Tom DeSimone: key obituary facts
Is Tom DeSimone dead? Yes. Tom DeSimone died on October 17, 2026, at age 87.
Cause of death: Tom DeSimone's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Tom DeSimone known for?
He was an American director.
More about Tom DeSimone
Born: 1 January 1939.
Place of birth: Cambridge.
Gender: male.
Occupation: film director, screenwriter, film producer, director.
Nationality: United States.
Occupations: Director, writer, producer, editor.
Tom DeSimone, an American film director, writer and producer whose work included Chatterbox, Hell Night and The Concrete Jungle, died October 17, 2026, aged 87.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1939, he earned a bachelor’s degree in directing from Emerson College in Boston before moving west to study at UCLA, where he received a master’s degree in motion picture production. After graduating, DeSimone briefly worked as a post-production supervisor at Bosustow Productions in West Los Angeles.
He began directing adult films in the late 1960s, including gay pornography released under the pseudonym Lancer Brooks. His 1970 film The Collection was the first X-rated gay feature film to include dialogue and a plot. He also directed a number of films for Hand in Hand Films, a gay production studio established during the early 1970s golden age of adult films. DeSimone’s later work included the cult films Chatterbox (1977), Hell Night (1981) and The Concrete Jungle (1982). His 1971 film Confessions of a Male Groupie, also known as How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Electric Banana, was another entry in his adult-film work. In addition to directing, he worked as a writer, producer and editor.