Update: A celebration of Russ Hampshire's life has been set for Friday, March 1, from 1-4 p.m, at Porter Valley Country Club, 19216 Singing Hills Drive, Northridge, CA 91326.
CANOGA PARK, Calif. — Russ Hampshire, who founded VCA Pictures in the so-called Golden Age of Porn and retired when the company was sold to LFP Inc. in 2003, has passed away.
Hampshire started up VCA in 1978 and built the company into a major distributor of adult content with its vast catalog.
VCA produced big-budget, plot-oriented feature films such as “The Sorpornos” and ''New Wave Hookers 4'' and rereleased porn classics like “The Devil in Miss Jones” and ''The Opening of Misty Beethoven.''
VCA, in its heyday, operated out of a 40,000-square-foot facility, churning out 400,000 videotapes a month and reporting $15 million in annual sales.
At a high point, VCA was known as the second-largest porn studio and had 80 full-time employees, including his wife, Betty, who helped him run the business.
Hampshire, an avid golfer and bowler who as a young man had a round of active duty in combat in Vietnam, was considered a legend to many who have followed the adult entertainment industry.
The VCA founder, however, saw himself as “just an average guy,” he told the New York Times for an article.
Notably, Hampshire spent time in federal prison — nine months in 1988 — for shipping obscene videotapes across state lines to federal agents in Alabama. He also paid a $2 million fine on the obscenity counts.
Two of his employees, his CFO and a manager, were also indicted but didn’t face time in prison.
Hampshire, who could be caught wearing a baseball hat and aloha shirts at the office when he operated VCA, was also a graduate of McDonald's Hamburger U., which he attended while running McDonald's franchises in El Paso in the 1970s.
The restaurant chain’s business training came in handy for porn, he said.
''I learned about inventory, buying the proper insurance, doing everything by the book, not taking shortcuts,'' he told the Times.
Hampshire sold VCA in 2003 to Larry Flynt’s company for an undisclosed sum.
In recent weeks, Hampshire's health had deteriorated and close friends were summoned to see him before he passed. He was 71.
