Ben Dover
Ben Dover (born Simon Lindsay Honey on 18 December 1955) is an English pornographic actor and director/producer of pornographic movies. The pseudonym is a pun on the phrase "bend over".
Beginnings in the adult film industry
Dover worked for many years with his girlfriend, actress Linzi Drew. After she retired at 41 to have their child, Tyger Drew-Honey, he developed his "Ben Dover" persona.[1] He used the Videx equipment and mail order list to start up his own business. In 1983 Videx was raided by the police. At a trial at the Old Bailey owner Mike Freeman was acquitted, along with Honey, Sarah Bhaskaran and Kent Boulton.
Success in the adult film industry
Dover subsequently became best known for his rude, raunchy Ben Dover series, which he directed, produced and starred in between 1996 and 2002. In 1997 Dover won the Breakthrough Award for the Ben Dover series at the AVN awards.[2] He has also won AVN's Best Gonzo Award twice, in 2000 for Ben Dover's End Games and in 2002 for Ben Dover's The Booty Bandit.
Upon original release in the United States, Dover's films were edited by VCA Pictures to exclude the more graphic contents of the original. It wasn't until 2004 that Dover again attempted US distribution for his films. He signed a deal with Kick Ass Pictures and began producing the Ben Dover's Kick Ass Anal Adventures series, of which there have been five installments. This series was not edited any more than Dover wished.
Dover was included in Larry Flynt's Hustler Magazine's Top 50 Most Influential People In Porn list, printed in the January 1999 issue[1]. He also has a line of adult toys bearing his moniker: The Ben Dover Signature line, which produces, among other products, The Ben Dover Realistic Penis and The Ben Dover Anal Kit. In 2006, Ben Dover won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the UK Adult Film Awards[1], which he co-presented with Kristyn Halborg, Kelly Stafford and lifelong friend and co-star Pascal White. In 2008 Dover attended the UK Adult Film Awards once more, representing Television X and Red Hot TV along with Linsey Dawn Mckenzie and other British adult film stars. Television X has shown some of Dover's most recent projects such as St Teenycums which won "best script" at the UK Adult Film Awards 2008.
Other projects
As well as his pornographic works, Ben Dover has acted in two non-pornographic feature films, the horror/thriller, Deadly Intruder (1985), for which he also provided the incidental music, and the drama Last Resort (2000), in which he played a low budget pornography producer, not unlike himself. He performed a one man show at the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
He has also performed as a musician on various projects:
- He was the keyboardist on La Rox's 1982 single "Can I Bring You Love"/"Photograph (It Doesn't Matter)".
- He was the keyboardist on Bachelor of Hearts' 1983 album On the Boulevard, as well as some live performances of the period.
- He was the drummer on the Ian Mitchell Band's 1980 album Goin' Crazy.
- He was the drummer and pianist on the Ian Mitchell Band's 1979 album Lonely Nites.
Recently on (Sept 2009) BBC4 he featured on the programme Rich Man Poor Man:Ben Dover Straightens, where he attempted to search for personal fulfilment in his life and be taken seriously by making a break in mainstream acting.
Partial filmography
- Ben Dover In London (1994)
- Ben Dover's Ben Behaving Badly (1996)
- Ben Dover's British Anal Invasion (1997)
- Ben Dover's Spicy Girls (1999)
- Ben Dover's Cheek Mates (2000)
- Ben Dover's Posh Birds (2001)
- Ben Dover's Essex Girls (2002)
- Ben Dover's Soccer Sluts (2003)
- Ben Dover Does The Boob Cruise (2004)
- Ben Dover's The Girlie Show (2005)
- Ben Dover's Pussy Galore (2006)