LAWYER, 54, PRESENTS BARE FACTS IN SEX FILMS.

Byline: Michael Gougis Staff Writer

Stressed out and burned out, San Fernando Valley attorney Ronald S. Miller pulled the plug on his suit-and-tie law practice.

Now he wears nothing at all.

Miller still practices law part-time and remains a member in good standing in the California Bar Association. But he has a second career as an actor, writer and producer of adult movies.

Miller, 54, who works under the name Don Hollywood, has appeared in more than 400 scenes in various adult productions and - along with his wife, who also acts in adult films - co-hosts a weekly show on a Burbank-based Internet network.

``I've always loved the fast life,'' said Miller, lounging in a pair of long denim shorts during an interview in the back yard of his home outside Santa Clarita city limits.

Law professors said Miller is the first attorney they've heard of in California who also acts in sexually explicit movies. But none could come up with any reason why a member of the bar couldn't pursue a second career as a porn star.

``Well, this is not your garden-variety ethics issue,'' mused Greg Keating, a law professor at the University of Southern California and an expert on legal ethics.

``If someone wanted to push the issue, they might try to say it's a question of moral turpitude, but if you check the wording of the professional code, it states 'crimes' of moral turpitude. As long as he's not breaking the law,'' Keating said there appears to be no obstacle.

Just to be on the safe side, Miller said he tells each of his legal clients about his night job.

``I always tell them, look, if you hit the pay-per-view channels, you might see me,'' Miller said. ``So far, I haven't lost a client yet because of it. Most of them think it's pretty cool.''

Miller and wife, Brooke Hunter, have their own little slice of the affluent life.

Their two-story home, pushing $750,000 in value, has a rock pool and a fountain in the back yard. Two Iron Horse custom cruiser motorcycles are kept in the garage, while a high-end sport utility vehicle - with ``I Get Paid to Do What You Pay To View'' as the message on the license plate frame - is relegated to the driveway.

Right now, Miller is between airplanes. He sold his last one - a British Provost fighter-trainer - after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, left authorities a little nervous about letting private military jets flit around Southern California.

Miller said he's not worried that his second career will set a bad example for his 10-year-old daughter. ``I really don't know what she knows and what she doesn't. But I try not to shoot things that are degrading to women.

``I'll let you walk through this house, and I'll give you $100 for anything you find here that you wouldn't find in any typical family's home. And I'd rather my daughter see two people having sex than watch someone's head getting blown off. To me, Quentin Tarantino does pornography.''

Miller doesn't mince words, and he doesn't answer to anyone but himself. He just grabbed his atypical version of the American Dream.

The son of Russian and Romanian immigrants, Miller was admitted to the bar in 1975 and immediately went into criminal defense. Among his very first clients, he said, were members of a motorcycle club called the Hessians.

Over the years, he has represented more than a few Hells Angels in court. In his favorite trial, he said, he represented five Angels brought up on weapons-possessions charges after a dust-up with some Los Angeles Police Department officers from a unit of CRASH - for Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums - the anti-gang organization disbanded after the Rampart scandal.

Miller adopted the novel legal defense that the Angels were not engaged in criminal activity, just in a dispute between rival associations - and he won the case.

``The jury didn't like the Hells Angels, but they hated the (CRASH) cops,'' he said.

``Criminal law gave me a chance to dance close to the flame,'' he added. ``I've loved hanging out with gangsters. Most of them, you wouldn't even know that they exist unless you're doing business with them.''

Miller has little sympathy for those who suffered when they tried to rip off his clients. ``They knew what they were getting into,'' he said.

But that ended in 1992 in his doctor's office, when he was diagnosed with severe upper gastro-intestinal tract problems.

Miller knew a few people in the adult-films industry, having helped them out of some small legal scrapes. That led to his starting an annual industry gathering, now known as Erotica Los Angeles, that draws thousands to the Los Angeles Convention Center each year.

In late 1997, his wife became disabled from an injury. A former accountant, she started her own erotic Web site. That led to her appearing in adult films. On the eve of her first shoot, Miller said, she asked him to perform with her.

``I figured, what the hell, sounds like fun. You just can't show my face,'' Miller said. ``I was a cat burglar. I was dying in this woolen mask.''

Since then, he's lost any shyness.

``I can sit down, read a script and become that character,'' Miller said. ``And let's remember who's watching these movies. They see some young stud and they can't relate. They see me and they say, wow, if he can ...''

The program director at KSEXradio.com called Miller - as Don Hollywood - and Hunter an interesting addition to the network.

``Don and Brooke combine wit, beauty and charisma in every show they do. They're like Edith and Archie from 'All in The Family,''' he said.

Sometimes, the career strains their relationship.

``I'm far more possessive and jealous than she is,'' Miller conceded. ``But we work these things out. Life is about resolving conflicts.''

If Miller could change one thing in his new vocation, it would be to establish a legal minimum age of at least 21 for the actors.

``I'd like to actually see it at 25, but that would never fly,'' he said. ``But 18 is too young. If you can't make the decision to drink responsibly at that age, how can you make the decision to have sex professionally? Once it's on videotape, it's there forever. And there's a bigger difference between an 18-year-old and a 21-year-old than three years.''

Michael Gougis, [phone]

michael.gougis(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

Ronald S. Miller wears a suit and tie in his part-time career as a lawyer. He goes nude in his other career - as adult-film actor Don Hollywood.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer