Legend Co-Founder Jack Richman Passes Away

LOS ANGELES—Jack Richman, the co-founder of Legend Video, passed away Wednesday morning, veteran director/producer David Christopher confirmed. Details about Richman’s death were not available at post time.  Richman, who was from The Bronx area of New York, launched Legend Video in September 1989 with his late partner Bruce Mendleson, who succumbed to cancer in September 2023. Legend started out as a wholesaler and went on to produce and distribute about 1,500 adult titles until the company was sold to Caballero Pictures in 2013. Just like their days together at Western Visuals—which was founded by Richman’s uncle Jerome Tanner—Jack ran the operations at Legend, while Mendleson oversaw sales for 24 years. Richman got his industry start in 1986 around the age of 19, working in the warehouse at Western. By the time he left to launch Legend he was one of the youngest company owners in the adult industry. David Christopher first connected with Jack in ’87, when Christopher was still running Coast to Coast Video in New York. David began to produce and direct for Legend in 1999, thriving along with Richman and Mendleson for the next 10-plus years as the prolific company grew in stature. “He was a good guy,” Christopher told AVN. “Jack was big for a long time—Legend was huge. "They were really big in the 2000s. He had a whole bunch of series, he covered all the different genres. “I did all the Decadent Divas and the Pussyman series. I used to go to lunches and dinners with him. He gave me little parameters but he mostly let me do what I wanted to.” Christopher said that Richman was “very tough” when it came to doing business, but away from the office he loved sports such as football, baseball and basketball—and going to rock concerts like The Who. “We had a great time all the time,” David said. “We went to all the games and we went to lots of concerts.” Richman was a fan of the Miami Dolphins and also loved following the Knicks and the Mets. He and Christopher would often attend Clippers games. Legend Video racked up several AVN Awards, one of which went to Scotty Fox, who won Best Director - Video for The Cockateer in 1992. It was Fox who was the catalyst in getting Legend involved in the production side of the industry. That same year Mike Horner captured Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Bite for Legend. Legend's distribution deal with Hall of Fame producer Nelson’s X’s Skintight Pictures led to three AVNs, beginning in 2004, when they won Best Specialy Release - Other Genre for Skintight's Chunky on the 4th of July; they won the award again in 2006 for Chunky Housecall Nurses 2, in addition to capturing the award for Best Box Cover Concept for The Chunky Whisperer in January 2005. "Jack was bigger than life," Nelson X, who got his start in the adult biz with Legend in early 1999, told AVN. "Loud. Bombastic. Fucking Godzilla. When i started working at Legend, I used to think he was always pissed. But, that was just Jack. He enjoyed cutting up with us and made those old days some of the best I ever had. I’m stunned and sorry to hear about his passing." In December 2005, Legend signed emerging superstar and future AVN Hall of Famer, Mary Carey, to a two-year, exclusive performance contract.