page_title: Herschel Savage
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Herschel Savage / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: American pornographic actor en:Herschel Savage, taken on a movie set on June 6, 2006
context_page_description: Herschel Savage is a former American pornographic actor, director and stage actor who has appeared in over 1,000 adult films. In 2002, AVN ranked him 46th on their list of The Top 50 Porn Stars of All Time. He has also been inducted into the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame.
context_section_description: Savage was introduced to the adult film industry via the actor R. Bolla in 1976, He went on to become one of the biggest stars of the "Golden Age of Porn" in the 1970s and 1980s. Savage appeared in the 1978 classic Debbie Does Dallas, for which he was paid about $150 a day. The film was a financial success, becoming one of the top five highest grossing adult films of all time.   Some of the other films he has appeared in include Expose Me Now, Bodies in Heat, and Rambone Does Hollywood. He created the stage name "Herschel Savage" with adult actor Jamie Gillis in an attempt to combine a 'nerdy Jewish identity' with that of a stud.
  During the mid-1980s, Savage helped to organize sex workers in San Francisco to fight for better wages. The initiative was ultimately abandoned after production studios threatened to blacklist performers. In 1986, Savage appeared in a cameo for the neo-noir crime film 52 Pick-Up starring Roy Scheider and Ann-Margret. He was credited as "Harvey Cowen". In 1988, Savage was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame. That same year, he left pornography to work in sales and video distribution. He returned to performing in 1997.
  Savage appeared as a guest during the fifth season of the NBC sitcom Just Shoot Me, which aired on February 1, 2001. In 2003, he performed a stand-up routine on an episode of the reality television series Family Business. Savage portrayed a detective in the 2008 parody film The Texas Vibrator Massacre. He appeared alongside other adult performers in the documentary series After Porn Ends 3 in 2018. To date, Savage has appeared in more than 1000 adult films. He has also been inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.
caption: Savage in 2006
exif: {}