Tom DeSimone, Director of ‘Chatterbox,’ ‘Reform School Girls,’ Dies at 87 — SkimNews
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- Tom DeSimone died Oct. 17 in Cathedral City, California, at age 87; his brother Bob confirmed the death and said DeSimone chose medically assisted death after a terminal cancer diagnosis.
- UCLA — DeSimone earned a master's in film there after being born in Revere, Massachusetts, and raised in Newton and Weston, then helmed the low-budget 1968 adventure film 'Terror in the Jungle.'
- Lancer Brooks was one of the pseudonyms DeSimone used while directing adult films including 'Lust in the Afternoon,' 'Gay Guide to Hawaii' and 'Prison Girls.'
- Chatterbox (1977), starring Candice Rialson as Penny, a beautician whose vagina talks and 'isn't always tactful,' was called 'a genuinely funny comedy' by The Passionate Moviegoer.
- Linda Blair starred in two DeSimone films, 'Hell Night' and 'Savage Streets'; he left 'Savage Streets' early and moved on to direct 'Angel III: The Final Chapter.'
- Reform School Girls (1986), his campy women-behind-bars film, became a cult classic of the genre after he helmed 'Concrete Jungle' with Jill St. John and Tracey E. Bregman.
- Freddy's Nightmares — later in the 1980s DeSimone directed four episodes of the series, joining TV credits on 'Swamp Thing,' 'Super Force,' 'Dark Justice,' 'The Big Easy' and every episode of the soap opera 'Acapulco Bay.'
Why it matters: DeSimone's death at 87 ends the career of the director behind two cult picks — 1977's 'Chatterbox' and 1986's 'Reform School Girls' — and a TV résumé that includes four 'Freddy's Nightmares' episodes and every episode of the soap opera 'Acapulco Bay.' For cult audiences, the films remain the record of a director who moved from adult work into genre fare.
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