Peter de Rome (28 June 1924 – 21 June 2014) was a writer, photographer, and director of gay-themed, erotic films. De Rome was born in

Juan-les-Pins Juan-les-Pins (; ) is a town in the commune of Antibes in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, it is situated between Nice and Cannes, to the southwest of Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. Juan-les-Pins ...

, Côte d'Azur, France, grew up in England, and became an American citizen in 1997.

Career

De Rome volunteered in 1943 for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

and served in France, Belgium and Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Returning to civilian life in 1947, he started an acting career with the

Birmingham Repertory Theatre Birmingham Repertory Theatre, commonly called Birmingham Rep or just The Rep, is a producing theatre based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England. Founded by Barry Jackson, it is the longest-established of Britain's building-based theatre ...

, then switched to films, becoming a publicist, first with J. Arthur Rank, then with Sir Alexander Korda and later with

David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (born David Selznick; May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind (film), Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca (1940 film), Rebecca'' (1 ...

for whom he worked on ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, Orson Welles as Harry Lime and Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Set in post-Worl ...

'' (1949) in Vienna, and then on ''

Terminal Station A train station, railroad station, or railway station is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight, or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track, and a station building providing such ...

'' (1953) in Rome (released in the U.S. as ''Indiscretion of an American Wife'').Peter de Rome profile
IMDB.com; accessed 28 June 2014. In 1956, he emigrated to the U.S. and first joined Tiffany & Company as a salesman, then left in 1963 to work in the Civil Rights Movement in the south with his good friend, actress

Madeleine Sherwood Madeleine Sherwood (born Madeleine Louise Hélène Thornton; November 13, 1922 – April 23, 2016) was a Canadian actress of stage, film and television. She portrayed Mae/Sister Woman and Miss Lucy in both the Broadway and film versions of Tenne ...

. During this period, he made his first movie, a short documentary entitled ''New Orleans''. Returning to New York, he made a succession of gay erotic shorts culminating with ''Hot Pants'', which won a first prize in 1971 at the Wet Dream Film Festival in Amsterdam. This led to a suggestion from producer Jack Deveau to select eight movies to be released commercially as ''The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome''. These shorts opened to critical acclaim at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

in NYC, and later ran successfully in most large cities across the U.S. In 1974, de Rome went to Paris to make his first full-length feature entitled '' Adam & Yves'', which was followed in 1976 by ''The Destroying Angel'', an exercise in gay horror, supposedly based on

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

, and using a title similar to '' Exterminating Angel'' (1962) by

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish and Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

. However, with the advent of HIV/AIDS in the early 80s, de Rome ceased making movies. During this time de Rome worked in publicity for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

, retiring in 1989. In 1997 de Rome took out U.S. citizenship. His films had limited circulation in the UK, but in 2007 the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

(BFI) requested a selection of de Rome's films to be held in their

Archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

and shown later that year at the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. This program included a 45-minute documentary made by David McGillivray called ''Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn'', and proved so successful that the BFI released the whole program on DVD. A full-length documentary entitled ''Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn'' was produced in de Rome's 90th year. The film was screened at the

Sheffield Documentary Festival Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest; abbr.Sheffield International Documentary Festival or SIDF) is an international documentary festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The festival revolves aro ...

. De Rome was unable to attend due to illness. De Rome was diagnosed with leukaemia in May 2014. He died in the medieval cottage that had been his long-term home in Sandwich, Kent on 21st of June 2014, a week before his 90th birthday.

Partial filmography

Short films

*''New Orleans'' (1964) *''Shower'' (1965) *''The Fire Island Story'' (1965) *''Scopo'' (1966) *''Boogaloo'' (1966) *''Double Exposure'' (1969) *''Encounter'' (1970) *''Green Thoughts'' (1970) *''The Second Coming'' (1970) *''In Camera'' (1977) *''Brown Study'' (1979) *''Help Wanted'' (1971) *''Moulage'' (1971) *''Mumbo Jumbo'' (1971) *''Prometheus'' (1972) *''Daydreams from a Crosstown Bus'' (1972) *''Underground'' (1972) *''Kensington Gorey'' (1973/2013) *''The Box'' (1974) *''Badedas'' (1976) *''Marathon'' (1979)

Feature films

*''The Erotic Films of Peter De Rome'' (1973) *'' Adam & Yves'' (1974) *''The Destroying Angel'' (1976)

Documentaries

*''Fragments: The Incomplete Films of Peter de Rome'' (2011) *''Peter de Rome: Grandfather of Gay Porn'' (2013)

Bibliography

*''The Erotic World of Peter de Rome'' (

Alyson Publications Alyson Books, formerly known as Alyson Publications, was a book publishing house which specialized in LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Former publisher Don Weise described it as "the world's oldest and largest publisher of LGBT literature" and "the ...

, 1984) – autobiography

References

External links

* *
The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome
at

Video Interview: Musings love and passion in the cinema
at British Film Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:DeRome, Peter 2014 deaths 1924 births American photographers American pornographic film directors French photographers French pornographic film directors Directors of gay pornographic films French emigrants to the United States