Gerard Damiano, 'Deep Throat' director, dead at 80

FORT MYERS, Fla. _ Gerard Damiano, director of the popular pornographic film "Deep Throat" that lent its name to a Watergate whistleblower, has died. He was 80.

Damiano died Saturday at a Fort Myers hospital, his son, Gerard Damiano Jr., said Monday. He had suffered a stroke in September.

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.