Photographer, director, and raconteur Richard Monfort, whose nom de porn was Richard de Montfort, will be memorialized Saturday morning at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery. He was 53 when he died earlier this month.
Richard was the set photographer for dozens of Hustler movies, and was also an excellent director. I always looked forward to occasions where we’d be working in the same room, because he had a great sense of humor and because he put his subjects at ease.
Richard was an L.A. native and he was a porn fan long before he got his first job in the adult business (read his obituary in AVN here). When I met him, he regaled me – and that’s not too strong a word – with stories and scandals from the adult business dating back to the old Adult Film Awards that predated the AVNs.
The last time I saw Richard, in late May, he was shooting the movie that turned out to be “Hustler’s Untrue Stories: Lindsay Lohan.” He had written and directed it, and was telling me about a scene in which Scarlett Fay would recreate Lindsey Lohan’s recreation of Marilyn Monroe’s “Last Sitting” pictorial.
“It’s meta meta meta meta,” he said, “and maybe six people will get it.”
Speaking of meta, I realize as I sift through years of behind the scenes photos that I only have pictures of Richard taking pictures of other people. So there he is, above, with Nicole Ray. I had occasion over the past two months to write about that shoot and Monfort several times, and the final two were posthumous, though I didn’t know it at the time.
Below is a picture Richard took of me being flummoxed by Lisa Ann.
I’m from a part of the world where you can walk places, and Los Angeles has been an adjustment. My job(s) have ended up fulfilling more of my social quota than I’m used to because everything is so spread out. Therefore my friends have become the people I work with, because they’re the ones I am in physical proximity to.
Richard was one of those people who I always looked forward to seeing. He was a man who defied porn stereotypes; he was a smart guy, a soft-spoken man, a brilliant conversationalist, a thoughtful artist, most definitely a pervert with an eye for inspiring others along that road, and a pleasure to be around.
The news broke on AVN. Drew Rosenfeld, Hustler’s creative director, had been trying to reach Richard for a week, and finally went to Monfort’s Burbank home and noticed the mail piled up and the cars in the driveway. He alerted the police, who then confirmed Richard was dead.
I don’t read the adult trades so I learned of Richard’s passing via a Hustler press release concerning Saturday’s memorial.
I heard that Richard had heart problems, and I also heard that his death was believed to have been a result of natural causes. I have no reason to doubt either of those rumors, but I have not confirmed them.
Richard Monfort vwas a pleasure to know, and I wish I got to know him better. He died too young, and I think we’ve missed out on what he had in store.
Organizers of Saturday’s service ask that guests bring flowers. The details are below:
Saturday, July 18 @ 9:30 a.m.
Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills
(inside the church)
6300 Forest Lawn Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90068
Previously on Porn Valley Observed: Scarlett Fay’s extensions and, by extension, our own; Strollin’ in the Colon (a favorite); Nailin’ Paylin for America
I was saddened to learn of Richard's untimely death. I knew him completely apart from his career as a director and photographer, which he mentioned only in passing to me and others through whom I met him. He was an educated and genial man who gave lie to the preconceptions his work might have conjured up. Clearly he enjoyed his chosen profession but it did not encompass his whole world. He was well read and uncommonly well spoken, a gourmand and connoisseur of fine wines. He had an artistic temperament coupled with a bawdy sense of humor. I will miss him greatly. Requiescat in pace.
Andrew K