Theander Brothers

Peter Gruntvig Theander was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 5, 1941. Jens, his younger brother, arrived on January 22, 1944.

In 1966, the brothers opened a second-hand bookstore in Copenhagen, using window displays of naturist and pin-up magazines to suggest to passers by that harder stuff was available under the counter. Because demand exceeded supply, the brothers decided to become producers.

Lacking capital, they stopped ordering new magazines and let their inventory of porn diminish. Jens shot photographs and Peter designed their first magazines.

Help came from the Danish police, who under pressure from religious groups, cracked down on the country's pornographers. But when the cops raided the Theanders store, they found nothing. With most of their competitors out of business, the brothers were poised to exploit Denmark's legalization of hardcore in 1969.

They founded Candy Film which became the world's biggest producer of Super 8 film. As their production exceeded the capacity of local processing plants, Peter and Jens created a huge, vertically integrated porn production camp on the outskirts of Copenhagen in 1975. Over the next two decades, the Theanders produced nearly 100 million magazines, nine million Super 8's and over one million videocassettes.

The brothers probably had the most profitable partnership in porn history. They eventually split in 1985. Jens, the photographer, wanted to make features while Pter preferred to close the studio and buy European rights to films made by others. Jens retired to London while Peter ran Rodox alone, generating sales of about $15 million annually in the late '80s. Avoiding publicity, Peter spends his spare time pursuing opera, modern art and his extensive wine collection.

"Theander refuses to give interviews," wrote the tabloid Ekstra Bladet, "will not allow photographs of himself, and journalists who visit the concern's HQ on Strandlodsvej must sign an undertaking that Theander may approve the article before it is printed. The freedom from censorship which supposedly made the Theander brothers multimillionaires since 1969, does not include - according to the Danish porno king - an inquisitive press."