NEW YORK — Retired adult performer Jose Duval passed away on Sunday at 82, according to reports by industry friends.
Duval was in hospice care at the time. His longtime spouse, Daniele, reportedly also passed away on Sunday, at their home in New York.
The Brussels-born Duval, sometimes known as “Frenchy,” came to prominence in the 1980s, starring in top titles by film-era marquee studios like VCA, Command, Caballero, Essex and many others.
Duval’s IAFD page shows almost 70 credits, from his 1983 start in the industry at 42 — after years in the European swinging and sex club scene — until the mid-1990s. Notable titles include Lasse Braun’s “Deep and Wet,” “Viva Vanessa,” “Initiation of Cynthia,” “Raw Talent,” “Young Nymphos,” “Samantha I Love You,” “Nightshift Nurses,” “Pillowman” and “I Cream With Genie,” among others.
Porn history website The Rialto Report published a lengthy interview with Duval in 2018, in which he said, “I loved my time in the adult business. I loved the acting, and being a porn star got me into all of these clubs for free. And of course I liked the sex.”
After the business transitioned to video and the Los Angeles area, he told The Rialto Report’s Ashley West, “it just didn’t feel like the movies anymore, and there wasn’t any acting either. What I enjoyed was making real movies. They may have been pornographic, but they were real stories with real characters when I started out. And there was no way I was moving to California. I was a New Yorker now.”
Fellow veteran performer “Long” Jeanne Silver posted on Facebook a tribute to Duval and his wife, writing, “You were the perfect couple and will be together for eternity. My heart is broken, but I know this is the way you both hoped it would end. You both shall remain dear to my heart and soul.”