American pornographers

Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obscenity. The first issue of Playboy was published in 1953 featuring Marilyn Monroe in a nude calendar shoot; it sold over 50,000 copies.

Larry Claxton Flynt Jr. (November 1, 1942 – February 10, 2021) was an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications (LFP). LFP mainly produces magazines, such as Hustler, pornographic videos, and three pornographic television channels named Hustler TV. Flynt has fought several high-profile legal battles involving the First Amendment, and has unsuccessfully run for public office. He was paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in a 1978 murder attempt by serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin. In 2003, Arena magazine listed him at No. 1 on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list.

Norm Zada (born Norman Askar Zadeh) is the founder of Perfect 10, an adult magazine focusing on women without cosmetic surgery. Zada launched the magazine after a friend was rejected from Playboy magazine because her proportions did not fit the magazine's tastes. He estimates losing approximately $46 million on Perfect 10 since 1996, when the magazine was first published.

Richard Leonard Kuklinski (April 11, 1935 – March 5, 2006) was an American murderer and hitman. In 1988, he was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of killing two members of his burglary gang and two other associates. In 2003, he received an additional 30-year sentence after confessing to the murder of a mob-connected police officer. He was given the nickname The Iceman by authorities after they discovered that he had frozen the body of one of his victims in an attempt to disguise the time of death. Among his associates, Kuklinski was known as "the one-man army" or "the Devil himself".

Steven Hirsch (born May 25, 1961) is the founder and co-chairman of the adult entertainment company Vivid Entertainment, which he founded in 1984. It has been estimated to be the top adult entertainment company.

Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione ( goo-CHOH-nee; December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was an American photographer and the founder of the adult magazine Penthouse in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's Playboy, but with more extreme erotic content, a special style of soft-focus photography, and in-depth reporting of government corruption scandals. By 1982 Guccione was listed in the Forbes 400 wealth list, and owned one of the biggest mansions in Manhattan. However, he made some extravagant investments that failed, and the growth of free online pornography in the 1990s greatly diminished his market. In 2003, Guccione's publishers filed for bankruptcy and he resigned as chairman.

Patrick Collins is an American heterosexual pornographic film producer–director, former owner of Elegant Angel Productions, and a member of the AVN Hall of Fame and the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Alvin "Al" Goldstein (January 10, 1936 – December 19, 2013) was an American pornographer. He is known for helping normalize hardcore pornography in the United States.

Luke Carey Ford (born 28 May 1966) is an Australian/American writer, blogger, and former pornography gossip columnist.

Robert D. Zicari (born August 5, 1974), known as Rob Black, is an American pornographer, radio host and former professional wrestling promoter. Together with his then wife Janet Romano (a.k.a. Lizzy Borden) he owned the porn company Extreme Associates. Zicari was prosecuted for distribution of obscenity by the United States Department of Justice in 2004. The case was dismissed but was reinstated upon appeal in 2005. Zicari entered into a plea agreement with the government in 2009 ending the case. (See United States v. Extreme Associates.)