician, I play a dozen instruments: winds, brass and keyboards, it was a hobby to learn new instruments, little did I know that my autodidact obsession with diverse instruments would take me to Broadway as an actor, but it did."

Tale of our times

In 1988, on a lark, a friend dragged Judson to an audition of Sam Mendes production of "Cabaret" where all the actors played instruments on stage. He won a role. In Judson's one-man show "Canned Ham," he has a hilarious retelling of his klutzy inability to dance and his manic counting as he moved across the stage, amazed every night that he succeeded.

The one-man show had a run downtown at Dixon Place and in Provincetown, LA and Key West. This poignant, funny, honest tale of the man of many hats is unfolded often wearing nothing but a musical instrument and socks. It is a tale of our times detailing the loss of his husband Bruce to AIDS and the rebuilding of his life.

There is bravery in all of what Judson does. He discloses, details and delights in equal measure and does seem to evince a fearlessness that most lose in the their 20s. After his husband's death, Judson was touring in the musical "42nd Street," and was in Minneapolis and went out to a gay bar after the show.

Story continues on following page.

Watch Tom Judson performing at the Art House in Provincetown:

Meeting Chi Chi LaRue

There he met gay icon and adult male producer Chi Chi LaRue. "She asked me to breakfast the next day and right then and there she offered me an exclusive contract to make porn movies. I was 42. I was only 3 months into the tour, meaning I had 9 months left on my contract. As luck would have it my contract was over when Chi Chi was shooting in L.A. and I was there with '42nd Street.'"

With mock bravado Judson says he met La Rue in L.A. who bemoaned that they had already cast the final scene being shot the next day. According to Judson, "I was in the office and Chi Chi slams her fist down on the desk like an old Hollywood mogul and screams, 'I know what we'll do; we'll make the scene a three way!' So I thought, why not?"
Again in "Canned Ham" Judson tells of doing the scene in "What Men Do" that, according to my memory, involved sex in a sling. The shoot wrapped and Judson headed to the L.A. Music Center to perform in "42nd Street." "When I look back I was not the slightest bit nervous or self conscious. The set is not a clinical atmosphere, it is actually a little sexy, but there is nothing seamy or dirty about it. It was a job and it was interesting to me."

Why Gus Maddox?

After that first movie, Judson started doing more adult films and became successful quickly. "I credited that to my ability to actually learn my lines, be aware of camera angles, and at 42 years-old I got a lot of attention from the Gay press."

Gus Mattox was the name he picked as his nom de film and in true over-thinking form Judson explains the choice. "In my 10 grade social psychology class we learned that any word that ends in the letter X makes people think about sex. So MattoX. I don't know where Gus came from. But look at it, your eye goes right to the X"

In 2005, after just two years in the porn biz, and winning performer of the year against performers half his age, Judson decided to retire from porn. "I decided it was the perfect time to bow out. Get out at the top." Wow that is a perfect joke as I often heard him say, "Gus Mattox is a great big top."

On the way home from the Gay Porn awards, Judson got a voice mail asking him to audition for Terence McNally's plays "Some Men."

"I went to the audition and got the role and was back on stage." Since then Judson has mostly written and acted in his own work, even penning a collection of essays called "Laid Bare," which is available on Amazon or TOMJUSDON.COM I omitted that Judson is a bit of a tech expert, having taught himself web design, and thus mastered the ability to design and publish his own books.

Private life? Kind-of boring

With all this success, of course we want to know about his private life. "What do you want to say about my private life? It's kind of boring. I like to cook, I read, I practice the piano and the other instruments, especially now that I am gearing up for my cabaret show at the Metropolitan Room on February 1. I put together a cabaret show which is surprising even to me because from all the aspects of show biz I have waded in I have never done a solo cabaret show. I was very nervous about it and didn't know how to begin and then Michael Schiralli the director stepped in and I think it is wonderful. I have been performing it for about a year in some of the same venues as 'Canned Ham' and it's doing very well."

Judson's cabaret has an eclectic play list: a few standards and some lesser-known songs by well-known composers. He also will perform a tune with lyrics by Alan Cumming and music by Lance Horne.

"The song is written as a token of appreciation to Alan's husband Grant. They were married in England five years ago, but more recently re-committed with a cocktail party and an impromptu NYC wedding at the SOHO Grand hotel in early January. So I hope Alan will make it to the show, we have been rehearsing a song he will join in on at the Metropolitan Room. Of course Cumming's appearance will depend on the shooting schedule for 'The Good Wife,' but at least they are in New York City, so the odds are good."

The Tom Judson Show will play the Metropolitan Room on Wednesday, February 1 at 9:30pm. For more information, visit For more on Tom Judson, visit link:www.tomjudson.blogspot.com" target="_blank">his blog.