Director Gerard Damiano, the writer/director of infamous 'adult' movie Deep Throat, died on October 25th after complications following a recent stroke (as in damage of blood vessels in the brain).
As well as being credited with launching the adult motion pict- oh, to hell with it - the porn movie industry, Deep Throat was an incredibly successful independent film, adult or otherwise, and holds the title of most profitable movie of all time.
Made for $25,000, it grossed about a bajillion dollars worldwide (although Damiano barely saw a penny of it, thanks to the finances being fronted up by gangsters), Deep Throat was again crystallised in the public consciousness when journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein named their Watergate source after it.
Damioano made dozens of skin-flicks after Deep Throat, but never replicated its success.