It was reported yesterday, Gerard Rocco Damiano, director of the infamous porno flick Deep Throat, died Saturday at 80 years old at a Fort Myers hospital after enduring a previous stroke in September.
"He was a filmmaker and an artist and we thought of him as such," his son Damiano Jr. said. "Even though we weren't allowed to see his movies, we knew he was a moviemaker, and we were proud of that."
Although Damiano was known for making films for the adult entertainment industry, there was something that set him apart from the others in his field, clearly reflected in the content of his work. He took his work very seriously and actually spent time with perfecting his movies, which earned him his honorable reputation. Another admirable trait he exuded was treating all of his actors with the utmost respect, unlike some pornographers of today who dish out mediocre work, while their only mindset is to produce an ongoing steady profit.
Upon being asked his impression of himself in a 2005 interview, Damiano responded "[I'm] just a nice guy, which is why I think I did pretty well. I mean, I'd meet an actress and have to say, 'Sit down, take your clothes off — I'm going to ask you to do some nasty things.' You have to be pretty nice."
When Deep Throat was released in 1972 critics were buzzing over the film, as it was the topic of every news outlet in America. As people continually heard of the popular "hour-long raunch fest that was part slapstick comedy, part carnal carnival," people instantly became intrigued to view the movie, especially because porn was such a new craze and was also in the process of becoming more readily accepted in general. Although some criticized the movie's indecency, in reality, Damiano was one of the most truly exceptional and noteworthy filmmakers in the industry. Ultimately he had alternative motives when it came to producing hardcore movies. He wasn't merely in the business for the sake of exploiting actors and selling sex, he created these films with the intention of pleasing his audience.
After his success, the remainder of Damiano's career was spent trying to create a movie that would one day outshine the movie that had given him a household name and put him in the spotlight. Even though the majority of these films displayed his expertise and talent, none of them could quite live up to the same shockingly good standards that Deep Throat brought to the table. Granted the popularity of the phrase also became commonly known as the nickname used for the source of the Watergate Scandal adopted by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, leading to the demise of Richard Nixon's presidency. Putting the functions for the name aside, the movie still came first and holds its own special spot in movie making history thanks to Damiano's keen intellect and artistic eye for detail. He'll forever be known for unleashing porn that had significantly amusing plot points rather than just ostensibly releasing smut, which is what he could have done and probably still could have gotten away with it.
Actress Linda Lovelace dressed as a nurse in the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat.
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