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 (; oc, Joan dei 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 ...

, 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 United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and served in France, Belgium and Germany in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Returning to civilian life in 1947, he started an acting career with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, then switched to films, becoming a publicist, first with

J. Arthur Rank Joseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank (22 December 1888 – 29 March 1972) was a British industrialist who was head and founder of the Rank Organisation. Family business Rank was born on 22 or 23 December 1888 at Kingston upon Hull in England into ...

, then with

Sir Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)David O. Selznick David O. Selznick (May 10, 1902June 22, 1965) was an American film producer, screenwriter and film studio executive who produced ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939) and ''Rebecca'' (1940), both of which earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture. E ...

for whom he worked on ''

The Third Man ''The Third Man'' is a 1949 British film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Set in postwar Vienna, the film centres on American Holly Martins (Cotten), ...

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

Terminal Station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot 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 Tiffany & Co. (colloquially known as Tiffany's) is a high-end luxury jewelry and specialty retailer, headquartered on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It sells jewelry, sterling silver, porcelain, crystal, stationery, fragrances, water bottles, watc ...

as a salesman, then left in 1963 to work in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

in the south with his good friend, actress Madeleine Sherwood. 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 millio ...

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

, and using a title similar to '' Exterminating Angel'' (1962) by Luis Buñuel. 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 is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, 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 film-making 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 ...

and shown later that year at the

London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival BFI Flare: London LGBTIQ+ Film Festival, formerly known as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF), is the biggest LGBTIQ+ film festival in Europe. It takes place every spring in London, England. It began in 1986, as a season of gay and ...

. 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), short for Sheffield International Documentary Festival (SIDF), is an international documentary festival and Marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The Festival includes film sc ...

. He fell ill and died at the medieval cottage that had been his long-term home in Sandwich, Kent on 21 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, 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