When John Holmes was 16 John joined the army and spent the next three years in Germany with the Signal Corps. John Holmes rose to stardom in the adult industry because of his legendary penis size and claimed to have had sex with as many as 3,000 women during his career. His filmography comprises as many as 2,500 hardcore movies and his career has spanned nearly two decades (from 1969 to 1988). John Holmes is the biggest male star to ever have worked in the adult industry.