Gerardo Rocco "Gerard" Damiano (August 4, 1928 â€" October 25, 2008)
was an American director of adult films. He wrote and directed the
1972 cult classic Deep Throat, which starred Linda Susan Boreman aka
Linda Lovelace. He also directed the smash hit The Devil in Miss
Jones, which ranked #7 in Variety's list of the top-grossing pictures
of 1973. (Deep Throat came in at #11 that year, its second consecutive
year on the list.) Damiano is one of the seminal directors of what is
known as The Golden Age of Porn (1969â€"1984).Gerard Damiano was born
Gerardo Rocco Damiano to an Italian American Catholic family in the
Bronx, New York City. When he was 6, his father died; his mother never
remarried. The day he turned 17, he enlisted in the United States
Navy, in which he served for 4 years. Before this, he was a shoeshine
boy in Times Square and worked in an automat. After his discharge at
the age of 21 years, Damiano studied X-ray technology on the G.I. Bill
and was an x-ray technician at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York,
then opened a hairdressing salon with a friend in New York City.
Frequently overhearing sexual gossip at the salon convinced him that
pornographic films made to appeal to couples would be a commercial
success.Damiano took an interest in film-making after his accountant
introduced him to a producer who was making a low-budget horror film.
Intrigued, Damiano began helping out as he could on the set, and went
on to work as a crew member on numerous New York sexploitation films
in the late 1960s.
was an American director of adult films. He wrote and directed the
1972 cult classic Deep Throat, which starred Linda Susan Boreman aka
Linda Lovelace. He also directed the smash hit The Devil in Miss
Jones, which ranked #7 in Variety's list of the top-grossing pictures
of 1973. (Deep Throat came in at #11 that year, its second consecutive
year on the list.) Damiano is one of the seminal directors of what is
known as The Golden Age of Porn (1969â€"1984).Gerard Damiano was born
Gerardo Rocco Damiano to an Italian American Catholic family in the
Bronx, New York City. When he was 6, his father died; his mother never
remarried. The day he turned 17, he enlisted in the United States
Navy, in which he served for 4 years. Before this, he was a shoeshine
boy in Times Square and worked in an automat. After his discharge at
the age of 21 years, Damiano studied X-ray technology on the G.I. Bill
and was an x-ray technician at Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York,
then opened a hairdressing salon with a friend in New York City.
Frequently overhearing sexual gossip at the salon convinced him that
pornographic films made to appeal to couples would be a commercial
success.Damiano took an interest in film-making after his accountant
introduced him to a producer who was making a low-budget horror film.
Intrigued, Damiano began helping out as he could on the set, and went
on to work as a crew member on numerous New York sexploitation films
in the late 1960s.
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