Tom DeSimone

Tom DeSimone (July 1, 1939 – October 17, 2026) was an American director, writer, producer and editor, perhaps best known for directing the cult films Chatterbox (1977), Hell Night (1981), and The Concrete Jungle (1982) and a number of pornographic films for Hand in Hand Films, a gay production studio established in the "golden age" of adult films in the early 1970s.

DeSimone was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 1, 1939. He received his bachelor's degree in directing from Emerson College in Boston and then headed West to UCLA where he earned a master's degree in Motion Picture production. Following graduation Tom worked briefly as Post Production Supervisor at Bosustow Productions in West Los Angeles.

He began his career as a director of numerous adult films in the late 1960s, including several gay pornography films under the pseudonym Lancer Brooks. His 1970 film The Collection was the first X-rated gay feature film to include dialogue and a plot while his 1971 effort Confessions of a Male Groupie or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Electric Banana was awarded the Mama Cass award in the "Wet Dream Film Festival" in Amsterdam that same year.

Under Hand in Hand Films, DiSimone worked behind the scenes as a camera man on three of the gay porn studio's releases and directed some of his own, including Catching Up (1975) and The Idol (1979).

Chatterbox (1977), the cult musical sexcapade released by American International, was Tom's crossover film from the adult film world to mainstream Hollywood features. The film was produced by Bruce Cohn Curtis who would then hire him to direct his subsequent film Hell Night (1981), starring Linda Blair. Other films he directed include Reform School Girls, his send-up of women's prison films starring Wendy O Williams, The Concrete Jungle and the television series Freddy's Nightmares and Dark Justice.

After signing with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) he moved from features to television where the remainder of his career was spent directing episodic television for various production studios and networks including. Lorimar, Warner Bros, MGM Television, CBS Television, and the USA Network. He also did a one-year stint in Mexico City where he directed all 120 episodes of the Telenova, Acapulco Bay, for Televisa Studios.

His awards include a Golden Eagle award/Cine Film Festival for his short, Wooden Lullaby; a UCLA Film School scholarship for his film, The Game, and a Lifetime Achievement award in the 2005 Gayvn Hall of Fame. ;He resided in Palm Springs.

Tom DeSimone died on October 17, 2026, at the age of 87.