JAMIE GILLIS: The Passing of a Legend

On Friday January 19, 2010, the Distribpix family along with thousands of others, suffered a great and tragic loss, when Jamie Gillis lost his battle with cancer. Jamie was a part of our company since its inception in the 1960’s and we are honored to have maintained a relationship with him since then.

His performances will be preserved forever and the memories that he leaves behind are priceless. For those of us who were lucky enough to know him, it was obvious that he was cut from a different cloth; they just don’t make them like Jamie anymore. His charm and wisdom were two things I will always remember and I feel very fortunate that I was able to spend some special and private moments with Jamie over the past few months.

We shared some great meals at his partner Zarela’s restaurant along with great laughs and amazing stories. Not that long ago, Jamie came to visit me at my warehouse/office in NJ and we spent the entire time together reminiscing about the “good old days”. We spent hours looking through old movie posters and it was great hearing him talk about his past film roles and what we loved about the industry. His recollection of his time in the business was truly incredible and he remembered the smallest details about so many of his film projects.

Three weeks ago, Jamie was gracious enough to allow us to record a full length audio commentary with him for the film ‘Blonde Ambition’. The interview/commentary was done while Jamie was quite ill, but he insisted that we proceed and it was performed by our adult film historian and close friend of Jamie’s, Benson Hurst. It is educational and insightful, and unfortunately it is the last thing he did as far as an adult oriented project before his passing. The commentary will be a bonus track for the upcoming release of the re-mastered version of the Amero Brother’s classic, ‘Blonde Ambition’.

It is very important that his legion of fans and colleagues are aware of this sad news. Jamie was an innovator, not an imitator. They broke the mold when they created Jamie, there will never be another like him. I want to thank you Jamie, for being one of the greatest entertainers of all time. Jamie was the best, hands down. I will never forget him and we will do our best to keep his memory alive, for generations to come.

We would like to send our deepest condolences to Jamie’s family and his partner, Zarela.