John Christopher(1953-1984)

Adult filmmaker John Christopher was born Christopher Covino on December 1st in 1953. The eldest in a family of three brothers, Covino grew up in a traditional New Jersey family. Following graduation from high school Christopher attended Montclair State University, where he was active in both the theatre group and photography clubs. Around this time Covino also developed short scripts that he and others performed as sketches on campus. Moreover, Christopher also became interested in filmmaking while at Montclair and headed to Manhattan to pursue a film career in the wake of graduating from college. Covino started his cinematic career as a trainee editor splicing together commercials, documentaries, and industrial films while continuing to work on his own scripts. Christopher met Chuck Vincent in 1972 and went on to work on a handful of Vincent's adult movies in a variety of capacities that include writer, assistant editor, script supervisor, assistant director, and production manager. Covino wrote and directed his first adult feature Inside Georgina Spelvin (1973) in 1973. Christopher made over twenty hardcore pictures altogether, with Centurians of Rome (1981) in particular rating as his single most impressive and ambitious adult cinema achievement. Covino eventually moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a career in mainstream films. He died on July 1, 1984 from AIDS at age thirty.