Marilyn Chambers, RIP



One wonders if the New York Times will be covering this obit? The untimely death of a porn star is, unfortunately, not uncommon. But let's start from the premise that Marilyn Chambers got into the business mens sana in corpore sano. Granted, she ran with a seedy crowd; lets assume though that Chambers gravitated towards the porn industry freely (though that industry, to be sure, did not do right by Chambers, considering the revenues she generated). From LA Times:

"Marilyn Chambers, a former Ivory Snow detergent model who became a porn star, died Sunday at her Canyon Country home. She was 56.

"Chambers, whose real name is Marilyn Ann Taylor, was found unresponsive at 8:51 p.m. at her residence it the 16000 block of Vasquez Canyon, said Los Angeles County coroner's spokesman Ed Winter. The cause of death is under investigation but foul play was not suspected and an autopsy is pending.

"Chambers became a pop culture phenomenon when she gave up work as a model advertising Ivory Snow laundry detergent to star in the X-rated 'Behind the Green Door' in 1972.

"The movie also sparked a buying frenzy on boxes of Ivory Snow soap, then graced by Chambers' angelically complexioned face."

Chambers had some memorable moments in her interesting life: According to Howard Stern, Larry King was invited to "perform" with Chambers when he was a DJ in Miami so that he could talk about it in the following segment. Apparently, King attempted but was unable to complete the act.

Chambers also made it past the porn genre somewhat, appearing in eccentric but mainstream director David Cronenberg's "Rabid." Ironically, porn is so mainstream an A-List film director has hired a porn star to head up his films cast. She was also was on the ballot in Utah as the Personal Choice Party's candidate for Vice President in the 2004 campaign. Chambers and her Presidential running mate Charles Jay garnered 0.1% of Utah's vote.

No confirmation on whether or not this is true, but it is being reported that Chambers died at age 57 in her Santa Clarita trailer and was not found until days later. Considering the tens of millions that "Behind the Green Door" generated, via big-screen and DVDs, for the Mitchell Brothers ..

-- Just saying. The industry didn't take care of her.

RIP, Marilyn Chambers.