Departures of note

Tom DeSimone was an American director, writer, producer and editor born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who studied directing at Emerson College before earning a master's degree in motion picture production at UCLA. He began his career in the late 1960s directing adult films, including several gay pornography features under the pseudonym Lancer Brooks for the Hand in Hand Films studio, and was noted for exploring gay relationships in his work. His 1970 film The Collection was the first X-rated gay feature to include dialogue and a plot.

DeSimone crossed over to mainstream Hollywood with Chatterbox (1977), a cult musical sex comedy released by American International Pictures. He went on to direct the slasher film Hell Night (1981) starring Linda Blair, the women's prison satire Reform School Girls starring Wendy O. Williams, and The Concrete Jungle. He later moved into television, directing episodes of series such as Freddy's Nightmares and Dark Justice, and directed all 120 episodes of the telenovela Acapulco Bay in Mexico.

His honors included a Golden Eagle award at the Cine Film Festival for his short Wooden Lullaby and a Lifetime Achievement award from the GayVN Hall of Fame in 2005. He died on October 17, 2026, at the age of 87.