Harold (Hal) Guthu, a softcore porn figure who made films with adult producer Ed Wood, Jr. thirty years ago and ran an agency which specialized in softcore porn models and actors, was found dead Feb. 27 while investigators probed a fire which gutted the offices of his CHN International Agency. He was 78.
Officials began with homicide and arson investigations into the blaze on Santa Monica Blvd., but have since ruled homicide out. Police are now working the theory that Guthu took his own live in an elaborate suicide and are investigating whether he cleared out all his property, set fire to the offices, and shot himself to death. Police tell AVN On The Net forensics and coroner's reports point to suicide.
Photographer David Story, who knew Guthu for 35 years, says it was unlikely Guthu would have been robbed or murdered. "Nobody snuck up on him," he says . "His desk faced Santa Monica Blvd. He could see out. Nobody could see in. You couldn't get in unless he buzzed you in. He was never in on the weekends unless he was building a set. He would not have opened the safe for anybody, even if he had a gun to his head."
But Story also describes a man who was secretive enough that he rarely saw his friend outside the agency studio
Story also says it was odd for early information to suggest Guthu's car was found several blocks from the offices, because Guthu apparently could not walk and always parked behind his office. Story also says Guthu planned to will everything to his partner, Carol.
Some speculation holds money problems as a possible cause for suicide, but that's been ruled out in favor of a theory that he may have received medical information unsettling to him.
The CHN offices seemed to have burned in several places at one, suggesting arson, according to the Los Angeles Times.
CHN's specialty was placing people in softcore porn magazines and films, but it also dealt with some mainstream work. One client, Lauren Montgomery, who says Guthu helped her land a small role in the Warren Beatty film Town and Country, tells the Times Guthu was "the sweetest man you ever met."
A fellow adult model agent, Reb Sawitz, tells the paper he was trying to contact Guthu after the fire. "He's one of the good guys in this industry," Sawitz says.
