"It is very, very sad news," said Evil Angel general manager Christian Mann. "We’ve been reaching out to our staff and John’s fellow directors [at Evil Angel] and vendors that he had close relationships with like Christoph [Clark] and Rocco [Siffredi] in Europe. Ken from Art Attack, everyone in the Evil Angel family. Everybody is very, very stunned and experiencing grief. "Beyond that we don’t know much more about the arrangements. I spoke with John’s wife Kathleen this morning who is obviously devastated but holding tough and being strong. Joey Silvera is on his way to go be with her and help her get through the next immediate period of time. John was only 65 years old and as far as we know had no history of cardiac arrest."

Mann continued, "John was at his home at his computer and when his wife came home and found him he was already gone. This is a tremendous loss for our company and for our industry and yet John was so much more than just a member of this industry. He was a guy who loved art, music, an accomplished cook, an interesting man who led a very full life."

Fellow Evil Angel director Silvera, Leslie's best friend, had just spoken with him on the phone on Saturday. "We talked about college football," said Silvera, who has known Leslie for 34 years. "He just shot down here [in L.A.]. Two weeks to the day he went home. He stays at my place when he shoots so… This is a heavyweight. It's very shocking. I thought he’d be around a few more years. It's pretty sudden."

A native of the Pittsburgh area, Leslie was a big fan of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team and the Pittsburgh Steelers. "And he loved the San Francisco Giants," Joey Silvera said. "He had huge passion for them."

Evil Angel founder John Stagliano said there was no one like Leslie. "John was one of kind," Stagliano said. "Anyone who ever heard him play harmonica and sing the blues could see what a great talent he was. He was a gritty, dirty talking, sexually sophisticated artist. He formed a blues band in the mid-90's, 20 years after his last gig. He did it because he loved music, just like he loved the art of porn. He had an eye for emotion. Watching his movies was like watching him fuck in a scene from his youth." Stagliano continued, "We talked for hours back in the late 80's, while we were both trying to figure out how to create this art that we loved. Anyone who ever questioned whether or not porn is art, never had a conversation with John, or saw his movies. He is part of the fabric of the art of porn. He lives on."

Leslie started out as a performer in the mid 1970s, appearing in more than 500 movies. He went on to direct more than 140 titles, including innovative series such as "The Voyeur," his longest running and perhaps most popular line with 37 volumes, and "Fresh Meat" which reached its 28th volume this year.

Numerous industry personalities paid tribute to Leslie on their Twitter feeds Monday. Performer Jenna Haze tweeted, "A real industry legend and inspiration has left us."