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'Deep Throat' director Gerard Damiano dies at 80

Gerard Damiano, director of the pioneering porn film that lent its name to the Watergate scandal whistle-blower known as Deep Throat, has died Saturday at a Fort Myers hospital.

(Photo: AP Wide World Photos/Universal Studios)

Damiano's Deep Throat was a mainstream box-office success and helped launch the modern hardcore adult-entertainment industry. Shot in six days for just $25,000, the 1972 flick became a cultural must-see for Americans who had just lived through the sexual liberation of the 1960s.

The film's title also became associated with one of the most famous anonymous sources in journalism. While investigating the Watergate scandal, reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein used it as a nickname for their source, former FBI official W. Mark Felt.

Born in New York in 1928, Damiano worked as a hairdresser, spent time in the Navy and directed several adult films.

After Deep Throat opened in Times Square, attention from media critics and outraged conservatives — including repeated legal challenges — helped turn it into a hit.

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