He’s been in porn since 1987 and been responsible for a slew of AVN art direction award nominations, but now he’s outta here.
“I’ve done my last job in the industry,” make-up artist Lee Garland confided. “My honey gave me a lovely estate outside of Budapest, so I’m going to move there in the not too distant future.”
“Not too distant” is right; Garland’s scheduled to leave shortly after April 1.
“But I am remaining within the film community,” Garland added. “He [Garland’s significant other] is forming a major movie company and he’s in the process of getting it together right now, and so I’m going to be helping him with that. I will be doing art direction and directing and some acting, even. His interests are historical epics — all mainstream, of course — so that is the kind of thing we’ll be doing.”
Garland’s last job was making Tera Patrick look even more beautiful for an upcoming cover and centerfold.
“I adore her, and you know, I did her first job,” he noted.
“I really just want to say a great big thank you to everyone in the adult industry,” Garland said. “Since I’ve been in it I’ve had so much fun, met wonderful people that the world doesn’t realize how cool so many of the people in this industry are. They have far more integrity and all of the spiritual qualities that I find important in people than anything I have ever been involved with in my life, and that surprised me — mainly the talent. I have felt very embraced by the industry.”
Among the folks he singled out for special good-byes are Jenna Jameson (“A great big thank you to Jenna for being Jenna”); directors Michael Zen, Michael Ninn and Brad Armstrong; and the officials with whom he dealt at Wicked Pictures, Vivid Entertainment Group, VCA, Penthouse and Club magazine — “To everybody, a great big huggy-bear thank you.” — and a special one to AVN’s Paul Fishbein “for his support and for all of the years of friendship and the lovely articles.”
But just because he won’t be working doesn’t mean Garland won’t be visiting.
“I’m coming back every two or three months; that was one of the conditions,” Garland said of his dialog with his benefactor. “I said, ‘Look, as much as I love you, I’m an American; I can’t not be an American, and I’m very tied here to all of my people and so forth, and I want to come and visit my old friends as well. I’m keeping my residence here and moving a very close friend into my place and sort of leaving everything because it’s just too much of a hassle to pick up and move things.”
But for those friends who can find him, he’s got a special invitation: “Of course, everyone is welcome to come visit us there.”
