What a strange and disturbing week. Too much death. Got a phonecall last night from a close friend who wanted to talk about the death of three important people. I said, "Blue Blake? Yes. I heard. Just awful. Who else?" He says, "Gino Colbert and David Forrest." What?????? My jaw dropped to the floor and I couldn't speak. Totally shocking. Still in shock. David Forrest was a porn agent and we had to deal with him when we cast some of his clients in our plays and I didn't really know him personally. Gino Colbert on the other hand was one of my closet friends for a while. I met him when we brought Making Porn to LA. He was the first person in the industry to bring porn stars to come see the show and he invited me to his set where I met Blue Blake and got the idea to do the documentary. Gino starred in the movie we made and him and I became great friends and he appeared in some of my plays around the country. He was a very nice man. He seemed to know everyone on the planet. He introduced me to some fascinating people. Eventually our friendship drifted apart and we lost contact. In recent years our relationship consisted of him sending me a birthday e-mail saying, "Happy Birthday, Playwright Larsen." I would write back inviting him to lunch, which never happened, and then another year would pass...then last year he showed up at The Penis Talk Show in LA and it was great to see him again and that was it. I find out yesterday he died this summer of a heart attack, alone in his apartment, just like Blue Blake. Both starred in my plays and my documentary and both died in their 50's. Way too young. So sad. Life is way too short. I relearn that lesson every single day.
