October 24, 2026
Trail-blazing adult-movie director Tom DeSimone died October 17 at 87, just days after posting a public farewell to his friends and fans.
He wrote:
“It appears that my time has come to say thank you and goodbye. To Each of you who have touched my life in some small way please know that it was meant to be. Loving family, childhood friends, career enemies (LOL) and to each of you who contributed in any way to my life’s journey. To my family, you know I loved from the start no matter what.. I wish I could be more poetic but I am doing a ‘one finger exercise’ on my iPad. I am not afraid but mostly curious. I hope some of you get to experience the joy and magic fate gave me. I LOVE you all. GOOD NIGHT.”
Born July 1, 1939, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he studied film at Emerson College in Boston and a master’s degree film production from UCLA.
His student film The Game (1965) hinted at what was to come next, focusing on an actress and a young man in a role-playing situation. He also directed one sequence in the episodic Terror in the Jungle (1968).
Though he edited children’s educational movies early on, he plunged into the feature-film world via the backdoor — pornography — leaving his mark on that genre.
Directing as “Lancer Brooks,” his 1970 The Collection is widely viewed as the first gay-porn film with a plot and dialogue. Until then, they were usually visuals set to bow-chicka-bow-wow music.
Confessions of a Male Groupie, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Electric Banana (1971) was more experimental than prurient — though it was that, too.
Uncredited, he directed the highly entertaining and historically noteworthy Inside A.M.G. (The Athletic Model Guild Story) in 1970, with Rick Cassidy walking viewers through photographer Bob Mizer’s physique-driven creation.
He worked steadily for Hand in Hand, earning credits on several of its gay features, directing Catching Up (1975) and The Idol (1979).
He said of his porn work:
“I did some really good work in those days, considering the budgets and conditions. I learned to shoot fast and from the hip.”
In 2019, he told Bijou Blog of how he got mainstream-quality performances out of his porn actors (who had little to no acting experience):
“Getting performances was always a challenge. I always blocked out all the action in my films in advance and also broke down the script, scene by scene, even indicating where the dialogue would be in close up, two shots, or masters. That way I could get what I needed to edit the film and the performances in a cohesive work. I knew these guys would never be able to carry an entire scene in a master shot (a mistake many filmmakers made back then). So I would film short sections, working with them on just those few lines at a time, then cover the scene with the other actor or actors in the scene, and it would all play together nicely. If one of them screwed up or was lousy, it was simple to shoot several takes of a close up until it was good, rather than shoot the entire sequence over and over. I was a master at editing and it was fun cutting together a performance from very little. Many times the actors would be amazed (and impressed) when they came to the screening to see the film.”
The film I most associate with DeSimone is the 1977 farce Chatterbox, starring Candice Rialson as a young woman whose vagina speaks (and sings disco). It is a ridiculous crossover between porn and more mainstream sleaze, and was shown on cable when I was a kid. I vividly remember trying to watch it by sticking a playing card in my cable box so the channel would come in.
Next came Hell Night (1981), a supernatural slasher flick starring Linda Blair, Vincent Van Patten and Lucan’s Kevin Brophy. He worked with Blair again on Savage Streets (1984), but was replaced as its director by Danny Steinmann.
He also directed the women-in-prison film The Concrete Jungle (1982) with Tracey E. Bregman and Jill St. John and the women-in-prison parody Reform School Girls (1986) with Wendy O. Williams, Sybil Danning and Pat Ast.
His last non-porn feature-film directorial effort was Angel III: The Final Chapter (1988).
DeSimone worked extensively on TV, including directing Freddy’s Nightmares (1988-9), Super Force (1991-2), Swamp Thing (1992-3), Dark Justice (1991-3), The Big Easy (1986-7), Pensacola: Wings of Gola (1998) and She Spies (2002).
In 1995, he directed the entire telenovela Acapulco Bay. Katie Barberi from that series wrote of Tom on social media:
“My director on the first project I had a starring role in at Televisa was the lovely Tom Desimone, a sweetheart of a guy with a career that spanned decades. We lost Tom yesterday. I will always be grateful to him for his kindness, and for making me feel welcome 🩵 Descansa en paz, Tom. Gracias 🙏🏼.”
DeSimone was honored with a Gayvn Hall of Fame Award in 2005. He was living in Palm Springs at the time of his death.
Condolences to DeSimone’s loved ones.⚡️
He worked with Mrs. Kravitz and Sheldon the Sea-Genie??