PALMDALE, Calif.—Legendary cameraman/director Barry Wood, who as "Shane Hunter" also acted in more than 85 adult movies, often opposite his first wife, Trinity Loren, has been reported to be near death at a hospital near his home. According to a post to his Facebook account, "He has been battling liver cancer for 6 years. Recently it spread to his lungs. The past month he has been in steep decline. The past week he has been in the ICU at the hospital. ... He isn't expect to survive."
A fixture of the adult industry since his entry in 1987, the long-haired British expat did his first scene with Trinity in 1987's Girls of Double D 3, but his first love was always the camera. It's unclear when he first started shooting adult movies, but he was one of the most sought-after camera operators in the adult industry for most of his nearly 30-year career—so much so that even as late as 2015, actress-turned-director Rebecca Lord flew Wood to Europe to shoot the movies she was directing there. Wood also directed 28 XXX features for Hustler Video, SexZ Pictures, VCA, Adam & Eve and several others.
In 2000, Wood married actress Sindee Coxx, whom he had shot many times, and was even the cameraman on her single directorial effort, Ranch House Lust in 2004—the same year he was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame.
Wood won several accolades from industry groups, including AVN awards for Best Videography for Michael Ninn's Dark Garden in 2000 and again for Ninn's Through Her Eyes in 2007.
"I first met Barry in the mid '90s," recalled award-winning director Brad Armstrong. "He was a fantastic cameraman and was a regular fixture on my late '90s movies. The first one he worked on was my first big movie, Conquest, and he was heavily involved in that because there was a lot of swordfighting, and we rehearsed that a lot—plus a lot of it was shot on actual replicas of pirate ships. The other one he worked on was Breeders, and he had a pretty big part in that because that was a post-apocalyptic version of Waterworld, and we used a lot of the Waterworld costumes. Barry brought his dune buggy to the set, which we art-directed up for the post-apocalypse, and he did some of the stunts in that, driving the dune buggy. He also shot Wicked Weapon for me in '98, where he was my lead cameraman.
"He was always a prankster, and between him and Clark, my tech—and their accents—he was always smiling, always the happy camper to be there," Armstrong added, recalling fondly how he "was always yanking him in from outside when he was on a smoke break—and it was always a smoke break!”
"His main work where he really got the accolades he deserved was when he was working for Michael Ninn, which came after me, but he'd go back and forth, working for Michael and then me and then Michael and then me again. Sadly, I haven't heard from him or Sindee in ages, but Barry was always Barry; he was always smiling that Cheshire cat smile and his graying long hair would be flowing in the breeze, and he was always such a character."
Barry's daughter from his first marriage posted a message to Wood's Facebook page late yesterday: "My father, Barry Wood, will be taken off of life support on Saturday. If you knew him and would like to come say goodbye, you're welcome to come to the hospital to do so." Those interested may go to Wood's Facebook page.
Above, Barry Woods and Sindee Coxx; photo from his Facebook page
