Roy Garret

Born Roy Samber on February 2, 1955 in New York City, Garrett grew up in New Jersey. His career in adult entertainment began in the late 70’s as a dancer/stripper in Manhattan’s Ramrod (the theatre, not the bar), and then other places like Big Top, and The Gaiety. They used him in their advertising at Big Top, and he did his first film with Francis Ellie in Men Come First (if memory serves me right, he is part of a couple having sexual difficulties, and a door-to-door salesman observes him and his partner before suggesting (successfully) that a bottle rocket will get things going!) Having met Tray Christopher (aka Christopher Rage) who used him as a model, he was then introduced to Joe Gage. He did his first film for Gage in 1980’s HANDsome, and did a total of 5 films for Gage (sometimes under Gage’s other pseudonym, Mac Larsen). Garrett is probably best known for his lead role in Joe Gage’s Heatstroke, where his warm personality comes through to enhance his wonderfully low-key performance. He met his lover in 1981, and did several films with Bob Shane (Bob Schmidlin).

Roy also did live performances, like many porn stars of the era, but his included his own writings and poetry; he even made an audio cassette, Hot Rod to Hell, from his act, with "musical scenery by international recording aritst Man Parrish ." (Parish did several soundtracks for Joe Gage/Mac Larsen/Tim Kincaid). Both Roy and Bob retired from the industry late in 1983, I think, and continued with their full-time jobs (Roy was working in a design firm). Shane died in 1987, and Garrett died on April 3, 1992, both from AIDS complications.