In the early 1980s, Phillips met Lee Ryder in the Boom-Boom Room, a popular gay bar in Laguna Beach, California. Ryder at that time had already achieved fame as a gay pornographic actor in films distributed by Falcon Studios. Within a few months of meeting Ryder, Phillips moved from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, and he and Ryder became lovers.[1] Rod Phillips at the urging of Ryder soon began performing in gay pornographic films. One of his first film roles was in the Falcon Studio film loop entitled High Voltage, which co-starred Ryder and Mark Hunter (this film loop is included in the Winner Takes All videopak).

Phillips was blond, with a lean, muscular physique, somewhat beefier than Ryder's. He was almost as well-endowed as his lover, with a large, thick penis. The two appeared together in several Falcon films, such as Spokes.

Like Ryder, Phillips became very popular and was soon very much in demand as a performer on films and in night clubs. Because they both participated in the porn industry, their personal relationship, according to Phillips, had a rather competitive aspect. Sometimes one of them would get jealous over their compensation as sex workers. Like other couples, they also argued over money.

By the mid-1980s, Phillips and Ryder separated and each soon retired from active participation in the adult film industry. Phillips once again pursued full-time his main vocation in jewelry repair, a craft which he began learning as a teenager in Santa Barbara and which he studied in Paris Junior College in Texas.[2]

When Phillips made a successful comeback in 1990, he dated Joey Stefano who was at that time one of the most popular gay pornographic film actors.[3] This relationship did not last very long and Phillips's comeback consisted of his appearance in three more videos.

Phillips died on May 24, 1993, in West Hollywood, California. Published obituaries at that time state that the official cause of his death was AIDS-related complications, but other sources claim that he "committed suicide by drug overdose" as he lay dying of AIDS.