Let’s face it, folks, the past two years have been horrible for losing great artists, especially for those of us who are into the fringe arts. Damiano, Lux Interior, Bill Landis, Ron Asheton, Brian “Smerdley” Shane, Jack Wrangler, Sky Saxon, Erica Boyer, Juliet Anderson and now Jamie Gillis.
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I can’t even convey to you properly how weird it feels to type out that sentence, especially since the news only broke out a few days ago. Death is always a surprise but this was a case of it being genuinely shocking. This was a man that lived life to its fullest and for being 66 years old, he looked damn good. Better than anyone has a right to. But it’s not just appearances. There was something truly bigger than life about the man. Part of that was persona. Any fan of blue films worth his or her salt should be more than familiar with “the dark Prince of Porn. But Gillis was more than that, both as an actor and as a man. This was someone you could never just write off as this or that. When you do that, you’re usually missing the most beautiful and brilliant part of the picture. It is the layers of Gillis’s talent and intelligence that has always fascinated me.