Joe Dallesandro

Joe Dallesandro was born Joseph Angelo D'Allesandro III on December 31, 1948, in Pensacola, Florida. He grew to a full 5' 6". Little Joe (from a famous tattoo on his upper right arm) was a celebrity who didn't have to worry about nude pictures popping up, they were all over the place.

He started out as a street hustler, worked his way up into nude modeling for Athletic Modeling Guild, and had supposedly made one gay porn film. Then he met Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey, who cast him on the spot in the film they were making. He subsequently became "...the most famous male sex symbol of American underground films of the 20th century, as well as a sex symbol of gay subculture."

I first 'met' Joe in the movie Heat at the New York Film Festival in 1972 (note year, next post). One of the scenes that sticks in my mind is Joe, leaning against the back of a couch, his back to the camera, letting one of the gay characters take a mercy suck while having a conversation with a third character, who is oblivious to what is going on. It was hilarious.

The black and white images are from his AMG days. The first three color images are from Warhol's film Flesh, and the last four are from Warhol's Trash, in which he played a teenage street hustler named 'Little Joe'. Art imitating life.

Joe Dallesandro on Wikipedia.